Tape cassette rewinding machine

摘要

The invention is a machine for receiving a tape cassette, the tape of which has been wound on the take up reel of the cassette. The cassette has a clutch that must be released before the tape can be rewound. The machine comprises a read-head underlying the cassette location on the machine for reading a serial number on a cassette; a host computer with storage for cassette serial numbers and for unlock codes related to the serial numbers for a plurality of cassettes; an unlock head responsive to receipt of an unlock code from the host computer to engage the rollers in the roller cage of a cassette in the machine to move all of them to an inoperative position and release the reel for rotation with respect to the cassette in either direction; said host computer being responsive to receipt of a serial number read from said read head to transmit the unlock code for the serial number received to said unlock head; a rewind motor operable to rewind the tape from the reel on the free shaft to the reel on the drive shaft when the unlock head frees the take up reel for rotation.