Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Satoshi Suyama

Toru Arakawa

Koichiro Nakagawa

Kiyoshi Masaki

Kenichi Sakamoto

Kiyotaka Uehira

Yasutaka Nakajima

Masahiro Yanagi

Kenji Sanpei

Souji Oba

A drive apparatus for driving an information recording medium encased in a cartridge has a protection element for protecting the recording medium. The drive apparatus has an action member for cooperating with the protection element. The action member is projected out of the apparatus when the cartridge is inserted into the apparatus, and remains in the apparatus when the cartridge is detached from the apparatus. The apparatus comprises a drive unit and a cartridge mounting unit disposed on a base body of the drive unit. The cartridge mounting unit han an operation button disposed at a position which is furthest apart from the attached cartridge and opposite to the base body with respect to the attached cartridge. When the recording medium is a flexible disk, the disk is pressed onto a recording or reproducing head by a pad. An arm for supporting the pad allows the pressure exerted by the pad on the disk to increase with the rotation of the disk.

Apparatus for loading and driving an information recording medium

A compact stepping motor is equipped with at least four stator plates positioned in parallel with each other, a rotor with a rotary axis perpendicular to the stator plates, and at least two energizing coils each positioned between each two of the stator plates. The rotor is positioned out of the energizing coils. The center axes of the coils and the rotary axis of the rotor are in parallel with each other. One coil is positioned between one pair of stator plates and one coil is positioned between the other pair of stator plates and share a common center axis. Circumferentially arranged stator poles extend from each stator plate perpendicularly to the each stator plate so as to surround the rotor at a specified distance.

Stepping motor

A loading apparatus for a recording medium comprises a holder for holding a recording medium, a guide provided on the holder, a slide plate mounting thereon, and a raised member which supports the guide when the recording medium is not inserted into the holder and which releases the support when a recording medium is fully inserted into the holder. The holder is urged downward so that, when the guide is released from the raised member, the recording medium moves downward to a loading position. A discharging plate having a cam mounted thereon is also provided. When the discharging plate is pushed, the cam pushes up the guide, thereby returning the holder to an unloading position. Thus, each of the loading and unloading operations is completed only by one manual operation.

Loading apparatus for a recording medium

A cartridge to be inserted into a drive unit includes a casing containing a recording medium disc to be driven by the drive unit. The disc has a hub fixed at its center. Center windows are provided at opposite sides of the casing and allow the hub to be inserted therethrough. Head windows are provided also at opposite sides of the casing and allow a reading head to access information recorded on opposite sides of the disc. Shutters are provided around the center windows and normally cover the head windows. These shutters are rotatable about the center windows and uncover the head windows when the cartridge is inserted into the drive unit. An actuator for rotating the shutters is provided between the shutters and the outside of the casing. The actuator has a portion exposed to the outside of the casing so that the shutters are automatically and indirectly rotated by an external force applied to the actuator when the cartridge is inserted into the drive unit. An advantage of the arrangement of these elements is that damage to and malfunctioning of the cartridge is prevented.

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Neyagawa, Japan

Satoshi Suyama