JPH087553Y2 - Floppy disk auto-feed device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a floppy disk drive (hereinafter, "FDD") for recording, reproducing, or erasing data on a floppy disk (hereinafter, abbreviated as "FD"). Abbreviated as.)
FD that automatically loads and automatically ejects FD
The present invention relates to an auto feed device.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 5 shows a conventional example of this type of FD auto-feed device, in which a hopper 110 filled with FD100 in a stacked state is used.
And a FDD 120 to which the FD is supplied from the hopper 110, and a stacker 130 that stores the FD taken out from the FDD 120. The hopper 110 is provided with a hopper cam 111 which is intermittently rotated by a hopper motor (not shown), and when the hopper cam 111 rotates, the FD 100 in the lowermost stage stacked in the hopper 100 is pushed out in the FDD 120 direction.

Between the hopper 110 and the FDD 120, a first feed roller 112 and a second feed roller 113 that send out the FD 100 in the FDD 120 direction are provided, and a supply path to the FDD 120 is formed. In addition, the first feed roller 11 is provided in this supply path.
A guide arm 140 that rotates about the roller shaft of the lower roller of 2 is provided. This guide arm 140
As will be described later, while guiding FDD100 to FDD120,
It serves to guide the FD 100 from the FDD 120 to the stacker 130.

The stacker 130 is located below the hopper 110, the entrance portion thereof is open, and a chute surface 131 extending obliquely upward toward the FDD 120 is continuously provided at the entrance portion. At the upper end of this chute surface 131, FD100 and FDD120
Pusher arm 132 that rotates to push it into the insertion / extraction opening of
Is provided. A head for recording, reproducing or erasing data in the FDD 100 is provided in the FDD 120, and an eject mechanism (neither is shown) for pushing out the FD 100 is provided.

The auto-feed device configured as described above is applied to automatic loading and unloading of a flexible 5 inch FD100, and its operation will be described below. When the hopper cam 111 rotates in the state shown in FIG. 5A, the FD100 at the bottom of the hopper 110 is pushed out, and the FD100 is fed to the FDD120 by the first and second feed rollers 112 and 113.
It is sent out to the insertion / exit of. At this time, the upper roller of the second feed roller 113 moves downward to hold the FD100 and hold the FDD1.
20 is sent and pusher arm 13
2 rotates and pushes FD100 into FDD120 (the figure (b)). As a result, data processing is performed on 100, and after the data processing is completed, the second feed roller 11
The holding state of 3 is released and released, and at the same time, the eject mechanism of the FDD 120 operates to push the FD 100 out of the FDD 120 ((c) in the same figure). At this time, the guide arm 140 rotates upward to block the supply path between the hopper 110 and the FDD 120. The lower surface of the guide arm 140 has a wedge-shaped guide surface 1
41 is formed, and when the second feed roller 113 is again in the sandwiched state, the FD 100 guides the guide surface 14 of the guide arm 140.
It is sent out from the FDD 120 so as to come into contact with 1 ((d) in the same figure). When the tip of the FD100 comes into contact with the guide surface 141, the FD100 is bent due to its flexibility toward the stacker 130, slides down on the chute surface 131, and is stored in the stacker 130.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

Such a conventional auto-feed device is applied to a 5-inch FD, and its flexibility is to some extent
It is used and stored in a stacker. However, the cartridge storage type FD such as 3.5 inch type,
Standards such as size, thickness, weight, etc. are completely different, so the conventional auto-feed device for 5-inch FD cannot be applied as it is. Sometimes, the 3.5-inch FD is because the cartridge is hard and not flexible,
When storing from the FDD to the stacker, it is necessary to provide a transport path that does not bend the FD, which makes the entire device horizontally long and requires a large space.

For this reason, the 3.5-inch FD cannot meet the specifications by simply changing the dimensions of the conventional device.

The present invention has been made in consideration of such a situation, and an automatic footer that can smoothly perform automatic loading and unloading of an FDD without expanding the space even for a 3.5-inch FD. The purpose is to provide a device.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention sends out floppy disks to a floppy disk drive one by one, so that the floppy disks are packed in a stacked state, and two tiers are arranged below the hopper. A stacker that stores the floppy disks taken out from the floppy disk drive in a stacked state, a supply path that connects the hopper and the floppy disk drive, a discharge path that connects the stacker and the floppy disk drive, and an insertion / extraction opening of the floppy disk drive. , A raising and lowering means for raising and lowering the floppy disk drive at a position facing the supply path and a position facing the discharge path.

[Action]

The FDD is moved up and down by the elevating means to a position where the insertion / extraction opening faces the supply path, and the FD hopper feeds the supply path.
Send to FDD. Next, the FDD is moved up and down to a position where the insertion / removal opening faces the discharge path, and the FD is taken out from the FDD and guided to the stacker via the discharge path. By this vertical movement of the FDD, the FD is transported back and forth from the hopper to the stacker.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention,
2 and 3 are side views showing the operation. In these figures, the FDD 1 is arranged on the right side, and the hopper 2 and the stacker 3 are arranged on the left side. The FDD1 takes in the FD4 and reads / writes data from / to the FD4, and therefore a head (not shown) is provided inside. Further, the FDD 1 is internally provided with an eject mechanism (not shown) for pushing out the taken-in FD 4, and an eject button 5 for performing this pushing out is attached to the front side.

In FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the eject lever 6 arranged near the front side of the FDD 1 is the eject button 5.
Is pressed and is connected to a solenoid (not shown). When the solenoid is driven to rotate to the FDD1 side, an automatic push button is performed. With this push button, the FD4 in the FDD1 is generally ejected by an ejection mechanism using an urging (accumulation) means such as a spring, and the eject lever 6 and the solenoid act as an eject drive unit for operating the eject mechanism. I am configuring.

A crank rod 7 is connected to the central portion of the lower surface of the FDD 1 and the crank rod 7 is eccentrically connected to the output shaft 9 of the drive motor 8 to form an elevating means of the FDD 1. As a result, when the drive motor 8 is driven, the FDD 1 moves up and down according to the rotation direction of the output shaft 9, and the upward movement thereof causes the FD 4 from the hopper 2 to face the supply path 13 described later as shown by the solid line in FIG. On the other hand, the FD 4 is sent to the stacker 3 while facing the discharge path 17 to be described later as shown by the broken line.

In such a configuration, since the FDD1 moves so as to be located on the same line as the loading / unloading locus of the FD4, the transport length of the FD4 can be shortened and the 3.5-inch hard FD can be loaded / unloaded smoothly. be able to. As a mechanism for raising and lowering the FDD 1, other than the illustrated example, an appropriate means such as a fluid pressure cylinder, a solenoid or a spring can be used.

The hopper 2 is filled with FD4 in a stacked state, and the FD4 stacked at the bottom is sent to the FDD1 one by one. In order to send out this FD4, the lower part of the side surface on the FDD1 side is opened
10 is formed, and a hopper cam 11 is provided on the side opposite to the delivery port 10. Hopper cam 11 is hopper motor 12
Is driven to intermittently rotate in the horizontal plane, and this rotation sends the FD4 at the bottom stage out of the hopper 2.
The FD 4 delivered from the hopper 2 includes a supply path 13 and first and second feed rollers 14 and 15 arranged with the supply path 13 interposed therebetween.
Is moved on the supply path 13 and fed into the FDD 1.

A push arm 16 is disposed near the second feed roller 15 in order to feed the FDD 1 into the FDD 1, as shown in FIG. The push arm is a motor,
It is connected to a driving means such as a cylinder, FDD1 is in a raised position facing the supply path 13, and FD4 is provided on the supply path 13.
When it is supplied, it rotates to push FD4 into FDD1. This automatically loads FD4 into FDD1.

The stacker 3 stores the FD4 taken out from the FDD1 in a stacked state. By arranging the stacker 3 below the hopper 2, the hopper 2 and the stacker 3 are vertically arranged in two stages, so that the space in the horizontal direction is reduced. As a general rule, send FD4 to Stacker 3
Therefore, the stacker 3 and the FDD 1 are connected to each other by an obliquely inclined discharge path 17. In this embodiment, a plurality of rollers 18 are arranged in the discharge path 17 between the stacker 3 and the FDD 1 to make the sliding movement smooth. Further, in this case, the FD4 is rotated by driving the roller 18 at an appropriate position.
Secure the movement of.

FIG. 2 shows the operation sequence of automatically loading the FD4 into the FDD1 with the above-described configuration, and the FDD1 is in a raised state so as to face the supply path 13. When the hopper 4 is filled with the FD 4 in a stacked state (FIG. 2 (a)) and the hopper cam 11 rotates in the horizontal plane, the FD 4 at the lowermost stage is delivered from the inside of the hopper 2 onto the supply path 13. Since the first and second feed rollers 14 and 15 are rotationally driven in the feeding direction to FDD1 in synchronization with the driving of the hopper cam 11, the FD4 is conveyed in the FDD1 direction ((b) in the figure). By this transportation, when FD4 reaches FDD1, the push arm 16 rotates. This rotation is performed in the counterclockwise direction and the arm 16 pushes the rear end surface of the FD4 (FIG. 7 (c)), so that the FD4 is fed into the FDD1 (FIG. 3 (d)). Predetermined data processing is performed in the state of being loaded into the FDD 1, so that automatic loading of the FDD 1 can be smoothly performed.

Figure 3 shows that after the data processing in FDD1 is completed, FD4 is changed to FDD1.
It shows the operation sequence of automatically taking out from. First, after the push arm 16 is returned and rotated so as to be separated from the FDD 1, the drive motor 8 is driven and the crank rod 7 is moved to the FD.
Pull down D1. As a result, the FDD 1 moves downward and stops at the position facing the discharge path 17. After this downward movement of FDD1, the eject drive unit is activated, its eject lever 6 falls to the FDD1 side and pushes the eject button 5 on the front of FDD1, so the eject mechanism inside FDD1 operates and FD4 causes FDD1 It is discharged from (FIG. 3 (a)). At this time, FDD1 is the discharge path
The roller 18 of the discharge path 17 faces the stacker 3.
Since it rotates in the feeding direction to FD4,
The roller 18 is driven to smoothly slide on the discharge path 17 in the stacker 3 direction ((b) in the figure). And
Due to the movement of FD4, FD4 is housed in the stacker 3 and the drive motor 8 is reversely driven to return upward so as to face the supply path 13, so that the FD4 at the next stage is ready to be received ( The same figure (c)).

Therefore, although the FD4 is automatically taken out from the FDD1 by such operation, the FDD1 moves downward and pushes the FD4 to the discharge path 17 at the position facing the discharge path 17, so that the FD4 interferes with the peripheral parts. Even if it is a 3.5-inch hard FD, it is possible to take it out, and it is not necessary to lengthen the transport path length for moving the FD, and the horizontal space can be reduced. Note that FIG. 4 shows the appearance of an auto feeder in which the apparatus having the above-mentioned configuration is housed in the main body. Inside the two windows 31, 32 at the front center and upper part are a hopper 2 and a stacker 3, respectively. . Also in the figure, 33
Is an operation panel, and all operations are performed by various operation buttons arranged on the panel 33.

[Effect of device]

As described above, according to the present invention, the FDD is moved up and down so as to face the supply path and the discharge path. It can be taken out smoothly and the installation space can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the overall construction of an embodiment of the auto-feed device of the present invention, FIGS. 2 (a) to (d) are side views showing the operation sequence of loading the FDD, and FIG. 3 (a). ) ~ (C) is FD
FIG. 4 is a side view showing the operation sequence of taking out from D, FIG. 4 is an external view of the embodiment apparatus, and FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (d) are side views showing the operation of the conventional apparatus. 1 ... FDD, 2 ... hopper, 3 ... stacker, 4 ... F
D, 7 ... Crank rod, 8 ... Drive motor, 9
…… Output shaft, 13 …… Supply path, 17 …… Discharge path.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A hopper in which floppy discs are fed to the floppy disc drive one by one so that the floppy discs are stacked in a stacked state, and two tiers are arranged below the hopper and the hopper is taken out from the floppy disc drive. A stacker for storing the floppy disks in a stacked state, a supply path connecting the hopper and the floppy disk drive, a discharge path connecting the stacker and the floppy disk drive, and an insertion / extraction opening of the floppy disk drive, the supply path. An auto-feed device for a floppy disk, comprising an elevating means for moving the floppy disk drive up and down at a position facing the disk and a position facing the discharge path.