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:
Sep. 07, 2004
Filed:
Apr. 02, 2002
Christian Allen Todd, Thornton, CO (US);
Donovan Milo Janssen, Boulder, CO (US);
Phillip Monroe Morgan, Berthoud, CO (US);
Daniel W. Underkofler, Lafayette, CO (US);
Storage Technology Corporation, Louisville, CO (US);
Abstract
A spool system for packing tape on a hub. The spool has upper and lower flanges on the hub, and a flexure positioned on the hub between the two flanges. The flexure is normally parallel to the flanges, but when a force is applied to the tape lead-in edge of the flexure, that edge of the flexure is pressed toward one of the flanges. This causes the tape lead-in side of the spool system to have a wider opening than the tape packing side of the spool system. The width of the space on the tape packing side is preferably equal to or narrower than the width of the tape to be packed, so that the flexure presses against the edge of tape as it loads, reducing stagger of the tape.