Method of producing a tape guide for a data cartridge
AssigneeMinnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
InventorsLeif O. Erickson, Jay J. Iqnaszewski, David D. Madsen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A reel-to-reel tape cartridge includes two tape guides for guiding the tape to and from respective tape reels. The tape guides have a large radius of curvature and are flanged to form a long trough to guide and align the tape to improve tape tracking. The tape guides are formed of two flange pieces separated by a tape surface piece and a post. Each flange piece is generally semi-circular and includes three notches which receive tabs on the tape surface piece to secure the tape surface piece. The tape surface piece is formed as a type of leaf spring that is loaded when it is assembled between the flange pieces. The post can be cylindrical or flat.
Claims8
A method for production of a tape guide for tape cartridge comprising the steps of:
- shearing a metal blank to make a top flange pieces and a bottom flange piece each with a curved edge and having notches and a thickness;
- shearing a metal blank to make a rectangular tape surface piece having top and bottom edges which define, with the thickness of the flange pieces, the vertical height of the tape guide and having projecting tabs extending from the top and bottom edges;
- cold roll forming the tape surface piece to a radius of curvature slightly lower than the predetermined final radius of curvature of the tape surface piece after assembly into a tape guide, wherein the surface piece, when curved, has a convex surface;
- attaching a post to the top and bottom flanges;
- interlocking the projecting tabs of the top and bottom edges of the tape surface piece with the corresponding notches of the top and bottom flange pieces wherein the tape surface piece acts as a spring that defines and helps hold together the tape guide;
- polishing the convex surface of the tape surface piece to a desired smoothness as a tape bearing surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.