Drive cage assembly

Details Drive cage assembly Drive cage assembly

2000-04-11

2002-09-03

Ometz, David L. (Department: 2651)

Dynamic information storage or retrieval

With particular cabinet structure

C361S689000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06445663

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a drive cage assembly of a computer enclosure for receiving a data storage device therein, and particularly to a drive cage assembly that conveniently mounts a data storage device thereto without screws.
2. The Related Art
Data storage devices normally used in a personal computer include a hard disk drive (HDD), a floppy disk drive (FDD) and a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) drive. The data storage device is often fixed to a receiving cage of a computer enclosure by bolts. When mounting the data storage device to the computer enclosure, an assembler must align the data storage device with the receiving cage with one hand and tighten the bolts with the other hand. This process is tedious and laborious. Therefore, rails are attached to both sides of the data storage device to simplify the installation process.
Taiwan Patent Application Nos. 78201813 and 79209891 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,332,306 and 5,262,923 all disclose a mounting device comprising rails attached to both sides of a data storage device to slidably mount the data storage device in a cage of a computer enclosure. However, the rails are attached to the data storage device by screws. The problem of the time-consuming and cumbersome task of tightening the screws is not resolved yet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,080 and its corresponding Taiwan Patent Application No. 85210034 disclose a mounting device comprising rails attached to a data storage device by pushing pins integral with the rails into side holes in the data storage device. However, the pins are thin and flexible, and are easily bent during removal of the data storage device from a computer. Once the pins become bent, subsequent alignment and reconnection of the data storage device to a cage of the computer will be difficult. Moreover, the data storage device can not be firmly secured due to tolerance between the pin and the hole, thus allowing the data storage device to vibrate.
Furthermore, the rails used in these devices of the above mentioned prior art are complicated and manufacturing the opposite side rails requires two sets of dies, which significantly increases the cost of these devices.
The present invention overcomes the above disadvantages by providing an improved drive cage assembly for directly mounting a data storage device thereto.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a drive cage assembly for mounting a data storage device thereto without screws.
In order to achieve the object set forth, a drive cage assembly of a computer enclosure for receiving a data storage device therein in accordance with the present invention includes a cage, a securing plate and a coupling piece. The cage has a base wall, an upper wall horizontally extending from an upper edge of the base wall and a lower wall horizontally extending from a lower edge of the base wall. The cage defines a side opening. The base wall provides at least one pair of posts projecting from the inner side thereof for inserting into corresponding holes defined in the data storage device. The securing plate is mountable to the side opening of the cage and forms at least one pair of posts in its inner side for inserting into holes defined in the data storage device. The coupling piece further couples the securing plate to the cage thereby securely mounting the data storage device in the cage.
This and additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the appended drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5680293 (1997-10-01), McAnally et al.
patent: 5828547 (1998-10-01), Francovich et al.
patent: 6297952 (2001-10-01), Liu et al.
patent: 6297954 (2001-10-01), Seo

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