Optical tape recording/reproducing apparatus

An optical tape recording/reproducing apparatus provided with a pair of take-up and supply reel pulleys connected to a driving mechanism for running an optical tape, guide means mounted on a deck for determining a running path of the tape and pickup means for recording information on the optical tape or reading information off the tape through the use of a laser beam, wherein said guide means comprises:

• a transparent hollow drum having a spherical lateral surface, said drum horizontally and rotatably mounted on the deck, and a pinch roller having a concave lateral surface with a radius equal or greater than that of the spherical surface, said pinch roller horizontally and rotatably mounted on the deck, adjacent the hollow drum, for maintaining a close contact between the optical tape and the spherical surface of the hollow drum;
• and
• said pickup means comprises:
• a laser source, a scanning device having four beam outlets arranged at a right angle with each other on a vertical plane which passes through the center of the pinch roller and the center of the hollow drum, said scanning device further having a plurality of beam splitters and mirrors for dividing a laser beam emitted from the laser source into four laser beams and outputting the four laser beams through the four beam outlets, said scanning device adapted to rotate about an axis perpendicular to the vertical plane for permitting the outputted laser beams to, one by one, scan the optical tape in close contact with the drum in a manner to vertically and pivotally pass over the surface of the tape, and a black body adapted to absorb the outputted laser beams except the beam scanning the optical tape.