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:
Mar. 02, 1999
Filed:
Jun. 07, 1996
Gregory Gerard Foisy, Tracy, CA (US);
Thaddeus Anthony Raczek, San Jose, CA (US);
Western Digital Corporation, Irvine, CA (US);
Abstract
Apparatus and means for attaching the head-suspension assembly to the actuator arm in a disk drive. A head-suspension assembly in a first fabrication step is permanently fastened to a nut plate, for example, by laser welding. The nut plate is fastened to the suspension assembly on the suspension surface that faces away from the nearby recording disk when the disk drive is fully assembled. Another aspect of this invention is the use of heat-activated thermosetting adhesive. The head-suspension assembly with the affixed nut plate is fastened to an actuator arm with a heat-activated adhesive film. In one embodiment, the adhesive is applied to both sides of a thin plastic film for ease of handling and application. In another embodiment, the adhesive is made electrically conductive to provide an electrically-conductive path between the actuator arm and the head-suspension assembly. In one such embodiment, the plastic film separating the two layers of electrically-conductive adhesive is perforated to allow contact between the two layers of adhesive that forms an electrically-conductive path.