Patent ID: 11887625
Assignee: MAGSTOR INC.
Field: Audio-visual technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 16:
17. A tape drive, comprising:
a tape transport assembly, the tape transport assembly including a drive member, the drive member of the tape transport assembly configured to displace tape media in the tape drive; and
a tape roller assembly, the tape roller assembly including a roller member, the roller member having one or more slanted grooves or protrusions formed in an outer surface of the roller member, the roller member configured to support and/or guide the tape media as the tape media is displaced by the tape transport assembly, the one or more slanted grooves or protrusions of the roller member configured to burnish and/or clean the tape media so as to prevent damage to a tape head, and the one or more slanted grooves or protrusions of the roller member being angled so as to prevent the tape media from sliding in an axial direction of the roller member;
wherein the one or more slanted grooves or protrusions formed in the outer surface of the roller member comprise at least one pair of slanted opposed grooves that use a lapping action to burnish and/or clean the tape media, each of the slanted opposed grooves being disposed at an acute angle relative to a rotational axis of the roller member;
wherein the tape roller assembly further comprises a stop mechanism that restricts the roller member to rotating less than 360 degrees; and
wherein the lapping action of the slanted opposed grooves in the roller member is achieved by limiting the rotation of the roller member, and then slipping action between the tape media and the roller member creates the lapping action between the tape media and edges of the slanted opposed grooves, and when the rotation of the roller member has ceased, the slanted opposed grooves allow the drive member of the tape transport assembly to operate normally because the slanted opposed grooves create a stabilizing guiding force, while the edges of the slanted opposed grooves remove excess debris away from the tape media, and into the grooves.