Apparatus for cleaning magnetic tape

An apparatus for automatically cleaning magnetic tape contained in a cartridge, said tape having a beginning and an end and being wound around spool means inside of said cartridge such that said tape beginning is unwound before said tape end, said cartridge having releasable locking means for preventing the movement of tape in and out of said cartridge, wall means for enclosing said spool means and a load block coupled to the beginning of the tape, comprising:

• (a) cartridge receiving means adapted for receiving and retaining said cartridge, said cartridge receiving means having locking means engaging means for engaging and releasing said cartridge locking means;
• (b) first motor means adapted for rotating said cartridge spool means when said locking means engaging means has released said cartridge locking means, said first motor means being located near said cartridge receiving means;
• (c) take-up means for unwinding said tape from said cartridge, said take-up means having a take-up hub and second motor means for rotating said take-up hub, said take-up means receiving said tape load means;
• (d) a load arm having two ends, with one of said ends being pivotable about the other end, said one end having a rod projecting out from said load arm, said rod having an enlarged portion, said rod and said enlarged portion adapted to matingly engage a notch in said load block;
• (e) said load arm being pivotable between first and second positions, with said first position having said rod located at said cartridge receiving means such that said rod can be received by said cartridge load block notch, and with said second position having said rod located at said take-up hub;
• (f) cleaning means for cleaning said tape, said cleaning means being located between said cartridge receiving means and said take-up hub, said cleaning means comprising wiper means for wiping the tape and scraper means for scraping debris off of the tape;
• (g) control means for automatically controlling the manipulation and cleaning of said tape, said control means comprising load arm position sense means for sensing the position of said load arm, tensioning means for controlling the tension of the tape as the tape is wound back into the cartridge, and end-of-tape sense means for sensing the end of the tape as the tape is wound on the take-up hub;
• (h) said control means causing said locking means engaging means to engage and release said cartridge locking means, causing said load arm to transfer said load block from said cartridge to said take-up hub so as to string the tape through said cleaning means, sensing when said load arm is in the second position with said load arm position sense means, causing said second motor means to rotate said take-up hub so as to wind the tape onto said take-up hub, causing said cleaning means to clean the tape as the tape is wound onto said take-up hub, sensing the end of the tape as the tape is wound onto said take-up hub with said end-of-tape sense means, causing said first motor means to rotate said cartridge spool means so as to rewind the tape back into the cartridge and onto said cartridge spool means when the end of the tape is sensed, sensing and controlling the tension of the tape as the tape is wound back into the cartridge with said tensioning means, causing said load arm to transfer said load block from said take-up hub to said cartridge, sensing when said load arm is in the first position with said load arm sense means, and causing said locking means engaging means to disengage said cartridge lock means.