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. 24, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 10, 2000
Shane J. Van Sloun, Waconia, MN (US);
Hutchinson Technology Incorporated, Hutchinson, MN (US);
Abstract
An actuator assembly having a plurality of head suspensions removably secured to a spindle of the actuator assembly. Each head suspension is mounted to an arm, which is mounted to an actuator spindle through the use of a spacer having an annular lip. A spacer having an aperture is coupled to the actuator spindle by inserting the spindle through the aperture of the spacer. The actuator arm includes a pair of spring arms that can be expanded from a neutral state to a stressed state to engage an annular lip on the spacer for removably securing the arm to the spacer. A stacked array of arms can be formed on the actuator spindle by arranging a desired number of spacers on the spindle and mounting the arms to the spacers. In one embodiment, the spacer includes a single annular lip extending from a first planar surface of the spacer. In a second embodiment, the spacer includes an annular lip that extends from each of a pair of opposite planar surfaces, and an arm is attached to each of the lips. The lips can include a detent in a perimeter edge of the lip that is engaged by a proximal tip of one of the spring arms of the actuator arm. The spacer can also include a guide slot located in the planar surface of the spacer from which the lip extends, with the guide slot being engaged by a boss tower on the arm to properly orient the arm on the spacer when mounting the arm to the spacer.