Disk player with compact disk transporter

Abstract

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.