Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval – Head mounting – For moving head into/out of transducing position
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-27
2002-11-12
Letscher, George J. (Department: 2653)
Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval
Head mounting
For moving head into/out of transducing position
Reexamination Certificate
active
06480360
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a large-capacity storage apparatus for use in an information processing apparatus and particularly to a disk storage apparatus employing a hard disk as a disk-like recording medium both sides of which data can be read from and/or written in, and a rotation actuator.
A disk storage apparatus
101
having an arrangement shown in
FIGS. 33
,
34
has been proposed as a high-speed large-capacity disk apparatus such as, typically, a removable hard disk apparatus related to the present invention. A disk cartridge
120
having an arrangement shown in
FIG. 35
has been proposed as a disk cartridge accommodating a hard disk as a recording medium for use in the above disk storage apparatus
101
.
As shown in
FIG. 33
, the disk storage apparatus
101
is formed of, as main mechanical elements, a disk rotating mechanism
104
equipped in a disk cartridge loading portion
103
having an insertion slot
103
a
at a front surface of a front half portion side of a main chassis
102
and a reading/writing head mechanism
105
disposed at a rear half portion side of the main chassis
102
.
The disk rotating mechanism
104
is mounted on a subchassis (not shown) disposed below the main chassis
102
so as to be lifted up and down thereby and so that a spindle motor
108
having a chucking magnet
107
should be projected by a predetermined height or lower from an opening
106
formed through a bottom surface center portion of the disk cartridge loading portion
103
.
In order to downsize the apparatus
101
, the reading/writing head mechanism
105
is positioned on the rear half portion side of the main chassis
102
and in the vicinity of the disk cartridge loading portion
103
. The reading/writing head mechanism
105
has a reading/writing head (hereinafter referred to as an R/W head) H attached through a suspension
112
formed of a plate spring at a tip end of an actuator arm
111
pivotally supported by a shaft
109
and rotated by an actuator
110
.
The actuator
110
of the reading/writing mechanism
105
is formed of a movable coil
110
a
fitted to a rear end portion of the actuator arm
111
, a flat magnet
110
b
fixed on the main chassis
102
side so as to correspond to the movable coil
110
a
, and a yoke forming a magnetic circuit (not shown). The R/W heads H are a pair of upper and lower heads. Therefore, a pair of upper and lower suspensions
112
a,
112
b
are employed as the suspension
112
fitted to the tip end portion of the actuator arm
111
. Both of the suspensions
112
a
,
112
b
are fitted to the actuator arm
111
at an interval therebetween so as to be projectingly extended in the extended center line of the actuator arm
111
. The R/W heads H are bonded to sliders fitted to inner surface sides of tip ends of the both suspensions
112
a
,
112
b
in the direction perpendicularly to center lines of the suspensions
112
a
,
112
b
, being opposed to each other in the vertical direction. Moreover, load bars
113
are fixed on outer surface sides of the tip ends of the both suspensions
112
a
,
112
b
so as to be projected in the direction extended from the tip ends.
The reading/writing head mechanism
105
is located in a state that the tip ends of the actuator arm
111
including the suspensions
112
a
,
112
b
are opposed to the inside of the disk cartridge loading portion
103
, and is inserted into a disk cartridge
120
to be loaded. Therefore, in order to prevent the tip end of the actuator arm
11
from disturbing a hard disk housed in the disk cartridge
120
, the tip end portion of the actuator arm
111
is forked, i.e., branched to upper and lower piece portions. The suspensions
112
a
,
112
b
are respectively attached to the upper and lower piece portions.
A ramp
114
which is a slide-shaped block serving as a guide for the R/W heads H is fixed on the rear half portion side of the main chassis
102
in the vicinity of the disk cartridge loading portion
103
and ahead of the actuator arm
111
so as to be opposed to an inside of the disk cartridge loading portion
103
. This ramp
104
is also inserted into the disk cartridge
120
to be loaded and hence is forked, i.e., concave-shaped in order to be prevented from disturbing the hard disk. The load bars
113
at the tip ends of the suspensions
112
a
,
112
b
are brought in slidable contact with upper and lower surfaces of the ramp
114
, respectively, thereby the suspensions
112
a
,
112
b
, i.e., the R/W heads H being held at an interval.
Moreover, a printed circuit board
115
mounted with a control circuit for controlling the actuator
110
, a reading/writing amplifier for the R/W heads and so on is disposed on the rear half portion of the main chassis
102
, being connected through a flexible wiring plate
116
to the actuator arm
111
side.
As shown in
FIGS. 33
,
35
, the disk cartridge
120
is formed of rectangle-shaped upper and lower halves
121
,
122
and a magnetic disk on both sides of which data can be read from and written in, i.e., a hard disk
124
rotatably accommodated in a disk accommodating portion
123
between the upper and lower halves
121
,
122
. A hub
125
made of a ferromagnetic material is fitted to a center portion of the hard disk
124
and opposed to a center aperture
126
formed through the lower half
122
.
An opening portion
127
into which the tip end portion of the actuator arm
111
is inserted together with the suspensions
112
a
,
112
b
attached with the R/W heads H is formed at both of the upper and lower halves
121
,
122
on the front surface side of the disk cartridge
120
. A shutter
128
for opening and closing the opening portion
127
is attached to the opening portion
127
. The shutter
128
is pivotally and rotatably supported by a shaft
129
of the upper half
121
. When the disk cartridge
120
is not in use, the shutter
128
closes the opening portion
127
to prevent dust, fingers and so on from being inserted into the disk cartridge
120
. When the disk cartridge
120
is loaded into the disk storage apparatus
101
, the shutter
128
is automatically opened.
As shown in
FIG. 33
, when the disk cartridge
120
is loaded onto the disk storage apparatus
101
, the disk cartridge
120
is horizontally inserted into the disk cartridge loading portion
103
disposed on the front half portion side of the main chassis
102
through the front surface insertion slot
103
a
with its opening
127
being opposed to the front surface insertion slot
103
a.
Initially, the shutter
128
is automatically opened by a shutter opening and closing mechanism (not shown), and hence the opening portion
127
is exposed to the outside. When the disk cartridge
120
is inserted and moved to a predetermined position, as shown in
FIG. 34
, a part of the actuator arm
111
from its tip end portion to the both suspensions
112
a
,
112
b
and the slide-shaped portion of the ramp
114
are moved through the opening portion
127
into the disk cartridge
120
, a part of an outer periphery portion of the hard disk
124
is located in the concave portion of the ramp
114
. In this state, since load bars
113
are in contact with a high position portion of the ramp
114
, the suspensions
112
a
,
112
b
are held across an extended interval, thereby the R/W heads H being located across an interval which is larger than a thickness of the hard disk
124
.
In this state, the spindle motor
108
of the disk rotating mechanism
104
is lifted up and projected from the opening
106
at the bottom-surface center portion of the disk cartridge loading portion
103
by a predetermined height. The spindle motor
108
attracts the hub
125
of the hard disk
124
through the center aperture
126
of the lower half
122
by an attraction magnetic force of a chucking magnet
107
. Then, the spindle motor
108
and the hard disk
124
are moved integrally, i.e., the hard disk
124
is chucked by the spindle motor
108
.
Then, when the spindle motor
108
is rotated and its rotation speed becomes a certain angula
Mamiya Toshio
O'shima Eiji
Takahashi Kazuo
Yamada Takashi
Yamamoto Kazuyuki
Kananen, Esq. Ronald P.
Letscher George J.
Rader & Fishman & Grauer, PLLC
Sony Corporation
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