[cctalk] Re: 100% Tape Seal (soft kind) failure

A wrapper around the rim of a 1/2 inch tape reel, to protect it and allow for storage. It's more compact than the alternative, a canister to hold the tape, though both were used. Tape seals come in two flavors. One is just a seal -- it protects the tape and has a hook to hang it in a storage rack. To use the tape, you remove the seal and load the tape reel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tapeprotection.jpg -- the white rim around the reel, with the black hook at the top of the photo. The other is a seal but also can be opened by the drive mechanism to allow the tape end to escape through a slot in the seal. These were used for auto-loading tape drives. You'd mount the reel, seal and all, hit "load" and the drive would make the tape end come out of the seal slot, thread it through the tape drive path and onto the take up reel, and get it ready for use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Magnetic-tape_hg.jpg The ones that fail are the first type, made of soft plastic that's either deficient in strenght or in longevity, or perhaps both. paul