JPH0765529A - Disc cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely clean a disc and reduce errors at a recording/reproducing time in a disc cartridge having the disc rotatably accommodated in a main body thereof constituted of a combination of an upper and a lower shells. CONSTITUTION:Cleaning members 16, 20 having liners (non-woven fabric) 18, 22 as cleaning means are attached to inner surfaces of an upper shell 2 and a lower shell 3, respectively. The liners 18, 22 of the upper and lower cleaning members 16, 20 are pressed to a disc 4 by the elasticity of respective elastic sheets 17, 21, thereby removing dust from the disc 4. The upper and lower liners 18, 22 are adapted to be in touch with the disc 4 at two or more points. Therefore, even if the dust, once collected is freed, the liners 18, 22 catch the dust again, realizing more positive cleaning.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a disk cartridge,
In particular, the present invention relates to a disc cartridge having a cleaning means for cleaning the disc therein.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, an example of a disk cartridge incorporating a cleaning means will be described with reference to FIGS. What is shown in the figure is a disk cartridge for magnetic recording generally called a 3.5-inch micro-floppy disk. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a cartridge body, and the cartridge body 1 is made of a plastic upper shell 2 and a lower shell. A magnetic disk sheet (hereinafter referred to as a disk) 4 is rotatably housed in the cartridge body 1 by integrally fixing the magnetic disk sheet 3 and the disk 3.

A center hub 5 made of metal is attached to the center of the disk 4, and the center hub 5 is exposed to the outside through a center hole 6 formed in the center of the lower shell 3, so that the disk cartridge is When mounted on the disk drive apparatus, the center hub 5 is magnetically attracted to the disk table on the disk drive apparatus side, and the disk 4 is rotationally driven.

Head windows 7 and 8 are formed in the upper shell 2 and the lower shell 3 of the cartridge body 1 so that a part of the disk 4 is exposed. When the disk cartridge is mounted in the disk drive device, A magnetic head for recording / reproducing is inserted from the head windows 7 and 8 and slidably contacts the disk 4.

Further, a shutter 9 for opening and closing the head windows 7 and 8 is attached to the cartridge body 1, that is, the head windows 7 and 8 are opened by the shutter 9 when the disk cartridge is not in use (storage state). When the disc 4 is closed to protect the disc 4 from dust, and the disc cartridge is mounted in the disc drive device, the shutter 9 is laterally slid by the shutter opening mechanism of the disc drive device to open the head windows 7 and 8. The disk 4 is exposed. Reference numeral 10 is a write protector for preventing erroneous erasure.

The conventional disk cleaning means in the disk cartridge (3.5-inch micro-floppy disk) constructed as described above has liners 11 and 12 arranged above and below the disk 4, as is apparent from FIG.
It depends on. That is, the liners 11 and 12 are annular rings that cover substantially the entire recording surface of the disk 4 with the exception of the head windows 7 and 8 with a non-woven fabric (carbon fibers alone or mixed in a proper ratio). It is formed in a shape and is welded to the inner surfaces of the upper and lower shells 2 and 3 at their peripheral portions.

A lifter 13 made of a metal plate is obliquely attached to the inner surface of the lower shell 3 by welding and caulking, and a plurality of ribs 14 project from the inner surface of the upper shell 2 corresponding to the lifter 13. The liners 11 and 12 are in contact with each other so as to be pressed against the disc 4. When the disc 4 is rotated in this state, the dust adhered to both surfaces of the disc 4 is wiped by the liners 11 and 12, whereby the disc 4 is cleaned.

[0008]

However, in the conventional disc cartridge constructed as described above, the liner 1 as the disc cleaning means is used.
Since 1 and 12 are pressed against the disk 4 at only one position (the portion of the lifter 13), dust once collected by the liner falls off from the liner due to external factors such as vibration, and the head window 7, There is a risk that it will reach 8.

In addition, in the conventional cleaning means, since the liner has a large use area, a large amount of liner (nonwoven fabric) fragments are easily generated in the manufacturing and assembling process, and further, the dust taken in the liner after the assembling is not generated. It dropped off and adhered to the disc, which was a major cause of an error (dropout) during recording and reproduction.

The present invention has been made for the purpose of solving the above problems.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a disc as a recording medium is rotatably housed in a cartridge body constituted by combining an upper shell and a lower shell. A disk cartridge comprising cleaning means for cleaning the disk, the cleaning means comprising:
The upper shell side and the lower shell side are provided so as to face each other with the disc sandwiched therebetween, and have liner of a small area that sufficiently covers the width of the recording surface of the disc, and at least one of the upper and lower liners is made of an elastic body. The disc is supported by the shell while being applied with a force in a direction of being pressed against the disc, and contact portions of the upper and lower liners with respect to the disc are provided at two or more places in the cartridge body.

[0012]

In the disk cartridge of the present invention constructed as described above, since the upper and lower liner contact portions with respect to the disk are at two or more places, even if dust once collected is released, it can be collected again. In addition, since this cleaning means uses a small area of the liner and pressure is constantly applied to the used portion of the liner, the risk of dust falling off the liner is reduced, and as a result, errors are reduced.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7. Parts corresponding to those of the conventional example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. To do.

3 to 5 show a first embodiment of the present invention. The disk cleaning means of the disk cartridge (3.5 inch micro-floppy disk) of this example is configured as follows. On the inner surface side of the upper shell 2 and the inner surface side of the lower shell 3, support base portions 15 and 19 are provided in a protruding manner in the disk storage portion, respectively.
Cleaning members 16 and 20 are attached to 19 so as to face each other with the disk 4 interposed therebetween.

The upper and lower cleaning members 16 and 20
Are the elastic sheets 17 and 21 made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and the elastic sheets 17 and 2, respectively.
1 and liners (nonwoven fabric) 18 and 22 as disk cleaning materials that are symmetrically attached to both ends. The liner 18 for the elastic sheets 17, 21
As a sticking means of 22, heat welding, a double-sided adhesive tape or the like is used.

The cleaning members 16 and 20 are formed in a fan shape corresponding to the shape of the disk 4 as is clear from FIGS. 3 and 4, and the liners 18 and 22 at the ends of the elastic sheets 17 and 21 rotate the disk 4. Although it is formed in a small area with a small width in the direction, it has a length (width in the radial direction of the disk 4) that sufficiently covers the width of the recording surface of the disk 4.

Then, the cleaning members 16 and 20
Are fixed to the support bases 15 and 19 of the upper and lower shells 2 and 3 by welding or the like in the central portions of the elastic sheets 17 and 21 so that the liners 18 and 22 face each other across the disk 4. It As is clear from FIGS. 3 and 4, the cleaning means is symmetrically provided at two locations inside the cartridge body with the center of rotation of the disk interposed therebetween.

In the cleaning means constructed as described above, when the upper shell 2 and the lower shell 3 are combined, the liners 18, 22 are pressed against the disk 4 by the bending of the elastic sheets 17, 21. That is, in this cleaning means of this example, the height of the liner 18 from the inner surface side of the upper shell 2 before the upper and lower shells 2 and 3 are combined (the elastic sheets 17 and 21 are not bent) is a ₁ , Assuming that the height of the liner 22 from the inner surface side of the lower shell 3 is a ₂ , the thickness of the disk 4 is b, and the dimension between the inner surface sides of the upper and lower shells 2 and 3 is c, then a ₁ + a ₂ It is set such that + b> c. Therefore, in the state where the upper and lower shells 2 and 3 are combined, the upper and lower cleaning members 16 and 20 have liners 18 and 22 opposed to each other with the disk 4 interposed therebetween, as shown in FIG. 5B. Elastic sheets 17 and 2
1 bends, and the reaction force elastically presses the liners 18 and 22 against the upper and lower recording surfaces of the disk 4, respectively.

When the disc 4 is rotated in this state, dust attached to the upper and lower recording surfaces of the disc 4 is wiped by the liners 18 and 22 of the cleaning members 16 and 20, whereby the disc 4 is cleaned. Is performed.

Here, in the cleaning means of the present example, the disks are formed by the liners 18 and 22 of the cleaning members 16 and 20 at two positions before and after the rotation direction of the disk 4 (points (A) and (B) shown in FIG. 5B). Since the cleaning of No. 4 is performed, even if the dust once collected at the point (A) falls off from the liner due to an external factor such as vibration, it is again collected at the point (B). Therefore, dust does not reach the head windows 7 and 8, and a reliable cleaning effect can be obtained. Particularly, in the disk cartridge of this example, the cleaning means is provided at two positions in the cartridge body, so that a more reliable cleaning effect can be obtained.

Further, in the cleaning means in this example, since the cleaning pressure by the elastic sheets 17 and 21 is applied from the upper and lower sides of the disc 4, respectively, the upper and lower recording surfaces of the disc 4 have a uniform cleaning effect. Can be obtained.

In the cleaning means of this embodiment, the use area of the liners 18 and 22 is much smaller than that of the conventional one, so that the dust of the liner (nonwoven fabric) fragments is suppressed to a minimum, and the liners 18 and 22 are always used. Since pressure is applied to the used portion (contact surface with the disc 4) of 22, there is little risk that dust will fall off from the liner.

FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is a modification of the first embodiment, and one of the liners 18 and 22 arranged above and below the disk 4 is fixed. That is, in the cleaning means of this example, the liner 22 on the lower surface side of the disk 4 is supported by the support base 19 of the lower shell 3 via the elastic sheet 21 as in the first embodiment, whereas The liner 18 on the upper surface side of 4 is directly attached to the support base 15 of the upper shell 2.

FIG. 7 shows a third embodiment of the present invention.
In the cleaning means in this example, the elastic material 23, 24 made of foamed malt gren or the like is fixed to the inner surface sides of the upper shell 2 and the lower shell 3, and the liner 18, 22 is attached to the elastic material 23, 24, respectively. Wear and wear upper and lower shells 2 and 3
In a state in which the liners 18 and 22 are united with each other, the liners 18 and 22 are brought into pressure contact with the disk 4 by the compression of the elastic material 23 and 24. Also in these second and third embodiments, a cleaning effect substantially equivalent to that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to these embodiments and that various other embodiments can be adopted.

In the above embodiments, a so-called 3.5-inch micro-floppy disk is shown as an example of a disk cartridge, but the present invention is not limited to this, and is also a magneto-optical disk cartridge or MD (mini disk).
Of course, it can be widely applied to the above.

[0027]

As described above, in the disc cartridge of the present invention, good disc cleaning is performed by the upper and lower liners provided so as to face each other with the disc sandwiched between the upper shell side and the lower shell side. , The contact area of the upper and lower liners with the disc is 2
Since it is provided at more than one place, it is possible to collect again the dust that has been missed due to vibration, etc.
A more reliable cleaning effect can be obtained. Further, in the present invention, since the use area of the liner is small and the pressure is constantly applied to the used portion of the liner, dust generation from the liner is reduced, and as a result, the error rate is significantly reduced. Therefore, according to the present invention, a highly reliable and high-quality disc cartridge can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a disk cartridge (3.5 inch micro floppy disk).

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional disc cartridge.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the disc cartridge of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the inner surface sides of an upper shell and a lower shell in the disc cartridge of the embodiment.

5A and 5B are cross-sectional views of a main part of the disc cartridge of the embodiment, where A is a state before the upper and lower shells are combined, and B is a state after the upper and lower shells are combined.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part showing a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Upper shell 3 Lower shell 4 Magnetic disk sheet (disk) 16 Cleaning member 17 Elastic sheet 18 Liner 20 Cleaning member 21 Elastic sheet 22 Liner

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A disc as a recording medium is rotatably accommodated in a cartridge body constituted by combining an upper shell and a lower shell, and a cleaning means for cleaning the disc is provided. In the disc cartridge, the cleaning means has a small area liner which is provided on the upper shell side and the lower shell side so as to face each other with the disc interposed therebetween, and which has a small area that sufficiently covers the width of the recording surface of the disc. At least one of the upper and lower liners is supported by the shell in a state in which a force is applied to the disc by an elastic body, and the contact portions of the upper and lower liners with respect to the disc are at two or more locations in the cartridge body. A disk cartridge, which is provided in.