Westwind Air Bearings Limited

Robin J W Powell

Christopher P Gerrard

Daniel O Tanner

A disc holder for holding at least one media storage disc during rotation includes a central hub arranged for rotation about a central axis. The hub includes resilient centering arms which are arranged to provide an outwardly directed centering force on an internal bore of a carried disc in order to center the carried disc about the axis of rotation of the hub. The arms are disposed in, and movable in, planes which are substantially perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the hub. The disc holder may be arranged for carrying a stack of axially spaced media storage discs and may include axial gripping structure for holding the stack together. The gripping structure may include a central shaft which is held in position by ball shaped clamps which are spring loaded against inclined surfaces.

Data storage disc holder having central shaft held by spring loaded clamps against inclined surfaces when in disc gripping configuration

Data storage disc carrier with self centering and locking structures

A device and method for preparing media discs () in which servowriting and verification of the media may be carried out simultaneously. A common monolithic platform () is provided which supports air bearing systems which allow movement of a media disc rotary carrier (), a servowriting headstack () and certifier headstack (). Indirect drive may be provided to the rotary carrier () via coupling means ().

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Milpitas, CA, United States of America

Robin J W Powell