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US 5,700,125 AGranted
Gravity feed pass-thru port for automated cartridge library
AssigneeStorage Technology Corporation
InventorsJoseph Philip Falace, John David Miller
Life of this patent
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AssigneeStorage Technology Corporation
InventorsJoseph Philip Falace, John David Miller
Estimating the term…
A pass thru port, for use in an automated cartridge library, is capable of transferring a cartridge from one module of the automated cartridge library to another module of the automated cartridge library without the use of motors or other powered devices. A rotating mechanism, operating under the force of gravity, engages the cartridge after the cartridge is released by the robot arm of the first module. The rotating mechanism turns the cartridge so it faces in the appropriate direction to be received by the second module. A pivoting tray in the second module engages the cartridge as the cartridge slides from the rotating mechanism to the second module. The pivoting tray positions the cartridge in the second module so that it may be retrieved by a robot arm in the second module. Multiple cartridges can be loaded into the pass thru port and removed one at a time from the second module with the next module automatically moving into position in the second module when the first cartridge is removed.
A pass thru port for transferring a cartridge, using only the effect of gravitational force, from an originating storage module wherein said cartridge resides at a first orientation and a first angle to a receiving storage module wherein said cartridge resides at a second orientation and a second angle, comprising:
An automated tape library having two storage modules each containing a polygonal array of cartridge storage cells, comprising:
In a pass thru port for transferring a cartridge, using only the effect of gravitational force, from an originating storage module wherein said cartridge resides at a first orientation and a first angle to a receiving storage module wherein said cartridge resides at a second orientation and a second angle, a method comprising the steps of:
In a method for operating an automated tape library having two storage modules each containing a polygonal array of cartridge storage cells, the method comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.