Apparatus for storing information material in cassettes

Abstract

An apparatus for manufacturing from a cassette which initially has a continuous leader extending between and connected to a pair of rotary hubs thereof and from an elongated flexible information material carrying information which can be extracted from the material a cassette which has a length of the information material stored in the cassette with opposed ends of the information material connected with leaders which are respectively connected to the rotary hubs of the cassette. A transfer structure operates to extend an initially relatively short loop of the continuous leader into a relatively long loop extending from the cassette to a holding structure which holds the leader as well as the information material and which is capable of assuming a pair of splicing positions in which after the continuous leader is cut into separate leaders a leading end of a length of information material is spliced to one of the leaders and a trailing end of the length of information material is spliced to the other of the leaders, with the length of information material and the leaders connected to the opposed ends thereof being wound into the cassette. The above operations can be rendered fully automatic particularly by reason of the transfer structure which extends the initially continuous leader from the cassette to the holding structure where the splicing operations are carried out.