JPS6394481A - Disk cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the cost of a disk cassette by constituting a drive hub of an upper/lower hub made of a magnetic substance attracted by a magnet of a disk driver side and a mold coupling member coupling both the hubs. CONSTITUTION:A drive hub 3 engaged with a spindle 6 of a disk driver to drive a disk 2 is provided nearly at the center of upper and lower parts 1b, 1b of the cassette 1 and the hub 3 consists of the upper lower/upper hubs 3b, 3a molded by a plastic coupled to the hubs made of a magnetic substance, center holes 4a, 4b are formed to the center of the upper and lower hubs 3a, 3b and the spindle 6 is coupled in the hole. Drive holes 5a, 5b are formed to the upper/lower hubs 3a, 3b and the drive pin 7 of the driver is connected to drive the hub 3 and the disk 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a disk cassette, and more particularly to a disk cassette that stores disks such as magnetic disks and optical disks that can be accessed by drive-side heads on both sides.

[Prior Art] Recently, small floppy disks such as 3.5-inch floppy disks have been increasingly used as external storage devices for electronic devices such as word processors and personal computers, as electronic devices have become smaller and cheaper. In addition, to ensure protection of the floppy disk, the disk is usually supplied in a rigid cassette.

On the other hand, a floppy disk drive device (drive) drives a floppy disk and reads and writes to the disk.
The size has been reduced in response to the miniaturization of disks. Generally, a disk can record and reproduce information on both sides of the disk, so a disk drive device is provided with two heads: a recording and reproducing head that accesses the front surface of the disk and a head that accesses the back surface.

However, such a disk drive device that allows access to both sides of the disk requires two recording/reproducing heads, which must be held in the correct position and their drive controlled, resulting in lower costs. Therefore, a single-sided disk drive device that drives only one magnetic head and accesses only one side of the disk has become common.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the single-sided disk drive device as described above, even if the disk is originally capable of recording and playing back on both sides, only one side of the disk can be used. Although the density of magnetic media has been increased, and this aspect alone has made it possible to read and write large amounts of information compared to the past,
It is impossible and uneconomical.

Therefore, the present invention provides a disk cassette for use in a disk device that is capable of recording and reproducing information on both sides of a disk by using the currently popular disk single-sided drive device, turning the disk upside down and inserting the disk into the single-sided drive device. The purpose is to

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a disk cassette in which drive hubs are provided on the front and back surfaces of the cassette, and a disk is housed so that heads can access both sides. , the drive hub is configured to include upper and lower hubs made of a magnetic material attracted by a magnet on the disk drive device side, and a molded coupling member for coupling the upper and lower hubs.

[Function] With such a configuration, the disk drive device can be driven on one side as in the past, and the disk cassette can be turned upside down and inserted into the drive device. The disk cassette is equipped with drive hubs on both sides that rotate the disks, and when the disk cassette is inserted face up, the disk is inserted through the knob on one side, and when it is inserted face down, the drive hub is inserted through the 7X knob on the other side. is rotated.

In this case, when the disk drive device and the drive hub are engaged, the drive hub is pressed and moved to the opposite cassette surface, and the warp prevention means comes into contact with the cassette, thereby preventing the cassette from warping.

This warpage prevention means is configured as an annular projection formed on the hub and engaged with an annular groove of the cassette, or a plurality of interrupted projections. The tip of the protrusion is formed into a semicircular shape or is provided with a rolling member, which can significantly reduce rotational friction between the drive shaft and the cassette.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the example shown in the drawings.

11 The symbol l in Figures 1 and 2 is a disk cassette (hereinafter referred to as a cassette) that stores disks such as magnetic disks and optical disks, and is a roughly square shape made of rigid plastic. It is formed from an upper part 1a and a lower part 1b in the shape of a thin rectangular parallelepiped, and a magnetic disk and an optical disk 2 (hereinafter referred to as disk) are housed inside.

A driving hub 3 that engages with a spindle 6 of a disk drive device and rotates the disk 2 is provided approximately in the center of the upper portion 1a (front surface, A side) and lower portion 1b (back side, B side) of the cassette. As is clear from FIG. 2, the hub 3 is composed of an upper hub 3a made of a magnetic material, a lower hub 3b made of a magnetic material, and a molded hub body 3c made of plastic or the like to connect them. Upper hub 3a and lower hub 3b
There is a center hole 4a in the center of each.

4b is formed, and the aforementioned spindle 6 engages in this hole. Further, drive holes 5a and 5b are formed in the upper and lower hubs 3a and 3b, respectively, and drive pins 7 on the driving device side engage with these holes to rotate the hub 3 and the disk 2.

Further, a flange 3d is formed on the hub body 3C, and the disk 2 is fixed thereto. In the hub body 3C,
As shown in detail in FIG. 3, annular protrusions 3e and 3f, each having a semicircular cross section, are formed on the circumferential side thereof, extending upward and downward in an annular shape, respectively.
e and 3f are correspondingly formed annular grooves 1c on the cassette side.

Each corresponds to ld. When the spindle 6 engages with the center hole 4b on the back side of the cassette 1 as shown in FIG. 1a to prevent the cassette upper part 1a from warping inward. Furthermore, when the cassette l engages with the center hole 4a on the front surface, the protrusion 3f contacts the groove 1d, and similarly prevents the upper part of the cassette from warping inward.

Note that a magnet 8 is provided on the disk drive device side to ensure engagement between the hub 3 and the drive device.

Furthermore, a slightly recessed rectangular slide surface 9a is formed at one end of the upper and lower parts of the cassette (the first
), approximately in the center of this sliding surface is a head window lO for a magnetic head (not shown) to come into sliding contact with the disk 2.
Recesses 11a and 10b are formed at the end of the slide surface, respectively, for guiding a pin of a shutter opening/closing mechanism (not shown). Four openings 12a- for opening and closing the head windows lOa and 10b mentioned above.
A shutter 12 with 12d is provided. The shutter 12 slides on the slide surface by engaging a guide claw 12e with a guide hole 13 provided in the slide surface 9a, and the head windows lOa and fob are opened and closed by the shutter 12.

Note that the disc cassette has a reference hole 18 so that the cassette occupies the reference position when inserted into the disc drive device.
a, 18b are formed, and a write protection hole 17a and a write protection notch 19a for preventing writing are formed.
are formed on both sides of the cassette.

In such a configuration, when the cassette 1 is inserted into the disk drive with the cassette 1 facing up, the shutter 12 is slid in the direction in which the head windows 10a and 10b are opened by a shear opening/closing mechanism (not shown), and the shutter 12 is slid through the opened head window. A magnetic head (not shown) is brought into sliding contact therewith. At the same time,
As shown in FIG. 2, the spindle 6 of the disk drive device is fitted into the center hole 4b on the back side of the cassette and aligned with the reference position, and the drive pin 7 is fitted into the drive hole 5b. Rotation around the spindle 6 rotates the hub 3 and the disk 2 fixed thereto, and magnetic recording and reproduction become a rotating part. Also,
At this time, the magnet 8 on the spindle side attracts the lower hub 3b made of a magnetic material, so that only the disk can rotate and stable rotation can be obtained.

In addition, the normal cassette has a thin wall and tends to warp inward, so if it is placed in the drive unit with the warp in place, there will be no proper gap between the cassette and the disc, which may interfere with the rotation of the disc. There is. When the disk drive then engages the hub, the entire hub 3 moves upward in FIG. 2.

The pressing force pushes up the inside of the cassette ld portion and corrects the inward warping.In this embodiment, the annular projection 3e
Since it fits into the corresponding annular groove 1c formed in the cassette upper part 1, it is possible to prevent the cassette from warping and maintain an appropriate gap.

Note that if you insert the cassette into the device with the back side
The spindle 6 is inserted into the center hole 4a, and the drive pin 7
is fitted into the drive hole 5a to rotate the disk 2, and the annular projection 3f is fitted into the annular groove 1d to prevent the cassette from warping.

In the above-described embodiment, the hub 3 is composed of an upper hub 3a made of a magnetic material, a lower hub 3b, and a molded hub body 3c that connects them. A center hole in which the drive pin fits, and a drive hole in which the drive pin fits are formed in the upper hub and the lower hub, respectively. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the center hole 4a
, 4b and drive holes 5a, 5b are formed in the molded hub body 3c.

In this embodiment, the hub body 3 to be molded
Since each center hole and drive hole are provided in c, parts with complex shapes can be brought to the hub body side where they will be molded, making it easy to process the upper and lower hubs made of magnetic material. The advantage is that you can.

Furthermore, in the embodiment described above, the annular projections 3e and 3f formed on the hub contact the annular grooves lc and ld on the cassette side,
This prevents deformation of the cassette during driving, but since the annular protrusions 3e and 3f, which have semicircular cross sections, contact the annular grooves 1c and ld over the entire circumference, friction during disk rotation is increased. I hear it.

An improved example of this is shown in FIGS. 5 to 8.

In the figure, the same parts as those in the embodiment described above are given the same reference numerals, and the explanation thereof will be omitted.

In the case of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, there are a plurality of warpage prevention parts, for example three, arranged at equal intervals on the circumference, which come into contact with the annular grooves lc and ld of the cassette. It is composed of a hemispherical pole 20. Therefore, since the contact point between the hub 3 and the cassette 1 is a point contact, and the contact is minimal, the load during disk rotation can be significantly reduced.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, the pole 20 is
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the pole 20 is held by a pole holding member 21 attached to the hub body 3C, and in the embodiment shown in FIG. It is housed in a pole groove 22 formed in the hub body 3C. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, since the pawl 20 rolls, only rolling friction is generated against the cassette surface, resulting in stable disk rotation with less friction.

1 difference 1 Figures 9 and 10 show another embodiment of the drive hub, and in this embodiment the hub 3 is entirely made of a magnetic material such as a piece of iron. That is, the hub 30 has center holes 31a, 31b into which the spindle 6 fits, drive holes 32a, 32b into which the drive bin 7 fits, and protrusions 33a, 33b which contact the inner wall of the cassette during driving.
It is composed of an upper hub 30a and a lower hub 30b, each having an upper hub 30a and a lower hub 30b. In addition, a flange 3 is attached to the lower hub 30b.
4 is formed, and the disk 2 is fixed thereto.

Protrusions 33 formed on the upper hub 30a and the lower hub 30b
As shown in detail in FIG. 10, a and 33b are semicircular elongated protrusions in plurality, for example, three, arranged at equal intervals to effectively prevent warping during driving. At the same time, rotational friction between the cassette and hub is minimized.

In addition, in this embodiment as well, FIG. 2 or FIG.
As with the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, it goes without saying that the contact of the protrusion with the inner wall of the kayak 2 can be circumferential contact, point contact, or rolling contact.

[Effects] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, driving hubs are provided on the front and back surfaces of the cassette, and the driving hubs are made of a magnetic material that is attracted by a magnet on the drive side. Since it consists of a lower hub and a mold connecting member that connects these, the disk can be turned upside down and inserted into the drive unit, and parts with complex shapes can be brought to the mold connecting member side. ,
The cost of manufacturing disk cassettes can be significantly reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Each figure shows an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the cassette, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the cassette, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the drive hub, and FIGS. 4 and 5. The figures are sectional views showing different embodiments of the hub, FIG. 6 is a plan view of the hub used in the embodiment shown in FIG. The 1θ diagram is a plan view of the hub used in the embodiment of FIG. l...Cassette 3...Hub 4a, 4b...
・Center holes 5a, 5b...Drive hole 6...Spindle 7...Drive hole 8...
Magnet 20...Ball 3a

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) In a disk cassette in which a drive hub is provided on the front and back sides of the cassette, and a disk is housed so that heads can access both sides, the drive hub is connected to the drive hub by a magnet on the disk drive device side. A disk cassette comprising upper and lower hubs made of an attractive magnetic material, and a molded coupling member for coupling the upper and lower hubs. 2) The mold coupling member is formed with a protrusion that comes into contact with the inner wall of the cassette when the drive hub and the disk drive device are engaged to prevent the cassette from warping. Disc cassette described in. 3) The upper and lower hubs are provided with a center hole in which a disk drive device engages, and a drive hole at a position displaced from the center hole.
The disc cassette according to item 1 or 2. 4) According to claim 1 or 2, the mold coupling member is provided with a center hole in which a disk drive device engages, and a drive hole at a position displaced from the center hole. disc cassette.