Low profile magnetic tape drive with vacuum actuated auto-threading
US4243186A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 25, 1979 |
| Grant date | Jan 6, 1981 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 25, 1999 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG11B15/662
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Supply and take-up reels are mounted above a horizontal base for selective powered rotation about respective vertical axes. Vertical guide surfaces and a cover panel define an air tight continuous flowpath extending between the peripheries of the reels past a read/write head. A blower mounted in a hood structure beneath the base sucks air through the flowpath and through a perforated center spool of the take-up reel. A river of air thus pulls and guides the free end portion of the magnetic tape from the supply reel to the take-up reel as the supply reel is rotated by a drive motor to unwind the tape therefrom. The supply hub is adapted to automatically center the supply reel thereon. The supply hub further includes a plurality of annularly spaced reel engaging pawls mounted in, and normally retracted into the hub, and an over-center actuating means for selectively extending the pawls through differential rotation of a pair of separate rotors included in the hub.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.