Maxtor Corporation

D Michael Keffeler

Dana C Fisher

Vaclav Prochazka

Matthew J Sandor

James A Dunckley

Gale D Johnson

An actuator arm latch assembly for a disk drive is disclosed which restrains movement of a disk drive actuator arm assembly during exposure of the disk drive to a shock event. In one embodiment, the actuator arm latch assembly is activated by the disk drive being exposed to a shock event that is directed along/about a first shock axis (e.g., within a reference plane that contains a disk drive base plate), and also is activated when the disk drive is exposed to a shock event that is directed along/about a second shock axis that is both non-parallel and non-colinear with the first shock axis (e.g., within a reference plane that is disposed at an angle to the disk drive base plate, and including perpendicular thereto).

Disk drive actuator arm latch assembly

A conductive lock washer for safely dissipating electrostatic charge which builds up on a disk surface without discharge across the head/dish gap. The lock washer, including a series of alternating inner and outer tabs, acts to reduce torque on the spindle washer damper and hoop stress on the washer itself, while still creating a conductive pathway to the top cover of the hard drive assembly.

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Longmont, CO, United States of America

D Michael Keffeler