Patent ID: 8675310

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: first and second beams each having a tape bearing surface, a face, a recess in the tape bearing surface thereof, the faces of the beams facing either towards each other or away from each other; a first chip being positioned in the recess of the first beam; a second chip being positioned in the recess of the second beam; wherein each chip has circuitry selected from a group consisting of read elements, write elements, and combinations thereof; wherein a tape bearing surface of each chip is generally aligned with the tape bearing surface of the associated beam; wherein an end of each chip is generally aligned with the face of the associated beam; wherein the tape bearing surfaces of the beams are generally planar; wherein the recess of each beam extends from the tape bearing surface into only a portion of the beam; wherein each chip has a closure extending therefrom, wherein the closures protrude beyond portions of sides of the beams, the sides of the beams facing towards or away from each other, the portions of the beams being positioned immediately adjacent the closures.