AUTOMATED CHANGER-PLAYER FOR MAGNETIC TAPE CARTRIDGE RECORDINGS

• US 3,749,410 A
• Filed: 04/13/1970
• Issued: 07/31/1973
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/1970
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: John A. Britz
• Original Assignee: John A. Britz
• Inventors: Britz, John A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Haroian, Harry N.
• Application Number:
  US05/027,886
• Time in Patent Office: 1,205 Days
• Field of Search: 274/4E,4F 242/197-200
• US Class Current: 360/69
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 15/6865 with a fixed recorder or player under the magazine

Abstract

An automated changer-player for magnetic tape cartridge recordings in which a plurality of cartridges are stored in a rotary drum storage magazine having a stepping drive to advance the cartridges, one-by-one, to a transfer position. A transfer mechanism transfers a cartridge along a path parallel to the drum axis to an intermediate position in a tape play mechanism that includes two tape decks arranged in V-shaped configuration on opposite sides of the intermediate position. The cartridge is shifted angularly, first to one tape deck and then to the other, to play both sides of the tape, and then is returned to the intermediate position and transferred back to the storage drum. A sequential electrical control for the changer-player includes a selector to select tapes for playing on an individual basis, with provision for skipping empty tape positions in the drum.

Claims

1. An automated changer-player for magnetic tape dual-reel cartridge recordings:

a rotary drum affording a storage magazine having a plurality of tape storage compartments each capable of receiving and storing a tape cartridge;

a stepping drive for rotating said magazine to advance said cartridges, one by one, to a transfer position;

a transfer mechanism for transferring a cartridge along a predetermined linear transfer path, parallel to the axis of the storage drum, between said transfer position and an intermediate position aligned with and immediately adjacent to one end of said drum;

a tape play mechanism, comprising first and second stationary tape play decks located immediately adjacent to the opposite sides of said intermediate position, said tape decks being disposed in an angular V-alignment relative to each other with the bight of the V parallel to the axis of the storage drum;

a shift mechanism, included in said tape play mechanism, comprising a cartridge holder support shaft extending through the bight of the V formed by said tape play decks, parallel to the storage drum axis, a cartridge holder pivotally mounted on said support shaft for receiving a cartridge at said intermediate position, and shift actuating means for pivoting the cartridge holder, about said support shaft, to shift the cartridge between said intermediate position, a first playing position in which the cartridge engages the first tape deck to play the forward tracks on the cartridge tape, and a second playing position in which the cartridge engages the second tape deck to play the reverse tracks on the cartridge tape, the total pivotal shifting movement of the cartridge holder, between the first and second playing positions, traversing an angle of less than 90*;

sequential electrical coNtrol means for actuating said stepping drive, said transfer mechanism, and said tape play mechanism, in predetermined sequence, to play the tapes in the cartridges in said magazine; and

selector means, operatively connected to said control means and to said storage magazine, for selecting individual tape cartridges for play, without playing others, in accordance with the positions of the tape cartridges in said magazine.

2. An automated changer-player for magnetic tape cartridge recordings, according to claim 1, in which said selector means comprises:

a selector disc driven in synchronism with the rotational step movements of said drum storage magazine;

a plurality of selector elements, one for each tape storage compartment in said magazine, mounted on said disc in an array corresponding to the arrangement of compartments in said magazine, each manually actuatable from a retracted position to a selection position;

selector switch means, actuated by said selector elements and electrically connected to said control means to enable initiation of operation of said changer-player only when at least one of said selector switches has been actuated to its selection position; and

a selection sensing switch, included in said control means and aligned with said selector disc at an index position corresponding to the transfer position for the storage drum, for inhibiting action of said transfer mechanism and said shift means whenever a new storage compartment is stepped to said transfer position unless the selector element corresponding to that storage compartment has previously been actuated to its selection position.

3. An automated changer-player for magnetic tape cartridge recordings, according to claim 2, in which said selector means further comprises a cam member movable from a retracted position to an operative position, adjacent said selector disc, and in which said cam member, when in its operative position, advances each selector element to its selection position, in sequence, as said drum storage mechanism is rotated, to play all of the tapes.

4. An automated changer-player for magnetic tape cartridge recordings, according to claim 1, in which said control means includes a magazine sensing switch for sensing the presence of a cartridge at said transfer position, said magazine sensing switch being connected in an enabling circuit for said transfer mechanism to prevent initial actuation of said transfer mechanism when the transfer position is empty.

5. An automated changer-player for magnetic tape cartridge recordings, according to claim 1, in which the cartridge holder comprises a U-shaped receptacle, open at its inner end to receive a cartridge from said transfer position in said storage magazine and having a stop member at its outer end to limit the movement of a cartridge transferred from said transfer position to said intermediate position, and in which said transfer mechanism comprises a slide linearly movable, along a track parallel to said cartridge holder support shaft between a first end position and a second end position, said slide having a first pin for engaging one end of a cartridge as the slide moves from its first end position to its second end position to impel the cartridge from said transfer position to said intermediate position, said slide further having a second pin for engaging the opposite end of a cartridge as the slide moves from its second end position to its first end position to impel the cartridge from said intermediate position to said transfer position, the spacing between said slide pins being somewhat greater than the length of a cartridge so that the cartridge is free of the slide pins whenever the slide is in either end position.