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:
Dec. 15, 1998
Filed:
Mar. 28, 1997
John H Tangren, St. Paul, MN (US);
Hutchinson Technology Incorporated, Hutchinson, MN (US);
Abstract
A load beam for a head suspension has high lateral and torsional stiffness across the entire length of the load beam to assure high lateral bending and torsional resonance frequencies. The load beam utilizes an optimized top profile for distributing mass transversely of the load beam and over the longitudinal length of the load beam in a way to increase lateral stiffness and torsional stiffness. To increase lateral stiffness, a wider and/or thicker region is provided near the actuator mounting side of the load beam, while torsional stiffness is enhanced by taking mass away from the outside edges in the remainder of the load beam extending toward its distal tip. A load beam top profile is defined by side edges, each providing a spring region and a proximal portion of the rigid region, a curve having a center of curvature within the load beam structure, while a more distal portion of the rigid region is defined by curves having a center of curvature outside the load beam material. Preferably, a stiffener member is provided covering at least a portion of the surface of the rigid region. The stiffener is wide where it covers the proximal portion of the rigid region for increasing lateral and torsional stiffness, and then decreases in width extending toward the distal end of the load beam.