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Direction dependent tape head assembly to reduce tape-head friction

  • US 9,734,849 B2
  • Filed: 08/08/2016
  • Issued: 08/15/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2015
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A tape appliance, comprising:

  • two outer write heads and an inner read head arranged along a magnetic tape path in WRW order, each head including a tape bearing surface bounded by two edges across the tape path, the read head including a read transducer array in its tape bearing surface across a portion of the tape path and intermediate the two edges, and each write head including a write transducer array in its tape bearing surface across a portion of the tape path and intermediate the two edges;

    each write head configured such that its tape bearing surface is angled downward towards the inner read head;

    the heads configured such that for a first longitudinal direction of tape travel along the tape path, a tape engages the tape bearing surface of a first one of the write heads followed by engaging the tape bearing surface of the read head and flies over the tape bearing surface of the other write head, and for the reverse longitudinal direction of tape travel along the tape path, the tape engages the tape bearing surface of the other write head followed by engaging the tape bearing surface of the read head and flies over the tape bearing surface of the first write head;

    wherein when the tape engages the tape bearing surface of a read or write head, read or write operations, respectively, may be performed on the tape by the read or write transducer arrays of the heads.

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