Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval – Record transport with head stationary during transducing – Disk record
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-11
2001-02-27
Miller, Brian E. (Department: 2754)
Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval
Record transport with head stationary during transducing
Disk record
C360S099040
Reexamination Certificate
active
06195225
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a disk drive for use in recording and reproducing data on a disk-shaped recording medium such as a magnetic disk and, in particular, to a carriage mechanism of the disk drive.
Referring to
FIGS. 1 through 3
, a conventional magnetic disk drive designed for magnetic disks will be described. Such a magnetic disk drive is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 9-91943. In the magnetic disk drive illustrated in
FIG. 1
, a reception mechanism and an ejection mechanism for receiving and ejecting a magnetic disk, respectively, are omitted for clarity of illustration. A chassis
10
comprises a pair of side walls
10
-
1
on both sides thereof. All components and parts are mounted on a principal surface of the chassis
10
. A main printed wiring board
11
and a subsidiary printed wiring board
20
are fixed by screws to the principal surface of the chassis
10
. For the main printed wiring board
11
, two support members
10
-
2
(
FIG. 2
) are formed integrally with the chassis
10
by cutting and rising corresponding portions of a principal plate of the chassis
10
. The main printed wiring board
10
is fixed onto the support members
10
-
2
by the use of screws
12
.
A stepping motor
13
is attached to a rear wall
10
-
3
at a rear end of the chassis
10
. An output shaft
13
-
1
of the stepping motor
13
penetrates through the rear wall
10
-
3
. The output shaft
13
-
1
has a top end rotatably supported by a shaft receptacle
10
-
4
integrally formed with the chassis
10
by cutting and rising a corresponding portion of the principal plate of the chassis
10
. The output shaft
13
-
1
has a threaded outer peripheral surface. A carriage mechanism
14
is provided with an arm
14
-
1
with a pin
14
-
2
embedded therein. The pin
14
-
2
is engaged with the threaded outer surface of the output shaft
13
-
1
. With this structure, rotation of the output shaft
13
-
1
brings about the movement of the carriage mechanism
14
in the same direction as the output shaft
13
-
1
. On the carriage mechanism
14
, magnetic heads are mounted for access to the magnetic disk. The carriage mechanism
14
serves to move the magnetic heads in the radial direction of the magnetic disk.
The carriage mechanism
14
is provided with a U-shaped bearing arm
14
-
3
formed on the side opposite to the arm
14
-
1
. A guide bar
15
penetrates through the bearing arm
14
-
3
. The guide bar
15
is held by a guide bar clamp
16
. With this structure, the carriage mechanism
14
is guided by the guide bar
15
during the movement following the rotation of the output shaft
13
-
1
. The guide bar clamp
16
is fixed by a screw to a support plate
10
-
5
(FIG.
2
). The support plate
10
-
5
is formed integrally with the chassis
10
by cutting and rising a corresponding portion of the principal plate of the chassis
10
, and projects upward through a hole formed in the main printed wiring board
11
.
In
FIG. 3
, a motor
21
for rotating the magnetic disk and other circuit components (not shown) are mounted on a subsidiary printed wiring board
20
only on the upper surface thereof. Accordingly, the subsidiary printed wiring board
20
is fixed to the principal plate of the chassis
10
by the screws
12
(
FIG. 1
) to be substantially in contact therewith at the position closer to a slot for the magnetic disk, i.e., to a front bezel
17
.
The structure of the motor
21
will briefly be described. The motor
21
comprises a rotation shaft
21
-
1
, a center metal
21
-
2
, a plurality of cores
21
-
3
, a plurality of stator coils
21
-
4
, a ring-shaped permanent magnet
21
-
5
, and a circular casing
21
-
6
attached to the rotation shaft
21
-
1
. The center metal
21
-
2
has a cylindrical shape and serves as a bearing. Each of the cores
21
-
3
radially outwardly extends from the center. Each of the stator coils
21
-
4
is wound around an end portion of each corresponding core
21
-
3
. The permanent magnet
21
-
5
surrounds these cores
21
-
3
. The casing
21
-
6
holds the permanent magnet
21
-
5
. When the rotation shaft
21
-
1
is rotated, the permanent magnet
21
-
5
and the casing
21
-
6
rotate together with the rotation shaft
21
-
1
. A reference numeral
21
-
7
depicts an index magnet. A combination of the cores
21
-
3
and the stator coils
21
-
4
serves as a stator of the motor
21
. A combination of the permanent magnet
21
-
5
and the casing
21
-
6
serves as a rotor of the motor
21
. The stator and the rotor of the type are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 9-91866 and, therefore, will not be described in detail.
The casing
21
-
6
has a protruding portion formed at its center and a flat portion
21
-
6
a
formed on an upper surface of the protruding portion. To the flat portion
21
-
6
a
, a disk table
21
-
8
formed by a plastic magnet is integrally fixed. The flat portion
21
-
6
a
is provided with an arm
22
attached to a bottom surface thereof. A drive roller
23
is rotatably mounted on the arm
22
. Each of the flat portion
21
-
6
a
and the disk table
21
-
8
has a generally rectangular hole formed therein. Through these holes, the drive roller
23
projects upward from the disk table
21
-
8
. The magnetic disk received in the magnetic disk drive is placed on the disk table
21
-
8
. The drive roller
23
is inserted in and engaged with a hole formed in a hub of the magnetic disk. Thus, the magnetic disk is rotated following the rotation of the rotor. The disk table
21
-
8
is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 9-91814 and is not described in detail herein.
Above the motor
21
, an eject plate
24
and a disk holder unit
25
are incorporated as the ejection mechanism the reception mechanism for the magnetic disk, respectively. The eject plate
24
and the disk holder unit
25
are also disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 9-91814 or 9-91943. The chassis
10
is coupled with a cover plate
18
to protect an internal space inside the chassis
10
.
In the above-mentioned disk drive, the motor
21
is mounted on the principal surface of the chassis
10
, in other words, built inside the chassis
10
. With this structure, magnetic flux generated from the stator coil
21
-
4
or the permanent magnet
21
-
5
acts on the magnetic head to adversely affect data reading or writing operation. Moreover, since the motor
21
is built inside the chassis
10
, a greater part of a limited space on the principal surface of the chassis
10
is occupied by the motor
21
. This inevitably restricts a mounting space for other mechanisms. In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventors have proposed, as a previous technique, a disk drive illustrated in
FIG. 4
(Japanese Patent Application No. 10-1988 published as a JP-A 11-203767 on Jul. 30, 1999).
FIG. 4
shows a characteristic part of the magnetic disk drive, including a chassis
30
and a drive motor
40
(hereinafter simply referred to as a motor) attached to the chassis
30
for rotating a magnetic disk.
The chassis
30
bears a reception mechanism for receiving a magnetic disk, an ejection mechanism for ejecting the magnetic disk that has been received, a carriage mechanism which has a head unit for accessing the magnetic disk and which carries the head unit so that the head unit is movable in a radial direction of the magnetic disk, and a moving mechanism for moving the carriage mechanism. All of these components are mounted on a principal surface of the chassis
30
, i.e., an upper surface in FIG.
4
. These components are well known in the art and will not be described herein. In other words, a feature of this embodiment lies in installation of the motor
40
in the chassis
30
. Other configurations are basically similar to those of the conventional disk drive.
The motor
40
is similar in structure to the motor
21
described in conjunction with FIG.
3
and comprises a rotor
41
and a stator
42
co
Komatsu Hisateru
Takahashi Makoto
Frishauf, Holtz Goodman, Langer & Chick, P.C.
Miller Brian E.
Mitsumi Electric Co. Ltd.
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