Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Eiichi Ookawa

Hiroto Nishida

Takashi Suzuki

Hitoshi Watanabe

Kazuyoshi Irioka

Jun Koizumi

Toshiaki Sasaki

Shigeyoshi Hasegawa

The ultrasonic probe of the present invention includes an ultrasonic element unit for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, an oscillation mechanism for causing oscillation to the ultrasonic element unit and a detector for detecting the oscillation of the ultrasonic element unit. The detector detects the oscillation angle and the oscillation origin of the ultrasonic element unit, and when the oscillation range of the ultrasonic element unit is divided at its oscillation origin into two regions of a positive region and a negative region, the detector detects in which area the ultrasonic element unit is located. In use of the ultrasonic probe, a control of origin return for returning the ultrasonic element unit to its oscillation origin is performed on the basis of the result of the detection by the detector.

Ultrasonic probe

An ultrasonic probe is provided which may be employed in medical applications to radiate an ultrasonic wave for inspecting the interior of a patient's body noninvasively. The ultrasonic probe includes a scan mechanism which consists of a rotating mechanism and a swinging mechanism. The rotating mechanism is designed to rotate a cylindrical holder having installed thereon a piezoelectric element which emits an ultrasonic wave and receives the echo. The swinging mechanism is designed to swing a rotary base which supports the rotating mechanism to swing the cylindrical holder about an axis of rotation extending perpendicular to that of the piezoelectric element.

A loader conveys a holder, carrying thereon a disc cartridge, between a cartridge ejection position and a reproducing/recording position. The loader has an engaging part which engages with a mechanical lock mechanism so as to release a holder pin in the mechanical lock mechanism from its locked condition in order to hold a movable chassis in a floating condition with respect to a stationary chassis and to lock the holding pin in the mechanical lock mechanism so as to fix the movable chassis to the stationary chassis when the holder has been moved to the cartridge ejecting side. When the holder is moved to the reproducing/recording position, the holding pin provided on the holder engages with a shutter closing spring so as to retract an engaging part at the front end of the shutter closing spring through an opening in the holder in order to prevent the disc cartridge from making contact with the shutter closing spring, thereby making it possible to give a satisfactory feeling of insertion of the disc cartridge and avoid damaging the disc cartridge. Further, a rack in a loader feed mechanism is composed of two rack members which are linked together so as to decrease the operating length for moving the loader.

Disc apparatus

A loader conveys a holder, carrying thereon a disc cartridge, between a cartridge ejection position and a reproducing/recording position. The loader has an engaging part which engages with a lock mechanism so as to release a holder pin in the lock mechanism from its locked condition in order to hold a movable chassis in a floating condition and to lock the holding pin in the lock mechanism so as to fix the movable chassis to the stationary chassis when the holder comes to the cartridge ejecting side. When the holder is moved to the reproducing/recording position, the holding pin provided on the holder engages with a shutter closing spring so as to retract an engaging part at the front end of the shutter closing spring through an opening in the holder in order to prevent the disc cartridge from making contact with the shutter closing spring, thereby making it possible to give a satisfactory feeling of insertion of the disc cartridge and avoid damaging the disc cartridge.

A disk apparatus is disclosed. A movable chassis assembly having a turntable and a pickup head is detachably supported on elastic members by a stationary chassis assembly with the lock mechanism of the stationary chassis assembly engaged with lock pins disposed on the movable chassis. A holder located on the movable chassis assembly for holding a disk cartridge to load or eject the disk cartridge is transported by a loader located on the stationary chassis assembly in a predetermined transport direction. Pin driving means located in the loader disengages lock pins when the lock mechanism is touched by the pin driving means at the end of the loading operation of the disk cartridge. A pair of pivoting cross links are connected at their crossings by a support pin that is engaged with a first guide slot in the stationary chassis assembly. One end of each of the pair of cross links is slidably engaged with a guide slot in the loader. The other end of each of the pair of cross links is slidably engaged with a guide slot in the stationary chassis. This arrangement eliminates variations in the load during loading and ejecting operations. A stable operation of the disk apparatus is thus assured. The disk apparatus prevents a double insertion of cartridges and an incorrect insertion, freeing the cartridge and disk apparatus from physical damage.

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Yokohama, Japan

Eiichi Ookawa