A tape recording and/or reproducing apparatus of the type having a tape guide drum with a circumferential slot through which at least one rotary transducer projects for recording and/or reproducing signals on a tape running against the periphery of the drum in a path which extends about at least a portion of such periphery; is provided with a tape guide assembly which includes a rigid guide, for example, constituted by an axially facing shoulder on the drum, engageable by the lower longitudinal edge of the tape for establishing the direction and location of the tape path, and spaced apart resilient guide elements extending radially on the top surface of the drum and being secured to the latter, at their inner ends, while the free end portions of the resilient guide elements project beyond the guide drum periphery and act yieldably against the upper longitudinal edge of the tape for holding the latter against the rigid guide with each resilient guide element flexing in a plane substantially at right angles to the tape path for accommodating variations and changes in the tape width. Further, a device is provided which acts simultaneously on all of the resilient guide elements for adjustably limiting the movements thereof in the direction toward the tape path.
A device for guiding a magnetic tape suitable for being wound helically around a cylindrical drum and for running past at least one magnetic head driven in rotation around the periphery of a slot provided in an equatorial plane of the drum, the device being of the type comprising elongate bearing means linked to the drum and defining at least two bearing points against which one of the edges (bottom edge or top edge) of the tape may bear, the device including link means linking the bearing means to the drum and suitable for modifying the inclination of the bearing means as a function of temperature said link means suitable under the effect of differential thermal expansion to cause the bearing means to rotate about a radial axis (extending transversely to the axis of the drum) passing through a point which is invariant in rotation, and whose position is fixed regardless of temperature.
Helical scan recording/reproduction apparatus tape guides which include rotary inclined guides arranged on opposite sides of the head cylinder and leads are provided for regulating widthwise movement of the tape on the cylinder caused when the tape travels on the curved surface of the rotary inclined guides, so that the widthwise position of the tape upon tape travel can be automatically regulated, and the load to the tape drive motor caused by tape friction is reduced.
A tape recorder having a tape guide member with a guide edge against which the tape is loaded or biased by pressure members. To press the tape against the supporting edge with a transverse force approximately constant per unit of length, pressure members are arranged beyond the ends of the tape-supporting edge, and the tape supporting edge has a curvature convex toward the tape, with a peak substantially midway between tape-support entry and exit points having a smaller radius of curvature than that of the remainder of the tape-supporting edge.
A rotatable magnetic-head unit comprises a cylindrical drum with at least one magnetic head for recording and/or reproducing signals on/from a magnetic tape. This magnetic tape is wrapped around a part of the circumference of the drum and is moved past that part of the drum circumference. in order to obtain a stable bearing arrangement for the magnetic-head unit the magnetic head is fixedly connected to the drum, whose wall is supported by means of spiral-groove bearings in the direct proximity of the magnetic heads in a stationary cylindrical housing. The drum can rotate inside the housing. The housing is formed with an opening in which the magnetic tape moves.
A tape travel controlling system in a recording/reproducing apparatus according to the present invention includes a tape width detector, a tape traveling path adjuster for changing a set condition(s) for a tape guide(s), and a tape traveling path controller, and is constructed so that the tape traveling path controller controls the amount of change in the set condition(s) for the tape guide(s) in the tape traveling path adjuster in accordance with an output signal provided from the tape width detector.
