Qualstar Corporation

Richard A Nelson

William J Gervais

A low profile, high-capacity streaming tape drive system primarily for rack-mounted applications has a height of less than six inches, and a weight of less than 60 pounds. The main base plate of the tape drive has downwardly extending short tubes upon which the motors for the supply reel, the take-up reel and for the loading and cooling blower are mounted. The stator of each motor may be mounted on the outside of the associated tube, and the main drive shaft for the motor may be mounted on bearings within the tube and a permanent magnet rotor mounted by a cup-shaped member is arranged to rotate around the stator, thus providing motors which take up very little vertical height. Air ducts for cooling and for automatically threading the tape from the supply reel to the take-up reel are formed by integral ridges on the top and bottom of the main base plate forming U-shaped channels which are closed by sheet metal strips. A read formatter including microprocessor controlled error detection and correction circuity may be used to further reduce the size and weight of the unit.

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Burbank, CA, United States of America

Richard A Nelson