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:
Apr. 13, 1999
Filed:
Jun. 12, 1998
Hitachi Maxell, Ltd., Osaka-fu, JP;
Abstract
A single-reel tape cartridge includes a rectangular flattened casing including upper and lower panels joined together to define a reel chamber therebetween. A tape reel includes a cylindrical hollow boss and upper and lower flanges protruding radially outwardly from upper and lower ends of the hollow boss, respectively, and is accommodated rotatably within the reel chamber. A drive ring is disposed at a lower portion of a hollow of the hollow boss and adapted to receive a rotary drive from a drive element of a tape drive mechanism when the drive element is brought into engagement with the drive ring in a planar contact fashion. This drive ring is supported in a fashion slidable up and down, but non-rotatable relative to the hollow boss. A reel retainer is biased by a biasing spring in one direction towards the lower panel of the casing, such that the drive ring can be sandwiched between the drive element and the reel retainer while the drive element is held in tight contact with an undersurface of the drive ring.