Maxtor Corporation

Miniscribe Corporation

James W Boeckner, Jr

Christopher Anthony Pollard

Jonathan David Jargon

Gordon A Harwood

Aaron S MacPherson

A monostable active latch apparatus is disclosed for use in a hard disk drive which has a housing, a rotating data storage disk and an actuator mounted in the housing. The actuator controllably positions a read/write head over a predetermined portion of the disk and includes a voice coil motor coil carried by a yoke portion of the actuator. The active latch uses a permanent magnet to bias an elongated rotatable latch arm into engagement with the actuator when the actuator is positioned in the landing zone. An electromagnet coil, positioned between the magnet and the magnetic return plates, when energized, counters this bias, permitting the latch arm to rotate, counterclockwise, out of engagement with the actuator. When the coil is deenergized, the permanent magnet provides a clockwise torque on the arm, raising the latch end of the latch arm to a first position out of the path of the actuator. When the coil is energized, the latch end of the latch arm is driven to a second position beneath the rear end of the actuator. If the coil is deenergized while the actuator is positioned in the landing zone of the disk, the latch end of the latch arm catches and latches the actuator, preventing further rotation of the actuator until the coil is again energized and the actuator moved away from the landing zone.

Monostable active latch for a disk drive actuator

A pair of brackets which can create a pair of loops in a flexible circuit board. The bracket includes a base portion and a wall which has a radius of curvature. At the intersection of the wall and base is a first slot. Opposite from the first slot is a second slot that is defined by a hook which extends from the top of the wall. The flexible circuit has a first edge which is initially inserted into the first slot and a second edge which is subsequently pushed past the hook into the second slot. The slots capture the flexible circuit board which extends along the radially shaped wall. The radial shaped wall bends the flexible circuit board so that the board has a first loop. The bracket is used to couple a first end of the flexible circuit board to the actuator arm of a hard disk drive. A second opposite end of the flexible circuit board is attached to a board bracket in such a manner to create a second loop in the flexible circuit board.

Bracket assembly which creates a pair of loops in a flexible circuit

A limit stop/latching assembly in a disk storage system includes a crash stop for limiting travel of the actuator carriage at a fixed stop position. The assembly has a first abutment surface defining the stop position, a stop pin on the actuator carriage movable in a path by travel of the actuator carriage to abut the first abutment surface, and a latch having a second abutment surface which is movable between a free position out of the path of the stop pin and a latched position with the second abutment surface abuting the stop pin and facing the first abutment surface across the path to latch the stop pin at the stop position. Advantageously, the latch is mounted for movement around a first mounting pin in rotary travel having a center defined by the crash stop pin.

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Broomfield, CO, United States of America

James W Boeckner, Jr