JPH01154379A - Disk cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To open and shut a shutter with a large stroke and to stably store an information recording medium by engaging a torsion coil spring with a shutter opening means and a case and freeing the movement of a central coil part. CONSTITUTION:When a disk cassette 3 is inserted into a main body 1, a lever 2 is relatively slid along a guide groove 14 and the lever 2 abuts against a protruding part 9. Further, when the cassette 3 is inserted, the protruding part 9 is depressed, a shutter opening and shutting jig 8 slides on a rail 15 disposed in the case to pull the external edge part of the shutter 7, the shutter 7 is rotated to gradually open a head window 11 and completely open the window when the cassette 3 is completely inserted into the main body 1. The torsion coil spring 10 connected to other end of the jig is deflected to a maximum.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a disk cassette having a circular information recording medium therein, and particularly to a shutter opening/closing mechanism thereof.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional 8-inch standard flexible magnetic disk and 5.2
A so-called floppy disk, such as a 5-inch mini flexible magnetic disk, has a magnetic disk protected by a jacket made of a thin plastic plate. The jacket has openings such as a center hole for clamping the magnetic disk and a head window for inserting the magnetic head. When the disks are not in use, they are placed in paper envelopes that cover their openings, but the magnetic disks are exposed in those openings, allowing dust to enter the jacket or magnetic Fingerprints easily stick on the disc. When dust or fingerprints adhere to a magnetic disk, dropouts are likely to occur in the reproduced signal reproduced from the magnetic disk, so the magnetic disk must be handled with great care.

In order to prevent dust and fingerprints from adhering to magnetic disks, disk cassettes shown in FIGS. 2(a), 2(b) and 2(c) have been proposed. 2(a) shows the storage device main body 1, FIG. 2(b) shows the disk cassette 3, and FIG. 2(c) shows the state in which the disk cassette 3 is attached to the main body 1.

The disk cassette 3 includes a shutter 4, a shutter opening/closing jig 5 whose one end is connected to the end of the shutter 4, and a tension coil spring 6 whose one end is connected to the shutter opening/closing jig 5. and a disk 12. When the disk cassette 3 is attached to the main body 1, the shutter opening/closing jig 5 comes into contact with the lever 2 provided on the main body 1 side, and as the disk cassette 3 is inserted, the shutter 4 moves and the head window 11 is completely closed. will be accomplished. In other words, Figure 2 (
The state becomes C). Further, when the disk cassette 3 is removed from the main body 1, the tension coil spring 6 is compressed in accordance with the movement of the disk cassette 3, and the shutter 4 is gradually closed.

Further, as other conventional examples, those described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 45-10063 or Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 51-27112 are known. The disk cassette described in Utility Model Publication No. 45-10063 uses a tension coil spring to open the shutter. The maximum elongation δ that can withstand repeated use of a tension coil spring is determined by the following equation, where the applied force P, the strand diameter d, the number of turns N, the coil diameter, and the transverse elastic modulus G of the wire are: That is, δ=8PND'/Gd', and the amount of elongation δ is proportional to the number of turns N and the cube of the diameter.

Therefore, since the amount of elongation δ is the amount of movement vJ of the shutter, as the amount of movement of the shutter increases, the number of turns N
It is necessary to increase the coil diameter or increase the coil diameter.

Since the disk cassette described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 45-10063 is a magnetic disk container containing a hard disk, there is no major restriction in the thickness direction of the container, and the coil diameter can be made large without any practical problems.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The disk cassette disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 51-27112 uses a rotating shutter as the shutter, and uses a torsion coil spring wound around the rotating shaft of the shutter to open the head window. By using a torsion coil spring, the thinning of the container, which was a problem in Utility Model Publication No. 45-10063 mentioned above, has been solved, but since the center of rotation of the shutter is placed outside the outer periphery of the magnetic disk, the width of the shutter is However, the disadvantage is that the outer diameter of the container becomes larger. In addition, the coil part of the torsion coil spring used to open the shutter is wound around the rotating shaft of the shutter, and one end of it is locked in the notch of the shutter, and the other end is locked in the case, so there is no need to worry. - If the torsion coil spring comes off the rotation axis, there is a possibility that the torsion coil spring may damage the magnetic disk.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art as described above, and to provide a thin disc cassette having a head window shutter opening/closing mechanism that opens only after it is attached to the main body and smoothly closes when removed from the main body for automatic fishing. In particular, to provide a disk cassette that has a linear movable part, a shutter that can be opened and closed with a large stroke, and in which an information recording medium is safely stored and used. be.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, when opening a shutter covering a head window of a case containing an information recording medium, one end is locked to the shutter opening means, the other end is locked to the case, and the central coil A torsion coil spring is used in which the part is not locked anywhere and the coil part is movable, and a partition is provided between the corner area where the torsion coil spring is placed and the area where the disk is placed.

[Effect]

One end of the torsion coil spring is connected to the shutter opening means, the other end is locked to the case, and the coil part is movable, so one end of the torsion coil spring moves linearly toward the other end. can. Moreover, even to the point where one end and the other end of the torsion coil spring are close to each other,
One end of a torsion coil spring can move with a large stroke. Also.

In the unlikely event that the torsion coil spring comes off the shutter opening means or the case, the partition wall will prevent the torsion coil spring from entering the area where the disk is located, preventing the disk from being destroyed. It can be prevented.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a case in which the invention is applied to a disk cassette of a flexible magnetic disk storage device according to an embodiment thereof will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of the shutter opening/closing mechanism according to the present invention, in which FIG. 3(a) shows the main body 1 of a storage device, etc., and FIG. Figure (C) shows the case where the disc cassette 3 is attached to the main body 1. A lever 2 for opening a shutter 7 is provided on the main body 1 into which the disk cassette 3 is inserted, projecting slightly from the main body 1.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of a disk cassette 3 of the present invention.
FIG. 1(a) shows one side 13a of the case 13 and the case 13.
and a shutter 7a rotatably attached to a.
The case 13a has a head window l which is a vertically elongated opening.
la and a circular central opening 16a.

FIG. 1(b) shows a disk 12 with a hub 17 in the center. When the disk 12 is rotated, the hub 17 receives the driving force and at the same time functions to accurately center the disk 12.

FIG. 1(c) shows one side 13b of the case 13 and the case 13.
A shutter 7b is rotatably attached to the shutter 7b, one end of which is connected to the outer edge of the shutter 7b, and a shutter opening/closing jig 8 that slides along the rail 15, and a torsion connected to the other end of the shutter opening/closing jig 8. A case 13b showing a coil spring 1o has a head window 1lb (covered by a shutter 7b) which is a vertically elongated opening, a circular center opening 16b, a rail 15, a corner area 21, and a disk 12. A partition wall 26 is formed between the region 27 and the guide groove 14 on the side surface 24b of the case 13b.
b is formed. The rail 15b is a groove having a concave cross section formed inside the case 13b, and consists of an arcuate portion 19 and a straight portion 20.

When case 13a and case 13b are combined, case 13
Thus, the guide groove 14a and the guide W14b are combined to form the guide groove 14, and the side surfaces 24a and 24b are combined to form the side surface 24.

The disk 12 is located in the disk placement area 2 inside the case 13.
7 so as to be rotatable coaxially with the center openings 16a, 16b. The shutter opening/closing jig 8 is molded from a flexible material, and has recesses 18a and 18b at one end that engage with the outer edges of the shutters 7a and 7b, and a protrusion 9 at the other end. Although it protrudes into the guide groove 14, it does not protrude to the outside of the disk cassette 3. The torsion coil spring 10 is housed in the corner area 21, with its negative end connected to the end of the shutter opening/closing jig 8, and the other end connected to the corner area 2.
The coil portion 10c of the torsion coil spring 10 is held in the vicinity of the corner 23 of the torsion coil spring 10, and is free to move within the corner region 21. The shutters 7a and 7b are formed from non-magnetic thin plates, are fitted into the convex shape 22, and rotate smoothly around the convex shape 22. The torsion coil spring 10 always acts to push up the shutter opening/closing jig 8, and when the disk cassette 3 is alone, the shutters 7a and 7b cover the head windows lla and llb.

At this time, a side opening 25 is formed in the side surface 24 of the case 13.

FIG. 4(a) shows the mechanism and its operation in this embodiment.

This will be explained with reference to (b) and (c). When the disk cassette 3 is gradually inserted into the main body 1 (Fig. 4(a)),
The lever 2 relatively slides along the guide groove 14 and comes into contact with the protrusion 9.

When the disk cassette 3 is further pushed into the main body 1 (FIG. 4(b)), the protrusion 9 is pushed down, and the shutter opening/closing jig 8 slides on the rail 15 provided on the case 13 to close the outer edge of the shutter 7. , the shutter 7 rotates, the head window 11 gradually opens, and when the disk cassette 3 is completely inserted into the main body 1, the head window 11 opens, and is also connected to the other end of the shutter opening/closing jig 8. The torsion coil spring 10 is deflected to the maximum,
FIG. 4(c) shows a state in which the disk cassette 3 is attached to the main body 1 and the head window 11 is completely opened.

In addition, when removing the disk cassette 3 from the main body 1, the torsion coil spring 10
The shutter opening/closing jig 8 is pushed up by the urging force of
The tip of the shutter opening/closing jig 8 presses the outer edge of the shutter 7, and the shutter 7 rotates to gradually close the head window 11. When the disk cassette 3 is completely removed from the main body 1, the shutter 7 returns to its original state as shown in FIG. 4(a), and the head window 11
is completely covered by the shutter 7.

When the disk cassette 3 is alone as shown in FIG. 4(a), the shutter 7 always covers the head window 11 due to the action of the torsion coil spring 10. As mentioned above, the protrusion 9 does not protrude to the outside of the disc cassette 3 at all, so even if you hold the disc cassette 3 in your hand, it will not touch your fingers. Even if it does open accidentally, the shutter 7 will automatically return to its original position with the force of the torsion coil spring 10, so the shutter 7 will not remain open forever. 2
4 is formed with a side opening 25, but there is a partition wall 26 at the boundary between the disk placement area 27 and the corner area 21, which blocks the disk placement area 27 from the outside and prevents 1 m of dust from passing through this side opening 25. This prevents intrusion. Furthermore, in the unlikely event that the torsion coil spring 10 comes off from the shutter opening/closing jig 8 or the case 13, the partition wall 26 prevents the torsion coil spring 10 from entering the disk placement area 27, and the disk 12 [Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, a torsion coil spring is used to open the shutter, one end of which is locked to the shutter opening means, and the other end is locked to the shutter opening means. Since the end is locked to the case and the central coil portion is free to move, it is possible to make linear movement of the shutter opening means and to increase the stroke of the shutter opening means. Moreover, it can be realized with extra space inside a thin case.
It is possible to make the case thinner and smaller.

Furthermore, because a partition wall was provided between the area where the disk is placed and the area where the torsion coil spring is placed, the area where the disk is placed is shielded from the outside and there is a risk of dust entering through the side opening. There is no Furthermore, in the unlikely event that the torsion coil spring comes off from the shutter opening means or the case, the bulkhead will prevent the torsion coil spring from entering the area where the disk is located, and the disk will not be destroyed. This has the effect of preventing such problems from occurring.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1(a), (b), and (c) are assembled perspective views of the first embodiment of the disk cassette according to the present invention; FIG. 2(a),
(b) and (c) are cross-sectional views showing the shutter opening and closing mechanism of a conventional disc cassette;
) is a sectional view showing the shutter opening/closing mechanism of the disc cassette according to the present invention, and FIGS. 4(a), (b), and (c) are operation explanatory diagrams of the shutter opening/closing mechanism of the disc cassette according to the present invention. 1... Main body of magnetic storage device, etc., 2... Lever, 3...
...Disk cassette, 4,7...Shutter, 5,
8... Shutter opening/closing jig, 6... Tensile coil spring, 9... Projection, 10... Torsion coil spring, 11... Head window, 12... Disk,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13... Case, 14... Guide groove, 15... Rail, 21... Corner area, 25... Side opening, 26...
...Partition wall, 27...Disk arrangement area. Figure 1 7a Figure 2 (b) Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotatable information recording medium formed in a circular shape, a case formed in a substantially rectangular shape that surrounds the information recording medium inside and has a head window, and a head window of the case that can be opened and closed. A disk cassette comprising: a shutter that opens the head window; a shutter opening means that receives an external force in a direction in which the shutter opens the head window; and a spring that biases the shutter opening means in a direction in which the shutter covers the head window. The above spring is
consisting of a torsion coil spring, the torsion coil spring being disposed in one corner area within the case, one end of the torsion coil spring being locked within the corner area of the case, and the other of the torsion coil springs being The end biases the shutter opening means, and the coil part of the torsion coil spring is movable within the corner area in the case as the shutter moves, and the coil part of the torsion coil spring is movable within the corner area in the case where the information recording medium is arranged. A disk cassette characterized in that a partition is provided between an area inside the case and the corner area where the torsion coil spring is arranged. 2. A rotatable information recording medium formed in a circular shape, a case formed in a substantially rectangular shape, surrounding the information recording medium therein, and having a pair of head windows on two opposing surfaces; a pair of shutters that open and close; a shutter opening means that connects the pair of shutters and receives an external force in a direction that opens the pair of head windows; and a shutter opening means that connects the pair of shutters and receives an external force in a direction that opens the pair of head windows; and a biasing spring, the spring comprising a torsion coil spring, the torsion coil spring being disposed in one corner area within the case, and one end of the torsion coil spring being attached to the case. The other end of the torsion coil spring biases the shutter opening means, and the coil portion of the torsion coil spring is locked in the corner area in the case as the pair of shutters moves. an opening connecting the corner area and the outside of the case, and an area in the case where the information recording medium is arranged; A disk cassette characterized in that a partition wall is provided between the corner region and the corner region where the torsion coil spring is arranged.