U.S. patent number RE33,224 [Application Number 07/371,416] was granted by the patent office on 1990-05-29 for drive for end loading and transversely shifting tape cartridge.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Irwin Magnetic Systems, Inc.. Invention is credited to Wolfgang Speigelstein.
United States Patent |
RE33,224 |
Speigelstein |
May 29, 1990 |
Drive for end loading and transversely shifting tape cartridge
Abstract
A cartridge drive adapted for endwise loading of tape cartridges
has a retractable friction roll to open the tape access door as the
cartridge is loaded into the drive. A pivoted cartridge carriage
swings the loaded cartridge across the loading path of travel to an
operative position in engagement with the drive motor and magnetic
head of the drive. In preferred forms, the drive is dimensioned to
fit within the "foot print" of a standard 51/4" floppy disk
drive.
Inventors: |
Speigelstein; Wolfgang
(Glendale, CA) |
Assignee: |
Irwin Magnetic Systems, Inc.
(Ann Arbor, MI)
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Family
ID: |
24517514 |
Appl.
No.: |
07/371,416 |
Filed: |
June 15, 1989 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
Reissue of: |
628110 |
Jul 6, 1984 |
04673995 |
Jun 16, 1987 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
360/93;
360/96.51 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G11B
15/1883 (20130101); G11B 15/67521 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G11B
15/18 (20060101); G11B 15/675 (20060101); G11B
005/008 (); G11B 015/00 (); G11B 017/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;360/90,93,96.1,96.5,96.6,132 ;242/197-199,192 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Hecker; Stuart N.
Assistant Examiner: Severin; David J.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Baker, Maxham, Jester &
Meador
Claims
I claim:
1. A tape drive for a digital magnetic cartridge of the type having
a generally flat rectangular body and a tape access opening in the
frontal edge of the body; said drive including:
a housing adapted to receive said cartridge by manual loading;
guide means defining a generally rectilinear loading path of travel
within said housing for said cartridge;
a magnetic head mounted in said housing adjacent said path;
means for shifting said cartridge transversely of said loading path
to and from said magnetic head when the cartridge is disposed
within said housing whereby to present the tape access opening to
the magnetic head,
said housing having a loading slot configured to permit only
endwise loading of the cartridge into the housing, said cartridge
having a hinged door normally covering said access opening,
said drive including means for opening said door as the cartridge
is advanced along said loading path of travel, said opening means
comprising a friction member disposed within said path of travel
for intercepting said door as the cartridge is loaded into the
housing,
said friction member comprising a roller rotatably supported within
said path of travel,
the axis of rotation of said roller being skewed relative to said
path of travel.
2. A tape drive as claimed in claim 1, and spring means for biasing
said roller into said path of travel.
3. A tape drive as claimed in claim 2, said spring means comprising
a blade spring, said roller being mounted on the free end of said
spring.
4. A tape drive as claimed in claim 3, and a lever positioned to
selectively shift said free end and said roller away from said path
of travel.
5. A tape drive as claimed in claim 4, said lever having one end
projecting into said path of travel when said roller is shifted
away from the latter whereby advancement of said cartridge effects
shifting of said roller into said path of travel.
6. In a tape drive for a digital magnetic cartridge of the type
having a generally flat rectangular body, a tape access opening,
and a door having a lateral edge portion extending generally
parallel to the plane of said body and being hingedly mounted on
said housing in normally covering relation to said opening for
swinging movement about an axis extending generally perpendicularly
of the plane of the body; a mechanism for opening said door when
the cartridge is loaded into the drive, said mechanism
comprising:
a friction member mounted in said drive for movement to and from a
door-engaging position at an intermediate location along the
loading path of said cartridge; and
means for shifting said member to its door-engaging position when
the door is at said location in the loading path,
said friction member comprising a cylindrical roller having a
high-friction outer surface;
said shifting means including means yieldably biasing said member
toward said path to grippingly engage the door when the latter is
at said location and the member is in the door-engaging position
whereby further travel of the cartridge along its loading path
effects swinging movement of the door about its hinge away from its
access-covering position.
7. The invention as claimed in claim 16, said mechanism including
structure supporting said roller for rotation about its
longitudinal axis.
8. The invention of claim 7, said shifting means comprising a
rocker arm mounted beneath said path of travel for up and down
swinging movement, one end of said arm supporting said rollers, the
opposite end of the arm extending upwardly into the loading path of
travel whereby said roller is shifted into engagement with said
door when the said opposite end is contacted by said cartridge as
it travels along its loading path.
9. The invention as claimed in claim 7, wherein the axis of
rotation of said roller is skewed relative to the loading direction
of the cartridge.
10. The invention as claimed in claim 9, wherein said shifting
means includes a blade spring mounted in said drive beneath said
path, said roller being carried on the free end of said spring
whereby the roller is yieldably biased toward said door-engaging
position.
11. The invention as claimed in claim 10, said shifting means
further including a lever positioned to selectively shift said free
end and said roller away from said door-engaging position.
.Iadd.
12. A tape drive for a digital magnetic cartridge of the type
described in ANSI X3.55-1977 having a generally flat rectangular
body, a tape access opening in the frontal edge of the body, a
hinged door normally covering the tape access opening and pivotable
about an axis perpendicular to a plane of the body, and a tape
drive capstan in the frontal edge of the body, said drive
comprising:
a housing adapted to receive said cartridge by manual loading, said
housing dimensioned to fit within a 51/4" footprint of a disk
drive;
guide means defining a generally rectilinear loading path of travel
within said housing for said cartridge;
a magnetic head mounted in said housing adjacent said path;
a motor capstan mounted in said housing adjacent said path;
means for shifting said cartridge transversely of said loading path
to and from engagement with said magnetic head and said motor
capstan when the cartridge is disposed within said housing;
said housing having a loading slot configured to permit only
endwise loading of the cartridge into the housing; and
said drive including means for opening said door whereby to present
the tape access opening to the magnetic head. .Iaddend. .Iadd.13. A
tape drive as claimed in claim 12 wherein said means for opening
said door opens said door as the cartridge is loaded into the
housing. .Iaddend. .Iadd.14. A tape drive as claimed in claim 12
wherein said shifting means rotates the cartridge about a pivot.
.Iaddend. .Iadd.15. A tape drive as claimed in claim 12 wherein the
shifting means includes a carriage assembly. .Iaddend. .Iadd.16. A
tape drive as claimed in claim 15 wherein said guide means includes
end lugs extending from said carriage assembly. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.17. A tape drive as claimed in claim 12 wherein said door
opening mechanism includes a friction member disposed within said
path of travel for intercepting said door as the cartridge is
loaded into the housing. .Iaddend. .Iadd.18. A tape drive as
claimed in claim 17 wherein said door opening means further
includes a lever for shifting the friction member to an operative
position. .Iaddend. .Iadd.19. A tape drive for a digital magnetic
cartridge of the type described in ANSI X3.55-1977 having a
generally flat rectangular body, a tape access opening in the
frontal edge of the body, a hinged door normally covering the tape
access opening and pivotable about an axis perpendicular to a plane
of the body, and a tape drive capstan in the frontal edge of the
body, said drive comprising:
a housing adapted to receive said cartridge by manual loading along
a generally rectilinear loading path of travel, said housing
dimensioned to fit within a 51/4" footprint of a disk drive;
a magnetic head mounted in said housing adjacent said path;
a motor capstan mounted in said housing adjacent said path;
a carriage assembly mounted in said housing for shifting said
cartridge transversely of said loading path to and from engagement
with said magnetic head and said motor capstan when the cartridge
is disposed within said housing;
said housing having a loading slot configured to permit only
endwise loading of the cartridge into the housing; and
said drive including a member mounted to the housing for engaging
and opening said door whereby to present the tape access opening to
the magnetic head. .Iaddend.
Description
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to digital magnetic tape drives in general
and particularly concerns a compact drive for standard type
cartridges similar to the type described in American Standard ANSI
X3.55 - 1977 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,255 entitled "Belt Driven Tape
Cartridge."
In certain applications, it is desirable to have a cartridge tape
drive which will fit within the same space requirements, or
"footprint", of a digital floppy disk drive. In the case of a 51/4"
disk drive, this presents special problems because the width of the
51/4" disk drive footprint is less than the length of the standard
1/4" tape cartridge. This dimensional conflict requires that
cartridge tape drives adapted to fit within a 51/4" disk drive
footprint must be capable of accommodating endwise loading of the
standard tape cartridge. Special drive design problems are
presented by these requirements inasmuch as the standard type
cartridge was originally designed to be front loaded.
Prior art tape drives are available which are capable of
accommodating endwise loading of the standard 1/4" tape cartridge.
However, the prior art devices have complicated mechanisms for
opening the tape access door of the standard cartridge after
loading. Additionally, the prior art end-loading drives shift the
magnetic head and tape drive motor into engagement with the loaded
cartridge in order to actuate the drive. This shifting movement of
the drive motor and the head is necessary because the end-loading
feature does not permit engagement of these components in the
normal manner. A problem with this approach is that the positional
accuracy and repeatability requirements for the head and the motor
with respect to the cartridge are such that expensive and
complicated support mechanisms must be provided in order to permit
swinging movement of these components while still maintaining the
specified positional and repeatability tolerances.
The device of the present application overcomes the aforementioned
problems by providing a simple door-opening mechanism which is
operated by movement of the tape cartridge along its loading path
of travel and by also eliminating the need to shift the magnetic
head and the drive motor to operably engage the cartridge after
loading. In this latter regard, the present invention provides for
shifting of the cartridge, after it is loaded, to a position
wherein it is in engagement with both the drive motor and the
magnetic head of the drive. Consequently, the magnetic head and
drive motor do not need to be specially supported or moved
transverse relative to the cartridge within the drive. The
invention of the present application also eliminates power
transmission problems by positioning the drive motor in direct
drive relationship with the cartridge. These and other advantages
of the present invention will become apparent upon examination of
the detailed description presented herein below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a cartridge tape drive constructed in
accordance with the principles of the present invention and having
portions thereof removed to reveal details of construction;
FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the cartridge tape drive shown in
FIG. 1 with portions thereof removed to reveal details of
construction;
FIG. 3 is a top plan view as in FIG. 1, but showing the tape
carriage in the operative position;
FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the drive as shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a top plan view of a conventional tape cartridge;
FIG. 6 is a top schematic view of the cartridge tape drive showing
the cartridge in an early position in its loading sequence;
FIG. 7 is a plan view as in FIG. 6 showing the cartridge in the
door opening portion of its loading sequence;
FIG. 8 is a plan view as in FIG. 6 showing the cartridge at the end
of its loading path of travel;
FIG. 9 is a plan view as in FIG. 6 showing the cartridge shifted to
its operative position;
FIG. 10 is a partial cross-sectional taken along line 10--10 of
FIG. 8;
FIG. 11 is a top plan view of a second embodiment of the invention
with portions removed to reveal details of construction; and
FIG. 12 is a bottom plan view of the embodiment shown in FIG.
11.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
In FIGS. 1 and 2 there is shown top and bottom plan views
respectively of a digital magnetic tape drive adapted for use with
a conventional digital magnetic tape cartridge 12 as broadly shown
in FIG. 5. The drive 10 comprises a housing 14 (portions of which
have been deleted to reveal details of construction of the drive
10), a magnetic head 16 supported within the housing 14, a
cartridge-receiving carriage assembly 18, and a door-opening
mechanism 20 for facilitating loading of the cartridge 12 into
drive 10 as will be described. The drive 10 also includes a motor
(not shown) adapted to operably engage the cartridge 12 during
operation of the drive 10; the location of the motor capstan
relative to the other components of the drive 10 is shown for
reference purposes in broken lines in the drawing and is designated
by the numeral 22.
The housing 14 has opposed front and back walls 24 and 26,
respectively and a spaced pair of sidewalls 28a, 28b extending
between the walls 24 and 26. The housing 14 is also provided with a
flat, normally horizontally disposed partition 30 having a top
surface 32 and a bottom surface 33. The partition 30 is contiguous
with the walls 24, 26 and 28 approximately mid-heighth thereof. As
shown for example in FIG. 10, the housing 14 has a flat bottom 36
and a top cover 38 to form an enclosure for the other components of
the drive 10. A slot (not shown) in the front walls 24 is
configured to permit only endwise loading of the cartridge 12 into
the housing 14.
The cartridge 12 is generally described in American National
Standard ANSI 3.55-1977 entitled "Unrecorded Magnetic Tape
Cartridge For Information Interchange, 0.250 inch (6.30
millimeter), 1600 BPI (63 BPMM), Phase EnCoded" which standard is
hereby incorporated by reference. As broadly depicted in FIG. 5,
the cartridge 12 has a generally flat rectangular body 40
presenting a frontal edge 42, a rear edge 44 and a pair of ends 46
and 48, respectively. An access opening 50 in the front edge 42 of
the body 40 permits access to the tape 52 carried on spaced reels
54 and 56, respectively.
There is also provided access at the front edge 42 to the tape
drive capstan 58.
A channel-shaped door 51 normally covers the access opening 50 to
protect the tape 52 when the cartridge 12 is not in use. The door
51 is pivotally mounted on the body 40 by a hinge pin 53 for
swinging movement about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the
body 40; a spring (not shown) yieldably biases the door 51 to a
normally closed position.
The cartridge 12 is adapted to be loaded endwise into the housing
14 through the slot in the front wall 24 along a generally
rectilinear loading path indicated broadly by the arrow designated
60 in FIG. 7. The loading path of travel for the cartridge 12 is
defined by the carriage assembly 18 and other components of the
drive 10 as will be described.
The carriage assembly comprises a plate 62 secured below partition
30 by a pivot 64 for swinging movement in the plane of surface 33.
A guideway 66 in the plate 62 spaced from the pivot 64 cooperably
receives a rigid guide pin 68 secured to partition 30 for assisting
in pivotal movement of the plate 62. As shown for example in FIG. 2
a spring 70 disposed between the partition 30 and the plate 62
biases the latter in a direction away from the head 16 toward the
sidewall 28a.
A pair of end lugs 72 project upwardly from the plate 62 through
cutouts 74 in the partition 30 and extend above surface 32 for
engaging the leading end of the cartridge 12 when the latter is
loaded into the drive 10. (It should be noted that when the
cartridge 12 is correctly loaded the leading end is end 48).
Similarly, the plate 62 provided with a pair of spaced side guides
76, 78 respectively which extend through appropriate cutouts 79 in
the partition 30 adjacent sidewall 28a and project upwardly beyond
surface 32 for engagement of the cartridge 12. A single side guide
80 is provided on the plate 62 opposite the guides 76, 78 and
extends through a cutout 82 in the partition 30 adjacent to the
head 16.
The magnetic head 16 is mounted on the partition 30 along the
loading path of travel for the cartridge 10 adjacent sidewalls 28b
by a support arm 84, as shown for example in FIG. 1. The head 16 is
secured against movement within the plane of the partition 30 but
may be moved in a direction normal to this plane in a manner as is
well known in the art. A head guard 86 is provided between the head
16 and the loading path of travel in order to protect the head 16
against damage by inadvertent contact with the cartridge 12 during
the loading operation. The guard 86 also assists in the
door-opening operation as will be explained herein.
The door-opening mechanism comprises a roller assembly 88 and a
lever 90 for selectively shifting the assembly 88 to an operative
position. The roller assembly 88 comprises a blade spring 92
mounted on surface 34 of partition 30 and a roller 94 rotatably
supported on the free end of the blade spring 92 for rotation about
an axis parallel to the plane of partition 30. The roller 94 is
biased by the spring 92 toward a door-engaging position wherein the
roller 94 projects through a cutout 96 in the partition 30 and
projects upwardly from surface 32. The circumferential surface of
the roller is comprised of high friction material for grippingly
engaging the door 51 of the cartridge 12.
The lever 90 is mounted on partition 30 for swinging movement along
surface 34 about a pivot 98. One end 100 of the lever 90 projects
through a cutout 102 in the partition 30 into the loading path of
travel for the cartridge 12 and the other end 104 is adapted to
cooperatively engage the roller assembly 88. The lever 90 is
pivotable between a first position wherein the end 104 is disposed
between the free end of the blade spring 92 and surface 34 such
that the roller 94 is retracted beneath the surface 32 (that is,
the roller 94 is not in its door-engaging position) and a second
position wherein the end 104 is shifted away from the roller
assembly 88 such that the spring 92 shifts the roller 94 to its
door-engaging position. Lever 90 is shown in its first position in
FIGS. 1 and 2, and in its second position, in FIGS. 3 and 4. A
spring 106 is provided to bias lever 90 to its first position.
An important feature of the present invention is the orientation of
the roller 94 relative to the direction of loading as indicated by
the arrow 60 in FIG. 6. Specifically in this regard, it is noted
that the axis of rotation for the roller 94 is skewed relative to
the direction of loading of the cartridge 12 and in preferred forms
is disposed at approximately a 45.degree. angle relative to the
loading direction. It also should be noted that the lever 90 is
configured and dimensioned so that the end 100 is engaged by the
leading end 48 of the cartridge 12 during loading at a
predetermined point along the path of travel to shift the roller 94
to its door-engaging position when the door 51 is disposed
thereabove. This arrangement is best illustrated in FIGS. 6 and
7.
The loading sequence for the cartridge 12 is illustrated in FIGS.
6-9. Initially as shown in FIG. 6, the cartridge 12 is manually
inserted endwise through the slot in front wall 24 with the leading
end 48 of the cartridge 12 entering housing 14 first. When the
leading end 48 encounters the end 100 of the lever 90, further
movement of the cartridge 12 in the loading direction serves to
pivot the lever 90 towards its second position such that the end
104 is shifted from its position interleaved between the surface 34
and the free end 90 of spring 88. Consequently, the roller 94 is
shifted to its door-engaging position whereupon the high friction
outer surface of the roller comes in contact with the door 51 of
the cartridge 12. At this point, further movement of the cartridge
12 in the loading direction causes the door 51 to pivot about its
hinge pin 53 because the roller 94 grippingly engages the door 51
thereby resisting further movement of the latter in the loading
direction. The door 51 thus swings to the position shown in FIG. 7
as the cartridge is advanced in the loading direction whereupon it
is engaged by the guard 86 and continues to swing open as the
cartridge 12 approaches its fully loaded position.
When the cartridge 12 reaches the position shown in FIG. 8 wherein
the leading end 48 of the cartridge engages the end lugs 72 of
plate 62, further movement of the cartridge 12 in the loading
direction will be resisted. Upon further manual pressure on the
cartridge 12 in the loading direction, the plate 62 and the
cartridge 12 will be caused to rotate about the pivot 64 toward the
head 16 against the biasing of spring 70 as shown broadly by the
arrow 108 in FIG. 9. This pivotal movement continues until the
cartridge 12 assumes the orientation shown in FIG. 9 wherein the
tape 52 is in operable engagement with the head 16 at the access
opening 50 and the motor capstan 22 is in engagement with the drive
capstan 52. A stop (not shown) precludes further rotation of the
plate 62 and a conventional latch (not shown) is also provided to
secure the cartridge 12 in its operative position illustrated in
FIG. 9. At this point the drive 10 is ready to perform operations
on tape 52 of cartridge 12 in a conventional manner.
A second embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIGS. 11 and
12. A drive 210 is substantially identical in construction and
operation as the drive 10, with the exception that a door-opening
mechanism 220 replaces the door-opening mechanism 20.
The mechanism 220 comprises a rocker arm 222 mounted on the surface
33 of partition 30 by a pivot 224 for up and down swinging movement
about an axis extending generally parallel to the plane of the
partition 30. One end 226 of the arm 222 operably supports a roller
228 for rotation about an axis which is generally parallel to the
plane of partition 30 and skewed at approximately a 45.degree.
angle relative to the loading path of travel of the cartridge 12.
The roller 228 is identical to the roller 94 of drive 10.
A second roller 230 is secured on the opposite end 232 of the arm
222 and is adapted to be engaged by the leading end 48 of the
cartridge 12 when the latter is loaded into the drive 10. In this
regard, the end 232 supports the roller 230 in a manner such that
it normally projects upwardly through the cutout 102 in the
partition 30. When the roller 230 is engaged by the cartridge 12,
further movement of the latter in the loading direction depresses
the end 232 thereby causing the rocker arm 222 to teeter about its
pivot 224 in a manner to shift end 226 upwardly. Thus, the roller
228 projects through the cutout 96 for engaging and opening the
door 51 of the cartridge manner in a manner as has previously been
described.
From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the present
invention offers significant advantages over prior art cartridge
tape drives. The unique arrangement of the roller 94 presents a
simple yet highly effective means to accomplish opening of the
cartridge door 51 driving the loading process. Swinging of the
cartridge 12 to the head 18 eliminates the need for complicated and
expensive support structure for the drive motor and the head
18.
* * * * *