Syquest Technology, Inc.

Shugart Technology

Seagate Technology Incorporated

Syed H Iftikar

Albert J Guerini

Herbert E Thompson

Teong-Hoe Kay

David L Reeck

John J Mandish

Bin-Lun Ho

Alan F Shugart

A removable cartridge for a disk drive where the cartridge has a housing, a disk contained within the housing and a mechanism for reducing the rattling of the disk when the cartridge is not inside the disk drive and for permitting the free rotation of the disk when the cartridge is inside the disk drive. The rattle-reduction mechanism includes an inclined surface defined in the housing and a member having a first portion and a second portion. The interaction between the second portion of the member and the inclined surface of the housing may cause the first portion of the member to move into and out of contact with the hub. The contact between the first portion and the hub reduces the tendency of the disk to rattle. In one example embodiment, the cartridge has a housing with cartridge nut threads and a cartridge screw with cartridge screw threads. In this embodiment, interaction between the cartridge nut and the cartridge screw threads may cause a portion of the cartridge screw to move into and out of contact with a flange of the hub. A structure in the disk drive causes the cartridge screw to rotate in a manner such that the interaction between the cartridge screw threads and cartridge nut threads causes the cartridge screw to move away from and no longer contact the hub.

Rattle reduction mechanism in a removable cartridge for a disk drive

A cartridge adapted to be inserted into a disk drive where the disk drive includes a read/write head and a finger for engaging the cartridge. The cartridge includes a housing defining a cartridge door port and a door control port, a rotatable media within the housing, a door that rotates about a pivot point between a closed position and an open position, a portion of the door blocking access to the rotatable media through the cartridge door port when the door is closed, and a door opening link having a first end and a second end, the first end being coupled to the door closer to the pivot point of the door than to the portion of the door that blocks the cartridge door port, the second end being movable between a closed location and an open location. The door is in the closed position when the second end of the door opening link is in the closed location, and the door is in the open position when the second end of the door opening link is in the open location. The door control port is adapted to permit the finger of the disk drive to extend through the door control port and push the second end of the door opening link from the closed location to the open location as the cartridge is inserted into the drive.

Rotatable door and door opening mechanism for a cartridge

A disk drive (30) conforms to the 1.8 inch form factor through of use of, for example, a removable cartridge (200) which has a disk (220) mounted on the hub (226) which hub (226) is manipulatable by a multifunction handle (58) of the disk drive (30), allowing the hub (226) to be seated on the spindle motor nose (56) of the disk drive (30). The multifunction handle (58) of the drive (30) provides for a compact, high capacity design by performing cartridge hub seating operations, cartridge ejection operations, head arm assembly unlocking operations, and handle locking and unlocking operations to ensure proper operation of the disk drive (30). The disk drive (30) includes an inventive ramp (66) design which allows the head arm assembly (64) to be initially received within the cartridge (200) as the cartridge (200) is inserted into its final registration position in the disk drive receiving mechanism (53) and to be more tangent with respect to the disk (220).

Removable cartridge disk drive with a compact mechanism for engaging the

A removable cartridge (200) for a disk drive (30) which has a 1.8 inch form factor, has multifunction features which allow for high data storage capacity at a reduced size. The cartridge (200) includes a cartridge screw (206) which engages the cartridge nut (221) defined in the cartridge housing base (204) for allowing the disk (220) in the cartridge (200) to be positioned relative to the cartridge housing base (204) in order to successfully engage the spindle motor nose (56) of a disk drive (30). The cartridge screw (206) additionally prevents the disk (220) from rattling within the cartridge (200) whether the cartridge (200) is removed from the disk drive (30). The cartridge (200) further includes a multiplicity of projections (212), (214), (214), tang (208) and rails (216) which contact the drive (30) to perform the functions of proper reception and registration of the cartridge (200) in the cartridge receiving mechanism (53) of the disk drive (30) and proper operation of the cartridge (200) as the cartridge (200) is manipulated by the disk drive (30).

Removable cartridge which may be mounted to a disk drive spindle motor

A removable cartridge disk drive includes a removable cartridge adapted to be received by a disk drive having a base plate and right and left guide walls. The cartridge inserts into the drive at an angle with the aid of a movable slider attached to one of the guide walls. Once inserted, the cartridge is locked in and held. During operation, a rotary actuator arm with adjustable angular orientation loads one or more read/write heads off of a fixed ramp onto the surface of a data storage disk contained inside the cartridge. After read/write operations are finished, the head is unloaded onto the fixed ramp and the cartridge is ejected from the drive at an angle.

Disk drive for receiving a removable cartridge and method of inserting

Cartridge with a 1.8 inch form factor for a removable cartridge disk

A removable cartridge 200 for a disk drive 30 which has a 1.8 inch form factor, has multifunction features which allow for high data storage capacity at a reduced size. The cartridge 200 includes a cartridge screw 206 which engages the cartridge nut 221 defined in the cartridge housing base 204 for allowing the disk 220 in the cartridge 200 to be positioned relative to the cartridge housing base 204 in order to successfully engage the spindle motor nose 56 of a disk drive 30. The cartridge screw 206 additionally prevents the disk 220 from rattling within the cartridge 200 whether the cartridge 200 is removed from the disk drive 30. The cartridge 200 further includes a multiplicity of projections 212, 214, 214, tang 208 and rails 216 which contact the drive 30 to perform the functions of proper reception and registration of the cartridge 200 in the cartridge receiving mechanism 53 of the disk drive 30 and proper operation of the cartridge 200 as the cartridge 200 is manipulated by the disk drive 30.

Removable cartridge for a disk drive with a 1.8 inch form factor

A disk drive 30 conforms to the 1.8 inch form factor through of use of, for example, a removable cartridge 200 which has a disk 220 mounted on the hub 226 which hub 226 is manipulatable by a multifunction handle 58 of the disk drive 30, allowing the hub 226 to be seated on the spindle motor nose 56 of the disk drive 30. The multifunction handle 58 of the drive 30 provides for a compact, high capacity design by performing cartridge hub seating operations, cartridge ejection operations, head arm assembly unlocking operations, and handle locking and unlocking operations to ensure proper operation of the disk drive 30. The disk drive 30 includes an inventive ramp 66 design which allows the head arm assembly 64 to be initially received within the cartridge 200 as the cartridge 200 is inserted into its final registration position in the disk drive receiving mechanism 53 and to be more tangent with respect to the disk 220.

Removable cartridge disk drive with a 1.8 inch form factor

A disc drive (420) includes a spindle motor (432) having a stator assembly (436) which is provided in a radial gap configuration. A removable cartridge (422) includes a rotor assembly (472) mounted on a bearing arrangement (468) which additionally mounts the disc (430) contained in the cartridge (422). When the cartridge (422) is placed in the drive (420), the rotor assembly (472) of the cartridge (422) comes into alignment with the stator assembly (436) of the drive (420) so that the spindle motor (432) can cause the disc (430) contained in the cartridge (422) to rotate at the proper speed.

Disc drive with magnetic coupling to a head actuator in a removable disc

A disc drive 20 including a spindle motor assembly 42 having a magnetic clutch plate 46 and an actuator 47 receives a hermetically sealed cartridge 22 containing a plurality of discs 72, 74 with associated heads 80, 81 mounted in the cartridge 22. Associated with an arm assembly 84 which supports heads 80, 81 is a component 50 for use with the actuator 47. With the cartridge 22 inserted in the drive 20, the actuator 47 operates to cause the heads 80, 81 to traverse relative to the discs 72, 74 as the spindle motor assembly 42 uses a magnetic field to engage a magnetic plate 77 associated with cartridge 22 in order to spin the discs 72, 74. Data transfer connectors 52, 54 are associated with both the drive 20 and the cartridge 22 in order to allow for the transfer of data between the cartridge 22 and the drive 20.

High density disc drive with magnetic clutch for use with a sealed

A sealed cartridge 22 vor selective use in a disc drive 20 includes a sealed housing 70 with a disc 72 positioned therein and heads 80, 81 positioned relative to the disc. An actuator mechanism 84 is provided for use with an actuator arrangement 47 of the disc drive 20 in order that the actuator mechanism 84 and the actuator arrangement 47 can cooperate to move the heads 80, 81 relative to the disc 72. A magnetic coupling mechanism 77 is adapted for magnetically coupling the disc 72 to the disc drive 20 in order to allow the disc drive 20 to rotate the disc 72, without the magnetic coupling mechanism 77 physically touching the disc drive 20.

Sealed removable cartridge for use with a high density disc drive with

A head positioning assembly for disc drives including a zero track indicator and crash stops.

Disc recording apparatus including integral track zero and crash stop

A positioning assembly for magnetic heads in a disc apparatus including a band drive. The drive includes a relatively temperature insensitive band drive pulley which is employed to preload the positioning apparatus to minimize backlash runout and the like.

Head positioning assembly for disc apparatus

A disc drive assembly including a main housing containing a plurality of stacked discs supported on a rotating spindle is disclosed herein. This assembly also includes an air filter arrangement which defines a path of circulating air confined to a generally planar area within the housing. The support spindle includes a slot and an array of holes for directing the circulating air towards the discs in order to provide thermal balance.

Growing community of inventors

Fremont, CA, United States of America

Syed H Iftikar