Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval – Head mounting – For shifting head between tracks
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-13
2004-09-21
Heinz, A. J. (Department: 2652)
Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval
Head mounting
For shifting head between tracks
Reexamination Certificate
active
06795276
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement for realizing a reduction in the required number of component parts of a flexible disk drive for a flexible disk.
2. Background Art
As is well known, a flexible disk drive is a device for recording and reproducing data on and from a disk-shaped magnetic recording medium of a flexible disk. The flexible disk drive is mounted in a portable electronic apparatus such as a laptop personal computer, a notebook-type personal computer or a notebook-type word processor.
In recent years, with a more reduction in the thickness of such a portable electronic apparatus, the thickness of a flexible disk drive to be built or mounted in the portable electronic apparatus is being reduced more and more.
A thin-sized flexible disk drive (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-216704) proposed by the present inventors will be described below with reference to
FIGS. 1
to
14
. The shown thin-sized flexible disk drive is a 3.5-inch flexible disk drive for a 3.5-inch flexible disk.
FIG. 1
is a plan view showing the state in which a flexible disk is being inserted.
FIG. 2
is a plan view showing the state in which the flexible disk is completely loaded.
FIGS. 1 and 2
show a state in which a top cover (not shown) is removed.
A flexible disk
40
is inserted into the flexible disk drive from the direction indicated by an arrow A in each of
FIGS. 1 and 2
. The inserted flexible disk
40
is held on a disk table (not shown) with a rotating shaft thereof coinciding with the central axis of the flexible disk
40
. The disk table is rotatably supported on the obverse surface of a motor plate (not shown) secured to a main plate
13
. Accordingly, the axial direction of the rotating shaft of the disk table (the direction perpendicular to
FIG. 1
or
2
) is parallel to the thickness direction of the main plate
13
. The disk table is rotationally driven by a spindle motor provided on the motor plate, whereby a magnetic recording medium of the flexible disk
40
is rotated. A circuit board (not shown) on which a multiplicity of electronic components are mounted is secured to the obverse surfaces of the main plate
13
and the motor plate.
The flexible disk drive is provided with a pair of upper and lower magnetic heads for recording and reproducing data on and from the magnetic recording medium of the flexible disk
40
. Although the pair of upper and lower magnetic heads is made of an upper magnetic head
14
and a lower magnetic head,
FIGS. 1 and 2
show only the upper magnetic head
14
. The pair of the upper and lower magnetic heads is supported by an extending end of a carriage assembly
15
provided on a back side of the flexible disk drive. Namely, the carriage assembly
15
has an upper carriage which supports the upper magnetic head
14
and a lower carriage which supports the lower magnetic head. In the following description, the pair of the upper and lower magnetic heads is also collectively called the magnetic head
14
. As will be described later, the carriage assembly
15
is disposed apart from the main plate
13
on the obverse-surface side of the main plate
13
. The carriage assembly
15
supports the magnetic head
14
for movement relative to the flexible disk along a predetermined radial direction thereof (the direction indicated by a double-headed arrow B in each of FIGS.
1
and
2
).
A stepping motor
16
is fixed to a side wall
131
of the main plate
13
on the back side thereof. The stepping motor
16
linearly drives the carriage assembly
15
along the predetermined radial direction B. More specifically, the stepping motor
16
has a rotating shaft (driving shaft)
161
which extends in parallel with the predetermined radial direction B. The rotating shaft
161
is externally threaded. An extending end of the rotating shaft
161
is inserted through an open opened in a pedestal portion
132
secured to the obverse surface of the main plate
13
. Namely, the rotating shaft
161
is restricted in such a manner as to extend in parallel with the predetermined radial direction B, and the extending end of the rotating shaft
161
is rotatably held.
The carriage assembly
15
has an arm
151
which extends from the lower carriage to the rotating shaft
161
. The extending end of the arm
151
is engaged with a root portion of the external thread of the rotating shaft
161
. Accordingly, as the rotating shaft
161
rotates, the extending end of the arm
151
is made to move along the root portion of the external thread of the rotating shaft
161
. In this manner, the carriage assembly
15
travels along the predetermined radial direction B. Namely, the stepping motor
16
serves as a drive source for causing the carriage assembly
15
to travel linearly along the predetermined radial direction B.
The rotating shaft
161
is provided on one of opposite sides of the carriage assembly
15
, and the arm
151
is engaged with the rotating shaft
161
. Accordingly, the one of the opposite sides of the carriage assembly
15
is movably supported in the state of being spaced apart from the main plate
13
, by the rotating shaft
161
. However, the entire carriage assembly
15
cannot be disposed apart from the obverse surface of the main plate
13
by only the support of the rotating shaft
161
. For this reason, the carriage assembly
15
is guided with the other of the opposite sides of the carriage assembly
15
supported by a guide bar
17
. Specifically, the guide bar
17
is provided on the side of the carriage assembly
15
opposite to the rotating shaft
161
. The guide bar
17
extends in parallel with the predetermined radial direction B. The opposite ends of the guide bar
17
are fixed on the obverse-surface side of the main plate
13
, and the carriage assembly
15
is guided along the predetermined radial direction B. In this manner, the entire carriage assembly
15
is disposed apart from the obverse surface of the main plate
13
.
Incidentally, a flexible printed circuit (hereinafter abbreviated to FPC) which is not shown extends from the carriage assembly
15
to the guide bar
17
. The FPC is electrically connected to the circuit board secured to the obverse surface of the main plate
13
.
FIG. 3
is a plan view of the main plate
13
.
FIG. 4
is a left side view of the main plate
13
. The guide bar
17
(
FIG. 1
) is clamped by a guide bar clamp (not shown) on the obverse-surface side of the main plate
13
. The guide bar clamp is fixed at its opposite ends to the obverse surface of the main plate
13
by binding machine screws.
The guide bar clamp merely clamps the guide bar
17
, and the guide bar
17
cannot be fixed to the obverse-surface side of the main plate
13
by only the guide bar clamp. For this reason, a pair of positioning members for restricting the positions of the opposite ends of the guide bar
17
is needed. As such a pair of positioning members, a pair of bent portions
201
and
202
is used which is formed by forming cut portions of the main plate
13
and raising the cut portions on the obverse-surface side of the main plate
13
.
Referring back to
FIGS. 1 and 2
, the lower carriage of the carriage assembly
15
also serves as a support frame which supports the carriage assembly
15
for sliding movement along the guide bar
17
. The lower carriage has a projecting portion (not shown) which projects toward the guide bar
17
. The guide bar
17
is slidably fitted into this projecting portion.
The flexible disk drive further has an ejecting plate
21
, a disk holder
22
and a subplate
23
which constitute a disk loading/ejecting mechanism. The main plate
13
, the ejecting plate
21
, and the disk holder
22
are formed by applying punching, press working, bending or the like to a metal plate.
The ejecting plate
21
is provided on the main plate
13
for sliding movement in an inserting direction A of the flexible disk
40
and in the opposite direction, that is, in the forward and backward directions.
FIGS. 5 and 6
are left side views of the f
Komatsu Hisateru
Takahashi Makoto
Frishauf Holtz Goodman & Chick P.C.
Heinz A. J.
Mitsumi Electric Co. Ltd.
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