The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 19, 1997
Filed:
Jun. 07, 1995
Eric Alan Eckberg, Rochester, MN (US);
Gerald Daniel Malagrino, Jr, Rochester, MN (US);
Brian Lee Rappel, Grand Meadow, MN (US);
Thomas Donald Weller, Rochester, MN (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A tape drive is fabricated with a chassis and a bridge. The bridge acts to support the read/write head actuator and to also define the datum surfaces for locating a mating magnetic tape cartridge. The bridge is manufactured of materials which are highly rigid and stable dimensionally. The chassis of the tape drive is fabricated from materials such as plastics which are relatively flexible and do not have the rigidity of that characterized by the bridge. The more flexible chassis of the tape drive permits the isolation of distortions and distortionary forces in the chassis and does not transmit those forces and distortions to the bridge. The effect of the two piece arrangement is that the pieces may be made relatively inexpensively and retain reliability of much more expensive materials in manufacturing processes herefore considered necessary. The electronic circuits associated with and part of the tape drive may be protected by fabricating the bridge of an electrically conductive material and grounding it to insure that the chances for electromagnetic and electrostatic discharge are minimized.