Alps Electric Co., Ltd.

Motohiro Shimaoka

Yukio Saito

Makito Takikawa

Yasuyuki Hirose

Masao Okita

Kunihiko Gunji

Osamu Shigenai

Makoto Watanabe

Shoichiro Saito

Toru Kowaguchi

A write protect switch device accommodated in a disk drive comprises an arm whose one end is supported by a frame of the disk drive, and a rotatable cam member supported by the other end of the arm, whose abutting end slides on a casing of a disk cartridge, the cam member displacing the other end of the arm in the direction of separating from the frame at the time of insertion of the disk cartridge; fitting into a write protect notch of the casing to displace the arm in the direction of approaching the frame when the abutting end arrives at the position of the notch; turning in the ejection direction of the disk cartridge with the arm kept close to the frame at the time of ejection; and after ejection, returning to the state before insertion of the disk cartridge. The write protect switch device also includes a spring for urging the whole arm inclusive of the cam member toward the frame, another spring for urging the cam member in the direction of rotating the same in the insertion direction of the disk cartridge, and switch means performing its switching action in response to the operation of the arm of approaching and separating from the disk cartridge. The cam member swings about the other end of the arm in response to the insertion/ejection movement of the disk to magnify and convert the amount of recess of the notch into the swing stroke of the arm about its one end.

Write protect switch device

A disk clamping mechanism for a disk driving device employed in an apparatus for writing information in a disk and reading the information recorded in a disk, such as a recording/reproducing apparatus, has a rotary system including a hub for centering a disk relative to and pressing the disk against the spindle hub of the disk driving device and a collet for pressing the hub toward the spindle hub, and a nonrotational system including carrier for moving the rotary system toward and away from the spindle hub, a collet supporting member supporting the collet and fastened to the carrier, a ball receptacle loosely fitted in the collet supporting member, and a spring urging the collet supporting member and the ball receptacle away from each other. The rotary system and the nonrotational system are joined by means of a spherical tip or a conical tip at a position on the lower side toward the spindle of the disk driving device below to a disk clamping surface so that tilting of the hub is corrected as the hub is fitted in the spindle hub attached to the spindle.

Disk clamping mechanism

A disk recording-reproducing device including a clamp mechanism and eject mechanism for a disk, which is characterized by an eject board abutable on an insertion front end of the disk and urged toward an insertion opening for the disk, a lock mechanism for locking the eject board when the disk is inserted up to a drive position, a lock-release member for releasing the locked state of the eject board, and a cam member rotatable as it is rubbed by the lock-release member at the time of insertion of the disk. Either the cam member or the lock-release member is movable in cooperation with the eject board to shift in the direction of insertion and ejection of the disk, and the other is movable in cooperation with the clamp mechanism to shift substantially perpendicularly to the revolution plane of the cam member, whereby a comparatively large dimensional clearance is allowed for the cam member and lock-release member.

Disk ejection mechanism for recording-reproducing device

A recording and reproducing apparatus using a disk cartridge includes a cartridge holder in which the cartridge is received, a pivotable shutter, and a receiving portion mounted to the front end of the holder and coming into engagement with the shutter. The body of the apparatus is provided with an opening to allow insertion of the cartridge into the apparatus. The shutter is always biased in such a direction as to cover the opening, and is centrally provided with an extension which comes into engagement with the receiving portion, so that the holder is not operatively connected with the apparatus until the shutter is opened.

Disk loading mechanism for recording and reproducing apparatus

A construction for positioning photosensor devices, comprises an attachment having a circular hole, a first photosensor device such as a light-emitting element including a substantially semispherical body having a maximum diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the circular hole, a second photosensor device such as a photodetector element disposed in confronting relation to the circular hole, the semispherical body being partly fitted in the circular hole, thereby providing coaxial alignment between the first and second photosensor devices.

Construction for positioning photosensor devices

A recording and reproducing apparatus using a disk cartridge has a frame provided with angular holes each of which consists of a horizontal portion and a vertical portion. Rollers are disposed on the sides of the cartridge holder, and these rollers are moved vertically in the angular holes when a disk cartridge is inserted into the apparatus. The apparatus includes cam members having flat portions, inclined portions and intermediate edge portions. The apparatus further includes resilient members in resilient contact with the cam members for biasing the edge portions from the sides of the centers of the rollers toward the horizontal portions when the rollers are located in the vertical portions of the angular holes to allow the cartridge holder to be operatively connected with the apparatus.

Recording and reproducing apparatus including a cassette loading device

In a recording and reproducing device for a magnetic disc, a swingable holder fixedly supports a first magnetic head, while a carriage supporting the holder swingably further supports a second magnetic head in a fixed manner. During a head-load time, the first and second magnetic heads are held in contact with the upper and lower surfaces of the magnetic disc at positions opposite to each other thereby to record or reproduce information to or from the magnetic disc. The recording and reproducing device of the above described construction is further improved by providing a damper device in a moving range of the holder so that the damper device can reduce impact when the first and second magnetic heads are brought into contact with the magnetic disc.

Recording and reproducing device for magnetic disc including a head

A magnetic disk drive assembly has an ejector pivotably mounted on a base for movement between a locked position and an unlocked position, the ejector being normally spring-biased toward the unlocked position. When a diskette is fully inserted into the magnetic disk drive assembly, the ejector is displaced by the diskette into the locked position. A locking projection is mounted on the base for locking the ejector in the locked position. A hub frame pivotably mounted on the base supports a lock release member resiliently engageable with the ejector when the latter is in the locked position and also when the hub frame is in a drive position. When the hub frame is moved from the drive position to a non-drive position, the lock release member allows the ejector to be released from the locked position to the unlocked position and also released from the lock release member.

Magnetic disk drive

A recording and reproducing apparatus comprises a cartridge holder accommodating therein a disk cartridge, a body housing therein the cartridge holder and having a side wall, and a cam slidable on the side wall for moving the cartridge holder from a loaded position back to a position prior to loading, the cam being disposed between the side wall and a side of the cartridge holder and having on a side thereof a plurality of projections held in contact with the side wall.

Recording and reproducing apparatus having sliding loading and unloading

A recording/reproducing device including a cam which permits a cartridge holder to descend and assume a loaded state, a lock for locking the cam so as to hold the cartridge holder in the lock state before loading, and a detector for detecting that a disc cartridge has been inserted up to a predetermined position in the cartridge holder. The locked state of the cam is released upon detection of proper insertion of the cartridge, thereby allowing the cartridge holder to descend until it assumes the loaded state. Unless the disc cartridge is inserted in the predetermined position in the cartridge holder, the cartridge holder cannot assume the loaded state, thus permitting the recording/reproducing device to be used always in a normal condition.

Recording and reproducing apparatus including a cassette loading

A recording and reproducing device records and reproduces signals in and from a disk cartridge having slots defined in lateral edges thereof and housing a magnetic disk, a magnetic head insertion hole, a shutter for opening and closing the magnetic head insertion hole, a shutter actuator projection slidably disposed in one of the grooves defined for actuating the shutter. The recording and reproducing device comprises a frame having a cartridge insertion hole for the insertion therein of the disk cartridge, opening and closing actuator projections held in resilient contact with the bottoms of the grooves, respectively, for actuating the shutter actuator projection in engagement therewith while the disk cartridge is inserted through the cartridge insertion hole into the frame, and stopper members disposed laterally of the opening and closing projections for preventing the latter from being laterally displaced beyond a distance smaller than the length of projection of the shutter actuator projection.

Recording and reproducing device

A flexible magnetic disc driving apparatus including a flexible magnetic disc driving portion, a flexible magnetic disc placed in a jacket having two windows formed thereon and two head mechanisms, each consisting of a head and an elastic push member facing the head, wherein the head mechanisms are disposed such that one of them is capable of reading and writing the surface of the flexible magnetic disc while the other is capable of reading and writing the back of the flexible magnetic disc, are arranged with an acute angle with respect to the center of the flexible magnetic disc driving portion and are moved by one head moving mechanism.

Flexible magnetic disc driving apparatus

A recording/reproducing device including a detector means for detecting a closed state of a magnetic head insertion aperture opening and closing shutter attached to a disc cartridge when the disc cartridge is inserted into a cartridge holder up to a predetermined position, and a load stopping means for stopping the cartridge from assuming a loaded state upon detection of the closed state of the shutter by the detector means. Since the transfer to the loaded state of the disc cartridge is effected after making sure that the magnetic head insertion aperture is open, the recording and playback can be done always in a proper condition, thus permitting improvement of reliability.

Loading/ejecting device for a magnetic disk cartridge

A recording/reproducing device comprising a cartridge holder adapted to be moved from an unloaded state to a loaded state by a vertical movement of a roller provided on each side portion of the cartridge holder, and a cam member having a flat portion adapted to contact and guide the roller and an inclined push-up portion adapted to abut the roller to return the cartridge holder from the loaded state to the unloaded state. The cam member is formed with a projecting portion at its portion changing from the flat portion to the inclined push-up portion. It is possible to give the 'click' touch to the user at the time of transfer from unloaded to loaded state in the disc cartridge inserting operation.

Disk cartridge loading apparatus for use in recording/reproducing device

Disclosed is a flexible magnetic disk driving device wherein a transmission member which may be bent at an obtuse angle in the intermediate part thereof is pivotally mounted between an operation part and a hub mounting position of a pivoting arm pivotably mounted on a main body, and one end of the transmission member is engaged with a hub shaft while the other end is adapted to be able to contact with a stepped part of a front plate in order to allow a hub to be kept parallel to a spindle even when the operation part is in an open state. Thereby, there is little possibility that the magnetic disk may be damaged when loaded or unloaded and it can be used for a longer period of time, because the hub clamps the magnetic disk with the spindle while remaining substantially parallel to the spindle.

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Furukawa, Japan

Motohiro Shimaoka