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US 3,973,178 AGranted
Tape cartridge player mechanism
AssigneeRCA Corporation
InventorGerald Dee Pyles
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A motor in a tape cartridge player is coupled by means of a worm gear to a cycling gear. Control of the motor, as to its starting and stopping sequences, is determined by the angular position of the cycling gear which functions to drive a transducer positioning mechanism and a cartridge engagement-disengagement mechanism. The angular position of the gear is sensed by means of a contact assembly which engages a conductive pattern on a printed circuit board secured to the cycling gear.
Claims6
An assembly comprising:
- a gear;
- a motor coupled to drive said gear to rotate;
- a motor control circuit operable to control the energization of said motor;
- a conductive pattern mounted to a major surface of said gear and connected in said motor control circuit, said conductive pattern including an outer conductive ring broken at one point and a series of inner notched portions spaced along said ring remotely from said point;
- and
- a first contact engaging said notched portions in sequence and cooperating with said outer conductive ring for applying a voltage to said conductive pattern;
- said motor control circuit being operative to cause said motor to be energized and drive said gear to rotate whenever said voltage is applied to said conductive pattern.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.