Maxtor Corporation

Seagate Technology Incorporated

Tave Joseph Fruge

Todd M Morton

James A Dunckley

Frank William Bernett

Dave Brause

John Francis Fletcher

David D Brause

James D Fahey

Francis P Crimi

Debasis Baral

Naum V Gitis

Richard Kendle Thompson

As may be implemented in accordance with one or more embodiments, an electrical connector such as a low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) connector is sealed to an opening in a base deck having bottom and/or side walls that define a cavity. A mechanical component is coupled to balance forces applied to opposing surfaces of the electrical connector, which can mitigate the application of high forces to connector pins and/or to the connector itself. Further, this balancing may be implemented to maintain a controlled bias force against the connector. The electrical connector may, for example, be hermetically sealed to the opening by a seal such as a gasket, epoxy or other material, which may be included in the electrical connector.

Electrical connector with force balancing

In certain embodiments, an apparatus includes a basedeck for a hard disc drive. The basedeck includes an interior surface for supporting disc drive components and an exterior surface. The basedeck includes a cavity in either the exterior surface or interior surface. The cavity includes at least two pads for supporting an electrical connector.

Methods and devices for mitigating gas leakage through an adhesive

An apparatus and associated method involving an actuator assembly having an actuator body defining a bore and a bearing assembly in the bore. The bearing assembly has a shaft, and further has a bearing having an inner race that is affixed to the shaft and an outer race that is rotatable relative to the inner race. The bearing also has a sleeve defining an annular rigid portion circumscribing the outer race and affixed thereto. The sleeve further defines an annular predictably deformable portion depending from the rigid portion that is entirely disposed longitudinally distant from the outer race and sized to deform when press fit into the bore to operably align the shaft in the bore.

Press fitting a cartridge  bearing

An actuator/coil assembly () is disclosed where two different bonding operations are used. First, a bobbin () is overmolded to a coil (), and a first overmolded part () is overmolded to both the coil () and a fan tail () of the actuator (). The overmolding operation defines one or more adhesive receptacles () in the bobbin () on a perimeter that interfaces with the coil (), and further defines one or more adhesive receptacles () in the first overmolded part () on a perimeter that interfaces with the coil () and that interfaces with the fan tail () of the actuator (). Adhesive () is disposed within these receptacles () to increase the stiffness of the actuator/coil assembly ().

Fixtureless manufacture of bonded actuator/coil assemblies

A disk drive head stack assembly () of a configuration that facilitates the assembly thereof is disclosed. One or more head/arm assemblies () are mounted on a pivot bearing (). This pivot bearing () includes a tapered section (). Each head/arm assembly () may be mounted on the pivot bearing (). Thereafter, a retainer ring () may be advanced relative to the pivot bearing (). Advancement of the retainer ring () along the tapered section () expands the retainer ring () so that the same may be disposed within a retainer ring slot () of the pivot bearing (). Each head/arm assembly () is maintained between this retainer ring () and a flange () of the pivot bearing ().

Method for making a disk drive head stack assembly having a tapered pivot bearing

Positive retention features are provided on an actuator of a magnetic disk drive thereby increasing the structural rigidity of the actuator in attachment of a voice coil to the actuator. The positive retention features are defined by a plurality of protrusions having compound curved shapes including reverse or inward facing edges. The natural tendency of thermoplastic resin to shrink during cooling is used to an advantage in enhancing the rigidity of the connection between the voice coil and actuator body. The compound curved shapes of the positive retention features allows shrinkage of the thermoplastic resin in multiple directions around the features thereby maintaining desired actuator stiffness.

Dovetails for positive retention in an over-molded actuator

Disk drive head stack assembly having a tapered pivot bearing

A transducer suspension assembly comprises mounting base plate (40), a spring element (42), a load beam (44) and a flexure (46) having a reduced-footprint slider (60). A partial etch (50) is formed in the spring element of the suspension. The spring element further includes a pair of lateral flanges (54). The flexure contains a second pair of flanges (64) and two longitudinal arrays of openings (70 and 72) formed in the flanges. A shortened, high-stiffness service loop (69) is connected to the reduced-footprint slider.

Growing community of inventors

Louisville, CO, United States of America

Tave Joseph Fruge