JP2006182451A - Package for disk storage - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To commonly use a package for storing disks having different diameters. <P>SOLUTION: The package has a combination of a disk box 1, a lower cover 2, and an upper cover 3. The disk box 1 is a rectangular cylinder having openings on the upper and lower surfaces, and both end surfaces, and has two kinds or more of disks holding grooves 15a, 15b. The disk holding grooves maintain circular disks in a certain attitude, and are formed in a line on both side parts of the disk box. The two kinds or more of disk grooves 15a, 15b accommodate a relatively larger diameter disk D1 and a relatively smaller diameter disk D2. The lower cover 2 covers the opening of the lower surface of the disk box 1, and the upper cover 3 covers the openings of the upper surface and both end surfaces of the disk box. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information storage medium, and more particularly to a package for storing a disk-shaped (doughnut-shaped) disk having a hole in the center.

  For example, a storage disk such as a magnetic disk or CD used as an external storage device of a computer requires extremely high flatness and cleanliness on the surface, and touches the surface during the manufacturing process. Is never allowed.

  The storage disk is transported and stored between processes while being stored in the package, and further subjected to a cleaning process within the process. The storage disk storage package uses a combination of a disk box that stores a large number of disks in a vertical position, an upper cover that covers the upper surface opening, and a lower cover that covers the bottom surface opening, and stores the storage disk. The upper cover and the lower cover are joined together to hold a plurality of storage disks in a safe and non-contaminated state. However, dust or dirt may adhere to the storage disks in the box due to unexpected influences. As for the connection between the upper cover and the disc box, consideration is given so that ambient air is not sucked into the disc box with fine dust contained in the air.

  By the way, a conventional storage disk such as a CD used as an external storage device of a computer has been mainly used in the past with a diameter of 12 cm. However, this is gradually becoming smaller and a portable music player. Recently, a small-sized disk (hard disk) having a diameter of 27.4 mm or 21.6 mm has been used.

By the way, if the size of the storage disk is different, a package having a shape suitable for the size is naturally required. The upper cover, disk box, and lower cover of the package are synthetic resin molded products. When a dedicated package must be manufactured for each size of the storage disk to be stored, a mold for molding the package Therefore, it is necessary to prepare a dedicated molding die for each size of the storage disk. As a result, the cost of the package has to be calculated by the amount including the production cost of the molding die, and naturally the price of the package becomes high, which leads to high cost of the storage disk. This problem is not a problem specific to a package for storing a storage disk such as a hard disk, but is also a general disk problem that requires careful handling. Therefore, in the present invention, a package for accommodating a general disk will be described.
Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 5-55395 JP 2000-16476 A

  The problem to be solved is that when a package is prepared according to the size of a disk to be stored, a dedicated molding die is required for each size of the disk.

  The main feature of the present invention is that two or more types of discs having different sizes can be stored in one type of package.

  The package of the present invention does not require the use of a combination of the upper cover, the disk box and the lower cover of the package even if the size of the disk to be stored is different. It can be shared for storing the above discs, so there is no need to prepare many types of molding dies depending on the type of disc to be stored, and moreover various types of packages are prepared for storing discs. In addition, the high cost of the disc can be reduced, and furthermore, the size and shape of the package are unified, so that the disc is transported between processes, and further, the cleaning process in each process, etc. In addition, there is an effect that the robot operation for handling the package can be simplified.

  The disc-shaped disc has a part of both side edges supported in the disc box and a part of the upper peripheral edge of the disc supported by the upper cover. The disc box has two or more types of disc holding grooves that accept discs with different diameters. The upper cover can be used to stabilize discs of large and small diameters by providing one type of disc holding groove. Realized a package that can support.

  An embodiment of a disk package according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, the disk package of the present invention is a synthetic resin molded product comprising a combination of a disk box 1, a lower cover 2, and an upper cover 3. This is the same as that described in Patent Documents 1 and 2.

  In FIG. 2, a disk box 1 is a bottomless, lidless rectangular container that accommodates a disk-shaped (donut-shaped) disk, and includes substantially both side surfaces 4 on the long side and both end surfaces 5 on the short side. The insertion grooves 6 are opened in the both end surface portions 5.

  The insertion groove 6 is a notch whose upper edge is opened, and is an opening for taking in and out a robot arm (not shown) as an extraction means in an automatic disk processing process. In FIG. 3, the lower cover 2 closes the lower surface opening of the disk box 1, has a rectangular dish shape, and has rising edges 7 for fitting the lower surface opening edges of the disk box 1 on both sides and both end edges. is doing. Moreover, the fixed hook 11 shown in FIG.2 (c) is formed in the both ends edge between the rising edges 7 of both sides. The fixing hook 11 is a protrusion that protrudes horizontally in front of both end faces. As will be described later, the fixed hook 11 is used to hook the movable hook 12 provided at the lower end of the end cover 8 of the upper cover 3 so that the upper cover 3 and the lower cover 2 are integrally coupled to the disk box 1. is there.

  In FIG. 4, the upper cover 3 includes a lid portion 13 that covers the upper surface opening of the disc box 1 and an end surface cover 8 that covers the insertion grooves 6 on both end surfaces of the disc box 1. The lid portion 13 closes the upper surface opening of the disc box 1, and the end surface cover 8 extends at right angles from both ends thereof and is formed integrally with the lid portion 13. The upper cover 3 has falling portions 9 that are fitted to the upper edges of both side surface portions 4 of the disk box 1 at both side edges thereof.

  The end surface cover 8 is applied to the outer surface of the both end surface portions 5 and 5 of the disk box 1 and closes the insertion groove 6 opened in the both end surface portions 5 and 5 from the outside. On the plate surface of the end surface cover 8, a projecting portion 10 that bulges inward in the shape of the opening shape of the insertion groove 6 is formed.

  When the disc box 1 is covered with the upper cover 3, the protruding portion 10 is dropped into the insertion groove 6, is fitted and seated in the insertion groove 6, closes the opening of the insertion groove 6, and It functions as a guide for defining the direction, and after insertion, the insertion groove 6 is sealed.

  The upper cover 3 is detachably coupled to the disc box 1. In the present invention, a movable hook 12 that hooks on the fixed hook 11 is integrally provided on the lower edge of the end surface cover 8. The movable hook 12 is formed in a thin portion of the end surface cover 8, and is expanded or restored using the elasticity of the material of the end surface cover, and is engaged with or detached from the fixed hook 11. Further, as shown in FIG. 4D, a part of the end surface cover 8 penetrates a part of the end surface cover 8 as shown in FIG. An arcuate slit 17 is formed, or an arcuate recess 17a notched to a certain depth is provided on the back surface side of the end surface cover 8 as shown in FIG. If a slit 17 penetrating the front and back of the cover 8 is provided in a part of the end cover 8, the elasticity of the end cover 8 is improved, and the movable hook 12 can be easily engaged with and detached from the fixed hook 11. . However, the slit 17 does not necessarily have to be penetrated, and even if it is the recess 17a, it is possible to secure the flexibility necessary for the movable hook 12 to engage and disengage from the fixed hook 11 in the end face cover 8. Rather, since the front surface of the end surface cover 8 is blocked, there is no possibility of dust entering the disk box 1, and furthermore, the occurrence of cracks and chipping of the end surface cover 8 can be reduced.

  In the present invention, two or more types of disc holding grooves 15a and 15b are formed in a row on the inner surface of both side surface portions 4 of the disc box 1 as shown in FIG. The disk holding groove is a groove that holds a plurality of disks accommodated in the disk box 1 in an upright posture at regular intervals so as not to contact each other, and as a result, malfunction of a robot that handles the disks is reduced. can do. In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 2D and 2E, the first disk holding groove 15a for holding the relatively large diameter disk D1 among the large and small diameter disks, and relative 2 shows an example in which two types of holding grooves, that is, a second disk holding groove 15 b for holding a small-diameter disk D 2, are alternately provided in the length direction of the disk box 1.

  The first disk holding groove 15a is an arcuate groove shaped like the circular shape of the large-diameter disk D1 shown in FIG. 5, and the second disk holding groove 15b is a circular shape of the small-diameter disk D2. It is an arc-shaped groove shaped like

  The large-diameter disk D1 is held across the first disk holding grooves 15a on both sides, and the small-diameter disk D2 is held across the second disk holding grooves 15b on both sides. The support height of the upper edge of the large-diameter disk D1 held in the first disk holding groove 15a matches the support height of the upper edge of the small-diameter disk D2 held in the second disk holding groove 15b. Thus, the formation position of the first disk holding groove 15a and the formation position of the second disk holding groove 15b are shifted up and down.

  FIG. 5 shows a situation in which the large-diameter disk D1 and the small-diameter disk D2 are stored in the disk box 1, but in reality, the large-diameter storage disk D1 or the small-diameter disk D2 is used. As shown in the figure, large and small disks are not simultaneously stored without distinction. The same applies when two or more types of disk holding grooves are provided.

  The upper cover 3 is formed with notches 14 for supporting a part of the disks D1 and D2 held in the disk holding grooves 15a and 15b. The large and small disks D1 and D2 accommodated in the disk box 1 have the same support height at their upper edges, and therefore the disks D1 housed in the disk box 1 are not distinguished from each other in diameter as shown in FIG. , D2 are also commonly received by the notches 14 of the upper cover 3 that covers the disc box 1, and the discs D1, D2 have both side portions and upper edge portions in the disc holding grooves 15a or 15b and the notches 14. The disk box 1 and the upper and lower covers 2 and 3 are integrally coupled by supporting and stably holding the movable hook 12 of the end surface cover 8 and the fixed hook 11 of the lower cover 2.

  In FIG. 5, reference numeral 16 denotes a positioning notch provided in the disk box 1. The notch 16 is used for positioning during conveyance by fitting a part of the conveyor when the disk box 1 with the lower cover 3 removed is conveyed along the conveyor line. Since the disk box 1, the lower cover 2 and the upper cover 3 are synthetic resin molded products, countermeasures against static electricity are required. For this reason, for example, at least one of the molding resin of the disk box 1 and metal fibers such as stainless fibers, Ni fibers, Cu fibers, carbon fibers coated with Ni, Cu, or Al, or a combination thereof is blended. Furthermore, a conductive agent such as an antistatic agent or carbon black can be blended in the molding resin as necessary. In addition, a conductive polymer layer such as polypyrrole, polyaniline, or polythiophene may be coated on the surface of the synthetic resin molded product.

  By attaching the lower cover 2 to the disk box 1, the disk box 1 becomes a box with a bottom, and a plurality of disks D1, D1,... Or D2, D2,. Are carried into the disk box 1 while being held together. At this time, the robot arm is inserted into the insertion groove 6 of the disc box 1 from above, and the disc is inserted into the disc box 1 from the upper surface opening while being supported by the robot arm. It is fitted and held by 15a or 15b. Thereafter, the robot arm is pulled out through the insertion groove 6 while leaving the disk in the disk box.

  When the disk box 1 containing the disk D1 (or D2) is covered with the upper cover 3, the protruding portions 10 of the cover 8 on both ends of the upper cover 3 are dropped between the insertion grooves 6 of the disk box 1, and the disk box The upper surface opening of 1 is covered with the upper cover 3, the insertion grooves 6 are closed with the end surface cover 8, and the upper cover 3 is pressed down as it is. By this operation, the movable hook 12 is pushed up to the fixed hook 11 against the elasticity of the end surface cover 8, and then the movable hook 12 is moved over the fixed hook 11 to be locked to the fixed hook 11. An upper cover 3 is further integrally coupled to the assembled lower cover 2, and the disk box 1 is sealed.

  In the present invention, the package containing the relatively large diameter disk D1 and the package accommodating the relatively small diameter disk D2 have the same shape and the same size. When performing a cleaning process or the like in the process, the process can be performed by the same robot operation regardless of the size of the disk.

  In addition to packages for storing storage media such as magnetic disks and CDs used as external storage devices for computers, packages for storing semiconductor wafers in semiconductor manufacturing processes and other disks that need to be kept highly clean It can be used as a package for storing sheets in a line.

It is a partial cross section side view which shows one Example of this invention. (A) is a plan view of a disk box, (b) is a central longitudinal sectional side view of (a), (c) is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of (a), and (d) is an enlarged view of B part of (b). FIG. 4E is an enlarged view of a portion C in FIG. (A) is a top view of a lower cover, (b) is the center longitudinal cross-sectional side view of (a), (c) is the EE sectional view taken on the line of (b). (A) is a plan view of the upper cover, (b) is a central longitudinal sectional side view of (a), (c) is an end view, (d) is an enlarged view of F part of (b), and (e) is (b). (F) is an enlarged view of the JJ line cross section showing the slit portion of (c), (g) is a JJ when a recess is provided instead of the slit portion of (c). It is an enlarged view of a section of a portion corresponding to a line. It is a figure which expands the HH cross section and II cross section of FIG. 1, and shows the accommodation state of two types of large and small discs.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Disc box 2 Lower cover 3 Upper cover 4 Side surface part 5 End surface part 6 Insertion groove 7 Rising edge 8 End surface cover 9 Falling edge 10 Protruding part 11 Fixed hook 12 Movable hook 13 Cover part 14 Notch 15a, 15b Disc holding groove 16 Notch 17 Slit 17a Recess D1, D2 Disc

Claims (4)

A disc storage package having a disc box that can be opened and closed at least at the upper and lower surfaces,
The disk box has two or more types of disk holding grooves for selectively storing two or more types of disks having different sizes. A disc storage package having a combination of at least a disc box and an upper cover,
The disc box accepts the disc at the same height regardless of the diameter of the disc accommodated inside,
The upper cover covers the disc box, has a notch,
The indentation accepts a part of the disc box regardless of the diameter of the disc in the disc box.
2. The disk storage package according to claim 1, wherein the disk accommodated in the disk box is supported at both side portions and an upper edge portion thereof by a disk holding groove and a notch. A disc storage package having a combination of a disc box, a lower cover, and an upper cover,
The disc box is a square tube having openings on the upper and lower surfaces and both end surfaces, and has two or more types of disc holding grooves,
The disc holding grooves hold circular discs in a fixed posture, and are formed in rows on both side surfaces of the disc box. Two or more types of disc holding grooves are relative to a relatively large-diameter disc. Accepts small diameter discs,
The lower cover closes the bottom opening of the disc box.
The disk storage package, wherein the upper cover covers the upper surface and both end surface openings of the disk box.   The first disk holding so that the height of the upper edge of the large-diameter disk held in the first disk holding groove matches the height of the upper edge of the small-diameter disk held in the second disk holding groove. 4. The disk storage package according to claim 3, wherein the groove forming position and the second disk holding groove forming position are shifted vertically.

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