This invention relates to a guide drum apparatus for a magnetic tape, and more particularly to a guide drum apparatus for guiding a magnetic tape around the periphery thereof for the purpose of recording and/or reproducing video signals on the tape.
A guide drum apparatus according to this invention is preferably used in a video tape recorder or a video tape player in which a field or a frame of the video signal is successively recorded in the longitudinal direction of a magnetic tape, and the video signal is reproduced by magnetic heads mounted on the guide drum apparatus while the tape is moving around the periphery of the guide drum apparatus.
In such video equipment, it is very important for the quality of a picture image to maintain the height and the straightness of a video track on the tape accurately while the tape is moving around the guide drum. It is also important that the rotating video heads should scan the video track on the tape accurately for good reproduction of the video signals. Conventionally, it is difficult in such video equipment to provide a simple construction of the guide drum apparatus in which the video heads can be easily adjusted to exactly trace the video track on the tape while the video heads are rotating at a high speed.