Tape drive having swing arm buffers and automatic threading

Claim 1

A magnetic tape drive of the type in which magnetic tape is driven past a magnetic read/write head between a machine reel and a file reel by a capstan comprising: a base casting; hubs for said machine and file reels mounted on said base casting one above the other; buffers mounted on said base casting between said reels and said capstan for decoupling the inertia of tape on said reels from said capstan, said read/write head, capstan, and buffers defining a substantially vertical tape path beside said file and machine reels and between them; a pneumatic trough formed by said base casting, said trough extending from said file reel to said machine reel and following said tape path; a vacuum motor applying a vacuum to the hub of said machine reel and drawing air through said trough during threading; an opening in the bottom of said base casting below said trough and said tape path so that air flows through said opening to engage tape from said file reel to thread it past said read/write head and said capstan to said machine reel; said buffers including a swing arm biased away from said file reel and having a roller engaging said tape in said tape path to decouple the inertia of tape on said file reel from said capstan, said swing arm being pivoted at the rear of said base casting, said roller extending through a slot in said base casting to engage said tape; means for retracting said swing arm to a position in which said roller is out of said tape path during threading; and a sliding seal moved by said swing arm when it is retracted to move said seal to close said slot during threading.