Dynamic information storage or retrieval – With particular cabinet structure – Slotted for edgewise insertion of storage disc
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-14
2003-01-28
Ometz, David L. (Department: 2652)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
With particular cabinet structure
Slotted for edgewise insertion of storage disc
Reexamination Certificate
active
06512730
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk receiving and transferring device for a disk drive, and more particularly, to a disk receiving and transferring device by which the movement of a disk is precisely guided to the disk drive, disks of different diameter can be used in a single disk drive; and at the same time gears are smoothly engaged during power transmission for the clamping of a disk.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1
is a plane view illustrating the construction of a disk transferring device for a roller-type disk drive in the conventional art, and
FIG. 2
is a side sectional view illustrating the construction of a disk transferring device for a rollertype disk drive in the conventional art.
As illustrated therein, the disk drive is externally constructed of a frame
1
, said frame
1
having elements for driving a disk D. A front plate
2
is installed at the front of the frame
1
, and a slot
2
a
which the disk D is inserted into or extracted from is formed at the front plate
2
. A loading motor (not shown) for loading or unloading the disk D is installed at one inner side of the frame
1
, and a roller
3
rotated by a driving force of the loading motor (not shown) is horizontally installed inside the frame
1
.
Here, the roller
3
is made of a material being elastic and exhibiting a predetermined extent of friction force, such as rubber. The roller
3
is supported by a roller bracket
4
, and one end of the roller bracket
4
is connected to a spring
4
c
. Thus, the roller
3
pivots on a hinge
4
a
in a clockwise direction, and accordingly it is likely to be firmly in contact with a lower recording surface of the disk D by the roller bracket
4
.
A timing plate
5
operated by the disk D when the disk D is inserted a certain amount is installed on a connecting plate
6
, and a driving plate
7
is installed on the frame
1
at a lower side of the timing plate
5
. A rack gear portion
7
a
is formed at one side of the driving plate
7
, and the rack gear portion
7
a
, engaged with a loading gear G installed on the frame
1
, drives the driving plate
7
. A guide sloping portion
7
b
is formed at a front end portion of the driving plate
7
, that is, at the driving plate
7
on a lower side of the roller bracket
4
, and an interlocking extrusion portion
7
c
for interlocking with the timing plate
5
is formed at a rear end portion thereof. An interlocking pin
4
b
provided at the roller bracket
4
is in contact with the guide sloping portion
7
b
. A guide flap
8
curved in a vertical upward direction for thereby forming a lifting guide slot
8
a
is provided at a rear end portion of the driving plate
7
.
A spindle motor
9
for rotating the disk D is installed at the center of the inside of the frame
1
, and a turn table
10
on which the disk D is mounted is installed at the rotating shaft of the spindle motor
9
.
In addition, a clamp plate
11
is installed inside the frame
1
so that its free end portion can be lifted at a predetermined angle from a hinge pin
11
a
, and a lifting guide boss
11
b
is formed at one side of the clamp plate
11
to be guided along the lifting guide slot
8
a
of the guide flap
8
driven together with the driving plate
7
, thus achieving the lifting of the clamp plate
11
. At the free end portion of the clamp plate
11
, a clamp
12
for holding the disk D mounted on the turntable
10
is installed.
In the drawings, reference letter S denotes a sensor for sensing the insertion and extraction of the disk D, which is installed at a front end portion of the frame
1
.
The operation of the disk transferring device in accordance with the present invention thusly constructed will now be described.
In order to load the disk D, when a user inserts the disk D via the slot
2
a
of the front plate
2
, the sensor S senses the insertion of the disk D to thereby drive the loading motor (not shown). When the loading motor (not shown) is driven, the roller
3
is rotated. The roller
3
is firmly in contact with the lower recording surface of the disk D by elastic force of the spring
4
c
acting upon the disk D of the roller
3
for thereby moving the disk D into the disk drive. When the disk D is inserted so that it is located in an upward direction of the turntable
10
, the timing plate
5
is moved in an arrow direction A of FIG.
1
.
When the timing plate
5
is moved a certain amount, the rack gear portion
7
a
of the driving plate
7
engages with the loading gear G for thereby moving the driving plate
7
by the driving force of the loading motor (not shown). With the movement of the driving plate
7
, the interlocking pin
4
b
of the roller bracket
4
in contact with the sloping portion
7
b
of the driving plate
7
is guided along the sloping portion
7
b
, and the roller bracket
4
pivots on the hinge pin
4
a
in a counterclockwise direction, whereby the roller bracket
4
is separated from the lower surface of the disk D and the disk D is mounted on the turn table
10
.
With the movement of the driving plate
7
, the guide boss
11
b
of the clamp plate
11
located at the lifting guide slot
8
a
of the guide flap
8
is guided along the lifting guide slot
8
a
, and the clamp plate
11
is lowered by pivoting on the hinge pin
11
a
in the clockwise direction. As the clamp plate
11
is lowered, a clamp
12
provided on the clamp plate
11
clamps the disk D mounted on the turn table
1
, and the operation of reproducing or recording a signal of the disk D may begin.
Meanwhile, the unloading operation of the disk D is achieved in a reverse manner to the above loading operation.
However, the above-described conventional art has the following problems. One problem is that, when the disk D is moved by the roller
3
, the disk D is not precisely moved to the desired position because the roller
3
cannot precisely guide the disk D. This is because, although many constructions for guiding the disk D during the movement of the disk D have been disclosed, those constructions cannot guide the disk D to its home position (a position at which the center of the disk D corresponds to the center of the turn table
7
t
) while not acting as a load on the movement of the disk D.
That is, if the construction for guiding the disk D during the movement of the disk D acts as a load, the roller
3
is largely loaded. Thus, there arise problems that the roller
3
is abraded, its life span is shortened, and the signal recording surface of the disk D is stained with debris generated due to the abrasion of the roller causing errors when reading or reproducing a recorded signal from the disk D. In addition, there is another problem that, if the roller
3
is abraded, the transfer of the disk D is not precisely achieved.
In the above-described conventional construction, the overall size of the device is so large that it goes against the tendency of lightening, thinning, shortening, and miniaturizing the disk driver. Thus, there is still another problem that a disk of a certain size, for example, only one of a 12 cm disk and an 8 cm disk has to be used.
Regarding the loading gear G and the rack gear portion
7
a
of the driving plate
7
, as illustrated in
FIG. 1
, each gear tooth is angularly formed such that the gearing therebetween is not smooth, as the angled gear teeth cause undesirable collisions. If these collisions continuously occur, the gear teeth are abraded and thus they are not appropriately engaged. To avoid this collision, there have been disclosed a construction in which the gear teeth are always engaged. However, in this construction, there is a problem because power is supplied to the structure for clamping even when clamping is not achieved, thus resulting in unnecessary power consumption.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a disk receiving and transferring device for a disk drive which is capable of precisely guiding a disk during the movement of the disk. The disk receiving and transferring device for a disk drive is l
Cheon In Gi
Lee Han Baek
Lee In Ho
Park Hyuk Soo
Shin Sang Hoon
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
LG Electronics Inc.
Ometz David L.
LandOfFree
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