Rotary head assembly for substantially concurrent recording and monitoring of data on a magnetic tape cassette or the like

A magnetic tape apparatus of the type having a rotary heat assembly for the storage and retrieval of digital data on and from a series of slanting record tracks on magnetic tape, wherein the improvement resides in the rotary head assembly comprising:

• a) a rotary drum;
• b) a first read/write head mounted on the rotary drum for reading and writing data on the magnetic tape;
• c) a second read/write head mounted on the rotary drum for reading and writing data on the magnetic tape, the second read/write head being angularly spaced 180 degrees from the first read/write head, the first and second read/write heads alternately scanning the magnetic tape for creating a series of slanting record tracks thereon;
• d) a first monitor head mounted on the rotary drum for monitoring the data written on the magnetic tape by the first read/write head, the first monitor head being angularly disposed between the first read/write head and the second read/write head, the first monitor head and the first read/write head being positioned relative to one another such that the first monitor head scans a lateral portion of the width of each record track created by the first read/write head, the lateral portion being less than the reduced width of the record track after overlapping by an adjacent record track;
• and
• e) a second monitor head mounted on the rotary drum for monitoring the data written on the magnetic tape by the second read/write head, the second monitor head being angularly disposed between the first read/write head and the second read/write head, the second monitor head and the second read/write head being positioned relative to one another such that the second monitor head scans a lateral portion of the width of each record track created by the second read/write head, the lateral portion being less than the reduced width of the record track after overlapping by an adjacent record track;
• f) whereby the output signals of the first and second monitoring heads are less in amplitude than if they scanned the complete widths of the record tracks.