Importance

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Abstract

A tape cartridge has a baseplate surrounded by a housing. Two hub pins are disposed within the housing substantially perpendicular to the baseplate. Each pin has top and bottom portions and a collared portion therebetween. The bottom portion of each pin is press-fitted into a mating aperture in the baseplate with the collared portion bearing against the baseplate. A large diameter tape hub is rotatably mounted on the top portion. The collared portions allow the hub pins to withstand heavy side loads without significantly deflecting from the perpendicular. Two large diameter tape hubs are rotatably mounted around the hub pins and improve the empty hub to full pack diameter ratios, and improve the resulting tangential drive force and tape tension profiles as the tape moves between the hubs. A back set of belt rollers includes a high-drag roller that engages the drive belt at a fixed wrap angle and produces a relatively constant drag. A front set of belt rollers includes a drive roller and has rollers mounted to form substantially equal geometries with rollers in the back set relative to the tape hubs. The constant wrap angle of a drive belt on the high-drag roller tends to outweigh varying drags from other rollers, causing less change in tape tension and tangential drive force as the tape is transferred from hub to hub in response to movement of the drive belt along a path in contact with the drive roller, the belt rollers, and the tape on the hubs.

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First Claim