Disk drive

Details Disk drive Disk drive

1999-03-23

2001-05-15

Tupper, Robert S. (Department: 2754)

Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval

Record transport with head stationary during transducing

Disk record

Reexamination Certificate

active

06233114

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a disk drive on which a magnetic disk (hereinafter, referred merely to as a disk) can be loaded and rotation driven for the purpose of recording and reproducing information, the disk comprising a flexible disk housed in a casing to magnetically record and reproduce the information. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improvement of a disk loading and unloading mechanism.
Disk drives of the type described typically receive the disk, as a received disk, for the purpose of rotation driving the received disk and recording/reproducing the information. The received disk is held by a disk table. A magnetic head for information recording/reproducing (hereinafter, referred merely to as a head) is in contact with the received disk on the disk table. The head records and reproduces the information on and from the received disk. The received disk is ejected out of the disk drive after completion of the recording and/or reproducing of the information. To this end, typical disk drives have a disk loading and unloading mechanism.
Referring to
FIGS. 1 and 2
, the disk loading and unloading mechanism oF a conventional disk drive is shown. In
FIG. 1
, the disk drive comprises a main chassis
110
, an eject plate
120
, and a disk holder
130
, which are all made by pressing a sheet metal.
The main chassis
110
has a main base section
111
, opposing side wall sections
112
and
113
, a back end wall section
114
, a pair of support portions
115
and another pair of support portions
116
. The side wall sections
112
and
113
extend upward from the both side edges of the main base section
111
. Likewise, the back end wall section
114
extends upward from the rear edge of the main base section
111
. Each of the support portions
115
and
116
have shoulder portions
115
a
and
116
a
, respectively. The shoulder portion is formed by means of cutting and raising a portion of the main base section
111
with a notch formed in a part of the cut and raised portion.
A magnetic disk table
140
and a carriage mechanism
150
are mounted on the main base section
111
in the direction along the side wall sections of the main chassis
110
. The magnetic disk table
140
is provided for rotation driving a disk while holding it. The carriage mechanism
150
has an upper head and a lower head which are driven by the carriage mechanism
150
on the upper (top) surface and the lower (back) surface, respectively, of the disk. A motor
160
is mounted on the back end wall section
114
. The motor
160
has a rotation shaft with a helical thread thereto. The motor
160
is arranged such that the rotation shaft extends in the direction along the side wall sections of the main chassis
110
.
The magnetic disk table
140
is directly connected to and rotation driven by a rotor assembly of a motor (not shown) for use in rotating the disk. The rotor assembly is provided beneath the main chassis
110
. The carriage mechanism
150
has an engaging member that engages with the helical thread in the rotation shaft of the motor
160
. In addition, the carriage mechanism
150
has a support frame through which a guide shaft passes. The guide shaft is fixedly secured to the main base section
111
.
The engaging member of the carriage mechanism
150
moves in the direction along the side wall sections of the main chassis
110
in response to the rotation of the motor
160
. This in turn moves linearly the carriage mechanism in the direction along the side wall sections of the main chassis
110
, that is, the radial direction of the disk.
The eject plate
120
comprises a main base section
121
, side wall sections
122
and
123
and a button mounting projection
124
. The main base section
121
has a generally U shape. The side wall sections
122
and
123
extend vertically from the both side edges of the main base section
121
. The button mounting projection
124
extends forward from the front edge of the main base section
121
. The eject plate
120
is also provided with a pair of notches
125
and a pair of holes
126
. The notches
125
and the holes
126
are formed at the position corresponding to the support portions
115
and
116
, respectively, of the main chassis
110
. A pair of guide grooves
127
are formed in the side wall sections
123
and
124
. A bent projection
128
is provided at the rear end of the side wall section
122
, projecting outward therefrom.
The guide grooves
127
each include a horizontal portion and a tilt portion. A linear gear
129
is provided in the rear portion of the main base section
121
which the linear gear is adapted to engage with a damper gear (not shown) on the main chassis
110
.
The eject plate
120
is assembled with the main chassis
110
with the support portions
115
and
116
on the main chassis
110
passed through the notches
125
and the holes
126
, respectively. In particular, the edges of the notches
125
and the holes
126
in the main base section
121
are supported by the shoulder portions
115
a
and
116
a
of the support portions
115
and
116
, respectively. Consequently, the eject plate
120
is slidable back and forth with respect to the main chassis
110
. However, the eject plate
120
is allowed to be moved only slightly in the up and down directions and the right and left directions. This is because the support portions
115
and
116
restrict the movement of the edges of the notches
125
and the holes
126
in the direction other than forward and backward. As shown in
FIG. 2
, the bent projection
128
on the side wall section
122
is opposed to the inner surface of the side wall section
112
on the main chassis
110
at a small gap from the inner surface.
As described above, the main base section
121
has the generally U shape. Therefore, the eject plate
120
is slidable without interrupting the operation of the disk table
140
and the carriage mechanism
150
.
The disk holder
130
has a main base section
131
, opposing side wall sections
132
and
133
, and four protrusions
134
. The four protrusions
134
are projected outward from the side wall sections. The main base section
131
has a notch
130
a
that is not affected by the movement of the upper head of the carriage mechanism
150
. The side wall sections
132
and
133
extend downward from the both side edges of the main base section
131
. The free end of the side wall sections
132
and
133
are bent inward to hold the disk. The protrusions
134
are located at the position corresponding to the guide grooves
127
in the eject plate
120
.
The disk holder
130
is assembled with the eject plate
120
already assembled with the main chassis
110
. During assembly, the protrusions
134
are passed through the respective guide grooves
127
. The disk drive is thus configured. Alternatively, the disk drive may be assembled by means of first assembling the disk holder
130
with the eject plate
120
and then assembling the resultant combination with the main chassis
110
. The disk drive of the type described is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 9-91826.
The disk drive disclosed herein has other features in addition to those described above. For example, a projection (not shown) mounted on the disk holder
130
is passed through a hole (not shown) formed in the main chassis
110
. With this configuration the disk holder
130
is slidable upward and downward relative to the main chassis
110
but is restricted in movement in the back and forth directions and the right and left directions. More specifically, the disk holder
130
is slidable upward and downward in cooperation with the back-and-forth movement of the eject plate
120
, depending on the configuration of the guide grooves
127
formed in the eject plate
120
. A tension spring (not shown) is provided between the eject plate
120
and the disk holder
130
. The tension spring pulls the eject plate
120
in the forward direction relative to the main chassis
110
. The eject plate
120
is lock

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