Patent GB-848063-A (GB)
Title: Reel cartridge selection and handling device
IPC: G11B15/68
Filed: 1959-06-11
Abstract: 848,063. Magnetic recording &c. apparatus. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION. June 11, 1959 [June 12, 1958], No. 20071/59. Class 40 (2). A selective magazine tape-recorder stores a plurality of magazines and has drivable carriage means to transfer any selected magazine to and from a drive/transduce assembly, where the tape is processed, all the operations being under the control of a programme unit. Storage arrangements.-Magazines 30 are stored at three levels A, B, C in each of two assemblies 14, 16, disposed on either side of the carriage assembly 18. Drive/transduce units 10, 12 flank the stores 14, 16. Each store has eight stations at the levels B, C and six at the level A, two positions being required for cartridge transfer operations. The magazines hang from rails by rollers 32, 34. To transfer a magazine, a trolley 154 is driven normal to the paper by a reversible motor and endless cables to an appropriate station; a similarly driven elevator is raised to the appropriate level, the alignment being maintained by solenoid-operated detents. A rail 326, Fig. 3, is now aligned with the storage rails, and slide members 338, 340, Fig. 12, can be driven in either direction to transfer magazines 30 from either of the store assemblies 14, 16 to and from the carriage. The carriage is despatched to the delivery station and ejected by the slide members 338, 340. If the tape is to be transduced, delivery is made to one or other of the " A2 " stations. Dmive/transduce arrangements.-The tape is driven by one or the other of two oppositelyrotating capstans associated with vacuum columns 728, 730, Fig. 1, and servo-controlled reel-motors as detailed in Specification 733,807, and a magazine 30, waiting on a " loading " rail 458 is loaded by the member 602, as in Figs. 27 to 30. A protective trap-door 80 in the base of the magazine is opened and the vacuum columns 728, 730 draw a bight of tape into them and across the capstans; after transducing, the member 602 proceeds as in Figs. 30 to 32 to place the magazine on an " unloading " rail 562, the " loading " rail 458 being gapped to allow the magazine to pass. The magazine is collected by the carriage as described earlier. A duplicate set of apparatus, operating in unison with the first, loads a magazine into the assembly 12, according as one or other of the " A2 " positions is occupied by a magazine. When not in the transducing position, the reels in each magazine are held against rotation and hence tape-spillage by friction discs which are disengaged when the magazine is engaged with the drive means. The splines on the reeldriving shafts 460, Fig. 21, are formed by balls 512, captive in stepped bores 510 and forced outwardly by a wedge 514. Programming arrangements.-Four instructions are used to move the magazines 30. TAKE and PUT operate the slide members 338, 340, Fig. 12, to transfer a magazine from its storage position to the carriage and vice versa, while FETCH and STORE transfer the carriage from the storage position to the " A2 " position, Fig. 1, and vice versa. Thus, TAKE+ FETCH + PUT transfers a magazine to where it can be moved into transducing position by the member 602, Figs. 27-30, and TAKE+ STORE+PUT replaces the magazine, Figs. 30-32. A typical control panel is shown in Fig. 35 where 1, 2, 4, 8 represent the storage stations in binary form, A, B and A+B represent the levels A, B, C and L, R represent the left and right stores 14, 16, respectively. Associated with each storage position and with each state of the moving parts are microswitches and a logical system of relays (Figs. 36 to 52, not shown) which sense whether a proposed course of action is possible and if so, feed power to the transport motors and solenoids. If, however, a proposed course is impossible, e.g. a proposed address is already occupied or a storage space from which a magazine was to have been fetched registers as empty, the machine ceases operation and a warning signal is given at a central control and monitoring point. U.S.A. Specification 2,792,217 also is referred to.