Dynamic information storage or retrieval – With particular cabinet structure – With mechanism to place disc on a turntable
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-13
2001-08-14
Davis, David (Department: 2754)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
With particular cabinet structure
With mechanism to place disc on a turntable
Reexamination Certificate
active
06275459
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disc apparatus suitably applied to an optical disc apparatus and the like for loading an optical disc, such as a CD-ROM, by a cartridge to record and/or reproduce information on and/or from the optical disc. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disc apparatus in which the cartridge is automatically retracted.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, an optical disc apparatus has been known in which the cartridge is inserted into a cartridge insertion guide, and the cartridge is automatically retracted to a retraction end position and then, a mechanical deck equipped with a spindle motor, a disc table, and so forth, is moved upward so as to load the optical disc on a disc table.
In the conventional optical disc apparatus of this type, a cartridge retracting motor provided on a cartridge retraction device and a disc loading motor provided on a disc loading device are employed as a driving source. For this reason, it is difficult to manually eject the cartridge out of the optical disc apparatus when an emergency occurs such as that power is suddenly shut down due to a power failure or the like after loading a disc on a disc table.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a disc apparatus which can manually eject a cartridge out of the apparatus when an emergency, such as a power failure, occurs after a disc-shaped recording medium is loaded on a disc table.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a disc apparatus which can locate the cartridge with high accuracy, and ensure dust-resistance, lightness, and rigidity.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a disc apparatus for loading a cartridge containing therein a disc-shaped recording medium to perform recording and/or reproducing information on and/or from the disc-shaped recording medium, the apparatus including: guide means into which the cartridge is inserted; cartridge retracting means including a first motor for retracting the cartridge inserted into the guide means; disc loading means including a second motor for inserting a disc table into the cartridge retracted by the cartridge retracting means and loading the disc-shaped recording medium on the disc table; first and second clutch means provided in the middle of driving paths of the first and second motor, respectively; operation means for switching both of the first and second clutch means to a disengaged state; and ejection means for ejecting the cartridge to the outside of the guide means when both of the first and second clutch means are switched to a disengaged state.
With the above arrangement, if the emergency ejection-operating means is operated when an emergency occurs, such as power failure, after loading the disc-shaped recording medium on the disc table, two clutches provided in the middle of the driving paths of the two motors, respectively, are switched to the disengaged state, so that the cartridge can be automatically ejected by the ejection means.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a disc apparatus, including: guide means into which the cartridge is inserted; cartridge retracting means for retracting the cartridge inserted into the guide means to a retraction end position of the guide means; a plurality of positioning pins inserted into the guide means from below after the cartridge has been retracted by the cartridge retracting means; cartridge presser means for pressing the cartridge from above the guide means to position the cartridge on the positioning pins after the cartridge has been retracted by the cartridge retracting means; and a driving mechanism for moving the cartridge presser means up and down parallel to the guide means.
With the above arrangement, the cartridge presser member provided above a cartridge insertion guide can be moved up and down in a parallel motion by a cartridge presser member-actuating mechanism. The cartridge presser member-actuating mechanism is intended to actuate a plurality of cam slots and cam follower pins by a slide plate, and is arranged on both sides of the cartridge insertion guide.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a disc apparatus, including: a dust-preventing resin chassis formed of synthetic resin and having substantially a uniform thickness; and a cartridge insertion guide formed of a sheet metal, the cartridge insertion guide being detachably mounted on the inside of the resin chassis.
With the above arrangement, the rigidity of the resin chassis can be ensured by reinforcing the inside of a dust-preventing resin chassis, which is formed to have a substantially uniform thin-walled structure, with the cartridge insertion guide formed of a sheet metal.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5123004 (1992-06-01), Arai
patent: 5258965 (1993-11-01), Sekine et al.
patent: 5452271 (1995-09-01), Ohmori et al.
patent: 5995468 (1999-11-01), Furukawa
patent: 6002658 (1999-12-01), Aso et al.
patent: 6016299 (2000-01-01), Ishige
patent: 20368 (1994-01-01), None
Obata Manabu
Usui Masakazu
Castro Angel
Davis David
Maioli Jay H.
Sony Corporation
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