Abstract: The tape drive device for a magnetic transfer apparatus comprises a master tape and a slave tape wound about a rotary drum and kept in intimate pressure contact with one another by air jetted from a rectangular nozzle formed in an air guide member enclosing and secured to a magnetic head. During tape running, tension on each tape is controlled to a constant value by tension sensors associated with respective tape reels. When it is desired upon termination of transfer operation to stop the tape travel, the tape reels for a slave tape presenting a higher inertia are braked first. The remaining reels presenting a lower inertia are then acted upon and the tape tension sensing means associated therewith are operated to control the tension to a constant value in the course of simultaneous cessation of the tape travel.

Abstract: The present invention involves a method and apparatus to prolong the useful life of a drive tape used in a magnetic contact printer to advance master and copy tapes past a transcribing head to transcribe the signals from the master tape onto the copy tape. The present invention provides a method for using the entire length of the drive tape even though individual segments on different master tapes may be shorter than the length of the drive tape. In the method of the present invention the drive tape is rewound after each transcription only part of the way to the beginning of that transcription. The next transcription will then require the use of a part of the drive tape not used in the previous transcription. The apparatus of the present invention uses a digital logic circuit to carry out that method. The apparatus comprises a counter that senses the length of advance of the drive tape for each transcription and detectors that provide signals to terminate the rewindings of the drive tape at the proper points.

Abstract: Apparatus for recording on and reproducing signals from a magnetic disk having the capability of reproducing the signals in a slow motion operation with a desirable signal-to-noise ratio. The magnetic disk has a thin non-magnetic carrier and magnetic anisotropic, ferromagnetic, acicular particles bonded to the carrier and magnetically oriented substantially parallel to each other and to the surface of the disk. The apparatus includes a first transducer for recording the signals, such as video signals, on a spiral track on the disk. During a normal playback mode, this first transducer reproduces the recorded signals from the spiral track. During a slow motion playback mode the first transducer scans a second spiral track across the record disk which generally, but not precisely, corresponds to the recorded spiral track.