19 Jan
2011
19 Jan
'11
10:34 p.m.
On 19 Jan 2011 at 21:01, Tom Gardner wrote:
The patent filing date is Apr 5, 1977 which, given the
way things
work, is probably just before the first public showing. Anyone know
of any early disk drives with a band-capstan-stepper motor actuator?
Like all things patent-ish, application and wording count for a lot.
For example, the split-band mechanism is shown in 3,488,098 (Solczak,
assigned to Teletype), yet it's not cited in the Dalziel patent.
Mayeda's patent 3,881,189 looks remarkably like that mechanism used
in a disk drive, but the word "stepper" isn't used and the patent is
called out for mostly audio and video applications.
Dalziel's patent (which cites the earlier Mayeda patent) looks like
more of a refinement of the Mayeda patent, rather than something
revolutionary.
--Chuck