International Business Machines Corporation

Steven G Hiscox

Paul A Merems

Kenneth R Shelley

A carriage assembly slidingly receives a tape cartridge whose forward end tape access door is opened during insertion of the cartridge by a user or an automatic picker of a tape library system. A single motor driven cam automatically moves the mated carriage assembly and tape cartridge to engage a head with an exposed segment of magnetic tape. The cartridge stops and the carriage assembly continues to move slightly forward from the tape cartridge. This allows the same motor driven cam to automatically move a pair of clutch assemblies transverse to the cartridge insertion axis into engagement with a pair of reel hubs of the tape cartridge. The engagement of the clutch assemblies unlocks the reels inside the tape cartridge for rotation by a pair of reel motors. A rigid mount plate of the tape cartridge is automatically clamped against a plurality of datums.

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Tucson, AZ, United States of America

Steven G Hiscox