Tape head having a support plate with contoured surface

• US 7,382,581 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2006
• Issued: 06/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Biskeborn, Robert Glenn
• Primary Examiner(s): Evans; Jefferson
• Application Number:
  US11/426,558
• Publication Number:
  US 20060232884A1
• Time in Patent Office: 708 Days
• Field of Search: 360/121, 360/128, 360/129, 360/291, 360/130.21
• US Class Current: 360/129
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 15/62 Maintaining desired spacing between record carrier and head
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 21/24 Head support adjustments
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 5/00813 magnetic tapes
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 5/105 Mounting of head within housing or assembling of head and housing G11B5/3103 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 5/56 with provision for moving the head support for the purpose of adjusting the position of the head relative to the record carrier, e.g. manual adjustment for azimuth correction or track centering G11B5/52, G11B5/54, G11B5/58 take precedence

Abstract

A tape recording head is provided comprising a support plate having a contoured surface with an opening in the contoured surface which allows head chips to protrude far enough to allow proper head tape contact for recording. The support plate is fixed on a coarse actuator so that the support plate and coarse actuator move together perpendicular to the motion of the recording tape. The head chips comprising rowbar substrates containing a multiplicity of recording elements are supported on a carrier mounted on a fine actuator and are not fixed to the support plate to allow low mass fine actuation.

Claims

1. A magnetic recording head, comprising:

a support plate having a contoured surface with an opening in said contoured surface;

at least one head chip comprising a substrate containing a plurality of magnetic recording elements, said head chip positioned to protrude through the opening in the contoured surface of the support plate for read/write access to a magnetic recording tape,

wherein the at least one head chip includes two transducing surfaces separated in a direction parallel to a direction of tape travel over the at least one head chip by a gap and held in fixed relation to one another,

wherein the head chip is moveable relative to the support plate in a direction perpendicular to the direction of tape motion over the contoured surface.

2. The magnetic recording head recited in claim 1, wherein the contoured surface of the support plate is contoured in the direction of tape motion over the surface.

3. The magnetic recording head recited in claim 2, wherein the contoured surface of the support plate is a cylindrical contour.

4. The magnetic recording head recited in claim 1, wherein the opening in the contoured surface is approximately centered in said support plate.

5. The magnetic recording head recited in claim 1, wherein the contoured surface of the support plate has a substantially rectangular shape.