Nakamichi Corporation

Yuichiro Hisatomi

Niro N Nakamichi

A disk playback device has a magazine for storing a plurality of carriages, each capable of carrying a disk. The magazine moves vertically relative to a chassis to align a playback position with a selected one of the carriages. A selected carriage is moved out the magazine and into the playback position for playing. Carriages selected for playback are in contact with adjacent carriages which tend to shift out of the magazine along with selected carriage. To prevent this unwanted shifting and retain a very compact configuration, the present invention provides a pair of parallel restrainers. The restrainers are mounted vertically on the chassis and fit into notches on the carriages stored in the magazine. A gap between the restrainers is positioned so that when the selected carriage is aligned with the playback position, the selected carriage is free to move into the playback position. The engagements between the notches of the adjacent carriages, however, prevent them from shifting along with the selected carriage. The restrainer is mounted behind the edges of the carriages closest to the playback position and therefor does not take up any room between the playback position and the magazine. Therefore, a high degree of compactness can be achieved.

Disk player with magazine device

A disk player has a magazine for storing disks and a disk transport mechanism transporting a selected disk between four positions including an eject position, a load position, a playback position, and a store position which lie in a single plane. The selected disk is carried on a carriage in a tray from the eject position to the load position where the selected disk and carriage are partially removed from the tray to the playback position above a disk reader. The partial removal of the carriage from the tray to the load position provides a required clearance aperture for the disk reader permitting a tray length to be minimized. A first transport mechanism transports the tray and carriage between said eject and load position. A second transport mechanism transports the carriage between the load, playback, and store positions. The first transport mechanism enables the second transport mechanism when transporting the carriage to the load position. The second transport mechanism disables the first transport mechanism and locks the tray at the load position when removing a carriage from the load position. The magazine accepts a plurality of disks held in carriages. An alignment mechanism provides relative movement between the magazine and a plane of transport of the disk transport mechanism permitting the selected disk to be inserted or removed from the magazine at the store position. The disk reader is positioned to read the selected disk overlapping disks stored in the magazine resulting in a smaller disk player size. Another embodiment of the invention eliminates the magazine and its associated store position.

Disk player with compact disk transporter

A disk player has a magazine for storing disks and a disk transport mechanism transporting a selected disk between four positions including an eject position, a load position, a playback position, and a store position which lie in a single plane. The selected disk is carried upon a tray from the eject position to the load position where the selected disk is partially removed from the tray to the playback position above a disk reader. The magazine accepts a plurality of disks. A magazine driving mechanism provides relative movement between the magazine and a plane of transport of the disk transport mechanism permitting a selected disk to be inserted or removed from the magazine at the store position. A disk clamping mechanism moves the disk reader relative to a clamp assembly in order to clamp the selected disk to a turntable. Both the disk clamping mechanism and the magazine driving mechanism are driven from a common drive source. An output of the common drive source is switched by the disk transport mechanism via a planetary gear assembly.

Disk player with magazine switched drive source

A disk player has a magazine for storing disks on carriages and a disk transport mechanism transporting a selected disk between four positions including an eject position, a load position, a playback position, and a store position which lie in a single plane. The selected disk is carried upon a carriage from the magazine to the load position where the selected disk is partially removed from the magazine to the playback position above a disk reader. An alignment mechanism provides relative movement between the magazine and a plane of transport of the disk transport mechanism permitting a selected disk to be inserted or removed from the magazine at the store position. The disk reader is positioned to read the selected disk while overlapping disks stored in the magazine resulting in a smaller disk player size. The magazine pivotally holds the carriages in a stacked arrangement with prongs engaging recesses in the carriages. The magazine also holds a carriage for accepting disks of two sizes. A separator mechanism pivots apart carriages in the magazine to allow sufficient clearance for removal and insertion of a selected carriage. The separator mechanism also has a stopping protrusion which serves as a keeper to hold a carriage below the selected carriage in the magazine during withdrawal of the selected carriage.

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Tokyo, Japan

Yuichiro Hisatomi