GB2190793A - Tape and disc drive retaining apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Drive retaining apparatus for personal computers comprises a hollow frame housing 10 adapted to receive a plurality of drives 20 and having a plurality of guide bars 12 and engaging bars 13 integrally provided on the inner surface of the two opposite parallel side walls 111, 112, and retaining plates 30 adapted to be fixed to the side walls 21 of each drive 20. Each plate 30 has two retaining protrusions 31 on an upper edge 200 thereof which can be engaged with the engaging bars 13 so that the retaining plate 30 can be clamped between the guide bars 12 and the engaging bars 13 to retain the drive 20 firmly in the frame housing 10 when it is being used and to release it easily from the engaging bar 13 for maintenance work. A cover 40 with an opening 401 is secured to the front of the housing 10 to prevent undesired outward movement of the drives. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Drive retaining apparatus The present invention relates to a drive retaining apparatus, particularly one suitable for hard disk, floppy disk and tape drives.

Many previously designed personal computers are in an arrangement such that the drives are an individual unit separate from the monitor display and the keyboard of the computer, and they are communicated with each other by extension cables through connectors and interfaces. Such an arrangement has a disadvantage in that the connectors and the extension cables are easily broken or pulled apart, and the drives may easily tumble down from the table if the monitor display and keyboard are bumped accidentally.

In order to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages, many personal computers are presently designed with the drive sets in the computer as a whole unit. However, it is com piicated to screw and retain the drives in the computer during manufacturing of the computers. Moreover, it is inconvenient to take out the drive assembly from the computer or to assemble it back into the computer in maintenance work.

With the above problems in mind, the main object of the invention is to provide an improved drive retaining apparatus which is simple in construction and convenient to assemble.

Viewed from one aspect the present invention provides drive retaining apparatus comprising a hollow frame housing having a front opening adapted to receive a plurality of drives, and two opposed parallel side walls; a plurality of horizontal guide bars provided on the inner surfaces of said side walls, wherein said guide bars are in an arrangement such that the guide bars on one side wall are disposed directly opposite respective guide bars on the other side wall; retaining plates adapted to be fixed to side walls of each of said drives, each said plate having an outwardly bent portion at one end, and a retaining member provided on an upper edge of said retaining plate; means for engaging said retaining members of said retaining plates disposed on the inner surfaces of said side walls of said housing, whereby, when a said drive is inserted in said frame housing by sliding said retaining plates along said guide bars, said retaining plates can be clamped between said guide bars and said engaging means; and means for covering the edges of said front opening of said frame housing, having a plurality of projections provided on an inner surface of said edge cover means, wherein said projections extend into said frame housing when said edge cover firmly covers said front opening, and said projections engage said outwardly bent portions of said retaining plates, preventing outward movement of said drives.

By means of this arrangement in its preferred forms the retaining housing has a plurality of guide bars and engaging means on the inner surface of two opposed parallel side walls of the retaining housing, each pair of guide bars and engaging means being arranged so as to clamp a drive therebetween so that the drives can be retained in the housing firmly when they are used and each of the diskdrives can be released from the apparatus easily when it needs to be taken out for maintenace work.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is an exploded view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a side sectional view of the embodiment of Figure 1 showing the inner arrangement of the frame housing; and Figure 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of the retaining plate, showing the upper protrusion.

Referring to Figure 1 in conjunction with Figure 2 and Figure 3, the drive retaining apparatus includes a hollow frame housing 10 having a front opening 11 and inner hollow portion 100 adapted to receive a plurality of diskdrives 20, and two opposed parallel side walls 111, 112. A plurality of horizontal guide bars 12, each of which is integrally disposed on an inner surface of the two side walls 111, 112 of the frame housing 10, are formed by punching to a predetermined length longitudinally the two side walls 111, 112 and then inwardly bending the punched portions into the hollow portion 100 of the frame housing 10 to form a guide bar 12. The guide bars 12 are in an arrangement such that the guide bars on the inner surface of one side wall are disposed directly opposite to respective guide bars on the other side wall.

Retaining plates 30 are adapted to be fixed to each side wall 21 of the drive 20 by a plurality of screws 50 through a plurality of screw holes 35, each plate having an outwardly bent portion 22 at one end, an inwardly inclined portion 34 at another end, and a retaining means of two protrusions 31 provided on an upper edge 200 of each of the retaining plates 30.

A plurality of engaging bars 13, used as engaging means, are disposed on the inner surfaces of the two opposed parallel walls 111, 112 and are formed in the same way as are the guide bars 12, (i.e. by punching the side walls along a predetermined length and the bending the punched portion inward) and are spaced apart a little from the guide bars 12. Each of the engaging bars 13 has a depression 130 for receiving a protrusion 31 of the retaining plate 30 so that the retaining plate 30 can be clamped between the guide bars 12 and the engaging bars 13 when a diskdrive 20 is inserted in the frame housing 10 by sliding the lower edge 300 of retaining plate 30 along the guide bars 12.

Each of the retaining plates 30 further includes two apertures 32 under the protrusions 31 of the retaining plate 30 respectively. Each aperture has a slot portion 321 communicating with the aperture 32 and parallel to the edges 200, 300 of the retaining plate 30 to render the retaining plate 30 resilient at the point where the protrusion 31 must be snapped into or out of the depression 130 of the engaging bar 13 for convenience in retaining the diskdrive 20 in the frame housing 10 or removing it therefrom for maintenance work.

An opening edge cover means 40 of a rectangular shape frame with an opening 401 which is at the same side as the front opening 11 of the housing 10, has a front cover surface 41 and an inwardly bent flange portion 42, screw base projections 43 at each corner of the cover means 40 and a plurality of projections 44 provided on the inner surface of the front cover means 40, wherein the projections 41 extend into the frame housing 10 when the edge cover means 40 firmly covers the front opening 11.The opening edge cover means 40 can cover the front opening 11 of the frame housing 10 and be fixed firmly by tightening the cover means 40 by screws 45 through the screw base projections 43. (See Figures 1-2). When the edge cover means 40 firmly covers the front opening 11, the projections 44 are engaged with the outwardly bent portions 33 of each of the retaining plates 30, so that the projections 44 can prevent the outward movement of the diskdrives 20.

When the apparatus is designed, the number of guide bars 12 is chosen according to the number of the drives which need to be retained in the retaining apparatus. The number of projections 44 of the cover means 40 is determined by the number of guide bars 12. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the number of guide bars is designed for retaining three drives so that there are a plurality of projections 44 of the opening edge cover means.

The two opposite parallel side walls 111, 112 of the frame housing 10 further include a plurality of protrusions 14 provided on an inner surface at an end portion away from the front opening 11. Each protrusion can be engaged with an inwardly inclined portion 34 of a retaining plate 30 so that the retaining plate 30 and the drive can be received in the retaining apparatus firmly.

Thus it will be seen that, at least in its preferred forms, the present invention provides a drive retaining apparatus having a frame housing to retain a plurality of drives firmly so that the drives remain undamaged if the computer is moved or bumped. A plurality of guide bars and engaging means are arranged so that a pair of guide bars and engaging means can clamp a drive which is inserted therebetween and retain it in the apparatus firmly. Retaining plates are adapted to be fixed with the outer side wall of the drive for engaging with the engaging means and are in an arrangement such that the retaining plates can be retained between the engaging means and guide bars and released from the engaging means easily for convenience in maintenance work.

The hollow frame housing has a front opening adapted to receive a plurality of drives and two opposed parallel side walls; a plurality of horizontal guide bars, each of which is integrally disposed on the inner surface of the two side walls of the frame housing by punching the two side walls along a predetermined length and then bending the punched portions inwardly to form the guide bars, wherein the guide bars are in an arrangement such that the guide bars on the inner surface of one side wall are disposed directly opposite the guide bars on the other side wall respectively. The retaining plates adapted to be fixed with each side wall of the drive, each have an outwardly bent portion at one end, an inwardly inclined portion at another end and a retaining member of two protrusions provided on an upper edge.The engaging means consists of a plurality of engaging bars, each of which is disposed on the inner surface of the two opposed parallel side walls and formed in the same way as the guide bars. The engaging bars are spaced apart a little from the guide bars, and each of the engaging bars has a depression for receiving a protrusion of a retaining plate so that the retaining plate can be clamped beween each of the guide bars and the engaging bars when the drive is inserted into the frame housing by sliding the retaining plate along the guide bar until the protrusion of the retaining plate is received in the depression of the engaging bar. Each of the retaining plates further includes two apertures located under the protrusions of the retaining plate respectively. Each aperture has a slot portion communicated with the apertures and parallel to the edge of the retaining plate to render the retaining plate resilient at the point where the protrusion must be snapped into or out of the depression of the engaging bar for convenience in retaining the drive in the frame housing or removing it therefrom for maintenance work.

An opening edge cover means is provided for covering the edge of the front opening of the frame housing which is screwed on by a plurality of screws. The cover has a plurality of projections provided on an inner surface of the edge cover, wherein the projections extend into the frame housing when the edge cover covers firmly the front opening and the projections are engaged with the outwardly bent portion of each of the retaining plates so that the projections prevent the outward movement of the drives.

The two opposed parallel side walls of the frame housing each further include a plurality of protrusions provided on its inner surface at an end portion away from the front opening.

Each protrusion can be engaged with an inwardly inclined portion of the retaining plate so that the retaining plate and the drive can be retained in the frame housing more firmly.

It is to be clearly understood that there are no particular features of the foregoing specification, or of any claims appended hereto, whcih are at present regarded as being essential to the performance of the present invention, and that any one or more of such features or combinations thereof may therefore be included in, added to, omitted from or deleted from any of such claims if and when amended during the prosecution of this application or in the filing or prosecution of any divisional application based thereon.

Claims (7)

1. Drive retaining apparatus comprising a hollow frame housing having a front opening adapted to receive a plurality of drives, and two opposed parallel side walls; a plurality of horizontal guide bars provided on the inner surfaces of said side walls, wherein said guide bars are in an arrangement such that the guide bars on one side wall are disposed directly opposite respective guide bars on the other side wall; retaining plates adapted to be fixed to side walls of each of said drives, each said plate having an outwardly bent portion at one end, and a retaining member provided on an upper edge of said retaining plate; means for engaging said retaining members of said retaining plates disposed on the inner surfaces of said side walls of said housing, whereby, when a said drive is inserted in said frame housing by sliding said retaining plates along said guide bars, said retaining plates can be clamped between said guide bars and said engaging means; and means for covering the edges of said front opening of said frame housing, having a plurality of projections provided on an inner surface of said edge cover means, wherein said projections extend into said frame housing when said edge cover firmly covers said front opening, and said projections engage said outwardly bent portions of said retaining plates, preventing outward movement of said drives.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which each of said side walls of said housing further include a plurality of protrusions provided on an inner surface thereof at an end portion opposite to said front opening, and said retaining plates each have an inwardly inclined portion at the distal end from said outwardly bent portion, wherein each said inwardly inclined portion can engage with one of said protrusions so that said retaining plates can be held firmly in said frame housing.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein each said retaining member comprises two protrusions provided on the upper edge of said retaining plate.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein each said engaging means comprises an engaging bar with a depression for receiving one of said upper protrusions of said retaining plate.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of said retaining plates further includes two apertures which are provided under respective said upper protrusions and each of which includes a slot portion communicating with said aperture and parallel to the horizontal edge of said retaining plate, to render the retaining plate resilient at the points where said protrusions must be snapped into or out of said depression of said engaging bar when inserting a drive into said frame housing or removing it therefrom.

6. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said guide bars and said engaging means are integrally disposed on the inner surface of said two opposite parallel side walls by punching said two side walls along a predetermined length and then inwardly bending the punched portion of said side wall into said frame housing to form said guide bars and said engaging means.

7. Drive retaining apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.