JPH09180395A - Belt-driven type tape cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a belt from snaking and reduce the error rate by providing a belt driving roller and a guide roller with grooves of which depth is the same as the thickness of the belt and of which width is the same as the width of the belt. SOLUTION: Plural guide pins 5, a drive roller 6, etc., of a guide means guide a recording tape 2 which has both its ends wound around a couple of tape reels 11, 12 to a specific travel path. A driving belt 3 has its internal surface supported movably by a belt driving roller 10 and plural belt guide rollers 4 and its external surface is always in contact with the recording tape 2 at least two places. The belt driving rollers 10, 100 and belt guide rollers 4, 40 are provided with the grooves 110, 101 which are as wide as the driving belt 2 and also as deep as the driving belt 2 is thick, and the belt driving rollers 10, 100 and belt guide rollers 4, 40 are so arranged that the breadthwise centers of those grooves meet each other between the belt driving rollers 10, 100 and belt guide rollers 4, 40.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a belt drive type recording tape cartridge suitable for data backup of a computer, and more particularly to a data cartridge suitable for high density recording.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Belt-driving recording tape cartridges are widely used for backing up data in computers and the like because of their simplicity and large storage capacity. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,692,255 and 4,581. , 1
No. 89, No. 4,466,564 and the like disclose this kind of tape cartridge.

FIG. 3 shows a typical example of a belt drive type recording tape cartridge. The main body of the cartridge is configured by combining a base plate 1 formed of a metal such as aluminum and an upper half (not shown) formed of a plastic such as polycarbonate. On the base plate 1, a pair of tape reel hubs 11 and 12 are rotatably provided. A recording tape 2 (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as a tape) is wound around the reel hub, and a plurality of guide pins 5 and a belt driving roller 10 are provided.
Travels along the route formed by.

On the other hand, a drive belt 3 (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as a belt) is stretched around a belt drive roller 10 and a corner roller 4, and the outer surface of the belt presses the outermost circumference of the tape. When the drive roller 6 normally provided on the drive side rotates the belt drive roller 10 on the cartridge side, the belt moves in the rotation direction of the belt drive roller 10. The drive roller 6 is also normally driven by a motor (not shown) provided on the drive side. When the belt 3 moves, the tape 2 runs due to the frictional force between the belt 3 and the tape 2. When recording or reproducing information on the tape, the recording / reproducing head 20 on the drive side contacts the tape 2.

[0005]

In such a tape cartridge, the drive belt is different from the belt drive roller and the guide roller in FIG. 4 (a) (guide roller).
Further, as shown in FIG. 4B (drive roller), the rollers are wound around the center of each roller. Since it is a belt drive system, the force applied to the belt is large, but conventionally these rollers are shown in FIG. 5 (a) (guide roller), FIG.
It had the shape shown in (drive roller), and the belt meandered up and down inevitably. As a result, the end surface of the belt on which the stress is concentrated is gradually damaged, the winding of the tape is disturbed, and the transfer is generated as a result, which causes a reduction in the error rate.

Such a problem is that a belt made by punching a sheet into an annular shape and then stretching it while twisting is
Since the circumferential lengths of the belts at both ends in the width direction are different, the problem of meandering is significant.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a belt drive type tape cartridge which prevents the belt from meandering and has a small error rate. That is, the gist of the present invention is to provide a pair of tape reels, a recording tape whose both ends are wound around the pair of tape reels, and guide means for guiding the recording tape to a predetermined traveling path.
In a belt drive recording tape cartridge, the inner surface of which is movably supported by a belt drive roller and a plurality of belt guide rollers, and the outer surface of which is in constant contact with the tape at at least two points. Has a groove having the same width as the belt and the same depth as the thickness of the belt, and the center of the groove in the width direction is arranged so that the drive roller and the guide roller have the same center. It exists in a drive type tape cartridge.

Further, the gist of the present invention is to provide a pair of tape reels, a recording tape whose both ends are wound around the pair of tape reels, guide means for guiding the recording tape to a predetermined traveling path, and a belt drive on the inner surface. A belt drive recording tape cartridge having a roller and a belt which is movably supported by a plurality of belt guide rollers and whose outer surface is in constant contact with the tape at at least two points. There is a groove on the surface that contacts the belt, and the cross section of the groove is
From the bottom of the groove as one side, the smallest rectangular part that covers the cross section of the belt, the lower bottom that is in contact with this rectangle and has the same width as the bottom of the groove, and the substantially trapezoidal part that has an upper bottom shorter than this lower base It exists in a belt drive type tape cartridge characterized by being configured.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 (a) and 1 (b) are diagrams showing a configuration example of a guide roller 40 and a belt driving roller 100 according to the present invention. As is apparent from the figure, all the rollers according to the present invention have belt guide grooves 101 and 110. The sectional shape of the belt guide groove is preferably determined in consideration of the sectional shape of the belt used.

That is, the width is the same as the width of the belt used, and the depth of the groove is also the same as the thickness of the belt used. If the width of the groove is wider than the width of the belt, the effect of suppressing the meandering of the belt becomes insufficient. If the groove depth is shallower than the belt thickness, the edges of the belt will scrape the rollers,
Since dust is generated, it causes an error, and conversely, in the case of a groove deeper than the belt thickness, fluttering in the belt groove depth direction cannot be suppressed.

In order to suppress fluttering in the depth direction of the groove, it is preferable to form the groove as shown in FIG. 2, for example.
In FIG. 2, the cross section of the groove has a minimum rectangular portion 105 having the bottom surface of the groove as one side and including the cross section of the belt, a lower bottom which is in contact with this rectangle and has the same width as the bottom surface of the groove, and Also comprises a trapezoidal portion 106 having a short upper base. This trapezoidal portion is provided in order to prevent the 106 belt from fluttering in the depth direction of the groove, and does not necessarily have to have a straight hypotenuse.

When installing the roller in the cartridge,
The rollers are installed so that the center positions of the grooves in the width direction are the same. If the center position is different, the belt does not run stably and the effect of the present invention cannot be sufficiently obtained.

Using the tape cartridge of FIG. 3 having the roller having the shape of FIG. 1, the winding state and the error rate were evaluated. The evaluation method is as follows. (Rolled state) The running state from the beginning to the end of the tape was set as one pass, and the wound state after 20,000 passes was visually observed and evaluated. (Reading error) After formatting the tape and writing random data, it is compared with the read data after 20,000 passes, and the number of mismatched data is measured. Table 1 shows the evaluation results.

[0014]

[Table 1]

As is apparent from Table 1, when the cartridge of the present invention is used, winding disorder and the number of errors are greatly reduced.

[0016]

As described above, in the belt drive type tape cartridge, by providing the belt drive roller and the belt guide roller with the groove for preventing the meandering, it is possible to stably wind the tape, and as a result, the transfer is performed. This has the effect of reducing data errors.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a roller according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another example of the groove shape.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a belt drive type tape cartridge.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an arrangement of belts and rollers in a conventional cartridge.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional roller.

[Explanation of symbols] [Explanation of symbols]

 1 Base Plate 2 Recording Tape 3 Drive Belt 4,40 Belt Guide Roller 5 Guide Pin 6 Drive Roller 10,100 Belt Drive Roller 11,12 Tape Reel 20 Storage / Playback Head 105 Rectangular Section 106 Trapezoidal Section 101,110 Groove

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A pair of tape reels, a recording tape whose both ends are wound around the pair of tape reels, and guide means for guiding the recording tape to a predetermined traveling path.
A belt drive type recording tape cartridge having an inner surface movably supported by a belt drive roller and a plurality of belt guide rollers, and an outer surface thereof which is in constant contact with the tape at at least two locations. The guide roller has a groove having the same width as the belt and the same depth as the thickness of the belt, and the centers of the groove in the width direction are arranged so that the drive roller and the guide roller have the same center. Belt drive type tape cartridge. 2. A pair of tape reels, a recording tape whose both ends are wound around the pair of tape reels, and guide means for guiding the recording tape to a predetermined traveling path.
A belt drive recording tape cartridge having an inner surface movably supported by a belt drive roller and a plurality of belt guide rollers, and an outer surface having a belt which is in constant contact with the tape at at least two points. The belt guide roller has a groove on the surface in contact with the belt, and the cross section of the groove has a minimum rectangular portion including the cross section of the belt with the bottom surface of the groove as one side, and the bottom surface of the groove that is in contact with this rectangle. A belt drive type tape cartridge comprising a lower base having the same width as that of the above and a substantially trapezoidal portion having an upper base shorter than the lower bottom.