U.S. Philips Corporation

Polygram Gmbh

Philips & Du Pont Optical Company

Werner Heuer

Hermann Grobecker

Alois Pichler

Klaus D Drechsler

Rainer Tiebel

Rolf D Brandt

A package having a plurality of rectangular component parts pivotably connected to one another about parallel swiveling axes. These parts include at least one disc carrier, having clamping elements for holding a disc to the carrier, as an intermediate part arranged between two covers. Swiveling axes for interconnecting the intermediate parts to each other and to the covers are situated alternately at opposite ends of the parts, so that the package opens into a zig-zag configuration. A cover may have an end portion arranged for positioning a thick textual insert having a spine, to allow text on the spine to be read through the end wall of the package. A single disc and a text insert over 3 mm thick can be stored in a package having principal dimensions the same as the standard individual CD package. For storing a plurality of discs, a disc carrier may have clamping elements on opposite sides of the carrier, preferably formed simultaneously with the carrier as one injection molding.

Package for at least one disc provided with a central center hole

Cassette has a bottom section a pivotable cover section, and a tray which is constructed to be inserted into the bottom section and to hold a disc at its outer edge by means of at least three retaining elements arranged on the tray. One of the retaining elements is movable, and transport protection is provided by a latching element arranged on the cover section, which latching element latches the resilient retaining element in its normal position when the cover section is in its closed position.

Storage cassette for a disc-shaped information carrier

Strict care must be taken in the mass production of high packing density, disc-shaped information carriers such as represented, for example, by the manufacture of compact discs, that no mix-ups occur of workpieces having different informational content during the production sequence. Proceeding on the basis that disc magazines are employed for conveying the disc-shaped workpieces from work station to the next, it is proposed that the disc magazines have a processing sequence for the workpiece stack they contain which is rigidly defined for all work stations by means of fitting parts. Also, each workpiece stack and thus each disc magazine accepting a workpiece stack therein is accompanied by an identifier disc whose shape corresponds to the shape of a workpiece. The identifier disc thus assumes the initial position in the rigidly defined hierarchy of a workpiece stack within a disc magazine. This identifier disc is read first at an input side of a work station by means of a read unit before the working-off of the workpiece stack contained in the disc magazine is undertaken in the prescribed sequence.

Conveyor system for disc magazine having an identifier disc

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Lehrte, Germany

Werner Heuer