Apparatus having inwardly biased fingers hingedly attached to a hub for

Abstract

An apparatus for clamping and driving a flexible disc for use with a rotatable spindle having a generally conical portion forming a camming surface, and a general cylindrical portion forming a first disc clamping surface and a disc registration surface, the apparatus comprising a generally annular hub having a plurality of stops and being rotatable about and movable along an axis, a plurality of fingers hingedly connected to the outer periphery of the hub, each of the fingers including a second disc clamping surface and a registration engaging surface, a circular spring for biasing the fingers radially inwardly against the stops such that the second disc clamping surfaces form a ring that contacts the camming surface when the hub is moved into engagement with the spindle, and a lifter for carrying the hub assembly and for moving it along the axis, whereby when the disc is loaded between the spindle and the hub and the lifter moves the hub along the axis such that the ring contacts the spindle, continued axial movement causes the ring to expand corresponding to the increasing diameter of the camming surface and wipe the inner periphery of the disc along the camming surface and the registration surface and onto the first disc clamping surface and whereby the spring causes the second disc clamping surface to clamp the disc to the first disc clamping surface, and also serves to positively register the registration engaging surface with the disc registration surface such that substantially all the driving torque associated with the rotating spindle is coupled to the hub.