The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 15, 1998
Filed:
Nov. 04, 1996
Yuichiro Hisatomi, Tokyo, JP;
Nakamichi Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
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.