Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
  • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
  • G11B23/00—Record carriers not specific to the method of recording or reproducing; Accessories, e.g. containers, specially adapted for co-operation with the recording or reproducing apparatus ; Intermediate mediums; Apparatus or processes specially adapted for their manufacture
  • G11B23/02—Containers; Storing means both adapted to cooperate with the recording or reproducing means
  • G11B23/113—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for the manufacture of magazines or cassettes, e.g. initial loading into container

Definitions

• Cassettes loaded with a selected amount of magne ⁇ tic tape are generally manufactured in one of two ways.
• the first way involves starting with two hubs with a length of leader tape secured to and extending between the two hubs, severing the leader tape into two sections, splicing magnetic tape to the leader section connected to a first one of the two hubs, winding a selected length of magnetic tape onto that first hub, splicing the trailing end of the magnetic tape to the leader section connected to the second hub, and then inserting the two hubs into a cassette body.
• This type of loading is commonly called "hub loading”.
• the second common method is to load magne ⁇ tic tape directly into a C-Zero cassette.
• VHS and Betamax cassettes (a) have leaders which are rela ⁇ tively short as well as having different lengths, and (b) are of different size and employ different locking mechanisms.
• the relatively short leaders and the fact that the splicing tape must be applied to the inner surface of the leader when making a splice have restricted the design of the means used to extract the leader from the cassette and the means which support the leader during the splicing and winding operations.
• a further complication in the design of in-cassette video tape loading machines is that manufacturers of video cassettes may require that the length of the leader at one or both ends of the the magnetic tape be within certain prescribed limits.
• manufac ⁇ turers are quite concerned about the cosmetic appearance of the cassettes and are unwilling to uti-
• OMPI lize loading machines which may damage the exterior appearance of the cassette, provide uneven loading of magnetic tape, or damage the tape.
• in-cassette video tape loading machines are capable of loading only one type of cassette and hence two different machines are required to be purchased for loading VHS and Betamax cassettes.
• Other limita ⁇ tions of state of the art in-cassette video tape loading machines are relatively low production rates and slow and complicated means for extracting the leader from a cassette and placing it in position to be cut and spliced to the magnetic tape which is to be loaded into the cassette.
• Another problem associated with prior art loading machines is that the various tape-handling components are spread apart from one another to an extent that causes the machines to be relatively large and slow.
• the primary object of this invention is to provide a new and improved, winding machine which avoids the foregoing drawbacks of prior in-cassette loading machines.
• a more specific primary object of this invention is provide a cassette loading machine having improved means for shifting the leader tape from one to the other of the two cassette hubs of a C-Zero cassette before the leader is cut, whereby to assure that the leaders will always be cut the same distance from the bottom hub of the cassette.
• a machine having a panel, a splicing block as.sembly comprising first and second splicing blocks, a support for said blocks on said panel, means for pivoting one block relative to the other about a first axis fixed
• Fig. 1 is a front elevation of an in-cassette video loader which constitutes a preferred embodiment of the present invention adapted for loading VHS cassettes
• Fig. 2 is a front view in elevation of the same machine but with certain parts (such as the storage magazine and splicer) omitted so as to reveal details of the splicing block assembly and the leader extrac- tor mechanisms;
• Fig. 3 is a view like Fig. 2 but with the VHS adapter plate removed;
• Fig. 7 is a view like Fig. 6 but with the splicing block assembly support in a second position;
• Fig. 14 is a side view in elevation showing details of the splicer mechanism
• Fig. 21 is a view like Fig. 15 showing the cassette feeder and discharging mechanism employed when loading Betamax cassettes; and -9-
• the illustrated cassette tape splicing and winding machines comprises a console 2 having a front panel 4 which supports a splicing block assembly 5, an adhesive tape-dispensing splicer mechanism 6, a rotatable hub 7 for holding a reel of magnetic tape 8 that is used in filling cassettes, and a cassette storing and feeding mecha- • nism 9. Also mounted on front panel 4 is a plurality of fixed guide rollers 10 and a counter wheel 11 which cooperate with a guide roller 12 mounted on a shaft 14 on a dancer arm 13 (Fig. 4) to determine the path of movement of tape 8 from hub 7 to the splicing block assembly.
• Counter wheel 11 forms part of an electro- optical transducer assembly 15 (Fig. 4) which genera ⁇ tes tape footage-counting pulses.
• the transducer assembly 15 and counter wheel 11 are well known in the art and hence need not be described in detail (see U.S. Patent No. 4061286).
• Shaft 14 extends throug a curved slot 27 in panel 4 and arm 13 is connected the operating shaft of a rotary potentiometer 21 mounted on the rear side of panel 4. Potentiometer is connected into the control circuit of servo motor 18.
• Arm 13 is biased toward the splicing block assembly by a biasing mechanism comprising a small electric motor 33 and a string 35 which extends bet ⁇ ween the output shaft of motor 33 and arm 13.
• Motor 33 applies a predetermine pull on string 35 which is sufficient to move arm 13 to the right hand end (as seen in Fig. 1) of slot 37 when servo motors 18 and are off.
• the splicer forms no part of the present inven- tion. Moreover various forms of splicers may be used with the present invention. Accordingly, the splicer shown in the drawings is described herein only to the extent required to understand the operation of the
• Rotation of arm 114 by extension of piston rod 117 causes clutch 112 to operate a ratchet gear 122 on the front side of plate 110 which is coaxially coupled to clutch 112 and a feed wheel 124.
• the latter is adapted to feed an adhesive splicing tape from a supply roll (not shown) mounted on a hub 126 into position where it may be cut and applied to two tapes which are to be spliced.
• Carriage plate 152 has two apertures 153 and 155. 5 Aperture 153 is vertically elongated and aperture 155 has two radial extension slots 147 and 149.
• Servo motor 18 is affixed to the rear side of carriage plate 152 so as to move with plate 152 as it moves along rod 156. Motor 18 is provided with an output shaft to
• clutch 160 is a type S (shaft mounted) electromagnetic friction clutch having a housing 161 containing the field coil, a rotor 162 having a hub 163 secured to the output shaft 23 of motor 18, and an
• the field coil housing 161 surrounds and is rotatably mounted to rotor hub 163, and hub 165 of armature assembly 164 is rotatably mounted on the output shaft of motor 18.
• the head of a screw 167 screwed into a tapped hole in the end of shaft 23 holds armature
• carriage plate 152 serves as a support for an adaptor plate 182 which is designed to facilitate loading of VHS video cassettes.
• Pin 248 has a constant diameter except that it has a conically tapered front (free) end. Pin 248 extends perpendicularly to the adaptor plate and is disposed so that it can project through aperture 180 when the carriage is moved forward.
• Flat bar 242 extends in front of extractor pin support guide 236 and its angle relative to the piston rod may be adjusted by releasing screw 244, pivoting it about screw 244, and then retightening screw 244 to hold it in its new position.
• the stroke of platform 386 i.e., the length of its travel between plate 300 and stop plate 376 exceeds the thickness of the cassette to be loaded by a suitable amount such that when the platform moves into engagement with stop plate 376, a cassette may drop freely by gravity out of the loading position to a suitable receptacle or conveyo whereby it may be transported away from the loading machine.
• the platform 386 carries an upstanding plate 390 to which is attached a cassette restraining assembly comprising an L-shaped pivot support block 392 and a cassette restraining arm 394 pivotally connected by a pivot pin to block 392.
• a pin 398 connected to block 392 extends through an elongate oversized hole in arm 394.
• Pin 398 is surrounded by a compression spring 400 which urges arm 394 against support 392.
• Rotatably attached to the upper end of arm 394 is a roller 402 • which is sized and located so that as platform 386 moves to its inner limit position against plate 300, the roller will engage a cassette which has been -31-
• a typical VHS cassette 440 comprises a cassette body having top and bottom wall sections 442 and 443, a rear side wall section 444, and two end sections 445 and 446. At its front end the cassette has a door or cover member 447 having a top wall section 448, opposite end wall sec- tions 450 and 451, and a front wall section 452.
• controller 474 causes actuator 64 to rotate plate 26 again to place track 42 into a plane extending at a right angle to panel 4 and parallel to the axes of spindles 20 and 200. Then the controller causes the vacuum to tracks 42 and 46 to be turned off and wind motor 18 is again turned on so as to wind the trailing end of the magnetic tape and the second leader section into the cassette.

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• Replacement Of Web Rolls (AREA)

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ID=23719365

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Citations (10)

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• 1983
  • 1983-10-05 JP JP58503488A patent/JPS59501883A/ja active Granted
  • 1983-10-05 DE DE19833390256 patent/DE3390256T1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1983-10-05 WO PCT/US1983/001562 patent/WO1984001563A1/en active Application Filing
  • 1983-10-05 GB GB08408941A patent/GB2155444B/en not_active Expired
  • 1983-10-05 EP EP83903650A patent/EP0121562A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 1983-10-05 IT IT8323155A patent/IT1208167B/it active

Patent Citations (10)

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