JPH0632182B2 - Disco Cartridge - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a disc cartridge for accommodating a disc-shaped recording medium such as a magnetic disc, an optical disc, a magneto-optical disc, etc., and particularly when loaded in a reading or writing apparatus main body. The present invention relates to a disk cartridge in which a shutter is opened and a disk-shaped recording medium faces a reading or writing head.

(Background of the Invention) When a recording medium such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, or a magneto-optical disk adheres to its surface with dust or dirt, it causes a read / write error, damage to the read / write device, damage to the disk, or the like. Therefore, various measures have been taken conventionally.

For example, a method has been proposed in which a disk is stored in a dedicated container, and is taken out of this container only when used and set in a reading / writing device. In this case, there is no risk of dust or dirt adhering to the disc when the disc is not used, but when the disc is taken out from the container and set in the reading / writing device, or conversely, the disc is removed from the device and the container is removed. There were many accidents in which the disc was dirty when it was stored in it, or the disc was dropped and damaged.

Therefore, a method has been proposed in which a container containing a disk is set in a reading / writing device, that is, a disk cartridge. This is because the cartridge has an opening for allowing the read / write head to face the disk, and the head can be opposed to the disk without removing the disk from the container. However, this cartridge is not sufficient to protect the disc from dust and dirt because the above-mentioned opening is always open.

Therefore, a cartridge having a shutter for opening and closing the above-mentioned opening has been proposed. Those having such specifications are considered to be effective against dust and dirt. However, even with this type of structure, it is possible to open the shutter from the outside of the cartridge carelessly, and it has not been sufficient to protect the disk surface from dust and dirt.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks, and even when the shutter of the disc cartridge is inadvertently operated when the disc cartridge is not loaded in the main body of the reading or writing device, the shutter opens. It is to provide a disc cartridge without a problem.

(Summary of the Invention) The present invention provides a disc cartridge with a lock member for preventing the shutter member from opening.
The lock member is operated in association with the loading of the cartridge into the main body of the reading or writing device, and the shutter member is allowed to be in the open state. The present invention thus achieves the above objectives.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention in which a head access opening shutter, an air duct shutter, a lever for operating these, a lever for holding a disk, etc. are provided in a main body 1 of a disk cartridge. It shows the built-in state.

The main body 1 has an outer wall 2 configured to surround the main body 1 and an inner wall 3 configured to inscribe the outer wall 2.
The inner wall 3 is formed along a circle having substantially the same radius. The circular opening 4 is formed at the center of the bottom surface 5 of the main body 1, that is, at the center of the inner wall 3. A disk-shaped recording medium (6 in FIGS. 2 to 5 and hereinafter simply referred to as “disk”) is placed on the bottom surface 5 surrounded by the inner wall 3. In this embodiment, a magneto-optical disk is used as the disk. Then, a shaft portion (not shown) at the center of the disk is exposed outward from the opening 4. The rectangular opening 7 is formed on the bottom surface 5 of the main body 1 and extends from the vicinity of the opening 4 to the outer wall 2a. The main body 1 is covered with a lid (not shown), and the lid and the main body 1 form a disc cartridge box for accommodating a disc. The lid also has an opening having the same shape as the opening 7 at a position facing the opening 7. Shutter 8a and shutter 8
b are integrally provided so as to be parallel to each other, the shutter 8a covers the rectangular opening 7 of the main body 1 from below the main body 1, and the shutter 8b covers the rectangular opening of the lid from above the lid. The shutters 8a and 8b are head shutters. The slider 9 is fixed to the shutters 8a and 8b, is guided by the wall 10 protruding from the bottom surface 5 and the outer wall 2a, and is slidable in the A direction (and the opposite direction). The pin 9a is provided at the end of the slider 9. The sliding lever 11 is pivotally supported by a shaft 12 on the main body 1 and is biased counterclockwise by a spring 13. One end 11a of the lever 11 is formed in a fork shape and is engaged with the pin 9a. The other end of the lever 11 has two protrusions 11b and 11c which are exposed outward from the opening 2c of the outer wall 2b. The lock lever 14 is axially supported by a shaft 15 on the main body 1 and is biased counterclockwise by a spring 16. One end 14 a of the lock lever 14 is engaged with a step portion 11 d provided on the side surface of the lever 11. The other end 14b of the lock lever 14 has an opening 2 in the outer wall 2b.
It is exposed from d toward the outside. The locking lever 17 is
It is axially supported by a shaft 18 on the main body 1 and is biased counterclockwise by a spring 19. One end of the lever 17 projects from the opening 3a of the inner wall 3 and the other end projects outward from the opening 2e of the outer wall 2b. The levers 20 to 22 are also configured similarly to the lever 17, one end of each of which projects into the cartridge through the opening of the inner wall 3 and the other end of which is the outer wall 2b, 2f.
The cartridge is urged so as to project to the outside of the cartridge through the opening. Disc is biased by four locking levers 1
It is held on the bottom surface 5 of the disc cartridge main body 1 by the tips of 7, 20 to 22. The shutter 23 covers the opening 24 formed in the outer wall 2a and is slidable in the A direction and the opposite direction by being guided by the outer wall 2a and the extension portion 3b of the inner wall 3. The sliding lever 25 is axially supported by a shaft 26 and is urged clockwise by a spring 27. One end of the lever 11 is engaged with the shutter 23 in the same manner as the end 11a of the lever 11, and the other end is connected to the ends 11b, 1 of the lever 11.
Similar to 1c, it has two protrusions 25a, 25b exposed outward from the opening of the outer wall 2f. The shutter 23 is a shutter for an air duct. Lever 14,
The ends of 17, 20 to 22 project from the outer walls 2b and 2f in a region corresponding to the height of the outer walls 2b and 2f, and the lever 11
The ends of 25 and 25 project only from the upper parts of the outer walls 2b and 2f. Lever 11, 14, 17, 20-22, 25
The ends projecting from the outer walls 2b, 2f are located in the grooves between the projecting ends 2g, 2h of the body 1 and the similarly formed projecting ends of the lid (not shown).

Next, the reading / writing device body (not shown) will be described. The apparatus body includes a storage unit for storing a disc cartridge, a head for reading information from the disc 6 in the disc cartridge stored in the storage unit, or writing information to the disc 6, and the head. Is provided, and a drive unit for rotating the disk 6 in the cartridge is provided. Guide members for guiding the cartridge when the cartridge is loaded into the cartridge storage portion are provided on both sides of the storage portion. In this embodiment, only one guide member 28 is shown and the other guide member is omitted. The guide member 28 is as shown in detail in FIG. That is, in the vicinity of the end of the guide member 28, a recess 28a is formed by cutting out only the upper portion. Another one
Similar to the guide member 28, each of the two guide members also has a concave portion near the end thereof, which is notched only in the upper portion. The recesses of the two guide members are provided so as to face each other.

Next, these movements will be described in detail. FIG. 2 to FIG. 5 show the operation state when inserting the cartridge step by step.

First, the outer wall 2b, the protruding end 2g, and the protruding end of the lid (not shown)
The groove formed of the outer wall 2f, the projecting end 2h, and the projecting end of the lid (not shown) to the other guide member (not shown), and the disk cartridge of the apparatus main body. FIG. 2 shows the state in which the insertion into the storage portion has started. In order to simplify the description, only the relationship between the groove having the outer wall 2b and the guide member 28 will be described here. At this point, the cartridge is still in a shallow position with respect to the guide portion 28 on the apparatus main body side.
14 and 17 are still inactive and in their initial position. That is, the slider 9 interlocking with the lever 11 is on the right side in FIG.
Shutters 8a and 8b operating integrally with the slider 9
Has two rectangular openings (one is 7, the other is not shown) closed. The levers 11, 14 and 17 are applied with a force in the direction of the arrow by torsion coil springs 13, 16 and 19, respectively. When the shutters 8a and 8b are opened from the outside of the cartridge in this state, the slider 9 tries to slide to the left in the figure, but the lever 14
Is caught on the stepped portion 11d of the lever 11. Therefore, since the lever 14 and the step portion 11d prevent the lever 11 from rotating clockwise about the shaft 12 of the lever 11, the shutters 8a and 8b are not opened. This state will be described in detail with reference to FIG. When the shutters 8a and 8b are opened, the lever 11 tries to rotate in the D direction and the force F acts on the lever 14. This force F moves the lever 14 to the shaft 1
It is divided into a force F _P that pushes toward 5 and a force F _R that tries to rotate the lever 14, but the fact that the lever 11 rotates in the D direction to open the shutters 8a and 8b is the lever 11.
This is impossible because the stepped portion 11d limits the rotation of the lever 14. The lever 14 tries to rotate counterclockwise by the urging force of the spring 16. However, the tip 14a thereof contacts the lever 11 as shown in FIG. 6, and the lever 11 is prevented from rotating counterclockwise by the slider 9 contacting a stopper (not shown). Therefore, the lever 14 is prevented from rotating counterclockwise. As described above, it is impossible to open the shutter as it is from the outside of the cartridge.

Next, when the cartridge is inserted to the state shown in FIG. 3, the lever 14 is pushed by the inner surface of the guide member 28 and rotated clockwise, and the tip end thereof is disengaged from the step portion 11d. Then, the lever 11 becomes rotatable in the clockwise direction, and when the tip of the guide member 28 pushes the protruding portion 11b, the lever 11 rotates in the clockwise direction. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the lever 11 is rotated until it contacts the lever 14. In this way, the shutters 8a and 8b start to open as the lever 11 rotates. As shown in FIG. 7, the vicinity of the tip of the guide member 28 partially has a recess 28 a, the lever 14 is pressed by the lower side surface 28 b of the guide member 28, and the lever 11 is located above the guide member 28. That is, it is pressed at the height at which the recess 28a is located. Therefore, when the protrusion 11b of the lever 11 is pushed by the tip of the guide member 28 and is rotated,
The protruding portion 11c of No. 1 is fitted into the concave portion 28a of the guide member 28.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the cartridge is further inserted. In this state, the tip of the guide member 28 and the protrusion 11b of the lever 11 are disengaged, and this time the protrusion 1 of the lever 11 is removed.
1c and a wall surface 28c forming a recess 28a of the guide member 28
Contact and rotate the lever 11 clockwise. Then, the lever 14 is further rotated clockwise by the lever 11.

At the stage of FIG. 5, the lever 11 rotates to the final position,
The shutters 8a and 8b are retracted from the rectangular opening 7 of the main body 1 and the rectangular opening (not shown) of the lid, and both rectangular openings are fully opened. Further, the lever 17 for holding the disc is a guide member 28.
The end portion is pushed by and is rotated clockwise, and the disk 6 is released. When the cartridge is further inserted, the end portion of the lever 20 is also pushed by the guide member 28 and the disc locking lever 20 rotates clockwise to open the disc 6.

Up to now, the levers 14, 11, 17, 20 provided in one groove of the disk cartridge have been described.
The levers 25, 22 and 21 provided in the other groove also operate in the same manner. That is, when a groove composed of the outer wall 2f and the protruding end 2h is inserted into a guide member (not shown) having the same shape as the guide member 28, a guide member (not shown) is guided at substantially the same time as the guide member 28 operates the lever 11. The member rotates the lever 25 counterclockwise to retract the shutter 23 from the opening 24,
The shutter 23 for the air duct is opened. Protrusions 25a, 25
b acts similarly to the protrusions 11b and 11c. Further, although a member corresponding to the lock lever 14 is not provided here, a lock lever similar to the lock lever 14 may be provided to lock and unlock the lever 25. When the cartridge is further inserted, the guide member (not shown) rotates the lever 22 in the counterclockwise direction, and when the cartridge is further inserted, the guide member (not shown) rotates the lever 21 in the counterclockwise direction. When the levers 22 and 21 release the disk 6, the lever 1
It is almost the same as when 7 and 20 open the disc.

In this way, when the cartridge is completely loaded into the storage portion of the apparatus main body (not shown), the four locking levers 17, 20 to 2
2 unlocks the disc 6. Therefore, the disc 6 can be rotated in the cartridge. At this time, the shutters 8a and 8b also remain open. Therefore, the read or write head in the main body of the apparatus faces one surface (lower surface) of the disk 6, and the magnet that gives the external magnetic field to the disk 6 faces the other surface (upper surface). Then, it becomes possible to read information from the disk 6 and write information to the disk 6. The rectangular opening 7 is provided in a rectangular shape so that the head can be accessed from the small diameter portion to the large diameter portion of the disk 6.

When the loading of the cartridge is completed and the shaft portion of the disk 6 protruding from the opening 4 is coupled with the drive portion of the entire apparatus (particularly the portion that drives the shaft portion of the disk 6), the disk 6 can be rotated in the cartridge. become. The air duct shutter 23 discharges the air flow and dust generated by the rotation of the disk 6 through the opening 24.

When the cartridge is taken out from the main body of the apparatus, each member of the cartridge returns to its original state as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Therefore, even if the shutters 8a and 8b are manually operated to open the shutters, the shutters do not open. Therefore, the shutters 8a and 8b do not open accidentally.

By operating the levers 14 and 11, the shutter 8
Although the shutters 8a and 8b cannot be opened by hand by operating the a and 8b, since the operations are complicated, there is no possibility that the shutters 8a and 8b will be opened unless such an operation is intentionally performed. Further, since the levers 14 and 11 project inside the groove portion composed of the outer wall 2b, the projecting end 2g, and the projecting end (not shown) of the lid, there is little risk of being manipulated by mistake.

In the above-described embodiment, when the cartridge is loaded in the apparatus main body, the tip of the guide member 28 pushes the protrusion 11b to rotate the lever 11, and this rotation causes the protrusion 1 to rotate.
When 1b retracts into the cartridge, the recess 28a
The wall surface 28c of the other pushes the other projecting portion 11c projecting outside the cartridge to further rotate the lever 11.

Therefore, even if the amount of protrusion of the sliding lever 11 from the opening 2c is small, the lever 11 can be rotated by a predetermined angle. Therefore, the groove of the cartridge (specifically, the outer wall 2b
And the protruding portions 2b and 1 of the lever 11 without increasing the depth of the groove formed by the protruding end 2g and the protruding end of the lid.
1c does not protrude from the groove. As a result, the cartridge can be downsized.

Next, the case where the front and back of the cartridge are mistakenly loaded into the apparatus main body will be described. Ends 1 of levers 11 and 25
1b, 11c, 25a, 25b are the outer walls 2b, as described above.
It is provided so as to project from the upper portion of 2f. Further, the recess (28a etc.) of the guide member is provided only in the upper portion. Therefore, if the front and back of the cartridge are mistakenly loaded, the following operation is performed. That is, when the tip of the guide member 28 pushes the protrusion 25a, the protrusion 25b contacts the lower portion 28b of the guide member 28, and the lever 11 does not rotate any more. Therefore, the projecting portion 25a is not retracted in the cartridge, and the loading of the cartridge into the apparatus body is prevented. Another guide member and protrusion 11
The same applies to the relationship between b and 11c. In this way, if the front and back of the cartridge are mistakenly loaded, the loading of the cartridge is blocked.

In the above-described embodiment, two shutters are provided, and when both shutters are opened, one surface of the disk 6 is made to face the head through the opening 7, and the other surface of the disk 6 is made into another opening (not shown). ) Was made to face the magnet which gives an external magnetic field. However, the present invention is not limited to having the two shutters described above. That is, it may have one shutter and one opening, and the shutter opens the opening so that only one surface of the disk faces the head.

(Effect of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, even if the shutter is directly operated from the outside, the shutter does not open accidentally.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the disk cartridge with the lid removed, FIGS. 2 to 5 are partial plan views showing the operation of loading the cartridge, and FIG.
1 is a partially enlarged view showing the relationship between 1 and the lock lever 14,
The figure is a perspective view showing the shape of the guide member. (Explanation of symbols of main parts) 1 ... Box 7 ... Opening 8a ... Shutter member 14 ... Lock member

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A box body for housing a disk-shaped recording medium, and a shutter member 8a movable to a first position for covering an opening 7 formed in the box body and a second position for retracting from the opening 7.
8b, the shutter members 8a and 8b are moved from the first position to the second position by being loaded in the reading or writing apparatus body, and the recording medium is read or written in the apparatus body. A disk cartridge opposed to the head for use, which normally prevents the shutter members 8a, 8b from moving to the second position, and the shutter members 8a, 8b move to the second position by being loaded into the apparatus main body. In the disk cartridge provided with the lock member 14 for permitting the operation, the lock member 14 is composed of a lever rotatably supported by a shaft 15, and one end 14b of the lever projects outward from the outer wall 2a of the cartridge. When the cartridge is housed in the device body, it touches the tip of a guide member 28 provided on the device body side and rotates in a predetermined direction, while the lock member 14 causes a spring 15 to move in a counter-predetermined direction. The lever 11 is rotatably supported by the shaft 12, and the ends 11b and 11c of the lever 11 project outwardly from the outer wall 2a of the cartridge, and the cartridge is housed in the main body of the apparatus. When this is done, the guide member 28 provided on the device body side
The ends of the lever 11 are touched by the ends 11b and 11c of the lever 11 and rotate in a predetermined direction, while the other lever 11 is biased by the spring 13, and the other end of the lever 11 opens and closes the opening formed in the box body. The slider 9 and the pin 9a fixed to the shutter members 8a and 8b
When the cartridge is inserted, the tip of the guide member 28 comes into contact with the projecting portion 14b to rotate the lock member 14 in a predetermined direction, and the cartridge is further inserted. Guide member 28 on protrusion 11c
The lever 11 rotates in a predetermined direction, the cartridge is further inserted, and the guide member 28 sequentially contacts the protrusions 11c and 11b of the lever, whereby the lever 11 further rotates in a predetermined direction. A cartridge characterized in that the shutter members 8a, 8b move in a direction of opening the opening in association with the rotation of 11.