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:
May. 12, 1998
Filed:
Mar. 03, 1997
Fred O Stephens, Loveland, CO (US);
Jonathan D Bassett, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A tape drive having a protection barrier to keep improperly inserted tape cartridges from damaging the read/write head. In a first embodiment of the invention, a short protection wall is positioned in front of the read/write head. This protection wall prevents a tape cartridge inserted sideways into the tape drive from contacting the read/write head. The protection wall also prevents a partially opened cartridge door from striking the read/write head. In a second and third embodiment of the invention, one or more protection pins are used to protect the read/write head. These protection pins also keep a cartridge inserted sideways into the tape drive or a cartridge door partially opened from striking the read/write head.