Pioneer Electronic Corporation

Akihiko Okamoto

Atsushi Kurosawa

Masanori Sugihara

Kazuo Kobayashi

Kouji Shimoda

Tomomitsu Kouno

Akira Bessho

Haruo Kama

Hideki Okii

Kenji Okuda

Toshiyuki Kimoto

A front loading disk player comprising a housing provided with a slot into which a disk to be played is inserted, a playback unit installed in said housing and a disk carrier mechanism for carrying said disk to a playback position. The disk carrier mechanism includes a disk loader. The playback unit comprises a carriage for supporting an optical pickup, a driving mechanism for driving the carriage, a turntable and a support member for supporting the carriage, the driving mechanism and the turntable. The support member is secured to the housing through a vibration-damping mechanism. A locking unit is provided for locking the support member to the housing when the disk is not played.

Auto loading disk player

An automatic disc player including a housing having an elongated slot through which a disc is to be inserted into the housing, disc playback means accommodated within the housing, disc carrier means operative to convey the disc toward a predetermined position along a predetermined path within the housing after the disc is inserted through the slot in the housing, the disc carrier mechanism having a surface portion on which the a disc is to be placed, and alignment operative to move the disc correctly to the predetermined position after the disc is conveyed toward the predetermined position by the disc carrier means, wherein the alignment comprises a pair of position holding device disposed on both sides of the aforesaid predetermined path and engageable with an edge portion of the disc concurrently at at least two locations on a plane substantially parallel with the above mentioned surface portion of the disc carrier, and biasing device urging the locations to move toward the edge portion of the disc while the disc is being engaged by the position holders.

Automatic loading disc player

An automatic disc player including a housing having an elongated slot through which a disc is to be inserted, playback means accommodated within the housing and including a turntable to carry a disc during playback operation, disc carrier means to convey the disc toward a predetermined position with respect to the turntable after the disc is inserted through the slot in the housing, and disc clamp means to move the disc correctly to the predetermined position after the disc is conveyed toward the predetermined position by the disc carrier means, wherein the disc clamp means comprises a support member movable between a release position remoter from the turntable and a disc clamp position closer to the turntable, and a disc clamping member which is rotatably supported on the support member through an elliptical opening formed in the support member and which is cooperative with the turntable for having a disc clamped between the turntable and the disc clamping member when the support member is in the disc clamp position with respect to the turntable, the disc clamping member being formed with a circumferential groove through which the support member engages the disc clamp member along its rim portion defining the elliptical opening therein, the outside diameter of the disc clamping member being smaller than the diameter of the major axis and larger than the diameter of the minor axis of the elliptical opening.

Growing community of inventors

Kawagoe, Japan

Akihiko Okamoto