Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval – Record medium – In container
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-27
2001-04-03
Ometz, David L. (Department: 2652)
Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval
Record medium
In container
Reexamination Certificate
active
06212037
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to cartridges for disks such as a microfloppy disk, and particularly, to the cartridges for disks which need high-speed rotation due to increased storage capacity.
Referring to
FIG. 5
, a known disk cartridge
101
comprises a disklike recording medium
102
, a center core
103
mounted in the center thereof and made of magnetic metal, a shell
104
for rotatably accommodating the disklike recording medium
102
with the center core
103
located in an opening
104
a,
a pair of liners
105
,
106
placed on the upper and lower inner surfaces of the shell
104
, and a lifter
107
/liner pressing ribs
108
for lightly pressing the liners
105
,
106
to the upper and lower sides of the disklike recording medium
102
.
When loading the disk cartridge
101
into a drive, a bottom plate
103
a
of the center core
103
is attracted on a disk table
201
of the drive by a magnet
202
. And a spindle
203
of the drive enters a center hole
103
b
formed in the center of the bottom plate
103
a
of the center core
103
, obtaining centering so called. The spindle
203
rotates with the disk table
201
to carry out recording/reproducing by a magnetic head of the drive which enters the shell
104
through a recording/reproducing opening, not shown, formed therein. The liners
105
,
106
contact the upper and lower sides of the disklike recording medium
102
to remove dust, etc. and produce appropriate disk slide torque.
With recent development of multimedia, image and voice data are diversified, which needs increased storage capacity of microfloppy disks, resulting in requirements for high density and high-speed rotation thereof.
With the known disk cartridge
101
, when rotating the disklike recording medium
102
at a speed several to several tens times as high as a conventional speed, the liners
105
,
106
accelerate wear of a signal record surface of the disklike recording medium
102
, deteriorating the durability thereof. Moreover, even if the liners
105
,
106
are positioned so as not to directly contact the upper and lower sides of the disklike recording medium
102
upon high-speed rotation thereof, they disturb air flow or laminar flow produced on the surface of the disklike recording medium
102
by high-speed rotation, which forms turbulent flow to cause swinging of the signal record surface of the disklike recording medium
102
, resulting in lowered recording/reproducing accuracy.
Referring to
FIG. 6
, the disk cartridge
101
with no liner is proposed to solve such inconvenience. In the operating state where the disk cartridge
101
is chucked on the disk table
201
of the drive, the upper and lower sides
102
a,
102
b
of the disklike recording medium
102
are in non-contact with the upper and lower inner surfaces
104
a,
104
b
of the shell
104
, producing no problem. However, in the non-operating state or upon keeping and transport, the lower side
102
b
of the disklike recording medium
102
contacts the lower inner surface
104
b
of the shell
104
as shown in
FIG. 7
, or the upper side
102
a
of the disklike recording medium
102
contacts the upper inner surface
104
a
of the shell
14
as shown in
FIG. 8
when the disk cartridge
101
is placed upside down, suffering damage easily. Note that in the latter case as shown in
FIG. 8
, a slight clearance &dgr; is defined between the upper side of the disklike recording medium
102
and the shell
105
by a flange
103
c
of the center core
103
, which cannot fully prevent contact between the two, however.
If the upper and lower inner surfaces
104
a,
104
b
of the shell
104
have a flash or a mark of an ejector pin for ejecting a molding from a mold, which are formed upon plastic molding, such flash or mark may injure the upper or lower side of the disklike recording medium
102
.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide disk cartridges which are free of the above inconvenience, and contribute to improvement in the durability of the disklike recording medium.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An aspect of the present invention lies in providing a disk cartridge, comprising:
a shell with first and second inner surfaces;
a disklike recording medium rotatably accommodated in said shell, said disklike recording medium including first and second sides; and
a center core mounted to said disklike recording medium in a center thereof, said center core including first and second portions, said first portion abutting on said first inner surface of said shell to define a first clearance between said first inner surface of said shell and said first side of said disklike recording medium, said second portion abutting on said second inner surface of said shell to define a second clearance between said second inner surface of said shell and said second side of said disklike recording medium.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3882701 (1975-05-01), Wirth
patent: 4106066 (1978-08-01), Kudo
patent: 4378576 (1983-03-01), Roling
patent: 4394700 (1983-07-01), Edwards
patent: 4459628 (1984-07-01), Barton
patent: 4525758 (1985-06-01), Nakagawa et al.
patent: 4622618 (1986-11-01), Oishi
patent: 4739434 (1988-04-01), Iizuka et al.
patent: 4743993 (1988-05-01), Ommori et al.
patent: 5793742 (1998-08-01), Sandell et al.
patent: 5867477 (1999-02-01), Naito et al.
patent: 5883880 (1999-03-01), McCarty
Castro Angel
Limbach & Limbach L.L.P.
Ometz David L.
Sony Corporation
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