Abstract: A generally rectangular outer housing is sized to fit within the full height five and one quarter inch form factor. A drawer is mounted for sliding motion within the housing along a longitudinal axis thereof from a retracted position in which the drawer is substantially fully contained within the housing to an extended position in which a forward portion of the drawer extends beyond a forward transverse end of the housing. A DAT tape drive is mounted within a rear portion of the drawer and has a forwardly opening cassette insertion slot. A cassette magazine is provided that has a plurality of vertically spaced receptacles for holding a plurality of DAT cassettes in a vertically stacked configuration. A magazine loader is mounted in the forward portion of the drawer for receiving and vertically reciprocating the cassette magazine and for selectively transferring cassettes between the magazine and the cassette insertion slot of the DAT tape drive.

Abstract: A tape cartridge for a debossing stamper includes a casing, a tape-containing supply spool and a tape take-up spool in the casing, the supply spool having at least one reflector pad visually accessible from the exterior of the casing by an optical reflective sensor for detecting and indicating an amount of tape remaining on the supply spool. In one embodiment the at least one reflector pad is a series of equally spaced reflector pads on an outer periphery of the supply spool. The sensor provides a feedback on each 1/4 revolution of said supply reel, the feedback being received by firmware to track the number of motor steps to drive the take-up spool and to rotate the supply spool a 1/4 turn, and wherein a computer calculates the amount of tape remaining on the supply spool based on supply spool core diameter, take-up spool core diameter and total tape length.

Abstract: A dual station hot debossing stamper for a report or book cover includes a print engine having a character finger daisy wheel forcer and a logo die forcer which are actuatable independently by a common servo motor through respective gear trains. A heat and pressure transferable foil tape character cartridge and print wheel are inserted and locked into the engine in a character debossment operation with a motor driving the print wheel. Removal of the character cartridge and insertion of a logo transfer tape cartridge shifts the gears in the print engine. The tape of the character cartridge used with the print daisy wheel has a narrower tape width than that of the logo cartridge. Each of the tape cartridges includes an anti-back rotation spring attached to a reel in the cartridge and may include an adjustable tape advance and indicating means for determining the remaining length of tape on a supply reel. A method of loading heat and force transferable material-containing tape into the cartridges is disclosed.

Abstract: A dual station hot debossing stamper for a report or book cover includes a print engine having a character finger daisy wheel forcer and a logo die forcer which are actuatable independently by a common servo motor through respective gear trains. The print engine moves line-by-line and a platen moves character-by-character. A print wheel is inserted and locked into the engine in a character debossment operation with a motor driving the print wheel. When using a logo die, the print wheel and casing is removed and using a loader-unloader tool the die is articulated under the logo die forcer. Insertion of a logo transfer tape cartridge shifts the gears in the print engine. A second character tape cartridge is used with the print wheel. A dedicated personal computer and associated software and firmware programs control the stamping apparatus.

Abstract: In a print wheel encoding scheme, signs such as reflector strips are arranged on an encoder ring along the print wheel petals. One strip is provided at each petal. The strips are grouped into groups of three or more petals. Each group starts with a reflective strip and terminates with a non-reflective strip, or vice versa. The strips are read by a single optical sensor to provide a reliable mechanism for reading the print wheel I.D., homing the print wheel and detecting print wheel error conditions such as jams or mispositioning.

Abstract: A generally rectangular outer housing is sized to fit within the full height five and one quarter inch form factor. A drawer is mounted for sliding motion within the housing along a longitudinal axis thereof from a retracted position in which the drawer is substantially fully contained within the housing to an extended position in which a forward portion of the drawer extends beyond a forward transverse end of the housing. A DAT tape drive is mounted within a rear portion of the drawer and has a forwardly opening cassette insertion slot. A cassette magazine is provided that has a plurality of vertically spaced receptacles for holding a plurality of DAT cassettes in a vertically stacked configuration. A magazine loader is mounted in the forward portion of the drawer for receiving and vertically reciprocating the cassette magazine and for selectively transferring cassettes between the magazine and the cassette insertion slot of the DAT tape drive.