JPH04168673A - Loading mechanism of external storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform a soft landing operation and to realize a thin shape by a method wherein a sliding plate is slid to and brought into contact with the sliding and contact part of a braking member by the insertion and detachment action of a medium into and from a frame and a viscous material which has been laid between them decelerates the sliding and contact speed of both. CONSTITUTION:A loading mechanism 21 is provided with the following: a cartridge holder 22; and a sliding plate 23 which moves a cartridge, together with the holder 22, in parallel between an insertion and detachment position and an action position. A braking member 31 is provided with the following: a sliding and contact part 31a which is slid to and brought into contact with an extension plate 26 for the sliding plate 23; a pressure part 31b which presses the extension plate 26 to the side of the sliding and contact part 31a; and a grease 33 as a viscous material which is injected between the extension plate 26 and the sliding and contact part 31a. The sliding speed of the extension plate 26 inside the braking member 31 is decelerated by the viscous resistance of the grease 33, and the sliding movement of the sliding plate 23 is braked. Thereby, the loading operation of magnetic heads 4a, 4b is braked, it is possible to prevent a floppy disk F from being damaged and a floppy disk drive 1 itself can be made thin.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a floppy disk drive (hereinafter referred to as rFDD).
This relates to a loading mechanism for an external storage device such as a computer (referred to as J).

[Conventional technology]

An FDD drives a floppy disk inserted within its frame to record, erase, or reproduce information. It is equipped with a motor and a loading mechanism that moves the magnetic head to an operating position facing the magnetic head.

FIGS. 4 to 6 are examples of prior art related to such an FDD loading mechanism.

In this FDD 51, a floppy disk F is inserted and removed while being housed in a cartridge C, and a loading mechanism 52 includes a cartridge holder 54 that holds this cartridge C within a frame 53;
A slide plate 55 is provided which engages with the cartridge holder 54 and moves the cartridge C together with the holder 54 in parallel between the insertion/removal position and the operating position. The cartridge holder 54 is engaged with inclined cam grooves 57 formed on both sides of the slide plate 55 by engagement pins 56 attached to both sides thereof. On the other hand, the slide plate 55 can slide within the frame 53 in the direction in which the cartridge C is inserted and removed, and is biased by a tension spring 58 in the direction in which the cartridge C is removed. Slide plate 55 in insertion/removal position
is located at the back in the insertion/extraction direction and is biased by the tension spring 58, and in this state, the sliding movement is locked by a locking member (not shown). Furthermore, the slide plate 55 that has moved to the operating position is unlocked and pulled back toward the front in the insertion/extraction direction by the tension spring 58.

That is, when cartridge C is inserted into FDD51,
The cartridge C is inserted into the cartridge holder 54, or in this state the loading mechanism 52 is at the insertion/removal position. When cartridge C is inserted all the way,
The tip of the cartridge C comes into contact with the locking member to unlock the slide plate 55. As a result of this release, the slide plate 55 slides in the drawing direction, and at the same time, the engaging pin 56 of the cartridge holder 54 moves within the inclined cam groove 57 of the slide plate 55. That is, the cartridge C is dropped downward together with the holder 54 by the movement of the slide plate 55. As a result of this dropping, the floppy disk F is set on the drive motor 59, and at the same time, the magnetic head 60, which was in the escape position, falls down and faces the floppy disk F.

This lowering operation, so-called landing, is due to the biasing force of the tension spring 58, and a sudden landing may cause the magnetic head 60 to hit the recording surface of the floppy disk F and damage it. Therefore, it is necessary to brake this landing. Therefore, in this conventional example, the fourth
A rotary damper 61 is provided to the left of the center in the figure.

The rotary damper 61 includes a main body 62 in which grease is sealed as a damping source, and a binion 63 that meshes with a rack 55a formed on a slide plate 55. connected. Therefore, when the slide plate 55 slides due to the tension spring 58, the braking force due to the grease of the rotary damper 61 is transmitted to the slide plate 55 via the rack 55a and the pinion 63, so that a so-called soft landing is performed.

In this manner, the conventional device uses the rotary damper 61 to enable soft landing of the magnetic head 60 via the slide plate 55.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, the rotary damper 61 is constructed by stacking a main body 62 filled with grease and a binion 63 that engages with the rack 55a of the slide plate 55 in two layers, one above the other.

Therefore, it is taller in the vertical direction,
Furthermore, the FDD51 itself was also thick. For this reason, for example, FDDs installed in notebook computers and the like have been a major obstacle to making the personal computers themselves thinner and smaller.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a thin external storage device loading mechanism that enables soft landing.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a loading mechanism for an external storage device that moves the media between an insertion/removal position where the media waits within a frame and an operating position where information is recorded, erased or reproduced. A slide plate that slides within the frame in conjunction with insertion and removal, and a braking member that is fixed to the frame and slides against the slide plate to brake the sliding movement, the braking member slidingly contacting the slide plate. Features [Function] characterized by having a sliding contact part, a pressing part that presses the slide plate toward the sliding contact part, and a viscous material interposed between the slide plate and the sliding contact part. As the media is inserted and removed, the slide plate and the sliding portion of the braking member come into sliding contact. At this time, the viscous material interposed between the slide plate and the sliding contact portion reduces the speed of the sliding contact between the two and brakes the sliding movement of the slide plate.

Since the braking member has a structure including a sliding portion, a pressing portion, and a viscous material, it can be made thin.

〔Example〕

An FDD (external storage device) using an embodiment of the loading mechanism of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a plan view of the FDD with the cartridge holder removed, and FIG. 2 is a cutaway side view of a half of the FDD.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, this FDDl includes:
A floppy disk F housed in a cartridge C is set in the frame 2, and the floppy disk F inserted into the frame 2 is driven by a drive motor 3, and both upper and lower magnetic heads 4a, 4b are driven by a drive motor 3. Recording, erasing, or reproducing information is performed by (see Figure 2)
. The upper and lower magnetic heads 4a and 4b are attached to the disk F side surface at the tip of the carriage 5, and are arranged so that as the carriage 5 moves back and forth, they are positioned at desired track positions in the radial direction of the floppy disk F. ing.

This movement of the carriage 5 back and forth is guided by a guide rod 6 fixed to the frame 2, and is performed by rotating a lead screw 80, which is a drive shaft of a stepping motor 7. For this reason, a sliding member 9 through which the guide rod 6 is inserted, and a needle arm 11 holding a needle 10 screwed into the lead screw 8 are fixed to both sides of the carriage 5, respectively. Then, the controlled rotation of the lead screw 8 by the stepping motor 7 is controlled by the needle 1.
0, the carriage 5 is moved forward and backward.

Along with this, both the upper and lower magnetic heads 4a and 4b attached to the carriage 5 come to the desired track position on the floppy disk F, and the floppy disk F is accessed for recording, reproduction, erasing, etc.

As shown in FIG. 2, immediately after the floppy disk F is inserted, the upper magnetic head 4a is in a position away from the floppy disk F (FIG. 2(a)), and the floppy disk F is set in the drive motor 3. In the lowered state, the floppy disk F is moved to a position where it is sandwiched between the upper magnetic head 4b and the upper magnetic head 4b. This movement is performed in a series of operations of the loading mechanism 21. That is, the inserted floppy disk F is placed in an insertion/ejection position where it is waiting in the frame 2 by the loading mechanism 21, and in a position where the drive motor 3 and the magnetic head 4
It is adapted to be moved in parallel to the operating position facing a4b.

The loading mechanism 21 includes a cartridge holder 22 that holds a cartridge C of a floppy disk F, and a slide plate 23 that engages with the cartridge holder 22 and moves the cartridge C in parallel with the holder 22 between an insertion/removal position and an operating position. It is equipped with Cartridge holder 2
Reference numeral 2 designates engaging pins 24 attached to both sides of the slide plate 23, which are engaged with inclined cam grooves 23a formed on both side plates of the slide plate 23. On the other hand, the slide plate 23 can slide within the frame 2 in the direction in which the cartridge C is inserted and removed, and is biased in the direction in which the cartridge C is removed by a tension spring 25 (see FIG. 1). The slide plate 23 in the insertion/removal position is located toward the back in the insertion/extraction direction, and the tension spring 2
5, and in this state, the sliding movement is locked by a locking member (not shown). Further, in this state, the upper magnetic head 4a attached to the carriage 5 is in a position away from the floppy disk F. When moving from the insertion/removal position to the operating position,
When the lock is released, the slide plate 23 is pulled back toward the front in the insertion/extraction direction by the tension spring 25.

That is, when the cartridge C is inserted into the FDDI, the cartridge C is inserted into the cartridge holder 22, but in this state, the loading mechanism 21 is at the insertion/removal position. When the cartridge C is inserted all the way, the tip of the cartridge C comes into contact with the locking member and the slide plate 23 is unlocked. As a result of this release, the slide plate 23 is slid in the pulling direction by the tension spring 25, and at the same time, the engagement pin 24 of the cartridge holder 22 is slid down within the inclined cam groove 2Ba of the slide plate 23. That is, the cartridge C is dropped downward together with the cartridge holder 22 by the movement of the slide plate 23. As a result of this dropping, the floppy disk F is set on the drive motor 3, and at the same time, the upper magnetic head 4a, which was in the escape position, falls down and comes into contact with the floppy disk F.

This dropping operation, so-called landing, is braked by a braking member 31 located to the left of the center in FIG. 1, thereby achieving a soft landing of the magnetic heads 4a, 4b.

The brake member 31 is fixed to the bottom surface of the frame 2, and engages with the extension plate 26, which is a part of the slide plate 23, at its central portion. The extension plate 26 extends in the direction of movement of the slide plate 23 and is held in sliding contact with the braking member 31.

The brake member 31 will now be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the braking member 31. As shown in the figure, the braking member 31 is fixed to the frame 2 via a pair of attachment bosses 32, 32. The braking member 31 is
An extension of the slide plate 23, a sliding contact portion 31a that slides into contact with the installation plate 26, a pressing portion 31b that presses the extension plate 26 toward the sliding contact portion 31a, and an extension plate 26 and the sliding contact portion 31a.
and grease 33, which is a viscous material injected between. The sliding contact portion 31a is plate-shaped, and the sliding plate 2
A certain sliding contact area can be secured between the extension plate 26 of No. 3 and the extension plate 26 of No. 3. The pressing portion 31b is formed by cutting and raising the four corners of the sliding contact portion 31a, and the projections 31c on the lower surface of the pressing portion 31b press the extension plate 26 toward the sliding contact portion 31a to move the extension plate 26 in the direction of movement. It is designed to be held at the front and rear ends. Grease 33 is appropriately injected between the extension plate 26 and the sliding contact portion 31a, and due to its viscosity, the slide plate 23 is injected through the extension plate 26.
It is designed to exert a braking force on the

With the above configuration, when the slide plate 23 slides during movement between the insertion/removal position and the operating position, the extension plate 26 of the slide plate 23 moves inside the braking member 31.
slides. This sliding speed is reduced by the viscous resistance of the grease 33. Therefore, the sliding movement of the sliding plate 23 is braked, and the magnetic heads 4a, 4b that interlock with this are braked.
This prevents damage to the floppy disk F due to the magnetic heads 4a, 4b being caught between them.

Further, since the braking member 31 can be constructed by overlapping plate-like members, it can be made extremely thin, and the FDD
This allows the I itself to be made thinner.

It should be noted that although the above embodiment has been described with reference to an FDD, the present invention is not limited to this, and it goes without saying that it can be applied to, for example, a drive device for a previous disk or a drive device for a compact disk.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, by interposing the viscous material between the sliding portion of the braking member and the slide plate, it is possible to brake the sliding movement of the slide plate using the viscous resistance of the viscous material. can. Furthermore, since the braking member has a structure including a sliding portion, a pressing portion, and a viscous material, it can be configured to be thin as a whole, making it possible to create a thin external storage device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an FDD according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view showing its landing state, FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a braking member, and FIG. 4 is a plan view of a conventional technology. FIG. 5 is a side view showing the landing state, and FIG. 6 is a side view of the rotary damper. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... FDD, 2... Frame, 21... Loading mechanism, 23... Slide plate, 26... Extension plate, 31... Braking member, 31a... Sliding contact part, 31
b...Press portion, 33...Grease, C...Cartridge, F...Floppy disk. Representative Patent Attorney Yoshiki Hase
Minoru OchiaiStructure on the actual flow side Fig. 1 □Golanding state - ζQ7- Structure of the braking member Fig. 3 Conventional technology Fig. 4 Rotary Danno ( Fig. 6

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A loading mechanism for an external storage device that moves the media between an insertion/removal position where the medium waits within a frame and an operating position where information is recorded, erased or reproduced. A slide plate that slides within the frame in cooperation with each other, and a braking member that is fixed to the frame and slides in contact with the slide plate to brake the sliding movement, the braking member sliding on the slide plate. An external storage device comprising: a sliding contact portion that comes into contact with the sliding contact portion; a pressing portion that presses the sliding plate toward the sliding contact portion; and a viscous material interposed between the sliding plate and the sliding contact portion. loading mechanism.