Recording medium responsive to force fields and apparatus for recording and reproducing signals on the medium

Claim 2

A recording medium for recording an input signal comprising; a continuous web member; said continuous web being formed from a transparent material; and highly reflective flake-like particles responsive to force fields contained within said continuous web member; said particles being selectively orientable for reflecting ambient wavelengths of electromagnetic energy from said web member and for scattering said ambient wavelengths of electromagnetic energy into said web member thus forming a contrast between areas of said particles reflecting said electromagnetic energy and areas of said particles scattering said electromagnetic energy; said particles being magnetic particles formed from nonmagnetic material having a high reflectance and said nonmagnetic flakelike particles thus formed coated with a thin layer of magnetic material having a thickness less than the shortest wavelength of said electromagnetic energy.

Claim 3

A magnetic recording medium comprising: a continuous web member, said continuous web member including individually visible transparent capsule means forming said continuous web member; said capsule means containing fluid means, highly reflective, magnetic and flake-like particles suspended within said fluid means oriented to reflect ambient light from said continuous web member except in the areas thereof exposed to a magnetic field recording on said medium wherein said reflective, magnetic and flake-like are reoriented for scattering said ambient light into said continuous web member thus forming a contrast between said areas of said continuous web member exposed to said magnetic field and the unexposed areas thereof: said particles being formed from a nonmagnetic material having a high reflectance and a coating on said material of a thIn layer of magnetic material having a thickness less than the shortest wavelength of said ambient light.

Claim 4

A magnetic recording medium comprising: a continuous web member, said continuous web member including individually visible transparent capsule means forming said continuous web member; said capsule means containing fluid means, highly reflective, magnetic and flake-like particles suspended within said fluid means oriented to reflect ambient light from said continuous web member except in the areas thereof exposed to a magnetic field recording on said medium wherein said reflective, magnetic and flake-like are reoriented for scattering said ambient light into said continuous web member thus forming a contrast between said areas of said continuous web member exposed to said magnetic field and the unexposed areas thereof: said particles being formed from a nonmagnetic material having a high reflectance and a coating on said material of a thIn layer of magnetic material having a thickness less than the shortest wavelength of said ambient light.

Claim 5

A recording medium responsive to a force field comprising: a web member; said web member being formed from transparent material having a plurality of discreet cavities uniformly distributed therein; said plurality of cavities containing fluid means; and reflective, force field responsive and flake-like particles suspended within said fluid means in all of said plurality of cavities and oriented with the faces of said particles parallel to the plane of said web member to produce a uniform surface for reflecting incident wavelengths of electromagnetic energy from said web member, each of said cavities being completely filled with only a suspension of a plurality of said particles, said particles being selectively reorientable by said force field for absorbing said incident wavelengths into said web member to form a contrast between the areas of said web member exposed to said force field and the unexposed areas thereof.

Claim 6

A recording medium responsive to a force field comprising: a web member; said web member being formed from transparent material having a plurality of discreet cavities uniformly distributed therein; said plurality of cavities containing fluid means; and reflective, force field responsive and flake-like particles suspended within said fluid means in all of said plurality of cavities and oriented with the faces of said particles parallel to the plane of said web member to produce a uniform surface for reflecting incident wavelengths of electromagnetic energy from said web member, each of said cavities being completely filled with only a suspension of a plurality of said particles, said particles being selectively reorientable by said force field for absorbing said incident wavelengths into said web member to form a contrast between the areas of said web member exposed to said force field and the unexposed areas thereof.

Claim 7

A recording medium as set forth in claim 3 wherein said particles are magnetic particles.

Claim 8

A recording medium as set forth in claim 3 wherein said incident wavelengths of electromagnetic energy are visible light.

Claim 9

A recorder for recording an input signal on a web member having force field responsive, highly reflective, and flake-like particles suspended within said web member comprising: means for generating a particle orienting field within the plane of said web member and parallel to the plane of said web member to preorient said particles to reflect incident electromagnetic energy from said web member, said means for generating a particle orienting field includes a means for producing a first field within said web member in the area of said flake-like particles and having all field components parallel to the plane of said web member and a means for producing a second field having a component with a periodically varying amplitude and direction within said web member in the area of said flake-like particles, said component of said second field combining with said first field to form a net field vector having a plane of rotation wholly within said plane of said web member to preorient said particles and means for generating a force field in response to said input signal to be recorded by said recorder for reorienting said reflective flake-like particles and scattering said electromagnetic energy into said coating means; whereby a contrast is formed upon said coating means between said portion thereof exposed to said force field and the portion thereof unexposed to said force field.

Claim 10

A recorder for recording an input signal on a web member having force field responsive, highly reflective, and flake-like particles suspended within said web member comprising: means for generating a particle orienting field within the plane of said web member and parallel to the plane of said web member to preorient said particles to reflect incident electromagnetic energy from said web member, said means for generating a particle orienting field includes a means for producing a first field within said web member in the area of said flake-like particles and having all field components parallel to the plane of said web member and a means for producing a second field having a component with a periodically varying amplitude and direction within said web member in the area of said flake-like particles, said component of said second field combining with said first field to form a net field vector having a plane of rotation wholly within said plane of said web member to preorient said particles and means for generating a force field in response to said input signal to be recorded by said recorder for reorienting said reflective flake-like particles and scattering said electromagnetic energy into said coating means; whereby a contrast is formed upon said coating means between said portion thereof exposed to said force field and the portion thereof unexposed to said force field.

Claim 11

A recorder as set forth in claim 6 wherein said means for producing a first field includes means for producing said first field as a fixed predetermined field in the plane of said web member.

Claim 12

A recorder as claimed in claim 6 wherein said reoriented particles are displaced 90* from said preoriented particles.

Claim 13

A recorder as claimed in claim 6 wherein said force field is an electrostatic field and said highly reflective flake-like particles are capable of retaining an electrostatic charge.

Claim 14

A recorder as claimed in claim 6 wherein said particle orienting field and said force field are magnetic fields and said particles are magnetic particles.

Claim 15

A recorder as claimed in claim 6 wherein said force field is a magnetic field and said highly reflective flake-like particles are magnetic.

Claim 16

A recorder as claimed in claim 11 wherein said means for generating a force field is a magnetic recording head.

Claim 17

A recording medium responsive to a force field comprising: a continuous web member, said continuous web being formed from a transparent material having a plurality of cavities therein, said plurality of cavities containing fluid means, and highly reflective, force field responsive, and flake-like particles suspended within said fluid means oriented to reflect amBient wavelengths of electromagnetic energy from said continuous web member except in areas thereof exposed to said force field wherein said reflective flake-like particles are reoriented for scattering said ambient wavelengths of electromagnetic energy into said continuous web member thus forming a contrast between said areas of said continuous web member exposed to said force field and the unexposed areas thereof, said particles being magnetic particles formed from a nonmagnetic metal having a high reflectance and said nonmagnetic flake-like particles thus formed coated with a thin layer of magnetic metal having a thickness less than the shortest wavelength of said electromagnetic energy.

Claim 18

A recording medium responsive to a force field comprising: a continuous web member, said continuous web being formed from a transparent material having a plurality of cavities therein, said plurality of cavities containing fluid means, and highly reflective, force field responsive, and flake-like particles suspended within said fluid means oriented to reflect amBient wavelengths of electromagnetic energy from said continuous web member except in areas thereof exposed to said force field wherein said reflective flake-like particles are reoriented for scattering said ambient wavelengths of electromagnetic energy into said continuous web member thus forming a contrast between said areas of said continuous web member exposed to said force field and the unexposed areas thereof, said particles being magnetic particles formed from a nonmagnetic metal having a high reflectance and said nonmagnetic flake-like particles thus formed coated with a thin layer of magnetic metal having a thickness less than the shortest wavelength of said electromagnetic energy.

Claim 19

A recording medium as claimed in claim 13, wherein said fluid means includes a mixture of two or more fluids for providing a mixture having an index of refraction equal to the index of refraction of said transparent material forming said continuous web means.

Claim 20

A recording medium as claimed in claim 13 wherein said nonmagnetic metal is aluminum and said magnetic metal is nickel.

Claim 21

A recording medium as claimed in claim 13 wherein, said highly reflective, flake-like particles have a coefficient of reflection greater than 0.4.

Claim 22

A recording medium as claimed in claim 13 wherein said highly reflective flake-like particles have a ratio of surface area to cross-sectional area greater than 5 to 1.

Claim 23

A recording medium as claimed in claim 13, additionally comprising, a substrate over which said continuous web member is coated to provide additional support therefore.

Claim 24

A recording medium as claimed in claim 18 wherein a second substrate is coated over said continuous web member thereby sandwiching said continuous web member between said first mentioned substrate and said second substrate.