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US 4,262,860 AGranted
Tape cartridge with increased tape capacity
AssigneeVerbatim Corporation
InventorsRoy E. Hurtig, Bert R. Larson, Steven D. Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An improved tape cartridge with length dimension significantly greater than prior art cartridges of similar application, tape packs and drive belt being disposed to permit tape packs of greatly increased tape capacity and thereby a multifold increase in total cartridge capacity, and the front face being compatible for interfacing with most commercially available cartridge tape drives.
Claims30
A tape cartridge comprising:
- a cartridge housing for interfacing with a tape cartridge drive, the cartridge having a front planar face with an opening for receiving a recording/reproducing head and a baseplate which is substantially perpendicular to the fron face;
- a first tape pack and a second tape pack, the first and second tape packs each rotatably mounted in the housing about a first and second fixed axis of rotation, respectively, with a tape web attached at one end to the first tape pack and at the other end to the second tape pack, the first and second axes of rotation being substantially perpendicular to said baseplate, the first and second packs being positioned with the first axis of rotation aligned laterally relative to the second axis of rotation with a straight line projecting through the first and second axes of rotation intersecting the plane of the front face at an acute angle;
- a plurality of guide means rigidly mounted to the cartridge housing and positioned to guide said tape web when moving intermediate the first and second reels and past said opening to contact said head, said plurality of guide means including a first guide located in a corner of said tape cartridge adjacent to said front face of said cartridge housing and adjacent to said opening in said cartridge, a second guide located adjacent to said front face of said tape cartridge and adjacent to said opening in said cartridge on the opposite side of said opening from said first guide, a third guide located generally in a corner of said tape cartridge adjacent to said front face of said first guide, and a fourth guide located along an edge of said tape cartridge generally positioned such that a line drawn through said first and said fourth guide extends perpendicular with said front face of said cartridge;
- an endless drive belt constructed of a flexible elastic material;
- a plurality of rollers over which the belt is wrapped, the rollers being positioned such that the belt forms at least two arcuate portions passing between and engaging the first and second tape pack;
- said plurality of rollers includes a first driven roller adapted to contact a driving roller of a suitable tape drive when said tape cartridge is inserted therewithin, a second roller located such that a line drawn through the axes of rotation of said second roller and said first driven roller forms an acute angle with said front face of said tape cartridge opposite from said second roller at a distance less than the perpendicular distance from the axis of rotation of said first tape pack to said front face of said cartridge but greater than the perpendicular distance from said second tape pack to said front face of said tape cartridge, and a fourth roller located generally along the rear edge of said cartridge housing opposite from said front face of said cartridge housing and generally in a corner diagonally opposite from said first tape guide.
3 more elements
A tape cartridge comprising:
- a cartridge housing for interfacing with a tape cartridge drive, the cartridge having a front planar face with an opening for receiving a recording/reproducing head and a baseplate which is substantially perpendicular to the front face;
- a first tape pack and a second tape pack, the first and second tape packs each rotatably mounted in the housing about a first and second fixed axis of rotation, respectively, with a tape web attached at one end to the first tape pack and at the other end to the second tape pack, the first and second axes of rotation being substantially perpendicular to said baseplate, the first and second packs being positioned with the first axis of rotation aligned laterally relative to the second axis of rotation with a straight line projected through the axes or rotation of said first and second tape packs at a perpendicular with respect to said plane of said front face;
- a plurality of guide means rigidly mounted to the cartridge housing and positioned to guide said tape web when moving intermediate the first and second reels and past said opening to contact said head;
- an endless drive belt constructed of a flexible elastic material;
- and
- a plurality of rollers over which the belt is wrapped, the rollers being positioned such that the belt forms at least two arcuate portions passing between and engaging the first and second tape pack.
3 more elements
A tape cartridge comprising:
- a cartridge housing for interfacing with a tape cartridge drive, the cartridge having a front planar face with an opening for receiving a recording/reproducing head and a baseplate which is substantially perpendicular to said front face;
- a first tape pack and a second tape pack, the first and second tape packs each rotatably mounted in the housing about a first and second fixed axis of rotation, respectively, with a tape web attached at one end to the first tape pack and at the other end to the second tape pack, said first and second fixed axes of rotation being substantially perpendicular to said baseplate, said second fixed axis of rotation being located intermediate said first fixed axis of rotation and said plane of said front face along a line segment extending parallel to said baseplate passing through said first fixed axis of rotation and said plane of said front face;
- a plurality of guide means rigidly mounted to the cartridge housing and positioned to guide said tape web along a path between the first and second tape packs which path passes through said opening in said front planar face for receiving a recording/reproducing head;
- an endless drive belt constructed of a flexible, elastic material;
- and
- a plurality of rollers around which the endless drive belt is wrapped, each roller being secured to the cartridge housing so as to be rotatable about an axis disposed substantially parallel to said first and second axes of rotation of the tape packs, the rollers being positioned such that the path of the belt around the rollers has at least two arcuate portions passing around and engaging said outside tape web on the first and second tape packs, the angle of wrap contact between the drive belt and the first tape pack and between the drive belt and the second tape pack being sufficient to drive the tape packs in a non-slip fashion, the plurality of rollers including a first driven roller adapted to contact a driving roller of a suitable tape drive when the tape cartridge is inserted therewithin, a second roller having said axis of rotation not on a side of a plane passing through said first and second fixed axes of rotation of the tape packs opposite to that of said axis of the first driven roller, and a third roller having said axis of rotation on said side of said plane passing through said first and second fixed axes of rotation of the tape packs opposite to that of the second roller.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.