Patent ID: 7130148

Claim:
A magnetic tape cartridge library apparatus, comprising: a first cartridge magazine for removably accommodating a plurality of magnetic tape cartridges in a plurality of slots in a plurality of stages in a vertical direction; a magnetic tape deck for reading or writing data from or onto a magnetic tape cartridge; a hand apparatus disposed on a front side of said magnetic tape deck; and a magazine feeding mechanism for feeding said first cartridge magazine forwardly or rearwardly on one of left and right sides of said hand apparatus; said hand apparatus being operable to insert or take out said magnetic tape cartridge into or from said first cartridge magazine and transport the magnetic tape cartridge between said first cartridge magazine and said magnetic tape deck, and wherein said magazine feeding mechanism feeds said first cartridge magazine forwardly or rearwardly along a rail, and wherein said magazine feeding mechanism comprises: a movable table movable forwardly and rearwardly along said rail with said first cartridge magazine; a toothed rack at a bottom portion of said movable table, a drive gear for meshing with said toothed rack, and a motor for rotating said drive gear, wherein at least one of said plurality of slots has a longitudinal axis which is substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of said rail.