JPS63274879A - Inspection machine for recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To inspect a recording medium continuously without flawing it and to improve the operability by conveying cassettes which contain recording media upright in lateral array, and providing rollers on both end parts of a carrier which clamps a cassette. CONSTITUTION:The cassettes 27 which are assembled temporarily containing recording media (e.g. floppy disk) are arrayed upright laterally on the plate belt 24 of a belt conveying mechanism 21 and conveyed by a driving motor 26 through a pulley 26. A cassette sending-out mechanism 22 is provided on the sending destination mechanism 22, the head part of a sent cassette 27 abuts on a wall surface 22a nearly perpendicular to the sending-out mechanism 22, and the cassette 27 is sent out by the sending-out mechanism 22. The carrier of a cassette conveyance part 4 receives and holds the cassette 27 horizontally and then sends it a storage medium characteristic measuring instrument 5 which records the characteristics of the recording medium. Then the carrier of the conveyance part 4 has upper and lower arranged rollers 44a and 44b-47a and 47b, and both end parts of each cassette 27 are clamped and held to prevent the temporarily assembled cassette 27 from being flawed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a recording medium inspection device, and more particularly, to a floppy disk having a case that is in a temporarily assembled state. Can be inspected,
The present invention relates to a recording medium inspection device that can realize a floppy disk inspection device with good operability.

[Prior art] As a floppy disk, 5.25 inch or 3.
．． 5-inch floppy disks are increasingly being used, but the manufacturing process involves an inspection process that takes a lot of time and requires careful consideration of how each floppy disk is processed. Efficient testing is an important issue.

Therefore, a number of disk characteristic measuring devices (inspection devices or inspection units as floppy disk drives installed to measure and inspect the characteristics of floppy disks, hereinafter the same) were installed as a group to test floppy disks in parallel. Loading and inspection are carried out,
Floppy disks are fed one by one to the disk characteristics measuring device from a cartridge-type hopper that stores cases containing floppy disk media (including 3.5-inch cassettes, 5.25-inch jackets, etc.) stacked vertically. A floppy disk inspection device is used that continuously inspects floppy disks.

[Problems to be solved] In the former group type floppy disk inspection device, the device is large, the equipment cost is high, and it takes up a lot of space.
This does not mean that the processing power per unit is large. On the other hand, with the latter stacking type hopper, there is a limit to the amount of cases that can be stacked due to the weight of the cases and the height seen from the operational point of view. Must take. Therefore, it is troublesome to manage.''Second, it is not easy to operate.

In particular, on the stacker side, which stores floppy disks according to the inspection results, there are usually four pairs of floppy disks between the supply side and the stacker side, since the floppy disks are classified into pass, fail, etc. and stored in the respective stackers. Operability is not good unless the quantity on the supply side is increased by about 1%.

Furthermore, since this type of inspection is performed on floppy disks with the floppy disk medium stored in a case and the case assembled, any item that fails the test will be
I have no choice but to throw away the whole case. In order to avoid such problems, the floppy disk with the medium stored in the case is sometimes inspected in a temporarily assembled state in which the upper and lower case pieces consisting of the lid case and main case are not glued or welded. , the upper and lower parts of the case are separated, making the transport mechanism troublesome and making stable transport difficult.
Transfer efficiency is poor.

The present invention solves the problems of the prior art, and is capable of continuously inspecting a recording medium exclusively for floppy disks in a temporarily assembled case transfer section in that state. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording medium inspection device that can realize a recording medium inspection device with good operability.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The means of the recording medium inspection apparatus of the present invention for achieving such an object is that the cases in which recording media are stored and temporarily assembled are placed upright and stacked horizontally. A forced conveyance mechanism that forcibly conveys cases in the horizontal direction, and a nearly vertical wall that is placed on the destination side of this forced conveyance mechanism and that is in contact with the leading portion of the conveyed cases. a, a case feeding mechanism that feeds out the abutted case from the conveyance path of the forced conveyance mechanism along the wall surface, and a carrier that receives and holds the case sent out from the case feeding mechanism and moves horizontally. The apparatus includes a case transfer unit and a recording medium characteristic measuring device that is disposed on the opposite side of the forced conveyance mechanism across the path of horizontal movement of the carrier and receives the case held from the carrier and measures the characteristics of the recording medium. , the carrier has rollers disposed below -L, and parts of both ends of the case are held between the two rollers.

[Operation: In this way, if the recording media stored in the case, such as floppy disks, are stacked vertically on the supply side and fed, it is possible to line up many floppy disks. , Moreover, no matter how many times they are lined up, their heights do not change. Furthermore, the carrier is equipped with upper and lower rollers, which grip a portion of both ends of the case, allowing stable transportation without damaging the temporarily assembled case.

Furthermore, since a portion of the hopper on the supply side can be placed in front of the recording medium inspection apparatus, it is possible to easily stack recording media (for example, floppy disks) housed in the case in the horizontal direction.

As a result, a recording medium inspection device with good operability can be realized.
Moreover, it is possible to continuously and efficiently inspect many recording media such as floppy disks in a temporarily assembled state.
Cases of rejected recording media can be reused without being wasted.

[Example 1] An example of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows 3 to which the recording medium inspection device of the present invention is applied.
A schematic diagram of a 5-inch floppy disk inspection device. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of its carrier transport section. Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the carrier portion. Fig. 4 is an explanation of how the cassette is held by the rollers of the carrier. It is a diagram.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a 3.5-inch floppy disk inspection device, which includes a hopper section 2, a stacker section 3, a floppy disk cassette transfer section 4, and a disk characteristic measuring device 5.

The hopper part 2 is disposed at the front of the 3.5-inch floppy disk inspection apparatus 1 and located in front of the floppy disk cassette transfer section 4.

Then, the belt conveyance mechanism 21 and the cassette feeding mechanism 2
2, a roller feeding mechanism 29, and a pressing mechanism 23. Here, the belt conveyance mechanism 21 has two plate belts 24.24 arranged in parallel, and driven pulleys 25.2 located at both ends of these plate belts 24.24.
5 and drive pulley 26.2B. Then, the drive pulley 26 is driven by the conveyor belt drive motor 26a via the pulley 2E3b, thereby moving the plate belts 24,24.

A number of cassettes 27, 27. containing 3.5 inch floppy disk media. . . ., the racks are laid out vertically across two wooden board belts 24.24, and stacked horizontally. The leading cassette 27 on the destination side of these cassettes is in contact with the wall surface 22a of the cassette delivery mechanism 22. The cassette 27 has two
It has two claws 22c that fit into the two grooves 22b, 22b of the step and protrude from the wall surface 22a, and these claws engage the rear part of the cassette 27 and push out the cassette to the side of the floppy disk cassette transfer section 4. Then, the cassette 27 is ejected.

The cassette 27 pushed out by the claws 22b, 22b is
The roller feeding machine ++' placed on the dif side!
29, and is fed into the carrier 40.

Note that the claw 22c is operated by an actuator 22d fixed to the back side of the wall surface 22a.

Further, a bar 28 provided adjacent to the belt 24 located at the back is a guide rod for the cassette reverse insertion prevention 11-.

By the way, the cassette 27 here is assumed that the lid side and the main body side are not welded together, and that the cassette 27 is temporarily fixed to a mortuary and can be disassembled at any time.

This is what is called a temporarily assembled case.

Now, the cassette 27 located at the rearmost part of the hopper part 2 is constantly pressed by the pressure plate 23a of the pressure mechanism 23. This pressure plate 23a is fixed to the tip of the arm 23b, and the rear end of the arm 23b is fixed to the upper part of the moving table 23c. The moving table 23c is fitted onto a shaft 23d, and moves this shaft 23d in the lateral direction. The distal end side of the leaf spring portion 23e of the convex spring 23f is fixed to the bottom of the moving table 23c. As a result, the movable table 23c is pulled in the feeding direction with a constant force to maintain each cassette 27 in an upright state, and the rearmost cassette 27 is pushed to force the horizontally stacked cassettes 27 to be conveyed by the belt. and send it toward the wall surface 22a.

In such a configuration, the convex spring 23f is
In a steady state, when the leaf spring portion 23e is pulled out, a force acts in the direction of retracting it, and this applies a constant force to the cassette 27 through the pressure plate 23a regardless of its position. The cassette 27 is held in an upright position at any position during the forced lateral conveyance process.

Here, the plate belt 24° 24 on which the cassette 27 is placed and the shaft 23d are spread out so that the cassette delivery mechanism 22 side is lower, and are inclined, for example, by about 2° to 6°.

Therefore, the wall surface 22a is not stacked, but is tilted outward (backward) with an angle that is an obtuse angle of expansion (approximately 2° to 6° corresponding to the above) corresponding to the cassette transport path. There is. Note that the wall surface 22a and the conveying section of the plate belt 24.degree. 24, which is a cassette conveying path, are perpendicular to each other. By slanting the feeding surface of the cassette 27 in this way, even if the amount of stacked cassettes in the horizontal direction increases, a moving force is generated in the feeding direction due to the weight of the cassette. In addition to applying an almost constant force to all cassettes 27 in the conveyance direction, even if a large number of cassettes are stacked, the pressing force by the pressure plate 23a does not need to be increased, and many cassettes can be moved laterally in an upright state with a relatively small force. and can be transported.

As described above, by making the hopper conveyance path forced to convey and providing an inclination, the contact force between the cassettes 27 is reduced, thereby preventing scratches from occurring due to movement.

On the other hand, if the slope of this conveyance path is made horizontal, the pressing force must be increased, and if the number of horizontal piles increases,
Due to the pressure and the lateral transport force, there is a risk that the cassettes may be damaged or even damaged from contact with each other. If this inclination is made large, the pressure applied to the cassette 27 on the distal end side will increase, and the feeding by the claw 22c will not be possible within 1 minute, and the cassettes 27 will be damaged due to contact with each other. During operation, there is a risk that the cassette at the tip end will be damaged by a counterfeit. Therefore, the inclination range becomes the optimum feeding angle, and the cassette 27 can be moved smoothly.

Now, as described above, the cassette 27 ejected from the cassette delivery mechanism 22 is delivered to the carrier 40 provided in the floppy disk cassette transfer section 4 via the delivery roller mechanism 29. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the floppy disk cassette transfer section 4 has a carrier transfer section 411 that transfers the carrier 40 in the horizontal direction, and moves the carrier 40 from the horizontal state to the vertical +α state, that is,
It consists of a rotary actuator 42 (see FIG. 3) that rotates by 90°+α (α: an angle selected from 2° to 6°), and a push-in claw mechanism 43 (see FIG. 2). Note that 41a is a ball screw of the carrier transport m41, 41b is a carrier stage thereof, and 41c is a shaft for receiving the carrier stage 41b. Also, 41d
is a support plate that fixes a drive motor etc. to the frame of the device, and 41e is a motor fixed to this support body 41d, which rotationally drives the ball screw 41a.

The carrier 40 is sized to hold the cassette 27 between rollers, and as shown in FIG. When driven, the state changes from horizontal to vertical +α, and when the drive is released, the state becomes horizontal. In addition, 401
, 410 are roller shaft drive mechanisms, respectively, which drive upper or lower rollers arranged on the left and right sides and front and back of the carrier 10.

The roller shaft drive mechanism 410 is fixed on the carrier stage 41b in a vertical +α state, and rotates at an angle of 92° to 96° corresponding to the wall surface 22a. A pair of front and rear rollers 411.
412 and a similar roller (the lower side not visible in the figure) is connected to the lower side via shafts 411 av 412 a. A total of four rollers on the left and right sides are driven by a pulley 420. The driving is performed by driving the roller 413 via the belt 421,
A roller 412 coupled to this via a shaft 412a and its measuring roller are driven. Furthermore, the front and rear rollers 411 and 412 are connected via a belt, and are driven simultaneously, resulting in four rollers being driven simultaneously. Although the motor that drives the pulley 420 is not shown in the figure, its axis is 422.

The roller shaft drive mechanism 401 is fixed to -L of the carrier stage 41b in the form of a waterwheel, and is positioned horizontally. A pair of front and rear rollers 403, 404 are driven by the belt 402, and a similar roller is also located on the right side (the right side cannot be seen in the figure), with shafts 403a, 404a.
They are connected to each other through. A total of four rollers in the front and rear, right and left directions are driven by a pulley (not shown) similar to pulley 420 via its belt 422. The driving is performed by driving the roller 405 with a belt 422, and the roller 404 connected to this via the shaft 404a and the roller located on the left side of the belt 404 are simultaneously driven. Further, the front and rear rollers 403 and 404 are connected via a belt 402, and are driven simultaneously, thereby causing four rollers to be driven simultaneously.

On the other hand, the pushing claw mechanism 43 has a pushing claw 43a, as shown in FIG. , when actuated, it raises diagonally X'1. The robot moves forward from there, resisting the force of the return spring 43d. The mechanism for driving the pushing claw 43a forward is a rectangular shaft 43b1 that penetrates the carrier stage 41a and a motor 43c that rotationally drives the shaft 43b, and the pushing claw mechanism 43 is constituted by these.

That is, the rotation of the motor 43c rotates the shaft 43b, and the rotational force of the shaft 43b is transmitted to the arm of the push-in claw 43a, causing the push-in claw 43a to stand up and move forward.

This pushes the rear of the cassette 27 and causes the cassette 2
7 out of the carrier 40. Note that the push-in pawl 43a is activated when the drive of the motor 43c is stopped.
The force of the return spring 43d returns it to the initial position shown in FIG.

In the floppy disk cassette moving unit 4 having such a configuration, when the carrier 40 receives or takes out the cassette 27, it is positioned vertically +α corresponding to the wall surface 22a of the cassette delivery mechanism 22. Then, rollers 44a and rollers 44b10-45a+45bs', which are provided on the front and back, left and right, and form a pair of upper and lower rollers 44a and 44b10-45b'
- The rollers 46a, 46b1 and the rollers 47a, 47b sandwich the front and rear sides of the cassette 27 to accommodate or send out the cassette 27.

That is, when the carrier 40 is in a horizontal state, the four rollers of the roller shaft drive mechanism 401 are provided with the lower rollers 44b, 45b, and 46b, respectively.

47b are driven in contact with each other, and when the carrier 40 is in the attached +α state, the roller shaft drive mechanism 410
, each roller 44a on the 1- side
1 45 a and 46 at 47 a are brought into contact with each other and driven. Then, depending on this driving direction, the cassette 27 moves forward or backward to perform storage or delivery.

Cassette 27 ejected from the cassette delivery mechanism 22
are in the vertical +α state, with both ends of the rear upper and lower rollers 48a, 46b and roller 47a,
47b, is driven by the roller shaft drive mechanism 410, and is drawn in by the rear roller. Then, at the upper and lower ends of both the front and rear sides of the cassette 27,
It is held in the carrier 40 by being held between two rollers.

FIG. 4 shows the state in which the cassette 27 is held.

As shown in FIG. 4, a pair of rollers 44a and 44b10-ra 45a+45b1'-
The rollers 48a, 46bi and the rollers 47a, 47b are
Each has a taper 48 in a direction in which the diameter becomes smaller toward the tip side. Due to the action of this taper 48, the cassette 27 is always held at both the front and rear sides 1.

Only the ends of the wires come into contact, and force is applied thereto, resulting in the clamping.

By providing the roller with a taper in this way, even if the cassette 2 is ejected from the cassette feeding mechanism 22,
Even if the clamping state of the roller 7 is initially slightly shifted relative to the l-do, the clamping position will be approximately at the center position, and the relationship will not change, and only the ends of both sides will always be in contact with the surface of the roller. . This contact is a so-called line contact state, and since there is no internal space at both ends and the cassette is solid, the cassette is unlikely to be destroyed or damaged even if a somewhat large force is applied. As a result, the cassette can be moved relatively quickly and reliably forward and backward without damaging it.

Therefore, the feeding and receiving processes become easy, and even if the cassette 27 is temporarily assembled and the lid and main body are separated, the feeding process is ensured because they are held by the lower rollers. Become. Note that if a roller made of resin or the like is used instead of a rubber roller, the surface of the cassette 27 will not be damaged.

Here, when the carrier 40 accommodates the cassette 27, the operation of the low reactuator 42 is stopped +h, so that the carrier 40 rotates by 90'+α and becomes a horizontal state. Then, it is positioned in front of the cassette loading port of the disk characteristic measuring device 5. Therefore, the lower rollers 44b, 45b and rollers 48b, 47 are
b, the cassette 27 is sent to the disk characteristic measuring device 5. Next, the motor 43c of the push-in claw mechanism 43 is driven, and the tip of the push-in claw 43a engages with the rear part of the cassette 27 to push out the cassette 27.
The cassette 27 is loaded into the disk characteristic measuring device 5.

After the inspection is completed, each roller of the carrier 40 is driven in the opposite direction to receive the cassette 27 ejected from the disk characteristic measuring device 5, and the inspected cassette 27 is stored in the carrier 40.

Next, the carrier 40 is horizontally moved to the stacker section 6,
The stacker is positioned at a position corresponding to the inspection result.

The stacker section 6 passes the inspection result, passes the soil surface, and
Stackers 61 and 82 corresponding to four types of pass and fail
, 83 and 84 are respectively provided, and the carrier 40 positioned at one of these drives the inspected cassette 27 stored therein by driving the rollers 14 and 83, 84, and moves the cassette 27 out. Stackers 61, 62, 63.
At this time, the pushing claw mechanism 43 is driven and the pushing claw 43a moves the cassette 27 to the lower side of the stacker. Note that a mechanism is provided on the F side of each stacker 61, 62, 63, 64 to receive and lift up the cassette 27 that has been fed, and to store the cassette 27 in the farthest part of the stacker. , hold this. In addition, each stacker 8L
At the extreme ends of 62, 63, and 64, claws that move forward and backward are provided on the side walls, and the cassette 27 is held by these claws.

As explained above, the reason for using a carrier in which the cassette is held between eight rollers in particular in the example is that the inspection can be performed while the case is in a state where it can be reassembled before it is welded. It's for a reason. Therefore, for rejected floppy disks, the floppy disk medium can be removed from the cassette, and the cassette can store a new floppy disk medium and be used again. Note that the number of rollers is not limited to eight, and it is sufficient that a pair of rollers are arranged above and below.

Various horizontal movement mechanisms for the carrier can be considered, and are not limited to the embodiments. Further, the pressurizing mechanism for a portion of the hopper can also take various forms. Also,
In the hopper, the cassette is forcibly fed by a belt, but the forced feeding mechanism is not limited to the belt, and various mechanisms such as chain feeding can be applied.

In addition, the stacker section is not necessarily placed on the same side of the horizontal movement path as the disk characteristic measuring device, but is placed directly on the belt conveyance mechanism, etc. that corresponds to the test results depending on the test results. The configuration may be such that

In the embodiment, a floppy disk medium is shown as an example, but it goes without saying that the present invention is applicable to general recording media housed in a case.

Furthermore, although the embodiments mainly describe a 3.5-inch floppy disk, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the size of such a floppy disk. Of course, the recording medium characteristic measuring device in the present invention may be a simple recording medium drive device such as a floppy disk drive.

[Effects of the Invention] As can be understood from the above explanation, in this invention, recording media stored in a case, such as floppy disks, are stacked vertically and stacked horizontally on the supply side. This allows many floppy disks to be lined up, and no matter how many floppy disks are lined up, their height does not change.

Furthermore, the carrier is equipped with upper and lower rollers, which grip a portion of both ends of the case, allowing stable transportation without damaging the temporarily assembled case.

Furthermore, since a part of the hopper on the supply side can be placed in front of the recording medium inspection apparatus, recording media housed in the case can be easily stacked in the horizontal direction.
As a result, it is possible to realize a recording medium inspection device with good operability, and moreover, it is possible to continuously and efficiently inspect recording media such as many floppy disks in a pre-assembled state, and it is possible to efficiently inspect many recording media such as floppy disks. The cases of stored recording media can be reused without wasting them.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 shows 3, to which the storage medium inspection device of the present invention is applied.
A schematic diagram of a 5-inch floppy disk inspection device. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of its carrier transport section. Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the carrier portion. Fig. 4 is an explanation of how the cassette is held by the rollers of the carrier. It is a diagram. 1...3.5 inch floppy disk inspection device, 2
... Part of hopper, 3... Stacker section, 4... Floppy disk cassette transfer section, 5... Disk characteristic measuring device, 21... Belt conveyance mechanism, 22... Cassette sending mechanism, 23 ...pressure mechanism, 24... plate belt, 27... cassette, 40...
Carrier, 41...Carrier conveyance unit, 42...Row reactuator, 43...Pushing claw mechanism.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A forced conveyance mechanism for forcibly conveying the cases in the horizontal direction, which has a conveyance path in which a recording medium is stored and temporarily assembled cases are stacked vertically, and this forced conveyance mechanism has a substantially vertical wall surface that is placed on the destination side of the case and is in contact with the leading portion of the sent case, and the case that has been abutted is removed from the conveyance path of the forced conveyance mechanism along this wall surface. a case feeding mechanism that sends out a case; a case transfer section having a carrier that receives and holds a case sent out from the case feeding mechanism and moves horizontally; a recording medium characteristic measuring device that receives the case held from the carrier and measures the characteristics of the recording medium; the carrier has rollers disposed above and below; A recording medium inspection device characterized in that a part of the recording medium is held between the upper and lower rollers. (2) The recording medium is a floppy disk medium, the forced conveyance mechanism is a belt conveyance mechanism having a conveyance belt on which cases in which the floppy disk medium is housed are stacked vertically, and the case transfer section is a It has a carrier that stores the case and a rotation mechanism that rotates the stored case from a vertical direction corresponding to the wall surface of the case delivery mechanism to a horizontal direction, and the upper and lower rollers are rotated toward their respective tips. It has a taper, receives the case sent out from the case sending mechanism in the vertical direction, rotates it in the horizontal direction, and sends it out to the recording medium characteristic measuring device, and this recording medium characteristic measuring device receives the case sent out from the case sending mechanism. 2. The recording medium inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium inspection device receives the recording medium horizontally. (3) A stacker unit consisting of a plurality of stackers is arranged on the same side as the recording medium characteristic measuring device with respect to the horizontal movement path and stores cases according to the test results, and the recording medium is a floppy disk medium; The forced conveyance mechanism is a belt conveyance mechanism having a conveyance belt on which the cases containing the floppy disk media are stacked upright and laterally stacked, and the case transfer section is a roller conveyance mechanism having a plurality of pairs of rollers arranged above and below. It has a carrier having a mechanism and a rotation mechanism that rotates this roller conveyance mechanism from a vertical direction corresponding to a wall surface of the case feeding mechanism to a horizontal direction, and the plurality of pairs of rollers are tapered toward the tip side. , the case sent out from the case sending mechanism is received in the vertical direction by driving the plurality of rollers, and is held between the plurality of pairs of rollers, and the carrier is rotated in the horizontal direction. The case sent out from the recording medium characteristic measuring device is received in the horizontal direction by driving the plurality of pairs of rollers, and is held between the plurality of rollers, and the case is transferred according to the inspection result. The device horizontally moves to the stacker position and drives the plurality of pairs of rollers to discharge the sandwiched case and send it to the stacker, and the recording medium characteristic measuring device horizontally receives the sent out case and inspects it. The recording medium inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the case is ejected horizontally after completion of the inspection.