Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval – Record medium – In container
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-29
2001-04-03
Klimowicz, William (Department: 2652)
Dynamic magnetic information storage or retrieval
Record medium
In container
C369S291100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06212038
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk cartridge in which a disk-shaped recording medium such as an optical disk or a magnetic disk is housed rotatably relative thereto, and particularly relates to a shutter mechanism of the disk cartridge of a type in which a shutter thereof is slidable in both right and left directions from a neutral position at which a head access opening of the disk cartridge is closed by the shutter.
2. Description of the Related Arts
A cartridge case of a conventional disk cartridge, housing a disk-shaped recording medium such as a compact disk or the like therein, has a head access opening for access of a head. The head access opening is openable and closable by a shutter which is slidably mounted on a surface of the cartridge case. When the disk cartridge is loaded inside a disk drive system, the shutter of the disk cartridge is slid by a shutter drive pin of the disk drive system. This allows the shutter to open the head access opening so that the reading and/or writing relative to the disk-shaped recording medium is performed.
Meanwhile, there has been conventionally provided a disk cartridge which accommodates a disk-shaped recording medium that is readable and writable on both sides thereof, and which is possible to be set inside a disk drive system whichever either side thereof comes on top. In order to avoid any complication of the shutter drive mechanism on a side of the disk drive system, the shutter of the disk cartridge is so constructed as to be slidable in both right and left directions from a neutral position at which the head access opening is closed by the shutter, while the shutter drive pin of the disk drive system is so constructed as to be driven in one direction.
As this type of shutter mechanism, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-6758 discloses a disk cartridge with a shutter mechanism with the following construction.
That is, the disk cartridge has:
a shutter which is slidable relative to the cartridge case in which the shutter has a first slider able to be guided by a sliding groove, as guide means, that is formed on the cartridge case;
a stopper installed at a middle position relative to the cartridge case;
a pair of second sliders which are slidable on both sides of the stopper; and
a pair of torsion coil springs, as biasing means, which are mounted on both sides of the stopper and which bias the sliders inward to each other,
wherein the shutter has a pair of claws which are formed bent inward from a operational opening so that each claw contacts an inner surface of each second slider when both the second sliders contact the stopper.
With the mechanism, when the shutter is not driven by a disk drive system, the shutter remains at its neutral position with the shutter being biased to each other by the pair of torsion coil springs. On the other hand, when the shutter is slid, for example, in the right direction from the neutral position, the shutter is moved together with the right second slider in the right direction while the right torsion coil spring is being deformed or charged, whereas the left second slider remains stationary with the left second slider contacting the stopper. If the shutter is slid in the left direction, the operation is reversed.
According to the mechanism, the first slider of the shutter has only the function to guide the shutter relative to the cartridge case, but does not have the function to be biased or urged by the torsion coil spring as biasing means.
Meanwhile, as another shutter mechanism, there has been proposed a shutter mechanism (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 2508449 as a reference) with a pair of sliders which are able to slide on a metallic guide shaft. The guide shaft is arranged along a direction in which the shutter is slidable, and the pair of sliders are connected to each other with a tension coil spring. The shutter mechanism also has a stopper, formed centrally on the cartridge case, which contacts the pair of sliders from inside in which the stopper has a length that is greater than a free length of the tension coil spring. In the mechanism, the shutter has a pair of projecting parts that contact the two sliders from inside, respectively.
According to the mechanism, the shutter is normally held at the neutral position where the head access opening is closed by the shutter thus biased; on the other hand, the shutter is moved together with one of the sliders at time of sliding the shutter while the other of the sliders remains stationary.
Namely, the shutter mechanism according to the former prior art requires two torsion coil springs; and the shutter mechanism according to the latter related art requires a separate guide shaft, as components, respectively. In other words, the above shutter mechanisms require not a few assembling parts, thus leading to a high cost of production. In addition, shutter mechanism of the latter related art has another problem in which the shutter mechanism has to be assembled in such a way that the slider and shutter need to be first mounted on the separate guide shaft to form a subassembly and then the subassembly needs to be built on the cartridge case. That is, the assembling thereof is hard to perform.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a disk cartridge, a shutter mechanism of which is constituted with a smaller number of assembling parts for easier assemblage and for prevention of high cost of production, the shutter being slidable relative to a cartridge case thereof from right to left with a neutral position at which the shutter closes a head access opening of the cartridge case.
In accomplishing this and other objects of the present invention, there is provided a disk cartridge comprising: a cartridge case which has an upper half-shell with an upper wall and a lower half-shell with a lower wall in which the cartridge case has a head access opening; a disk-shaped recording medium which is rotatably housed inside the cartridge case; a shutter which is slidable relative to the cartridge case in a sliding direction from right to left relative thereto with a neutral position therebetween corresponding to a position at which the shutter closes the head access opening; guide means which is provided on the cartridge case in the sliding direction; a first slider which is fixed to the shutter and which is guided by the guide means; and biasing means which exerts a biasing force upon the first slider so as to return the shutter to the neutral position when the shutter is moved to one of the right and left from the neutral position.
For example, in case of constructing the biasing means so that the biasing means is constituted by a pair of springs on both sides of the shutter so as to bias the shutter towards the neutral position, and in case of constructing the first slider so that the first slider is constituted by a single slider that is fixed to the shutter and that is guided by the guide means, a shutter mechanism being constituted with a smaller number of assembling parts for easier assemblage and for prevention of high cost of production is surely realized, in contrast with a former prior art (Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 5-6758) in which a pair of coiled springs and a pair of sliders are used. That is, according to the mechanism, there is no need of two sliders.
Meanwhile, for example, in case of constructing the first slider so that the first slider is constituted by a single projection fixed to the shutter and in case of constructing the guide means so that the guide means is constituted by a groove that is defined between the upper half-shell and the lower half-shell and that is engaged with the single projection, a shutter mechanism being constituted with a smaller number of assembling parts for easier assemblage and for prevention of high cost of production is surely realized, in contrast with a latter prior art (Japanese Patent Publication No. 2508449) in which a guide rod made of metal is used. That is, accor
Dai Nippon Printing Co. Ltd.
Klimowicz William
Merchant & Gould P.C.
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