Maxtor Corporation

O. R. Technology, Inc.

Jonathan David Jargon

Kenneth H Fernalld

James Harold Bodmer

James W Boeckner, Jr

Gordon A Harwood

David William Paquet

Paul Andrew Wenker

Aaron S MacPherson

A mechanical linkage within a computer disk drive is used to ensure that the disk drive heads are parked prior to diskette ejection. An eject frame moves with respect to the chassis and drives a latch in an arcuate path. The latch engages an actuator and drives the actuator to an inner diameter position. The mechanical linkage ensures that the actuator is captured in its parked position whenever the eject frame is in an ejected position. The latch is returned to a stowed position when a diskette is installed in the disk drive. The mechanical linkage protects the heads by ensuring proper clearances from the diskette, and by positioning the actuator in a structurally rigid portion of the receiver plate. The invention has particular applicability to disk drives for portable computers.

Disk head positioning system including lift wing extensions on the

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

Growing community of inventors

Boulder, CO, United States of America

Jonathan David Jargon