Patents Assigned to Hightree Media Corporation
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Patent number: 5537267Abstract: Slave cassettes each including a slave tape and having a peripheral groove are stacked in a first station. Gripping fingers movable into the grooves in the forward cassette and the next cassette grip the forward cassette. During the pivoting of the cassette to a second station, a cover on the cassette is pivoted to expose the slave tape. At the second station, threading arms are moved from retracted to extended positions. The cassette and the threading arms are then moved to a third station planar with a pinch roller which is displaced from the capstan. The threading arms are then retracted to dispose the slave tape on the capstan. With a master tape on the pinch roller, the pinch roller is moved to a position abutting the capstan. The pinch roller and capstan are then rotated to transfer the image on the master tape to the slave tape such that the image beginning is at the slave tape beginning.Type: GrantFiled: March 9, 1993Date of Patent: July 16, 1996Assignee: Hightree Media CorporationInventors: Alfred M. Nelson, Charles E. Redman, Alan N. Raffaelli
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Patent number: 5526197Abstract: A thermomagnetic layer on a slave tape has a Curie temperature above which it loses, and below which it stores, an image. Such layer is heated above the Curie temperature just before such layer records an image. To compensate for image stretching in such layer by the heat, the lines in a raster scan on the mirror-master tape are lengthened relative to such lines on a master tape during an image transfer between the tapes. To accomplish this, a rotary member holding the mirror-master tape has a larger diameter than, and rotates at the same angular speed as, a rotary member holding the master tape. To inhibit the slave tape separation from the heater by water vaporization in the thermomagnetic layer, (1) the heater heats such layer while the slave tape moves in a direction opposite to its movement during the image transfer or (2) a microwave oven heats such layer.Type: GrantFiled: March 17, 1994Date of Patent: June 11, 1996Assignee: Hightree Media CorporationInventors: Alfred M. Nelson, Robert P. Adams
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Patent number: 5523897Abstract: Master and slave tapes respectively move on a pinch roller from a first supply reel to a first take-up reel in a first cassette and on a capstan from a second supply reel to a second take-up reel in a second cassette. The pinch roller locked in a first position abuts the capstan to transfer to the slave tape the image on the master tape. After such transfer, a signal sensing the slave tape end causes the pinch roller to be unlocked and to be moved to a second position displaced from the first position. In this position, the second cassette is replaceable by another cassette for an image transfer from the master tape. The rotations of the supply reel produce eccentricities which vary tape tension. These tension variations are compensated at positions before the pinch roller and the capstan by springs guiding the tapes and by damping members attached to the springs. The damping members are pre-stressed to provide damped compliances in accordance with the tension variations.Type: GrantFiled: March 5, 1993Date of Patent: June 4, 1996Assignee: Hightree Media CorporationInventors: Alfred M. Nelson, Robert P. Adams
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Patent number: 5513817Abstract: A master tape movable in a closed loop including a pinch roller transfers a mirror image to a slave tape movable in a closed loop including a capstan. A thermomagnetic layer on the slave tape has a Curie temperature above which magnetic information is destroyed and below which magnetic information can be recorded on such layer. The thermomagnetic layer is heated above the Curie temperature, thereby becoming lengthened by thermal expansion just before the slave tape reaches the capstan. A downstream portion of a peripheral surface, preferably defining a cylindrical segment, on a first guide receives a pressurized fluid for sensing the tape tension in accordance with the tape width, distance from the cylinder axis and fluid pressure. An upstream portion of the guide peripheral surface receives a vacuum adjustable to regulate tape tension in response to variations in the pressurized fluid pressure.Type: GrantFiled: December 20, 1994Date of Patent: May 7, 1996Assignee: Hightree Media CorporationInventors: Alfred M. Nelson, Robert P. Adams
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Patent number: 5479300Abstract: A master tape moves between first supply and take-up reels over a pinch roller. A slave tape moves between second supply and take-up reels over a capstan. First and second guides are respectively constructed and positioned to regulate the movement of the master and slave tapes to aligned positions on the pinch roller and the capstan. A heater between the pinch roller and the second guide heats essentially only a thermomagnetic layer on the slave tape to at least the Curie temperature. The heater is adjustably positioned to facilitate the movement of the slave tape to the aligned position on the capstan. Brake shoes respectively between the first guide and the first supply reel, and between the second guide and the second supply reel, control master and slave tape tensions and damp any variations in tensions. The pinch roller is movable to a first position, locked in position relative to the capstan, to abut the capstan and facilitate the transfer of magnetic information from the master tape to the slave tape.Type: GrantFiled: January 28, 1994Date of Patent: December 26, 1995Assignee: Hightree Media CorporationInventors: Alfred M. Nelson, Robert P. Adams
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Patent number: 5475538Abstract: A master tape moves between first supply and take-up reels over a pinch roller. A slave tape moves between second supply and take-up reels over a capstan. First and second guides are respectively constructed and positioned to regulate the movement of the master and slave tapes to aligned positions on the pinch roller and the capstan. A heater between the pinch roller and the second guide heats essentially only a thermomagnetic layer on the slave tape to at least the Curie temperature. The heater is adjustably positioned to facilitate the movement of the slave tape to the aligned position on the capstan. Brake shoes respectively between the first guide and the first supply reel, and between the second guide and the second supply reel, control master and slave tape tensions and damp any variations in tensions. The pinch roller is movable to a first position, locked in position relative to the capstan, to abut the capstan and facilitate the transfer of magnetic information from the master tape to the slave tape.Type: GrantFiled: January 28, 1994Date of Patent: December 12, 1995Assignee: Hightree Media CorporationInventors: Alfred M. Nelson, Robert P. Adams
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Patent number: 5392976Abstract: A master tape movable in a closed loop including a pinch roller transfers a mirror image to a slave tape movable in a closed loop including a capstan. A thermomagnetic layer on the slave tape has a Curie temperature above which magnetic information is destroyed and below which magnetic information can be recorded on such layer. The thermomagnetic layer is heated above the Curie temperature, thereby becoming lengthened by thermal expansion just before the slave tape reaches the capstan. A downstream portion of a peripheral surface, preferably defining a cylindrical segment, on a first guide receives a pressurized fluid for sensing the tape tension in accordance with the tape width, distance from the cylinder axis and fluid pressure. An upstream portion of the guide peripheral surface receives a vacuum adjustable to regulate tape tension in response to variations in the pressurized fluid pressure.Type: GrantFiled: May 19, 1992Date of Patent: February 28, 1995Assignee: Hightree Media CorporationInventors: Alfred M. Nelson, Robert P. Adams