Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-09
2003-02-25
Schuberg, Darren (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S679090, C361S752000, C174S050500, C174S523000, C181S208000, C248S638000, C248S632000, C360S097020, C369S075110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06525931
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cover for a hard disk drive case, constituting a hard disk drive by covering a case in which a storage device is enclosed.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 9
is a side view of cover C
1
for a hard disk drive in a prior art (hereinafter to be called ‘Cover’), and
FIG. 10
is a plan view of Cover C
1
which is seen from the inner side.
FIG. 11
is an enlarged cross-sectional view of
FIG. 10
, cut along the line A—A, and
FIG. 12
is an enlarged cross-sectional view of
FIG. 10
cut along the line B—B.
As shown in those figures, Cover C
1
in a prior art is formed out of a laminated plate P
1
, having a damping resin material
3
closely inserted between an inner plate
1
and an outer plate
2
of stainless steel, equipped with a sealing material
4
for sealing between a storage device case (not illustrated) and laminated plate P
1
, and a tapped hole
5
to insert a screw for screwing laminated plate P
1
to the case.
The above-mentioned laminated plate P
1
has a three-layer structure composed of inner plate
1
, outer plate
2
and damping resin material
3
, wherein damping resin material
3
is exposed at the peripheral cross section of laminated plate P
1
.
Tapped hole
5
is a hole perforating laminated plate P
1
, and damping resin material
3
is also seen exposed on the inner wall of tapped hole
5
.
Sealing member
4
is formed as a circular convex ridge on the surface of inner plate
1
according to the shape of aforementioned case, equipped with a non-slip stopper
6
formed monolithically with the convex sealing member through perforating hole
1
c
installed on inner plate
1
. Sealing member
4
is installed on inner plate
1
before laminated plate P
1
is fabricated.
However, the cover in the prior art has the following problems:
(1) Due to the structure wherein damping resin material
3
is exposed at the peripheral cross section of laminated plate P
1
and on the inner wall of tapped hole
5
, a rise of the ambient temperature of a hard disk drive causes damping resin material
3
to be softened to flow outside from between inner plate
1
and outer plate
2
, thereby not only damaging the appearance and the quality of the hard disk drive but also depressing the damping function of Cover C
1
.
(2) Outflow of damping resin material
3
from the inner wall of tapped hole
5
caused by the rise of the above-mentioned ambient temperature makes laminated plate P
1
around tapped hole
5
thinner, as shown in
FIG. 13
, and a screw
7
inserted to tapped hole
5
for screwing Cover C
1
to above-mentioned case becomes loose, thereby weakening the fixing strength of Cover C
1
to the case. If the screw is re-fastened for compensation of loosening, the damping resin is pushed out to depress the damping function of Cover C
1
(3) Since Cover C
1
is fabricated of laminated plate P
1
formed by inserting damping resin material
3
between the flat inner plate
1
and the flat outer plate
2
, it does not have enough resistance against bending and torsion, that is, enough rigidity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been carried out in consideration of the above-mentioned problems in prior arts, to prevent outflow of the damping resin material and loosening of the screw inserted through the tapped hole to fix a cover to the storage device case, thereby preventing the depression of the damping function and the decrease in the strength of fixing the cover to aforesaid case, which improves the rigidity of the hard disk drive cover.
To attain the above-mentioned purpose, the hard disk drive cover of the present invention is fabricated of a laminated plate with a damping resin material closely inserted between an inner plate and an outer plate of metal, for covering a case enclosing a storage device by fastening with screws inserted through the tapped holes equipped on the laminated plate, wherein the sealing member is installed on the inner plate for sealing between the laminated plate and the above-mentioned case, and the marginal portion of said laminated plate and the inner wall of the tapped hole are formed to have a closed structure by bending the inner plate and/or the outer plate to attain a direct contact with each other, so as to prevent the outflow of the damping resin material, and said inner wall of the tapped hole of the closed structure works as a stopper for hooking the head of the screw inserted through the tapped hole.
Thus, the present invention prevents outflow of the damping resin material and loosening of the screw fixing the cover to the case by the closed structure wherein the marginal portion of the laminated plate and the inner wall of the tapped hole are bent to directly contact with each other.
Moreover, said structure wherein the marginal portion of the laminated plate and the inner wall of the tapped hole are formed by bending the inner plate and/or the outer plate results in larger bending/torsional stress of the bent portions, thereby improving the rigidity of the whole cover.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5025336 (1991-06-01), Morehouse et al.
patent: 5282101 (1994-01-01), Reinisch
patent: 5546250 (1996-08-01), Diel
patent: 6078498 (2000-06-01), Eckerd et al.
patent: 11 232833 (1999-08-01), None
patent: 2000 49471 (2000-02-01), None
patent: 2000 195249 (2000-07-01), None
patent: 2000 199567 (2000-07-01), None
patent: 2000 213651 (2000-08-01), None
patent: 2000 291802 (2000-10-01), None
Funatsu Takuya
Unno Takumi
Yagenji Sumihiko
Creighton Wray James
Kokoku Intech Co. Ltd.
Lea-Edmonds Lisa
Narasimhan Meera P.
Schuberg Darren
LandOfFree
Cover for a hard disk drive does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Cover for a hard disk drive, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cover for a hard disk drive will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3172247