Cipher Data Products, Inc.

Lynn C Jacobs

William M Barton, Jr

Jeffrey S McGee

Karl B Offerman

Ronald D Irvin

John F Murphy

William F Netzeband

Roger S Johnson

Thomas J Dinas

A transport for a rectangular tape cartridge enclosing a supply reel having a web of magnetic tape wound thereabout terminating in a free end attached to a leader block. The illustrated embodiment of the transport is designed to fit within the computer industry standard 51/4-inch form factor and utilizes the 1/2-inch tape cartridge defined in Proposed American National Standard X3B5/85-075. An elongate rectangular housing has internal mechanisms for supporting the tape cartridge therein and referencing the cartridge off its side surfaces. The cartridge is manually inserted into the housing through a slot in a face panel extending across a transverse end of the housing. Electro-mechanical assemblies lock the cartridge in place and complete the loading sequence by engaging a drive chuck with the hub of the supply reel, extracting the leader block from the cartridge, and pulling the leader block to the take-up hub to thread the tape along a tape path. A gear driven articulated arm has an outer end which is guided along a hook-shaped track and carries the leader block into engagement with a receptacle in the take-up hub. Precision transverse movement of a magnetic head in the tape path is accomplished by a stepper motor coupled to a band drive through a worm gear reduction.

Transport for tape cartridge with leader block

A magnetic tape drive in which a tape cartridge is endwise loaded and thereafter minutely moved into a precision alignment position with respect to a read/write head. The drive has a support frame with a front panel and an elongate tray dimensioned to have the cartridge inserted endwise thereon. The tray is supported by the frame for longitudinal sliding movement from a retracted position in which the tray is contained within the frame to an extended position in which a portion of the tray extends through a slot in the front panel. A mechanism is provided for opening the access door of the cartridge while the cartridge is supported on the tray and the tray is being moved from its extended position to it retracted position. Another mechanism is provided for simultaneously moving the head and a capstan drive into engagement with the cartridge once it has been fully inserted and for also moving clamp mechanisms against the bottom plate of the cartridge to minutely move the cartridge against adjustable reference location pins.

Cartridge alignment mechanism for tape drive

A magnetic head is attached to a hollow carriage which surrounds a hollow cylindrical positioner post rigidly secured at one end to a frame element of a tape drive. Precision ball bearings mounted to the carriage engage the outer surface of the cylindrical positioner post at longitudinally and circumferentially spaced locations. A positioner shaft extends through the positioner post and a tracking nut in one end of the carriage is screwed over a threaded segment of the shaft. A pin extends from the carriage and is longitudinally slidable in a recess in an anti-rotation block mounted on the frame element. A stepper motor can drive the shaft to reciprocate the carriage toward and away from the frame element thereby moving the head traversely with respect to a length of magnetic tape. An adjustable stop on the post limits movement of the carriage toward the frame element.

Precision bearing for reciprocating a magnetic head

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

Lynn C Jacobs