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:
Apr. 23, 2002
Filed:
Nov. 04, 1999
Stephane Marie Andre d'Alayer de Costemore d'Arc, Genappe, BE;
Staar S.A., , BE;
Abstract
A cartridge housing for a recording disc has a thin, flat, substantially circular shape and includes a cover and a bottom at least one of which has an aperture allowing access by a reading or recording head of a reading/recording unit to a recording surface of a contained disc. A flat shutter is pivotally mounted around a shaft inside the cartridge housing for movement between aperture-closed and aperture-open positions responsive to limited relative rotational movement of the cover and bottom. An actuating leg extending from the shutter adjacent an edge diametrically opposite the shaft location cooperates with a arcuate chamber in the adjacent peripheral edge of the cover to move the shutter between the aperture-closed and aperture-open positions. The cover has a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the bottom to show a user how to properly orient the cartridge housing when loading it into a reading/recording unit, and conceals and protects the actuating leg for the shutter by making it inaccessible from outside the housing. One of the cover and bottom parts has a discontinuity which is engagable when a cartridge housing is placed within a drawer or guide member of a reading/recording unit to hold the one of the parts against movement and enable relative rotation of the parts to operate the shutter. A retainer on the shutter engages the disc to restrain it against movement when the shutter is in an aperture-closed position.