Consumer Electronics

HELICAL TAPE SCAN

The tape is wrapped around approximately 180° of the drum's periphery and takes a helical path due to the tilting of the head drum and a precision-machined guide rabbet on the lower (stationary) part of the headdrum. The head assembly spins anticlockwise at 1500 r.p.m. which confers the required high writing speed. All that is required of the tape transport system now is that it moves the tape along by one track-width per head scan in order that successive tracks are laid down side by side and just abutting each other during record. At playback the same tape transport system ensures that as each new head sweep presents itself to the tape wrap a fresh track is lined up in its path for readout. In a typical system using 49 μm ...