GB2147448A

GB2147448A - Magnetic head with azimuth having a tip portion oriented in a given direction and method for manufacturing the same

Info

Publication number: GB2147448A
Application number: GB08424564A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Toyoaki Takayasu
Original assignee: Victor Company of Japan Ltd; Nippon Victor KK
Current assignee: Victor Company of Japan Ltd; Nippon Victor KK
Priority date: 1983-09-30
Filing date: 1984-09-28
Publication date: 1985-05-09
Also published as: GB2147448B; JPS6074106A; DE3435790A1; DE3435790C2; GB8424564D0

Abstract

In a magnetic head with azimuth gap, gap width-defining recesses (14, 14') provided on both sides of the gap (18) are arranged to extend in a longitudinal direction of a tape-contact surface (17S) of the head (17). As a result, a magnetic tip portion (19) defined between the recesses (14, 14'), which are filled with a non- magnetic material (15), extends in the longitudinal direction which corresponds to a gap locus defining a track pattern on a magnetic recording tape. To this end the gap width defining recesses (14, 14') are formed on upper surfaces of first and second magnetic blocks (11, 11') such that side walls defining each recess (14, 14') are inclined from a plane (L) normal to the upper surface. The inclination is preferably equal to a desired azimuth ( theta 2) at which angle an intermediate product formed by an assembly of the first and second magnetic blocks (11, 11') is cut into a plurality of head assemblies (17). Each of the gap width- defining recesses (14, 14') may be formed such that corners thereof are rounded. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Magnetic head with azimuth having a tip portion oriented in a given direction and method for manufacturing the same BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to magnetic heads with azimuth, and particularly to the configuration of a head tip portion around a gap and to a method for manufacturing such a head..

Among various types of magnetic heads, magnetic-heads with azimuth is widely used in various magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus, such as video tape recorders of helical scan type, so that track density can be increased without suffering from crosstalk from adjacent tracks due to well known azimuth loss effect.

For instance, in azimuth recording magnetic heads adopted in video tape recorders, a head tip portion around a gap is constructed such that recesses defining the width of the gap respectively extend in a direction normal to the direction of the gap along a tape-contact surface of the head. Since the gap extends in a direction which is not normal to a direction of gap locus for providing a predetermind azimuth, the recesses at both sides of the gap extend in a direction which is not parallel to the direction of the gap locus. A tape-contact surface including the tip portion of such a magnetic head extends in a direction of the gap locus, and therefore, the narrow tip portion defined between the recesses extend in a direction other than the longitudinal direction of the tape-contact surface, which corresponds to the direction of the gap locus.The recesses are filled with a non-magetic material, such as glass or the like, and therefore, the nonmagnetic material filled in the recesses is apt to be scraped off when the head is used due to friction with a magnetic recording medium, such as a video tape. As a result, the exposed surface of the non-magnetic material becomes unflush with the surface of the tape-contact surface around the gap, causing the tape to bounce therearound. Such a tendency is remakable around the gap since the tape-contact surface around the gap is arranged to be in contact with a magnetic recording tape so that friction between the tape and the tapecontact surface is the highest around the gap.

Accordingly, the tape is apt to vibrate undesirably around the gap resulting in various undesirable phenomena, such as unstable contact between the head tip and the tape, and deterioration in C/N ratio in a reproduced signal.

Furthermore, in such a conventional head, if the gap is biased to either recess due to inaccurate cutting on manufacturing, a magnetic circuit of the head suffers from a high reluctance portion around the gap, and therefore high performance cannot be obtained.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been developed in order to remove the above-described drawbacks inherent to the conventional magnetic head with azimuth.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a new and useful magnetic head with azimuth and a method for manufacturing the same with which a magnetic recording medium, such as a video tape, is prevented from bouncing around the head gap due to undulation around the gap while the non-magnetic material filled in gap widthdefining recesses is prevented from being scraped off in use, and desirable magnetic and electrical characteristics are obtained.

According to a feature of the present invention the gap width-defining recesses filled with a non-magnetic material extends along the surface of a recording medium-contact surface of the head in a longitudinal direction of the recording medium-contact surface, while the gap extends from one of the gap widthdefining recesses to another, intersecting the direction of extension of the recesses at an angle other than a right angle. To this end the recesses are formed on an upper surface of each of two magnetic blocks, which will be assembled to provide an intermediate product to be cut into a plurality of head assemblies, in a direction other than a normal direction to the plane of the upper surface of each of the blocks.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a magnetic head with azimuth gap comprising: first and second core halves attached to each other to form a magnetic circuit; a gap spacer interposed between said first and second core halves at a gap portion of a recording medium-contact surface of said magnetic head so as to define the distance of said gap; non-magnetic material filled in recesses formed in said magnetic head around said gap, said recesses being formed on both sides of said magnetic head such that said gap extends from one recess to another thereby the width of said gap is defined by said recesses, said recesses also defining a magnetic tip portion extending in a substantially longitudinal direction of said recording medium-contact surface along said recording medium-contact surface, said longitudinal direction corresponding to a longitudinal direction of an intended track pattern formed and scanned by said magnetic head, said gap extending in a direction so as to intersect said longitudinal direction at an angle other than a right angle to provide an azimuth; and a winding provided to said magnetic circuit.

In accordance with the present invention there also is provided a method of manuracturing a magnetic head with azimuth, comprising the steps of: forming grooves in first and second magnetic blocks in longitudinal direction thereof; forming gap width-defining recesses in one surfaces of said first and second magnetic blocks such that walls of said recesses are inclined from a plane normal to the upper surfaces of said first and second magnetic blocks; providing a gap spacer layer on said upper surface of either of said first and second magnetic blocks; assembling said first and second magnetic blocks so that said upper surfaces and said gap width-defining recesses of said first and second magnetic blocks face each other to form a plurality of bores; insert a non-magnetic material into said bores so that said non-magnetic material is melted thereafter and solidified to secure said first and second magnetic blocks to each other to provide an intermediate product; cutting said intermediate product along planes passing through said bores for producing a plurality of head assemblies, said planes being inclined from said plane normal to the plane of said first and second magnetic blocks so as to provide a desired azimuth; and providing a winding to each of said head assemblies to complete a plurality of magnetic heads.

In accordance with the present invention there is further provided a magnetic head with azimuth gap comprising: first and second core halves attached to each other to form a magnetic circuit; a gap spacer interposed between said first and second core halves at a gap portion of a recording medium-contact surface of said magnetic head so as to define the distance of said gap; non-magnetic material filled in recesses formed in said magnetic head around said gap, said recesses being formed on both sides of said magnetic head such that said gap extends from one recess to another thereby the width of said gap is defined by said recesses, said recesses also defining a magnetic tip portion extending in a substantially longitudinal direction of said recording medium-contact surface along said recording medium-contact surface, said longitudinal direction corresponding to a longitudinal direction of an intended track pattern formed and scanned by said magnetic head, said gap extending in a direction so as to intersect said longitudinal direction at an angle other than a right angle to provide an azimuth; and a winding provided to said magnetic circuit; said magnetic head being manufactured through the steps of: forming grooves in first and second magnetic blocks in longitudinal direction thereof, said first and second magnetic blocks being used to form a plurality of said first and second core halves respectively; forming gap width-defining recesses in one surfaces of said first and second magnetic blocks such that walls of said recesses are inclined from a plane normal to the upper surfaces of said first and second magnetic blocks; providing a gap spacer layer, used to form a plurality of said gap spacer, on said upper surface of either of said first and second magnetic blocks; assembling said first and second magnetic blocks so that said upper surfaces and said gap width-defining recesses of said first and second magnetic blocks face each other to form a plurality of bores; insert a non-magnetic material into said bores so that said non-magnetic material is melted thereafter and solidified to secure said first and second magnetic blocks to each other to provide an intermediate product; cutting said intermediate product along planes passing through said bores for producing a plurality of head assemblies, said planes being inclined from said plane normal to the plane of said first and second magnetic blocks so as to provide a desired azimuth; and providing a winding to each of said head assemblies to complete a plurality of magnetic heads.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The object and features of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: Figs. 1 A to 1 G show a manufacturing process of a conventional magnetic head with azimuth; Figs. 2A to 2C are top plan views of a tapecontact surface of the head manufactured according to the conventional process of Figs.

1A to 1G; Figs. 3A to 5 show a manufacturing process of the head according to the present invention, Figs. 3A and 3B showing magnetic blocks used for manufacturing a magnetic head with azimuth according to the present invention, Figs. 4A to 4C showing the way of machining the block of Figs. 3A and 3B in a special manner, and Fig. 5 being a perspective view of an intermediate product produced by assembling the blocks of Figs. 4A and 4B; Fig. 6A is a perspective view of the magnetic head according to the present invention, which is manufactured through the process illustrated in Figs. 3A to Fig. 5; Fig. 6B is a top plan view of the tapecontact surface of the head shown in Fig. 6A; and Fig. 6C is a top plan view of the tapecontact surface of a head which is a modification of the head shown in Figs. 6A and 6B.

The same or corresponding elements and parts are designated at like reference numerals throughout the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVEN TION Prior to describing embodiments of the present invention, a conventional video head will be described for a better understanding of the present invention.

Figs. 1 A to 1 G show a manufacturing pro cess of a conventional magnetic head used in a video tape (cassette) recorder of helical scan type. First of all, a groove 2, which becomes a winding window, is formed in a rectangular prism shaped block 1 made of ferrite so as to be parallel to its longitudinal direction as shown in Fig. 1A. Then recesses 3 and 3', which define a gap width and therefore track width, are formed in the ferrite blcok 1, in which the groove 2 has been formed, as seen in Fig. 1 B. These recesses are referred to as gap width-defining recesses hereinafter. On the other hand, as seen in Fig. 1 C, in another ferrite block 1' which is similar to the abovementioned ferrite block 1, is formed a groove 2' in a direction parallel to a transverse direction.Then, a non-magnetic layer 4 having a given thickness is provided to a given portion of the ferrite block 1 by way of sputtering or the like, and the ferrite block 1 with the nonmagnetic layer 4 is attached to the ferrite block 1', in which the gap width-defining recesses 3' have been formed, in face to face fashion. Bores defined by the gap widthdefining recesses 3 and 3' are filled with glass which is melted once and then solidified. A block assembly 6 formed such that the ferrite blocks 1 and 1' are adhered to each other by solidified glass 5 is cut along planes as indicated by dot-dash lines in Fig. 1 F so as to provide an azimuth 8, i.e. the orientation of the gap with respect to a longitudinal direction of the tape-contact surface of the head.

Through these manufacturing steps, a magnetic head 7 shown in Fig. 1 G is obtained.

Figs. 2A to 2C show a top plan views of the tape-contact surface of the video head produced by the process illustrated in Figs. 1A to 1 G. Since the direction of gap width-defining recesses 3 and 3' formed in the ferrite blocks 1 and 1' is normal to the upper surface of the ferrite blocks 3 and 3', a top plan view of the magnetic head 7 is resulted as shown in Fig.

2A, 2B and 2C. As clearly seen, a magnetic tip portion defined between the gap widthdefining recesses 3 and 3' is not situated in parallel to the longitudinal direction of the tape-contact surface, which corresponds to the direction of gap locus made on relative motion between the head 7 and an unshown video tape. When such a convetional video head is used fon recording/playback in a video tape recorder, the solidified glass 5 filled in the recesses is apt to be scraped off due to friction with the tape. As a result, the head tip portion becomes undulatory causing the tape to bounce around the gap 8, and therefore aforementiond undesirable phonema are re resulted .

In addition, when a magnetic tip portion 9 is biased to either side in the thickness direction of the core as shown in Fig. 2B, or the depth of the gap width-defining recess is too deep as shown in Fig. 2C, a portion having a narrower width than that of the gap 8 is apt to be made in the magnetic tip portion resulting in decrease in reproduce output accordingly because a high reluctance portion is provided around the gap 8. Since the probability of the occurrence of such defect is high, productivity becomes low, resulting in a high cost.

The present invention obviates the abovementioned drawback, and an embodiment thereof will be described hereinbelow.

Figs. 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, 4C and 5 show a manufacturing process of the magnetic head according to the present invention. First of all as shown in Figs. 3A and 3B, a rectangular prism shaped block 11 made of a given magnetic material such as ferrite, is machined to form a groove 12, which becomes a window for a winding of each head to be produced, in a direction parallel to the longitudinal direction thereof, and another groove 13 in parallel to the groove 12. A groove 13' similar to the groove 13 is formed in another block 11' which is similar to the abovementioned block 11. The process of forming the above-mentioned grooves 12, 13 and 13' is substantially the same as the conventional process.

Nextly, as shown in Figs. 4A and 4B, gap width-defining recesses 14, which also define a track width, are formed on an upper surface of the block 11, while gap width-defining recesses 14' similar to the above-mentioned recesses 14 are formed on an upper surface of the block 11' in which the groove 13' has been formed.

The forming state of these gap width-defining recesses 14 and 14' brings about the feature of the magnetic head according to the present invention. More specifically, each of the gap width-defining recesses 14 is machined such that the direction of a depth D thereof is not normal to the upper surface of the block 11 as seen in Fig. 4A. In other words, side walls 14W defining each gap width-defining recess 14 has an angle B, with respect to a line L normal to the plane of the upper surface of the block 11 as best seen in Fig. 4C. To this end, the block 11 is held to be inclined with respect to a cutting machine such that a back side, i.e. upper portion in Fig. 4A, is held higher than a front side, i.e.

lower portion in Fig. 4A. The other block 11' is also machined in a similar manner so that each of the gap width-defining recesses 14' extends in a direction other than a right angle with respect to the upper surface of the block 14' as seen in Fig. 4B.

The angle Oi between the plane of the side wall 14W and a plane including the abovementioned line L normal to the upper surfaces of the block 11 or 11' is set to a predetermined desired azimuth, such as 30 by which the gap 18 will be inclined in use with respect to a transverse direction of a gap locus, which corresponds to a longidudinal direction of a track to be formed and scanned by the head on an unshown magnetic recording tape on recording.

While it is preferable that the angle B, equals the azimuth, such as 30', the angle Oi is not required to be exactly equal to the azimuth. According to experiments, a desired effect is obtained when 81 is set to + 5' from the azimuth which will be determined by the following manufacturing process. Although actual azimuth of a head gap is determined by not only the inclination angle of the gap but also by a situation of the head with respect to a recording medium, such as a video tape in the case of a video tape recorder, it is assumed that an azimuth of the head gap is simply determined by the inclination of the gap with respect to the longitudinal direction of the tape-contact surface which corresponds to the direction of the gap locus indicated at a reference X in Fig. 6B.For instance, when a desired azimuth equals 30 , the angle B, may assume a value ranging from 25' to 35'.

Given data is inputted beforehand to a cutting apparatus or machine used for forming the gap width-defining recesses 14 and 14' for keeping a vertical distance between the magnetic block 11 or 11' and the cutting machine so that the depth D of each of the gap widthdefining recesses 14 and 14' is always constant.

Each of the gap width-defining recesses 14 and 14' is also inclines so that the depth D thereof becomes smaller and smaller to approach zero in a direction from the tapecontact surface 1 7S toward the inside of the blocks 11 and 1 1'. Such inclination of the recesses 14 and 14' with respet to a direction normal to the tape-contact surface is expressed in terms of a in Figs. 4A and 4B, and is provided to prevent glass to be filled in bores formed by the recesses as will be described herein later, from flowing out when melted.

After this a non-magnetic film or layer of Al203 or SiO2 is provided to a given position of the block 11 shown in Fig. 4A by way of sputtering in a manner similar to the conventional method so as to form a portion which becomes a gap of the magnetic head. The block 11 is adhered to the block 11' of Fig.

4B in face to face fashion such that the upper surfaces thereof are coupled with each other, and then non-magnetic glass 15 is molded in bores defined by the gap width-defining recesses 14 and 14' so that an intermediate product 16 formed by the adhered blocks 11 and 11' is provided as shown in Fig. 5.

As slicing the intermediate product 16 along imaginary planes shown by dot-dash lines in Fig. 5, a plurality of magnetic heads assemblies 17 according to the present invention are obtained. Each of the imaginary planes for cutting is inclined so as to be parallel to the plane of the side walls 14W of Fig. 4C. In other words, the imaginary plane has an angle equal to the azimuth 82 with respect to a plane (see line L in Fig. 4C) normal to a plane including one of the abovementioned upper surfaces.

A schematic perspective view of the video head 17 manufactured in this way is shown in Fig 6A. The head 17 comprises two core halves 1 1 C and 11C' respectively corresponding to a portion of the magnetic blocks 11 and 11'. The distance of the gap 18 is defined by the thickness of the non magnetic material 21 (see Figs. 4A and 5), while the width of the gap 18 is defined by the recesses 14 and 14' filled with the glass 15. The tapecontact surface 1 7S is polished in a conventional manner and, a winding 20 is provided.

Then the magnetic head 17 is attached to a suitable core holder or casing (not shown) to provide a completed product which is to be attached to an unshown rotary cylinder of a video tape recorder.

A top plan view of the tape-contact surface 1 7S of the magnetic head 17 shown in Fig.

6A is seen in Fig. 6B. Since the head is cut from the intermediate product 16 of Fig. 5 along planes having an angle 82 equal to a desired azimuth, the gap 18 extends, along the tape-contact surface 1 7S, in a direction so as to intersect the longitudinal direction X at an angle other than a right angle. In detail, an angle made between the gap 18 and the longitudinal direction X is expressed by 90' + 02.Since the gap width-defining recesses 14 and 14' extend, along the tape-contact surface 1 7s, in the longitudinal direction X with allowance of f 5', the gap 18 also intersect the extending direction of the re cesses 14 and 14' at an angle 90 + 8, 82 + 5 . Since the gap width-defining recesses 14 and 14' are formed with inclination as shown in Figs. 4A to 4C, by the angle B,, which is close to the azimuth 82, the non-magnetic material (glass) 15 filled in the recesses extend in substantially longitudinal direction of the tape-contact surface 1 7S. As a result, a magnetic tip portion 19, defined between opposed recesses 14 and 14' filled with the glass 15, extends in the longitudinal direction of the tape-contact surface 1 7S. The direction of a locus of the gap 18 to be resulted on relative movement between the head 17 and an unshown recording tape, is indicated by an arrow X. From Fig. 6B it will be understood that the magnetic tip portion 19 is parallel to the direction of the gap locus X, and therefore, a portion of the tape, which comes into contact with the magnetic tip portion 19, does not contact the glass 15. Therefore, the relative movement between the head 17 and the tape hardly scrapes off the glass portions 15. As a result, the tape-contact surface 1 7S is difficult to become undulatory around the gap 18.Moreover, even if the glass portion 15 is scraped off in the same manner as in the conventional head with azimuth, the tape does not bounce around the gap 18 because the relative movement between the tape and the head tip portion 19 is substantially parallel to the gap locus X. Therefore, unstable relative movement or undesirable vibrations around the gap 18 of the tape around the gap 18 are not resulted accordingly. For this reason, noise caused from such unstable movement or undesirable vibrations does not occur and the deterioration in C/N ratio is effectively is prevented.

Furthermore, even if the magnetic tip portion 19 is biased to either side in the direction of the thickness of the cores of the head 17 due to inaccurate cutting from the intermediate product 16 of Fig. 5, a given thickness of the magnetic tip portion 19 is ensured around the gap 18 because of the above-mentioned longitudinal extention of the magnetic tip portion 19. Therefore, there is no high-reluctance portion, which deteriorates the magnetic characteristic of the head 17 due to leakage flux, throughout the magnetic circuit of the head except for the gap 18.

From the foregoing it will be understod that the magnetic head according to the present invention may be readily manufactured with manufacturing techniques generally the same as the conventional technique except for the provision of the inclined gap width-defining recesses 14 and 14', while the productivity of the magnetic heads manufactured in this way is high enough so that a low manufacturing cost is achieved due to reduction of the number of substandard products.

Although it has not been mentioned in the above about a detailed angle of the azimuth, when an azimuth is equal to or greater than 10 , a remarkable difference will appear between a magnetic head produced by the conventional process and a magnetic head produced by the above process.

Fig.6C shows a modification of the abovedescribed embodiment by way of a top plan view of a tape-contact surface of the magnetic head according to the present invention. The magnetic head of Fig.6C differs from that shown in Fig. 6B in that corners C of the recesses 14 and 14' filled with. glass 15 are rounded. With such round corners, the relative movement between the head and the tape becomes smooth. Moreover, such round corners are advantageous compared to squarish corners of Fig. 6B because the occurrence of undesirable cracks around the corners C is avoided.

The above-described embodiment is just an example of the present invention, and therefore, it will be apparent for those skilled in the art that many modifications and variations may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

1. A magnetic head with azimuth gap comprising: (a) first and second core halves attached to each other to form a magnetic circuit; (b) a gap spacer interposed between said first and second core halves at a gap portion of a recording medium-contact surface of said magnetic head so as to define the distance of said gap;; (c) non-magnetic material filled in recesses formed in said magnetic head around said gap, said recesses being formed on both sides of said magnetic head such that said gap extends from one recess to another thereby the width of said gap is defined by said recesses, said recesses also defining a magnetic tip portion extending in a substantially longitudinal direction of said recording medium-contact surface along said recording medium-contact surface, said longitudinal direction corresponding to a longitudinal direction of an intended track pattern formed and scanned by said magnetic head, said gap extending in a direction so as to intersect said longitudinal direction at an angle other than a right angle to provide an azimuth; and (d) a winding provided to said magnetic circuit.

2. A magnetic head as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said recesses have round corners.

3. A magnetic head as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein said angle other than a right angle is in a range from 90 + said azimuth i 5'.

4. A method of manufacturing a magnetic head with azimuth, comprising the steps of: (a) forming grooves in first and second magnetic blocks in longitudinal direction thereof; (b) forming gap width-defining recesses in one surfaces of said first and second magnetic blocks such that walls of said recesses are inclined from a plane normal to the upper surfaces of said first and second magnetic blocks; (c) providing a gap spacer layer on said upper surface of either of said first and second magnetic blocks; (d) assembling said first and second magnetic blocks so that said upper surfaces and said gap width-defining recesses of said first and second magnetic blocks face each other to form a plurality of bores; ; (e) insert a non-magnetic material into said bores so that said non-magnetic material is melted thereafter and solidified to secure said first and second magnetic blocks to each other to provide an intermediate product; (f) cutting said intermediate product along planes passing through said bores for producing a plurality of head assemblies, said planes being inclined from said plane normal to the plane of said upper surfaces of said first and second magnetic blocks so as to provide a desired azimuth; and

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. the conventional head with azimuth, the tape does not bounce around the gap 18 because the relative movement between the tape and the head tip portion 19 is substantially parallel to the gap locus X. Therefore, unstable relative movement or undesirable vibrations around the gap 18 of the tape around the gap 18 are not resulted accordingly. For this reason, noise caused from such unstable movement or undesirable vibrations does not occur and the deterioration in C/N ratio is effectively is prevented. Furthermore, even if the magnetic tip portion 19 is biased to either side in the direction of the thickness of the cores of the head 17 due to inaccurate cutting from the intermediate product 16 of Fig. 5, a given thickness of the magnetic tip portion 19 is ensured around the gap 18 because of the above-mentioned longitudinal extention of the magnetic tip portion 19. Therefore, there is no high-reluctance portion, which deteriorates the magnetic characteristic of the head 17 due to leakage flux, throughout the magnetic circuit of the head except for the gap 18. From the foregoing it will be understod that the magnetic head according to the present invention may be readily manufactured with manufacturing techniques generally the same as the conventional technique except for the provision of the inclined gap width-defining recesses 14 and 14', while the productivity of the magnetic heads manufactured in this way is high enough so that a low manufacturing cost is achieved due to reduction of the number of substandard products. Although it has not been mentioned in the above about a detailed angle of the azimuth, when an azimuth is equal to or greater than 10 , a remarkable difference will appear between a magnetic head produced by the conventional process and a magnetic head produced by the above process. Fig.6C shows a modification of the abovedescribed embodiment by way of a top plan view of a tape-contact surface of the magnetic head according to the present invention. The magnetic head of Fig.6C differs from that shown in Fig. 6B in that corners C of the recesses 14 and 14' filled with. glass 15 are rounded. With such round corners, the relative movement between the head and the tape becomes smooth. Moreover, such round corners are advantageous compared to squarish corners of Fig. 6B because the occurrence of undesirable cracks around the corners C is avoided. The above-described embodiment is just an example of the present invention, and therefore, it will be apparent for those skilled in the art that many modifications and variations may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

4. A method of manufacturing a magnetic head with azimuth, comprising the steps of: (a) forming grooves in first and second magnetic blocks in longitudinal direction thereof; (b) forming gap width-defining recesses in one surfaces of said first and second magnetic blocks such that walls of said recesses are inclined from a plane normal to the upper surfaces of said first and second magnetic blocks; (c) providing a gap spacer layer on said upper surface of either of said first and second magnetic blocks; (d) assembling said first and second magnetic blocks so that said upper surfaces and said gap width-defining recesses of said first and second magnetic blocks face each other to form a plurality of bores;; (e) insert a non-magnetic material into said bores so that said non-magnetic material is melted thereafter and solidified to secure said first and second magnetic blocks to each other to provide an intermediate product; (f) cutting said intermediate product along planes passing through said bores for producing a plurality of head assemblies, said planes being inclined from said plane normal to the plane of said upper surfaces of said first and second magnetic blocks so as to provide a desired azimuth; and

(g) providing a winding to each of said head assemblies to complete a plurality of magnetic heads.

5. A method as claimed in Claim 4, wherein said walls of said gap width-defining recesses are inclined by an angle ranging from said azimuth + 5 to said azimuth 5'.

6. A method as claimed in claim 4 or 5 wherein said planes along which said intermediate product is cut into said plurality of head assemblies, is inclined by said azimuth.

7. A method as claimed in claim 4, 5 or 6 wherein said step of forming said gap widthdefining recesses comprises a step of: (a) holding said first block so that said upper surface thereof is inclined with respect to a cutting machine; (b) cutting a first recess on said upper surface of said first magnetic block by way of said cutting machine; (c) adjusting a vertical distance between said first magnetic block and said cutting machine; (d) cutting a second recess in the same manner as in said step (b); (e) repeating said steps (c) and (d) to form all said gap width-defining recesses on said upper surface of said first magnetic block; and (f) performing said steps (a) through (e) in connection with said second magnetic block.

8. A magnetic head with azimuth gap comprising: (a) first and second core halves attached to each other to form a magnetic circuit; (b) a gap spacer interposed between said first and second core halves at a gap portion of a recording medium-contact surface of said magnetic head so as to define the distance of said gap;; (c) non-magnetic material filled in recesses formed in said magnetic head around said gap, said recesses being formed on both sides of said magnetic head such that said gap extends from one recess to another thereby the width of said gap is defined by said recesses, said recesses also defining a magnetic tip portion extending in a substantially longitudinal direction of said recording medium-contact surface along said recording medium-contact surface, said longitudinal direction corresponding to a longitudinal direction of an intended track pattern formed and scanned by said magnetic head, said gap extending in a direction so as to intersect said longitudinal direction at an angle other than a right angle to provide an azimuth; and (d) a winding provided to said magnetic circuit; said magnetic head being manufactured through the steps of: i) forming grooves in first and second magnetic blocks in longitudinal direction thereof, said first and second magnetic blocks being used to form a plurality of said first and second core halves respectively; ii) forming gap width-defining recesses in one surfaces of said first and second magnetic blocks such that walls of said recesses are inclined from a plane normal to the upper surfaces of said first and second magnetic blocks; iii) providing a gap spacer layer, used to form a plurality of said gap spacer, on said upper surface of either of said first and second magnetic blocks; iv) assembling said first and second magnetic blocks so that said upper surfaces and said gap width-defining recesses of said first and second magnetic blocks face each other to form a plurality of bores;; v) insert a non-magnetic material into said bores so that said non-magnetic material is melted thereafter and solidified to secure said first and second magnetic blocks to each other to provide an intermediate product; vi) cutting said intermediate product along planes passing through said bores for producing a plurality of head assemblies, said planes being inclined from said plane normal to the plane of said upper surfaces of said first and second magnetic blocks so as to provide a desired azimuth; and vii) providing a winding to each of said head assemblies to complete a plurality of magnetic heads.

9. A magnetic head with azimuth gap substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 5 or 6 of the accompanying drawings.

10. A method of manufacturing a magnetic head with azimuth gap substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.