Fast rewind mechanism for bidirectional tape transports for cassettes

Abstract

A bidirectional tape transport for tapes stored in cassettes providing fast forward and fast rewind functions. Fast forward and rewind are achieved by actuating controls which increase the motor speed and also release the tape from a capstan drive and the playback and recording head so that it may move freely at the fast speed. For fast rewind, the polarity of the supply voltage to the motor is reversed and those components of the bidirectional drive and the drive train to the reel spindles are reversed in such a way as to drive the supply spindle. Such operations are achieved by energizing a single solenoid by means of an electrical pulse produced by a switch actuated by the fast rewind control. The switch is so positioned that it will be actuated once during the advance stroke as the fast rewind control is pressed and once in the return stroke of the control. The operation of the fast rewind control thus induces successively two operations of the solenoid and two successive changes in the direction of movement of the tape, independently of its initial direction of movement. The fast forward and rewind functions are related to the direction the tape is moving at normal speed when the fast controls are actuated.