Abstract: An apparatus and method for engaging tape wound on a reel and for threading the tape on various members of a tape loading machine comprises a grasping member supported by a driving bar slidably engaged in a support arm and movable in a vertical direction. The support arm extends downwardly from a main carriage horizontally movable along guide bars slidably carried on top of a tape loading center. The grasping member is designed to pick up a closure tab associated with a pancake previously mounted on a support hub belonging to the loading machine. By the combination of vertical and horizontal movements imparted to the grasping member by the driving bar and the main carriage, the magnetic tape connected to the closure tab is partly unwound from the pancake and guided in a predetermined path between the different members of the loading machine.

Abstract: A feed unit having a storage station in which a plurality of trays each carrying a plurality of cassette rows disposed consecutively in side-by-side relation is manually stacked. A first pusher mechanism moves the lowermost tray in the stack along a slide track, towards a linear feeder. An abutment wall stops the movement of trays along the slide track when a cassette row reaches a predetermined loading position, so that it is picked up by a transport arm that will deposit it on the linear feeder. A third pusher mechanism picks up the individual cassettes from the linear feeder and sends them to an output conveyor.

Abstract: A tape loading apparatus and method comprising a supply conveyor for automatically transporting empty cassettes from a reel magazine to a plurality of independently operating loading modules wherein each module comprises at least one support hub for rotatably supporting at least one reel of use tape and a loading station designed to engage individual cassettes. Pancakes are mounted on the support hub of each module by a manipulating unit which automatically removes the out of tape pancakes from the single hubs and replaces them with new pancakes which fill individual cassettes with a predetermined amount of use tape. The manipulating unit guides the tape through a predetermined path using search and setup devices which find and thread the end of the use tape.

Abstract: An apparatus comprising a tape loading module for loading use tape into cassettes which includes a chassis having a front face plate upon which a miniature vacuum chamber and counter wheel combination, a leader extractor pin, two movable tape support blocks and a leader positioning assembly are mounted. The juxtaposition of these particular components, their particular configurations and their modes of operation permit the construction of a tape loading module which is significantly reduced in size from previous loading modules.

Abstract: In a cassette loading machine, several loading modules carry out the loading of a predetermined amount of use tape into the individual cassettes [, said]tape . The use tape [being]is continuously supplied from a pancake mounted on a support hub. When one of the pancakes mounted on one of the hubs is out of tape, [the intervention of]a manipulating unit [occurs and said unit]picks up, [by means of]with a grasping and release member carried by a supply module, a new pancake filled with use tape from a storage unit [located sideways]. The manipulating unit moves close to the out of tape pancake and removes it from the respective support hub with the aid of a grasping member carried by a discharge module. Then the new pancake filled with use tape is mounted onto the support hub in place of the out of tape pancake.

Abstract: A cutting and splicing unit has first, second and third blocks arranged to hold a leading portion and a trailing portion of a leader extracted from an access opening of a cassette being processed. The second and third blocks, which are integral with each other, can be individually disposed close to the first block through a movement parallel to a front panel in a direction perpendicular to the cassette access opening. A gripper member passes over the blocks to pick up a piece of adhesive tape supplied from a supply unit located in front of the front panel while a blade fastened to the gripper member severs the leader or the magnetic tape laid on the blocks. The simultaneous lifting of the blocks applies the adhesive tape to a junction area.

Abstract: In an automatic cassette loading machine, a pancake is mounted on a rotatable support hub. A reading member, movable with respect to the axis of the pancake, is moved until it is across from the pancake. It is then moved across the pancake such that it detects the peripheral edge of the pancake as the reading member passes beyond the pancake. The pancake is thereafter rotated until a projecting end of the tape on the pancake is located in a predetermined position. This enables the end of tape to be picked up by a grasping member associated with the cassette loading machine.

Abstract: In a cassette loading machine several loading modules carry out the loading of a predetermined amount of use tape into the individual cassettes, said tape being continuously supplied from a pancake mounted on a support hub. When one of the pancakes mounted on one of the hubs is out of tape, the intervention of a manipulating unit occurs and said unit picks up, by means of a grasping and release member carried by a supply module, a new pancake filled with use tape from a storage unit located sideways. The manipulating unit moves close to the out of tape pancake and removes it from the respective support hub with the aid of a grasping member carried by a discharge module. Them the new pancake filled with use tape is mounted onto the support hub in place of the out of tape pancake.

Abstract: The present invention comprises a grasping member supported by a driving bar slidably engaged in a support arm and movable in a vertical direction. The support arm extends downwardly from a main carriage horizontally movable along guide bars slidably carried on top of a tape loading center. The grasping member is designed to pick up a closure tab associated with a pancake previously mounted on a support hub belonging to the loading machine. By the combination of vertical and horizontal movements imparted to the grasping member by the driving bar and the main carriage, the magnetic tape connected to the closure tab is partly unwound from the pancake and guided in a predetermined path between the different members of the loading machine.

Abstract: The present invention is an improved cassette delivery system. A plurality of cassettes to be loaded are maintained in a magazine. Cassettes are fed one at a time into an orientor which rotates them into the appropriate position for movement into the loading position. The empty cassette drops out of the orientor into an intermediate position where it rests upon the top edge of a pocket. The cassette is maintained at a slight angle so that it does not fall immediately into the pocket. The pocket moves outwardly to a point where its angle matches that of the cassette above it. The cassette then falls into the pocket and is carried backward into the loading position. Thereafter the cassette is loaded and discharged from the loading station.

Abstract: In the described method and apparatus a leader, distributed between two winding hubs of a magnetic tape cassette, is first completely wound onto one hub by means of a first motor. Then, a second motor carries out a complete rewinding of the leader onto the second hub to enable an encoder to execute the counting of the overall length of the leader. Subsequently the first motor is operated again to rewind the leader onto the first hub. The encoder counts how much leader has been rewound on the first hub and causes the stoppage of the rewinding when the length of the rewound leader reaches a predetermined value. The invention arranges a leader so that it may be partly extracted from the cassette and then cut into two equal pieces which will be spliced to the opposite ends of magnetic tape.

Abstract: The described cassette loading apparatus and method comprises a plurality of loading modules disposed consecutively in side-by-side relation and each provided with a loading station designed to engage individual cassettes and fill them with a predetermined amount of use tape taken from a respective pancake mounted on a support hub. A manipulating unit moving at the upper part of the machine removes the out of tape pancakes form the single hubs and replace them with new pancakes filled with use tape taken from a storage unit located laterally in side by side relation with the loading modules. Search and setup devices associated with the manipulating unit are designed to find and pick up the end of the use tape on a new pancake mounted to the hub and guide it in a predetermined path as far as it is operatively engaged in the corresponding loading station.

Abstract: In an automatic cassette loading machine a pancake is mounted on a rotatable support hub. A reading member comprising a photoelectric cell and carried by a main carriage movable at right angles to the axis of the pancake is disposed at a position spaced apart from the pancake itself and is then moved close to the latter. When the peripheral edge of the pancake is intercepted by the light beam emitted by the photoelectric cell the reading member is moved away from the pancake and disposed so that it can intercept the passage of a closure tab fastening the end of the tape on the pancake. The pancake rotation is then stopped when the location of the closure tab enables it to be picked up by a grasping member associated with the cassette loading machine.

Abstract: Cassettes are released from a remote loading station onto a supply conveyor. The cassettes travel on the supply conveyor to a flow-through tape loading machine in a response to a request from the tape loading machine. The cassettes are transported through the tape loading machine from the back to the front. The cassettes are moved across the face of the machine where they are loaded with tape. The cassettes are then transported back through the machine to a discharge conveyor. The cassettes are removed from the discharge conveyor at a remote packing station. The packing can be done either manually or automatically.