Tape cartridge winding machine

Claim 2

A tape cartridge winding machine for winding tape on a reel having a flange and projecting hub, the machine comprising first and second spindle units rotatable about a common axis, said first unit supporting said reel so that the hub thereof is directed toward said second spindle unit, and means carried on said second unit for releasably holding one end of a supply of tape in an axially displaced relation with said hub during at least a portion of the time said spindle units are rotated to cause a length of tape to be wound onto said hub without enwrapping said one tape end so that said one end remains available for splicing to a second tape end.

Claim 3

The machine set forth in claim 1 in which said holding means retains said one end at a location disposed radially outward with respect to said hub and said second spindle unit is axially movable with respect to said first unit so that said holding means can be shiftable from the general plane of said hub into a longitudinally displaced position with respect thereto during said portion of time.

Claim 4

The machine set forth in claim 2 including means for rotating said spindle units at an accelerated rate during said portion of time in which said holding means is in its displaced position and at a slower rate when said holding means is in the general plane of said hub.

Claim 5

The machine set forth in claim 2 including means for cutting the tape that has been wound on said reel, thereby severing it from the source of tape supply.

Claim 6

The machine set forth in claim 4 in which said holding means includes a shoe and said cutting means includes a knife having an edge movable toward said shoe when said shoe is in its said radially aligned position with said hub.

Claim 7

The machine set forth in claim 5 including pawl means for engaging said spindle units to assure a particular angular position thereof before tape is wound on said reel so that said one tape end confronts said shoe, said pawl means also constituting means for determining the same angular position after tape has been wound on said reel so that shifting said holding means back to radial alignment within the last revolution of said spindle units prior to cutting said tape by said cutTing means will cause a section of tape to overlie said one end, whereby said knife edge cuts said tape section adjacent said one end to provide a second end abutting said first end.

Claim 8

The machine set forth in claim 6 in which said shoe has two sets of vacuum ports, one set being nearer said tape supply to hold said one tape end and the second set being farther away from said tape supply to hold said second end.

Claim 9

The machine set forth in claim 7 in which said first and second sets of vacuum ports are connected to separately controlled vacuum chambers.

Claim 10

The machine set forth in claim 8 including an arm for guiding said knife and a shoe on said arm adjacent said knife and movable therewith, said last-mentioned shoe having a third set of vacuum ports connected to a third separately controlled vacuum chamber.

Claim 11

The machine set forth in claim 9 including means for applying a section of splicing tape to said first and second tape ends while held against said first-mentioned shoe by vacuum applied through said first and second sets of vacuum ports, said third set of vacuum ports holding the forward end of the tape remaining integral with the tape supply after cutting by said knife edge.

Claim 12

The machine set forth in claim 10 including means carried by said first spindle unit for ejecting a cartridge casing against the flange of said reel after said splicing has been completed.

Claim 13

The machine set forth in claim 11 in which said ejecting means includes a plurality of thrust pins that abut said casing.

Claim 14

The machine set forth in claim 12 in which said cartridge casing supports a spring-loaded pinch roller and said ejecting means includes a tapered pin that deflects said roller wheel away from an exposed section of wound tape as said ejecting means moves so as to avoid interference of said wheel with said tape section as said thrust pins abut said casing.

Claim 15

The machine set forth in claim 12 in which said first-mentioned shoe is resiliently biased in an axial direction toward said second spindle unit and said tapered pin abuts said first-mentioned shoe to overcome said bias after deflecting said pinch roller to thereby force said first-mentioned shoe out of engagement with said section of wound tape.

Claim 16

A tape cartridge winding machine for winding tape on a reel having a flange and projecting hub, the machine comprising upper and lower spindle units rotatable about a common vertical axis, said first unit including means for horizontally supporting said reel so that said hub faces upwardly, a vacuum shoe carried by said upper spindle unit at a location radially outward of the hub so as not to interfere with said hub when said upper spindle unit is in a lower position, means for moving said upper spindle unit to a raised position, said shoe residing in a radially aligned relationship with said hub when said upper unit is in its lower position and a vertically displaced relation above said hub when said upper unit is in its raised position, the amount of displacement approximating the width of said tape, said shoe having an outer vertical face containing two sets of ports constituting means for applying selectively controlled vacuum to confronting surface portions of said tape, said first set of ports releasably holding the leading tape end on a supply of tape, means for initially rotating said spindle units at a relatively low speed with vacuum applied through said first set of ports to said leading tape end while said upper spindle unit is in its lower position, means for axially shifting said upper spindle unit into its said raised position prior to the completion of one revolution of said spindle units at said relatively low speed to raise said shoe sufficiently so that the tape from said supply is then only wound on said hub to maintain said leading tape end free of enwrapped tape, means for then rotating said spindle units at a relatively high rate of speed so as to accelerate the winding of tape onto said hub, means for rotating said spindle unIts at a relatively low speed after said high-speed rotation, means for returning said upper spindle unit to its said lower position so that a section of tape enwraps and overlies said leading tape end on said supply of tape, means for stopping the rotation of said spindle units at the same angular position at which rotation was initiated so that said leading tape end assumes the same angular relation as initially with said section of supply tape engaging and overlying same, means for guiding a knife having a vertically oriented edge toward said shoe so that said overlying tape section is cut adjacent said leading tape end, the cutting action providing a second or trailing tape end on the wound tape and the vacuum applied through said second set of ports holding said trailing end in a substantially abutting relation with said leading end, whereby the thus formed free end still integral with said tape supply provides a new leading tape end for the next winding operation.

Claim 17

A tape cartridge winding machine for winding tape on a reel having a flange and projecting hub, the machine comprising upper and lower spindle units rotatable about a common vertical axis, said first unit including means for horizontally supporting said reel so that said hub faces upwardly, a vacuum shoe carried by said upper spindle unit at a location radially outward of the hub so as not to interfere with said hub when said upper spindle unit is in a lower position, means for moving said upper spindle unit to a raised position, said shoe residing in a radially aligned relationship with said hub when said upper unit is in its lower position and a vertically displaced relation above said hub when said upper unit is in its raised position, the amount of displacement approximating the width of said tape, said shoe having an outer vertical face containing two sets of ports constituting means for applying selectively controlled vacuum to confronting surface portions of said tape, said first set of ports releasably holding the leading tape end on a supply of tape, means for initially rotating said spindle units at a relatively low speed with vacuum applied through said first set of ports to said leading tape end while said upper spindle unit is in its lower position, means for axially shifting said upper spindle unit into its said raised position prior to the completion of one revolution of said spindle units at said relatively low speed to raise said shoe sufficiently so that the tape from said supply is then only wound on said hub to maintain said leading tape end free of enwrapped tape, means for then rotating said spindle units at a relatively high rate of speed so as to accelerate the winding of tape onto said hub, means for rotating said spindle unIts at a relatively low speed after said high-speed rotation, means for returning said upper spindle unit to its said lower position so that a section of tape enwraps and overlies said leading tape end on said supply of tape, means for stopping the rotation of said spindle units at the same angular position at which rotation was initiated so that said leading tape end assumes the same angular relation as initially with said section of supply tape engaging and overlying same, means for guiding a knife having a vertically oriented edge toward said shoe so that said overlying tape section is cut adjacent said leading tape end, the cutting action providing a second or trailing tape end on the wound tape and the vacuum applied through said second set of ports holding said trailing end in a substantially abutting relation with said leading end, whereby the thus formed free end still integral with said tape supply provides a new leading tape end for the next winding operation.

Claim 18

The machine set forth in claim 15 in which said knife-guiding means includes a shoe movable with said knife edge, said last-mentioned shoe having a set of vacuum ports for holding said newly formed leading tape end.

Claim 19

The machine set forth in claim 16 including means operated by movement of said knife guiding means into adjacency with said first-mentioned shoe for removing vacuum from said second-mentioned shoe to permit transfer of each leading tape end from said second-mentioned shoe to said first-mentioned shoe at the beginning of each succeeding tape-winding operation.

Claim 20

The machine set forth in claim 17 including splicing means for applying an adhesively coated section of splicing tape to said substantially abutting tape ends, and means actuated by said knife-guiding means when retracted to its home position for causing operation of said splicing means.

Claim 21

The machine set forth in claim 18 in which said splicing means includes a shuttle mechanism comprising a body and a slide element carried on said body having a plurality of vacuum ports, and means for moving said slide element when vacuum is applied to its ports to advance a section of splicing tape, said splicing means further including a knife for cutting the advanced section of splicing tape and an applicator arm for moving the second section of splicing tape against said abutting tape ends.

Claim 22

The machine set forth in claim 19 in which said body also has a plurality of vacuum ports for holding said splicing tape after said section has been advanced.

Claim 23

The machine set forth in claim 20 in which said applicator arm has a plurality of vacuum ports for holding the advanced section of splicing tape after cutting by said last-mentioned knife, said applicator arm being pivotal relative to said shuttle mechanism to move said severed section of splicing tape against said abutting tape ends.

Claim 24

A tape cartridge winding machine for winding tape on a reel having a flange and projecting hub, the machine comprising first rotatable means for supporting said reel for rotation about a given axis, second rotatable means movable axially relative said first means between first and second positions, said second means including a member providing a tape-engaging surface disposed radially outwardly from said axis a distance greater than the periphery of said hub, and means for moving said second means axially between said first and second positions, said tape-engaging member being generally planar with said hub in said first position and nonplanar in said second position.

Claim 25

A tape cartridge winding machine for winding tape on a reel having a flange and projecting hub, the machine comprising first rotatable means for supporting said reel for rotation about a given axis, second rotatable means movable axially relative said first means between first and second positions, said second means including a member providing a tape-engaging surface disposed radially outwardly from said axis a distance greater than the periphery of said hub, and means for moving said second means axially between said first and second positions, said tape-engaging member being generally planar with said hub in said first position and nonplanar in said second position.

Claim 26

The machine set forth in claim 22 including means for rotating said first and second means, and means for causing said means for moving said second means axially to shift said second means from said first position to said second position before said first and second means have completed one revolution, whereby a leading end of a supply of tape engaged by said member will be displaced so that further rotation of said first and second means will wrap tape about saiD hub and not about said leading tape end.

Claim 27

The machine set forth in claim 23 including means for causing said means for moving said second means axially to shift said second means from said second position to said first position after a length of tape has been wound about said hub, whereby further rotation of said first and second means causes tape to be wrapped about said leading tape end.

Claim 28

The machine set forth in claim 24 including means for stopping the rotation of said first and second means at the same angular position as that at which rotation was initiated.

Claim 29

The machine set forth in claim 25 including means for controlling said last-mentioned means so that only one thickness of supply tape overlies said leading tape end when the rotation at said first and second means is stopped.

Claim 30

The machine set forth in claim 26 including means controlled by said stopping means for initiating a tape-cutting operation after stoppage of said rotation.

Claim 31

The machine set forth in claim 27 including means controlled by said tape-cutting means for splicing said tape after said tape has been cut.

Claim 32

The machine set forth in claim 28 including means controlled by said splicing means for ejecting said reel after said tape has been spliced.

Claim 33

A tape cartridge winding machine for winding an endless array of tape on a reel having a flange and projecting hub, the machine comprising first means for wrapping tape about said hub to produce an overlying tape relationship with the free leading end of a supply of tape, means for cutting said overlying tape outwardly of said free end to provide a free trailing tape end having an abutting relationship with said leading end, and means for splicing said abutting tape ends together to produce an endless tape array.

Claim 34

A tape cartridge winding machine for winding an endless array of tape on a reel having a flange and projecting hub, the machine comprising first means for wrapping tape about said hub to produce an overlying tape relationship with the free leading end of a supply of tape, means for cutting said overlying tape outwardly of said free end to provide a free trailing tape end having an abutting relationship with said leading end, and means for splicing said abutting tape ends together to produce an endless tape array.

Claim 35

The machine set forth in claim 30 including means controlled by said tape-cutting means to initiate operation of said tape-splicing means only after a cutting operation has been completed.