JPH07141816A - Disk cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make an information recording medium to be rubbed by liners with adequate contact pressure in such a manner that the liners for cleaning the information recording medium are surely joined and fixed to upper/lower halves in s short time and that the spaces between the liners and inner walls of the upper/lower halves are held constant. CONSTITUTION:The liners 25, 26 positioned between the information recording medium 2 and the inner walls of the upper and lower halves are joined and fixed to the main body 3 of a cartridge forming a disk housing part 8 which freely rotatably houses the information recording medium 2 by the synthetic resin-made upper/lower halves 4, 5. Then, welding ribs 27, 28 which join and fix the liners 25, 26 by being melted in the manner of applying a welding means 31, are integrally formed corresponding to at least outer peripheral parts of the liners 25, 26 of the inner walls of the upper/lower halves. Liner mounting parts 40 consisting of a welding rib 42 and a space holding rib 41 for holding the spaces between the liners 25, 26 and the inner walls of the upper/lower halves are integrally formed on the inner walls of the upper/lower halves.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disk cartridge in which a disk-shaped information recording medium such as a floppy disk is rotatably housed in a cartridge body constituted by a pair of upper and lower halves butted against each other and coupled together. In particular, a liner that is inserted between the information recording medium and the inner walls of the upper and lower halves to rub the surface of the rotating information recording medium to wipe off dust and the like and to act so that the information recording medium rotates in a stable state. And a disk cartridge provided with.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a disk cartridge in which a disk-shaped information recording medium such as a floppy disk is rotatably accommodated, it becomes impossible to read a recorded information signal when dust adheres to the surface of the information recording medium. Become
There arises a problem that an accurate information signal cannot be recorded. Therefore, in the disc cartridge, liners are respectively inserted between the information recording medium and the inner wall of the upper half and the inner wall of the lower half, and the liner rubs the surface of the rotating information recording medium to remove dust and the like. It is configured to be wiped.

Further, the liner acts so as to rotate the information recording medium in a stable state by carrying out torque braking by lightly contacting the rotating information recording medium.
This liner is generally a so-called non-woven fabric in which polypropylene fiber, polyester fiber, rayon fiber, or other single substance or a blended body of a certain ratio is joined by heat fusion or a thermoplastic resin, rubber or other binder so as not to fray. It is composed by.

This liner is generally joined and fixed to the inner wall of the upper half and the inner wall of the lower half by a heat welding method or an ultrasonic welding method. That is, in a state where the liner is applied to the inner wall of the upper half and the inner wall of the lower half respectively, the heating means or the ultrasonic bonding means is pressed to melt the synthetic resin material forming the upper and lower halves, thereby melting the synthetic resin. The resin material infiltrates between the fibers constituting the liner and solidifies to firmly bond and fix the liner.

Further, the liner is formed in substantially the same shape as the information recording medium and is joined and fixed to the inner wall of the upper half and the inner wall of the lower half so as to make light contact with the surface of the information recording medium so as not to hinder the rotation of the information recording medium. By doing so, the efficiency of wiping dust and the like can be improved. For this reason, in the disc cartridge, a lifter, which is made by bending a synthetic resin sheet material into a substantially V-shape, is joined and fixed to the inner wall of the lower half by inserting it between the liner and the lifter. Is configured to be pressed against the information recording medium side.

In the disk cartridge having the liner described above, when the information recording medium is loaded into the recording / reproducing apparatus and the recording / reproducing operation is performed, the information recording medium is rotated by the action of the lifter to record the information. The information recording medium is cleaned by rubbing the surface of the medium, taking in dusts and the like adhering between the fibers and wiping them.

[0007]

The liner is bonded and fixed to the inner walls of the upper and lower halves by the heat welding method or the ultrasonic welding method as described above. For example, in the case of the heat welding method, The fibers that make up the liner may loosen due to the application of heat and pressure to almost the entire liner. Therefore, there is a possibility that the liner may not be able to exert a sufficient cleaning action on the information recording medium, or that loosened fibers may be scattered inside the cartridge main body to hinder, for example, the rotation of the information recording medium. .

Also in the case of the ultrasonic welding method, heat and pressure are applied to almost the entire liner, so that the fibers forming the liner may be destroyed. Such a problem also occurs in a liner formed by interposing a binder because the binder made of a thermoplastic resin or rubber loses its function of holding the fibers by heat.

Further, the liner performs a cleaning action and a torque braking action by being brought into contact with the surface of the information recording medium by the action of the lifter, but when the contact pressure is large, it inhibits the rotation of the information recording medium. On the other hand, when it is small, sufficient cleaning action and torque braking action cannot be achieved. The contact pressure between the liner and the information recording medium is determined by the bending angle of the lifter and the conditions such as the material and thickness of the liner. By the way, a liner having the same specific gravity and a large thickness is relatively expensive, and a liner having a small specific gravity and a large thickness has a low surface density and is likely to cause fiber fraying. Further, the greater the thickness of the liner, the greater the variation.

Therefore, in the conventional disc cartridge, in addition to the above-mentioned accuracy of the lifter joining, the liner joining step must be performed with sufficient control of conditions such as pressing pressure of the liner against the upper and lower halves by the welding means, time and temperature. There is a problem in that it is extremely difficult to keep the contact pressure between the information recording medium and the liner constant due to the material characteristics of the liner, which has a large variation in thickness.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the liner is fixedly joined to the upper and lower halves in a short time in a short time so that the time for the welding process can be shortened or the size and capacity of the apparatus can be reduced and the fibers constituting the liner can be frayed. The present invention has been proposed for the purpose of providing a disc cartridge in which the above-mentioned problem does not occur. The present invention is also proposed for the purpose of providing a disc cartridge in which the liners joined and fixed to the upper and lower halves are brought into contact with the surface of the information recording medium with an appropriate contact pressure.

[0012]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION A disk cartridge according to the present invention which achieves this object is a disc-shaped information recording medium by abutting and coupling an upper half and a lower half formed of a synthetic resin material to each other. A cartridge main body having a disc storage portion for rotatably storing a liner is formed by joining and fixing a liner positioned between the information recording medium and the inner wall of the upper half and between the inner wall of the lower half, and the inner wall of the upper half and It is characterized by integrally forming a welding rib corresponding to at least the outer peripheral portion of the liner with the inner wall of the lower half so as to be melted by applying the welding means and to join and fix the liner.

Further, in the disk cartridge according to the present invention, a part of the welding rib is cut off corresponding to the position where the lifter is fixedly joined to the inner wall of at least one of the upper and lower halves to press the liner against the information recording medium. It is characterized by having done.

Further, in the disc cartridge according to the present invention, the inner wall of the upper half and the inner wall of the lower half which compose the disc accommodating portion correspond to at least the outer peripheral edge of the liner. A space holding rib for holding a space between the inner wall of the half is integrally formed, and a liner is welded and fixed on the space holding rib so that a lifter for pressing the liner to the information recording medium side is not required. To do.

Further, in the disc cartridge according to the present invention, the inner wall of the upper half and the inner wall of the lower half which compose the disc accommodating portion correspond to at least the outer peripheral edge of the liner. It is characterized in that space-holding ribs for holding the space between the inner wall of the half are integrally formed, and welding ribs for welding and fixing the liner are integrally formed on the top surfaces of these space-holding ribs. .

[0016]

According to the disk cartridge of the present invention constructed as described above, the liner is formed into upper and lower halves when the liner is bonded and fixed to the inner wall of the upper half or the lower half by the thermal welding method or the ultrasonic welding method. The welding ribs are melted in a short time by efficiently concentrating the energy from the welding means. Therefore, the liner is bonded and fixed to the inner wall of the upper half or the lower half in a short time, and the phenomenon that the fibers constituting the liner are frayed because excessive energy is not supplied is prevented.

Since the welding ribs formed on the upper and lower halves are cut off in correspondence with the positions where the lifters are arranged, the action of the lifters for rubbing the liner against the surface of the information recording medium by an appropriate contact pressure. Is not damaged.

Further, according to the disc cartridge of the present invention, the liner is joined and fixed to the spacing ribs integrally formed on the upper and lower halves, whereby the liner and the inner wall of the upper half or the lower half are joined. Since the interval is kept constant, the contact pressure with the information recording medium can be kept constant. Therefore, it is not necessary to interpose a lifter for pressing the liner against the information recording medium side. In addition, the liner performs proper torque braking on the information recording medium so that the information recording medium is smoothly rotated, and also wipes dust and the like adhering to the surface thereof to achieve a sufficient cleaning action.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. A disk cartridge 1 shown as a first embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIGS.
A disk cartridge that rotatably accommodates a micro floppy disk 2 having a diameter of 3.5 inches as an information recording medium, is formed by butt-joining an upper half 4 and a lower half 5 in the shape of a rectangular approximately shallow dish formed of a synthetic resin material. By doing so, as shown in FIG. 2, the cartridge body 3 having an overall thin box shape is configured.

On the outer peripheral portions of the upper half 4 and the lower half 5,
The rising peripheral walls 6 and 7 that are abutted against each other and constitute the outer peripheral wall of the cartridge body 3 are integrally erected upright, and the inner walls of the upper half 4 and the lower half 5 facing each other have rising peripheral walls 6, 7. Disc storage portion forming walls 9 and 10 which are formed as a plurality of arc-shaped walls that are substantially inscribed in 7 and are abutted against each other to form a circular disc storage portion 8.
And a plurality of butt fitting protrusions 11 and 12 are provided upright.

The upper half 4 and the lower half 5 configured as described above are assembled so that the rising peripheral walls 6 and 7 and the disk storage portion forming walls 9 and 10 are butted against each other, and each butted fitting is made. Fit the mating protrusions 11 and 12,
The butt-fitting projections 11 and 12 are integrated by ultrasonic welding or the like to form the cartridge body 3.

A circular opening 13 is formed in the lower half 5 so as to form a center hole of the disk housing portion 8. The opening 13 is a cartridge main body when the disk cartridge 1 is mounted in a recording / reproducing apparatus. The disk table of the recording / reproducing apparatus that drives the floppy disk 2 housed in the disk 3 functions as an opening for entering the disk. Specifically, the disk entrance opening 13 closes the center hole 2A of the floppy disk 2 housed in the cartridge body 3 and attaches to the mounting ring 15.
Metal plate 1 for magnet clamp attached via
4 is exposed to the outside from the lower half 5 as shown in FIG.

The upper half 4 and the lower half 5 have information signal recording / reproducing openings for exposing at least a part of the signal area of the stored floppy disk 2 to the outside of the cartridge main body 3 over the inner and outer circumferences. 16 and 17 are opened facing each other. These information signal recording / reproducing openings 1
As shown in FIG. 1, the reference numerals 6 and 17 are rectangular and are located substantially in the center of the upper half 4 and the lower half 5 in the left-right direction from the position close to the disc entry opening 13 to the front side of the cartridge body 3. Has been formed. The cartridge body 3 has a pair of shutter portions 19 and 20 formed of a synthetic resin material and facing each other in parallel, and these shutter portions 1
A shutter member 18, which is composed of a connecting portion 21 that connects the base end sides of the members 9 and 20 and has a U-shaped cross section, is movably assembled. The shutters 19 and 20 have openings 22A and 22B having substantially the same shape as the information signal recording / reproducing openings 16 and 17, respectively.

The shutter member 18 is a shutter spring 2 arranged at one corner of the lower half 5 on the front side.
3, the openings 22A and 22B are biased so as not to correspond to the information signal recording / reproducing openings 16 and 17, so that dust or the like is discharged from the information signal recording / reproducing openings 16 and 17 when not in use. It functions to prevent the floppy disk 2 from entering the disk storage portion 8 and adhering to it, or to prevent the floppy disk 2 from being damaged. Further, when the disc cartridge 1 is mounted in the recording / reproducing apparatus, the shutter member 18 engages with a shutter driving member on the recording / reproducing apparatus side which moves along the front surface of the cartridge body 3 to cause the shutter spring 23 to move. The cartridge is moved along the cartridge body 3 against the elastic force, whereby the opening 22A,
22B is opened at the position corresponding to the information signal recording / reproducing openings 16 and 17.

At one corner on the rear side of the lower half 5,
The erroneous recording prevention member 24 is movably assembled.
The erroneous recording prevention member 24 is moved to a first position for opening an erroneous recording detection hole (not shown) formed in the lower half 5 and a second position for closing it. Wrong recording prevention member 24
Is set to the first position with the erroneous recording detection hole open, when the disc cartridge 1 is mounted in the recording / reproducing apparatus, the erroneous recording detecting means of the recording / reproducing apparatus detects the erroneous recording detecting hole. Thus, recording of the information signal on the floppy disk 2 is prohibited. This prevents the information signal recorded on the floppy disk 2 from being accidentally erased. Further, when the erroneous recording prevention member 24 is set at the second position where the erroneous recording detection hole is closed, the erroneous recording detection hole is not detected by the erroneous recording detection means, so that information on the floppy disk 2 is not detected. Signal recording is allowed.

Inner wall of upper half 4 and floppy disk 2
Between the inner wall of the lower half 5 and the floppy disk 2, the upper liner 25 and the lower liner 2 are joined and fixed to the upper half 4 and the lower half 5, respectively, by the method described later.
6 are provided. These upper and lower liners 25, 26
Is a so-called non-woven fabric composed of polypropylene fiber, polyester fiber, rayon fiber or the like alone or a blended body of a certain ratio, which is joined by a heat-melting or thermoplastic resin or a binder such as rubber so as not to be frayed. There is.

The upper and lower liners 25 and 26 are
The diameter of the floppy disk 2 is substantially the same as that of the floppy disk 2, and the center portion of the floppy disk 2 is formed in an annular shape with center holes 25A and 26A having a diameter slightly larger than that of the center hole 2A of the floppy disk 2. Further, the upper and lower liners 25, 26 are provided with notches 25B, 26B in the radial direction from the outer peripheral portion toward positions close to the central holes 25A, 26A. These notches 25B and 26B are cut out to be slightly larger than the opening dimensions of the information signal recording / reproducing openings 16 and 17 provided in the upper half 4 and the lower half 5, respectively.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the inner walls of the upper half 4 and the lower half 5 are provided with welding ribs 27 along the inner circumferences of the disk storage portion forming walls 9 and 10 which form the disk storage portion 8. , 28 are integrally formed. These welding ribs 27 and 28 are formed as annular walls having substantially the same diameter as the outer diameters of the liners 25 and 26, and a part corresponding to a mounting portion of a lifter 29, which will be described later, is cut off and used for recording / reproducing information signals. Portions 27A, 27 corresponding to the openings 16, 17
B and 28A, 28B extend centrally along both sides thereof.

As shown in FIG. 6, these welding ribs 27 and 28 are formed as annular projections having a substantially triangular cross section. Also, these welding ribs 27, 28 are
When the height dimension H is large, variations in each portion are likely to occur, and when the width dimension W is large, energy is less likely to concentrate during welding, which will be described later. Therefore, the height dimension H and the width dimension W of the bottom portion are different from each other. Is preferably set to H = W / 2. In the disc cartridge 1 of the embodiment, H = 0.5 mm and W = 1.0 mm are set.

The upper and lower liners 27, 28 are provided with notches 25B, notches 25B, on the welding ribs 27, 28 constructed as described above.
26B is combined so as to be positioned corresponding to the openings 16 and 17 for recording and reproducing information signals, and then the heating ribs 31 and 28 are melted and solidified by the heating and welding device 31 to be described later. The outer circumference is fixedly joined to the inner wall.

A lifter 29 formed by bending a synthetic resin sheet material into a substantially V-shape is assembled and fixed to the lower half 5. As shown in FIG. 8, the lifter 29 has a lower liner 2 whose rising end is welded and fixed to the inner wall of the lower half 5.
The lower liner 26 is pressed against the lower surface of the floppy disk 2 by contacting the lower surface of the floppy disk 6 by pushing it up. Further, a center plate 30 formed of a synthetic resin material having abrasion resistance and located at the center of the inner wall of the upper half 4 is joined and fixed. The center plate 30 regulates the abutting height of the spindle shaft of the disc table that enters from the disc entry opening 13 formed in the lower half 5 when the disc cartridge 1 is mounted in the recording / reproducing apparatus, and the floppy disc 2 The upper half 4 is provided with a receiving portion for the upper surface of the metal plate 14 assembled in the center hole 2A, thereby preventing the upper half 4 from being worn or damaged.

The disk cartridge 1 in which the upper and lower liners 25 and 26 are welded and fixed to the inner walls of the upper and lower halves 4 and 5 by the method described later is loaded into the recording / reproducing apparatus and a recording operation or a reproducing operation is performed to perform the floppy disk 2. When is rotated, the upper and lower liners 25 and 26 rub the upper and lower surfaces of the floppy disk 2 with a light contact pressure by the action of the lifter 29. Floppy disk 2 is
Torque braking is performed by the contact pressure between the upper and lower liners 25 and 26, and smooth rotation is performed without causing uneven rotation. Further, due to the wiping effect of the upper and lower liners 25, 26 on the floppy disk 2, dust and the like adhering to the surface of the floppy disk 2 is wiped off.
The dust and the like wiped on the upper and lower liners 25 and 26 are taken in between the fibers forming the upper and lower liners 25 and 26, and the floppy disk 2 is cleaned.

The upper liner 25 and the lower liner 26 are welded and fixed to the inner walls of the upper half 4 and the lower half 5, respectively, by the thermal welding method or the ultrasonic welding method, as in the conventional disc cartridge. That is, the upper and lower liners 2
5 and 26, the notches 25A and 25B are provided with the information signal recording / reproducing openings 16 and 17 as shown by the chain lines in FIGS.
The rib 27 for welding the outer peripheral portion so as to be positioned corresponding to
28 is placed on the upper and lower halves 4 and 5 so as to be applied to the upper half.

Then, the upper half 4 or the lower half 5 is
It is placed on the lower jig 32 of the heat welding apparatus 31 shown in FIG. The heating and welding apparatus 31 includes a table 33 on which a lower jig 32 is supported, an air cylinder 36 mounted on a slider 35 which is vertically movable on a stand 34 standing on the table 33, and a heating and welding treatment. And the tool 37.

The lower liner 26 is heated by the heat welding device 31.
The operation of welding and fixing the to the lower half 5 will be described as a representative. When the lower half 5 having the lower liner 26 assembled on the welding ribs 28 is placed on the lower jig 32, the slider 35
Moves down along the stand 34, and the air cylinder 35 is driven so that the heating and welding jig 36 presses the lower liner 26 against the inner wall of the lower half 5 with a constant pressing force. After that, when the heating welding jig 36 is turned on, the heating welding jig 36 heats the lower half 5 and the lower liner 26.

As described above, since the welding ribs 28 formed on the lower half 5 are formed to have a substantially triangular cross section, the energy applied from the heat welding jig 36 is concentrated and the lower half 5 is covered. The inner wall surface or the lower liner 26 is melted faster, in other words, melted in a short time. As shown in FIG. 8, the fusion portion 28a of the welding rib 28 infiltrates between the fibers constituting the lower liner 26 and
By solidifying as shown by a, the outer peripheral portion of the lower liner 26 is firmly bonded and fixed onto the inner wall of the lower half 5.

When the welding rib 27 is melted, the power supply to the heating welding jig 36 is stopped and the air cylinder 35 is driven to operate so that the heating welding jig 36 stands.
And the lower half 5 is taken out from the heat welding apparatus 31. The lower half 5 can be supplied to and taken out from the heating and welding device 31 automatically by an unillustrated automatic supplying device and taking-out device attached to the heating and welding device 31. In addition, the upper liner 2 on the inner wall of the upper half 4
The operation of joining and fixing 5 is performed in the same manner as the operation of joining and fixing the lower liner 26 to the inner wall of the lower half 5 described above.

As described above, by concentrating the heating energy applied from the heating and welding jig 36, the welding ribs 27, 28 of the upper and lower halves 4, 5 are melted in an extremely short time. The liners 25 and 26 are hardly affected by the heat from the heat welding device 31, and the inconvenience that the fibers forming the upper and lower liners 25 and 26 are frayed or broken can be reliably prevented.

The welding device for joining and fixing the upper and lower liners 25 and 26 to the upper and lower halves 4 and 5 is replaced with the heating and welding device 31 described above, and the upper and lower liners 25 and 26 are attached to the welding ribs 27 and 28, respectively. In the pressed state, ultrasonic vibration is applied by the ultrasonic vibration head to the welding rib 2
An ultrasonic welding device adapted to melt 7 and 28 may be used. Also in this ultrasonic welding device, the ultrasonic vibration energy applied from the ultrasonic vibration head is applied to the welding rib 2
These welding ribs 27 and 2 are concentrated on 7 and 28.
8 melts in a short time.

Further, in the above-described embodiment disk cartridge 1, the welding ribs 27, 28 are erected on the inner walls of the upper and lower halves 4, 5, corresponding to the outer peripheral portions of the upper and lower liners 25, 26. As shown in FIG. 10, an annular second welding rib 27C may be integrally provided upright in the vicinity of the outer periphery of the hole wall of the disc entry opening 13 of the lower half 5. Of course, this second welding rib 27C is also formed in a substantially triangular cross-sectional shape, and the energy applied from the welding device is concentrated, so that it is melted in a short time. By forming the inner and outer double welding ribs 27 and 27C in this manner, the lower liner 26 is firmly joined and fixed to the lower half 5 at the inner and outer peripheral portions. The rib for welding is
A plurality of concentric lines may be formed on the inner walls of the upper and lower halves 4, 5.

11 to 15 show a disk cartridge 1 shown as a second embodiment of the present invention, which is characterized in that the lifter 29 is removed and the liner mounting portion is formed. There is. Since the basic structure of this disk cartridge 1 is almost the same as that of the disk cartridge of the first embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted by giving the same reference numerals to the same members.

As shown in FIG. 12, the disc cartridge 1 includes liner mounting portions on the inner walls of the upper half 4 and the lower half 5 along the inner peripheries of the disc accommodating portion forming walls 9 and 10 constituting the disc accommodating portion 8. 40 is integrally formed. The liner mounting portion 40 is provided with liners 25, 2 which are fixedly joined to the inner walls of the upper and lower halves 4, 5 as described later.
A portion 40A which is provided as an annular wall having a diameter substantially equal to the outer diameter of 6 and which corresponds to the openings 16 and 17 for recording / reproducing information signals,
40B extends centrally along both sides thereof.

As shown in FIG. 14, the liner mounting portion 40 has a space holding rib 41 having a rectangular cross section which is erected from the inner walls of the upper and lower halves 4 and 5 with a height L, and the space holding rib 41. Rib 42 for welding, which is provided over the entire top surface.
It consists of and. The welding ribs 42 are for the welding ribs 27, 28 of the disc cartridge 1 of the first embodiment.
Similarly, the height dimension H and the width dimension W of the bottom portion are H = W /
It is formed by setting it to 2. The space holding rib 41
Is larger than the width dimension of the bottom portion of the welding rib 42, and the height dimension thereof is also larger than the height dimension of the welding rib 42.

The upper and lower liners 27, 28 are provided with the notches 25B, 26B on the welding ribs 42 of the liner mounting portion 40 having the above-described structure so as to correspond to the openings 16, 17 for recording / reproducing information signals. After being assembled as described above, the heating welding device 31 melts and solidifies the welding rib 42, and the periphery of the outer peripheral portion is joined and fixed on the spacing rib 41. The disc cartridge 1 in which the upper and lower liners 25 and 26 are fixedly joined by keeping the distance between the inner walls of the upper and lower halves 4 and 5 via the distance holding ribs 41, is loaded into the recording / reproducing apparatus to perform the recording operation or the reproducing operation. When the floppy disk 2 rotates as it is done, the upper and lower liners 2
5, 26 rub the upper and lower surfaces of the floppy disk 2 with a light contact pressure. Due to the wiping effect of the upper and lower liners 25, 26 on the floppy disk 2, dust and the like adhering to the surface of the floppy disk 2 is wiped off.
The dust and the like wiped on the upper and lower liners 25 and 26 are taken in between the fibers forming the upper and lower liners 25 and 26, and the floppy disk 2 is cleaned.

This second embodiment disk cartridge 1
Also in the above, the upper and lower liners 25 and 26 are welded and fixed to the inner walls of the upper and lower halves 4 and 5, respectively, by a thermal welding method or an ultrasonic welding method. That is, the upper and lower liners 25, 2
6 indicates notches 25A, 25, as shown by the chain line in FIG.
B is placed on the upper half 4 or the lower half 5 so that B is positioned corresponding to the information signal recording / reproducing openings 16 and 17, and the outer peripheral portion is applied to the liner mounting portion 40. After that, the upper half 4 or the lower half 5 is shown in FIG.
It is placed on the lower jig 32 of the heat welding apparatus 31 shown in FIG.

The heat welding apparatus 31 is constructed in the same manner as the heat welding apparatus described above, but is provided with a stopper mechanism 45 for setting the upper and lower liners 25 and 26 at predetermined intervals with respect to the inner walls of the upper and lower halves 4 and 5. It has a characteristic in the configuration. That is, the heating and welding device 31 includes the slider 35.
A stopper member that constitutes the stopper mechanism 45 is provided so as to project at the lower end of the above, and the heating welding jig 36 and the inner wall of the upper half 4 or the lower half 5 operate with a predetermined gap, The lowering operation of the slider 35 is stopped.

Thereafter, when the power is applied to the heating welding jig 36, the heating welding jig 36 causes the upper and lower halves 4 to move.
The upper liner 25, the lower half 5 and the lower liner 26 are heated. As described above, the liner attaching portions 40 formed on the upper half 4 to which the upper liner 25 is attached and the lower half 5 to which the liner 26 is attached, respectively.
Is formed by integrally forming a welding rib 42 having a substantially triangular cross section on the top surface of the spacing rib 41.
Energy applied from the heating and welding jig 36 is concentrated on the welding ribs 42 and the inner wall surface of the upper half 4 or the upper liner 25, and the inner wall surface of the lower half 5 or the lower liner 26.
On the other hand, the melting is performed faster, in other words, the melting is performed in a short time.

With the welding rib 42 melted, the power to the heating welding jig 36 is stopped and the air cylinder 35 is driven to operate the heating welding jig 36 on the stand 34.
And the upper half 4 or the lower half 5 is taken out from the heat welding apparatus 31. As shown in FIG. 15, the melted portion 42a of the welding rib 42 melted as described above is infiltrated between the fibers constituting the upper and lower liners 25, 26 and the outer peripheral portions 25a, 26a are solidified, The outer peripheral portions of the upper and lower liners 25 and 26 are attached to the liner mounting portion 4
It is firmly bonded and fixed onto the zero distance maintaining rib 41. The space holding ribs 41 are erected from the inner walls of the upper and lower halves 4 and 5 with the height dimension L, so that the space between the inner walls of the upper and lower liners 25 and 26 is automatically set.

The rib 42 for welding is formed by the heating welding jig 3
When the heating energy applied from 6 is concentrated, it is melted in an extremely short time. Therefore, the upper and lower liners 25, 2 joined and fixed on the spacing rib 41 are
6 is hardly affected by the heat from the heat welding device 31, and the inconvenience that the fibers forming the upper and lower liners 25 and 26 are frayed or the fibers are broken can be reliably prevented.

Further, in the disk cartridge 1 of the second embodiment, the inner wall of the upper half 4 and the upper liner 2 are
5 and the interval between the inner wall of the lower half 5 and the lower liner 26 are set with high accuracy without variation. Therefore, the upper and lower liners 25, 26 come into contact with the surface of the floppy disk 2 with proper contact pressure due to their material characteristics without interposing a lifter. Therefore, even when a relatively thin liner is used, the floppy disk 2 can be sufficiently cleaned, the number of parts and the material cost can be reduced, and the work of the welding process can be performed. Efficiency is improved.

In order to stop the heat welding jig 36 at a fixed position with respect to the upper and lower halves 4 and 5, the heat welding device 31 is provided with a stopper mechanism 45 having a stopper member. A stopper mechanism may be configured by disposing an optical sensor, a limit switch, or the like between the welding jig 36 and the welding jig 36. Further, this stopper mechanism is not applied only to the disc cartridge of the second embodiment in which the liner mounting portion 40 composed of the spacing rib 41 and the welding rib 42 is formed, and the stopper mechanism of the first embodiment described above is used. Of course, it can be applied to liner joining of a disc cartridge.

[0052]

As described in detail above, according to the disk cartridge of the present invention, the surface of the disk-shaped information recording medium is rubbed with a light contact pressure,
While applying a braking torque in the rotation direction to the information recording medium, the liner taken between the fibers formed by wiping dust and the like adhering to the surface is heated by a welding method or ultrasonic waves through a welding rib where energy is concentrated. By fixing the inner walls of the upper and lower halves by the welding method, the time for the welding process can be shortened, and the device can be made smaller and have a smaller capacity. Moreover, since the application of heat or ultrasonic vibration to the liner can be suppressed to a minimum, it is possible to reliably prevent the occurrence of inconveniences such as the fibers constituting the liner being frayed or broken.

Further, according to the disc cartridge of the present invention, the liner is joined and fixed to the upper and lower halves with high precision, so that the contact pressure of the liner with respect to the information recording medium can be kept constant. Even with a thin liner, the cleaning effect of the recording medium can be sufficiently retained, and the lifter can be removed,
The cost of parts can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a disc cartridge according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the bottom surface side of the disc cartridge.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the upper half of the disc cartridge.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a lower half of the disc cartridge.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part of a lower half of the disk cartridge.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of an essential part for explaining welding ribs formed in upper and lower halves of the disc cartridge.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of the disc cartridge.

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of an essential part for explaining a liner joint fixing part of a lower half of the disc cartridge.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of a heat welding device for joining and fixing a liner to the disc cartridge.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the lower half.

FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view showing another embodiment of the disc cartridge according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of a lower half of the disc cartridge.

FIG. 13 is a longitudinal sectional view of the disc cartridge.

FIG. 14 is a longitudinal sectional view of an essential part for explaining a liner attachment portion formed in upper and lower halves of the disc cartridge.

FIG. 15 is a longitudinal sectional view of an essential part for explaining a state in which the liner is joined and fixed to the liner attachment part.

FIG. 16 is a schematic configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the heat welding apparatus.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 ... Disk cartridge 2 ... Floppy disk (information recording medium) 3 ... Cartridge body 4 ... Upper half 5 ... Lower half 8 ... Disk storage unit 25 ... -Upper liner 26 ... Lower liner 27 ... Welding rib 28 ... Welding rib 29 ... Lifter 31 ... Heat welding device 37 ... Welding jig 40 ... Liner mounting portion 41 ... Rib for maintaining spacing 42 ... Rib for welding

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cartridge main body formed with a disk storage portion for rotatably storing a disc-shaped information recording medium by abutting and coupling an upper half and a lower half formed of a synthetic resin material to each other. A liner is located between the recording medium and the inner wall of the upper half, and between the inner wall of the lower half, and the liner is joined and fixed to the inner wall of the upper half and the inner wall of the lower half at least corresponding to the outer peripheral portion of the liner. A disc cartridge characterized by integrally forming a welding rib for melting and fixing the liner by applying means. 2. The welding rib is partly cut off at a position corresponding to a position where a lifter is joined and fixed to the inner wall of at least one of the upper and lower halves to press the liner toward the information recording medium. The disc cartridge according to claim 1. 3. A space between the liner and the inner wall of the upper half and the inner wall of the lower half corresponding to at least the outer peripheral portion of the liner with respect to the inner wall of the upper half and the inner wall of the lower half constituting the disk storage portion. 2. The disc cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a space holding rib for holding the liner is integrally formed, and a liner is welded and fixed on the space holding rib so that a lifter for pressing the liner against the information recording medium is unnecessary. . 4. The space between the liner and the inner wall of the upper half and the inner wall of the lower half corresponding to at least the outer peripheral portion of the liner on the inner wall of the upper half and the inner wall of the lower half that compose the disk storage portion. Is formed integrally with the distance maintaining ribs, and the top surfaces of the distance maintaining ribs are
2. The disk cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a rib for welding for fixing the liner by welding is integrally formed.