WO1981001070A1 - Transducers and supporting arm assembly for double sided floppy disk - Google Patents

Transducers and supporting arm assembly for double sided floppy disk Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1981001070A1
WO1981001070A1 PCT/US1980/001301 US8001301W WO8101070A1 WO 1981001070 A1 WO1981001070 A1 WO 1981001070A1 US 8001301 W US8001301 W US 8001301W WO 8101070 A1 WO8101070 A1 WO 8101070A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
transducer
arm
disk
transducers
assembly
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US1980/001301
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
R Madsen
L Kronfeld
T Winkler
Original Assignee
Nortronics Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US06/082,234 external-priority patent/US4315293A/en
Priority claimed from US06/082,237 external-priority patent/US4309732A/en
Priority claimed from US06/082,235 external-priority patent/US4315292A/en
Priority claimed from US06/082,236 external-priority patent/US4343025A/en
Application filed by Nortronics Co filed Critical Nortronics Co
Priority to AU64807/80A priority Critical patent/AU6480780A/en
Priority to NL8020400A priority patent/NL8020400A/nl
Priority to DE19803049955 priority patent/DE3049955A1/en
Publication of WO1981001070A1 publication Critical patent/WO1981001070A1/en

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Classifications

    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B21/00Head arrangements not specific to the method of recording or reproducing
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B21/00Head arrangements not specific to the method of recording or reproducing
    • G11B21/16Supporting the heads; Supporting the sockets for plug-in heads
    • G11B21/20Supporting the heads; Supporting the sockets for plug-in heads while the head is in operative position but stationary or permitting minor movements to follow irregularities in surface of record carrier
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B5/00Recording by magnetisation or demagnetisation of a record carrier; Reproducing by magnetic means; Record carriers therefor
    • G11B5/48Disposition or mounting of heads or head supports relative to record carriers ; arrangements of heads, e.g. for scanning the record carrier to increase the relative speed
    • G11B5/54Disposition or mounting of heads or head supports relative to record carriers ; arrangements of heads, e.g. for scanning the record carrier to increase the relative speed with provision for moving the head into or out of its operative position or across tracks

Definitions

  • This invention relates generally to magnetic recording apparatus, and more specifically to improvements in support structures for electromagnetic transducers of the type particularly usable with a magnetic disk data storage system, for transferring data between the trans ⁇ ducer and a flexible magnetic disk.
  • Magnetic data recording media for storing data in magnetic form and an electromagnetic transducer having one or more "heads", for performing "reading” and/or “writing” of data in magnetic form, respectively from or onto the recording media.
  • data recording media of various configura ⁇ tions (such as tapes, rigid disks and drums)
  • the so-called "floppy disk” media has recently found wide applicability not only in program storage and entry appli ⁇ cations, but also in a number of diverse data entry, stor ⁇ age and control applications.
  • the "floppy disk” media is a thin, generally planar flexible or pliant magnetic disk having magnetically sensitive surfaces and currently ro- tatable at speeds of approximately 360 rpm, within a pro ⁇ tective envelope or jacket cover. Data transfer to and from the floppy disk is achieved by one or more elec ⁇ tromagnetic heads arranged within, and collectively form ⁇ ing a transducer.
  • the transducer (or transducers) com- municate with one or both surfaces of the floppy disk through window openings in the protective envelope.
  • transducer structures useful for communicating with floppy disks have appeared in the prior art. In general, those portions of such transducers that are responsible for the electromagnetic transfer to and from the floppy disk, have not significantly differed from one another in their basic component pieces.
  • Each such transducer basically comprises a plurality of ag- netic core members prepositioned with respect to one another, secured together and interconnected with one or more coils, to define an operable electromagnetic trans ⁇ ducer.
  • such transducer structures, as used in association with data transfer to and from a floppy disk have comprised a single channel read/write head, and may typically also include an eraser head.
  • the eraser head generally comprises a plurality of erase cores for trimming a "track" of information written onto the floppy disk surface, and for erasing a pair of guard-band areas on each side of the trimmed track.
  • the particular structural details and relative placement of the electromagnetic components which collectively comprise the various head portions of an electromagnetic transducer are not important per se, since this invention applies equally well to any electromagnet- ically operative "type" of such transducer and component head structures thereof, whether they are multiple or single, erase, read, write, or combination read/write heads.
  • electromagnetic data transfer between the transducer and floppy disk is possible only to one side of the floppy disk at a time.
  • Positioning of the movable carriage structure must be aligned and con ⁇ trolled with respect to the nominal disk plane, which is defined as that plane in which a surface of a floppy disk nominally lies during operative rotation of the disk. Since a floppy disk has two data transfer surfaces that are separated by the thickness of the floppy disk, a double sided system will be concerned with two nominal disk planes, generally referred to as "upper” and “lower” nominal disk planes.
  • the two data transfer surfaces of the floppy disk lie perfectly planar respectively in the upper and lower nominal disk planes, with no imperfections therein, such as wobble, or deformation caused for example by imperfections in the disk itself, by the flexible nature of the disk or by motion transmitted to the disk by the apparatus rotating the disk.
  • Prior art floppy disk data transferring systems have differed in their designs of the transducer support structures that are mounted to the movable carriage.
  • the transducer In early single sided floppy disk systems, the transducer generally had a curved surface for operably engaging the floppy disk and for penetrating into and beyond the nomin- al disk plane of the engaged data transfer surface.
  • the transducer was generally fixedly mounted to the movable carriage.
  • a hinge arm carrying a pressure pad was pivot- ally mounted to the carriage to allow for disk entry. The arm was spring loaded, such that the pressure pad carried thereby engaged the disk at a location directly opposite the transducer head, and applied a known force to the disk, conforming the pliant disk into intimate engagement with the curved transducer head.
  • This early single sided syste offered limited capacity in data transfer since data transfer to only one side of the disk at a time could be achieved, and was thus relatively slow.
  • double sided data transfer floppy disk systems having the capability of simultaneously transferring data with both sides of a floppy disk.
  • such systems generally have a pair of transducers mounted to operatively engage oppo- site surfaces or sides of the floppy disk, in generally opposed relationship to one another.
  • the opposed trans ⁇ ducers are generally positioned such that their respective head "gaps" are slightly radially offset relative to one another, for minimizing magnetic flux interaction between the transducers.
  • the upper and lower recording surface areas of the floppy disk may periodically move out of their respective upper and lower nominal disk planes.
  • Such deviations could, for example, be caused by distorted disks or excessive disk wobble (i. e., perturbations in the disk surfaces as the disk rotates).
  • the oppositely disposed transducer heads it has therefore been thought to be desirable for the oppositely disposed transducer heads to be movably mounted in opposition to one another, so that the transducer heads could follow the actual path of the floppy disk recording surfaces passing therebetween, as they deviated from the upper and lower nominal disk planes.
  • various transducer mounting arrangements have been devised in the prior art, to accommodate such deviations in floppy disk operative movement.
  • the pivoted trans ⁇ ducer support arms are interlocked such that motion of one such arm tending to raise one of the transducers from engagement with the surface of the disk also moves the second arm so as to move the second transducer from the opposing surface of the disk, for loading and unloading the disk into and out of operative position.
  • Each arm is urged with a predetermined force against its corresponding side of the disk, tending to maintain intimate contact between the transducer carried by that arm and its respec ⁇ tively engaged disk surface.
  • G :FI ⁇ sandwiches the floppy disk between the opposed transducers at a relatively weak loading force of six to seven grams, which tends to give rise to instability. Also, while the double-gimballed structure is configured to enable rapid responsive movement of the transducer heads to accomodate perturbations in disk movement out of the Nominal Disk Planes, such transducer tracking movements give rise to shifting or offset errors, as pointed out in greater detail in the above-identified copending application. The system is very complicated and expensive to construct and manufacture.
  • a second (upper) transducer is mounted on a uni ⁇ versally movable gimbal structure and is pivotally movable by a spring loaded arm into operative proximity with the fixed lower transducer head so as to sandwich, the floppy disk therebetween at a predetermined force.
  • the lower transducer head structure is sized (in surface area) relatively larger than the upper transducer head, so as to extend considerably beyond the outline dimensions of the upper core transducer.
  • the core surface of the lower transducer is mounted so as to penetrate excessively into the nominal disk plane of a loaded floppy disk, and the upper transducer carried by the gimballed support struc ⁇ ture acts as a pressure pad for the lower fixed transducer head.
  • the lower fixed transducer head acts as a pressure pad for the upper transducer core. While reducing some of the shifting and offset tracking errors inherent in the double gimbal structures described above,
  • a transducer arm for use with a double sided floppy disk data recording system.
  • the arm includes an elongate body portion which has first and second opposite faces with an aperture through the body near the first end of the arm.
  • a hinge is provided at the second end of the arm for connecting to a support member of a . transducer assembly.
  • a substan ⁇ tially planar flexure member which has an apertured central portion and which is shaped to enable pivotal gimballing movement of the central portion about mutually perpendicular axes normally lying in the plane of the member is attached to the first end of the arm, and a transducer is mounted on the flexure.
  • a cover which in the preferred embodiment is a snap-in insert, is provided for closing the aperture in the arm.
  • the cover includes a lift tab which is positioned to project laterally beyond the arm, and an adjustable pivot member positioned to pro ⁇ ject into the aperture to engage the flexure member at the point of intersection of the gimbal axes.
  • the pivot member is an adjustable set screw.
  • a connector board is secured to the central portion of the flexure member adjacent the transducer.
  • a conducting means preferably a flex strip positioned along the arm in a recess therein connects from a cable to the connector board, which includes eyelets which extend through the conductors of the flex strip and into the terminal board. Windings from the coils for the magnetic transducer can be wrapped around the eyelets, and the eyelets and the flex strip can be soldered simultaneously to the terminal eyelets.
  • the hinge provided at the second end of the arm can in ⁇ clude a leaf hinge, and means for clamping the leaf, the clamping means containing a plurality of intersecting passages so that a conductor cable connecting from the transducer at the end of the arm can be routed through one of the passages for connection to an external system.
  • a bias spring for the arm is secured over the clamping means to cover the intersecting passages to further hold the cable in place.
  • the body portion of the transducer arm has a cut away or recessed portion in the flat lower surface adjacent the end of the arm remote from the transducer.
  • a leaf hinge, and a pair of clamping plates are provided.
  • the clamping plates are connected to one end of the leaf hinge, prefer ⁇ ably by spot welding, and the sandwich structure is connected to the arm with one of the clamping plates fitting into the recess portion of the lower side of the arm.
  • the clamping plates have opposed straight edges contacting the leaf hinge, and cooperating to define a bending axis or fulcrum for the leaf hinge.
  • the outer surface of the lower clamping plate is generally co-planar or even with the generally flat lower surface of the arm.
  • the transducer In use, the transducer is positioned with the planar face in contact with the disk recording medium for data transfer opera ⁇ tions.
  • a pair of such transducers are used, and means are provided for supporting the transducers and moving them into operative data transfer position wherein the faces of the transducers are in mutual contact with the disk recording medium on opposite sides thereof.
  • Each transducer is beveled along the edges which join the planar face.
  • the corners formed by the intersection of these adjacent edges are beveled, pre- ferably with a conic section bevel which blends smoothly with the edge beveling on either side of the corner.
  • all edge and corner bevels are smoothly blended or radius into the planar face of the transducer to avoid surface discontinuities.
  • the bevels on the first transducer are preferably approximately 15 degrees.
  • the bevels on the second transducer are preferably approxi ⁇ mately 30 degrees, to aid in insertion and removal of the floppy disk where it is necessary to engage and move across the transducer during insertion or removal.
  • an improved magnetic transducer assembly for a mag ⁇ netic disk data storage system including a transducer having a planar face for contacting the recording disk during data transfer operations, and a housing for posi ⁇ tioning the transducer with its face projecting therefrom for operatively contacting the disk recording medium when in operative data transfer position.
  • a guide ramp is positioned on the housing, or preferably is formed inte ⁇ grally with the housing. The ramp is positioned adjacent the transducer, and it slopes from the housing toward the transducer to guide the edge of a recording disk over the face of the transducer when the disk is being inserted into the transducer assembly.
  • a second ramp may be pro ⁇ vided on the housing on the opposite side of the trans ⁇ ducer to guide the protective envelope of a diskette over the transducer upon removal of the diskette from the transducer assembly.
  • Beveling is preferably incorporated into the edges of the transducer adjacent the ramp to further assist in guiding the disk recording medium across the transducer during insertion or removal operations.
  • Figure 2 is an exploded view of a portion of Figure 1 to a larger scale
  • Figure 3 is a sectional view along the line 3-3 of Figure 1;
  • Figure 4 is a fragmentary view similar to Figure 3 but to a larger scale
  • Figure 5 is a view of a flexure used in the transducer assembly of Figure 1;
  • Figure 6 is a view of a flex cable used in the assembly
  • Figure 7 is a bottom view of a snap-in insert used in the assembly;
  • Figure 8 is a fragmentary sectional view along the line 8-8 of Figure 1;
  • Figure 9 is a fragmentary view generally like Figure 4 but to a still larger scale, parts being omitted or shown in section;
  • Figure 10 is an enlarged bottom view of a first transducer, to a larger scale
  • Figure 11 is an enlarged top view of a second transducer
  • Figure 12 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary detailed view of a portion of the transducers of Figure 9, the recording medium being omitted;
  • Figure 13 is a partially schematic view showing the insertion of a diskette into the transducer assembly. Description of the Preferred Embodiment
  • FIG 1 a portion of a "diskette” or “floppy disk” is shown inserted into a data transfer position with respect to a transducer assembly according to the present invention. Because of space limitations in Figure 1, most of the floppy disk is broken away.
  • the floppy disk comprises a thin nominally planar disk 20 of flexible material, the surfaces of which are coated with a magnetizable material. Disk 20 is enclosed in a protec ⁇ tive envelope 21.
  • Envelope 21 has upper and lower aligned radially extending slots 22, which, as seen also in Figure 9, extend between inner ends 23 and outer ends 24 to define transducer access areas for the surfaces of the disk.
  • Conventional disk drive ' means are provided to cause rotation of disk 20 within envelope 21 as suggested by arrow 25 in Figure 1. Envelope 21 of course does not rotate, as it is held in place by suitable guide means (not shown) as is generally known.
  • a carriage indicated by the general reference number 30 is provided for the support and movement of the transducers as explained in greater detail below.
  • Car ⁇ riage 30 connects in practice to a lead screw or other positioning means as is generally known in the prior art to move the carriage radially as desired to bring the transducers into engagement with the desired ones of the plurality of circular tracks recorded on the disk 20 at different radial spacings.
  • a pair of transducers 32 and 33 are supported and carried by carriage 30 for engagement with the recording medium.
  • transducer 32 will be referred to as the "upper transducer” or "head” and transducer 33 will be referred to as the "lower transducer" or "head”.
  • upper and lower are used merely for conveni- ence of identification, and do not imply a required rela ⁇ tionship, since the head assembly could also be incor ⁇ porated in a diskette recording system with orientation on edge, or “upside down” from the orientation shown in the figures, or with any other desired orientation.
  • Upper transducer 32 is connected to carriage 30 by means of the support arm structure which is described in more detail below in this specification.
  • the upper transducer and arm assembly can operate either in conjunc ⁇ tion with an immovably fixed lower transducer of the type disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 4,151,573, discussed above; or preferably, with a transducer having a Z-axis flexure suspension as set forth in the above-identified copending application.
  • the function of the upper transducer arm assembly is to maintain the transducer in properly aligned opposing engagement of the floppy disk 20, with the faces of the transducers parallel and in intimate contact with the recording surfaces of the disk for optimum data trans- fer.
  • this task can be best achieved with the Z-axis suspension for the lower transducer 33; but in either case, the improved upper transducer arm assembly described herein will aid in efficient and reliable data transfer.
  • arm 35 comprises a body portion 36 which is preferably molded of plastic or other lightweight electrically nonconductive material, although it is not essential that it be non-conductive.
  • Body 36 has a gener ⁇ ally flat bottom surface 41, one end of which is cut away at reference number 42 to receive a leaf hinge assembly 43.
  • the leaf hinge assembly includes a leaf spring 44, which is preferably made of a suitably resilient metal, having one end generally adapted to fit within the cut away portion 42 of the body 36, and an opposite end con- figured for securing to a pedestal 50, or other clamping means.
  • the overall width of leaf hinge 44 is selected in conjunction with the width of body 36 and pedestal 50 to provide the desired degree of torsional rigidity.
  • Leaf hinge 44 is preferably cut away in the central, or flexing portion so as to minimize its stiffness or resistance to bending, as the leaf hinge is used only for hinging pur ⁇ poses and not as a spring tensioning member, since a separate spring 55 is provided for that purpose.
  • the left end of leaf hinge 44 in Figure 2 is spot welded between upper and lower backing plates 45 and 46, and this sand ⁇ wiched structure is secured within cut away portion 42 of body 36 by fasteners 47.
  • the straight edges of backing plates 45 and 46 form a definite straight clamping edge defining the beginning of the bendable or flexing portion of the leaf hinge.
  • Another advantage is that different shapes and sizes of leaf hinges can be made and secured to a single type of body 36, so that a single transducer arm assembly can be adapted to different leaf hinges for connection to differ- ent -types of carriages made by different manufacturers, thus providing a manufacturing and cost improvement.
  • a pedestal 50 and a clamping piece 52 are provided for securing the outer end of the leaf hinge.
  • Pedestal 50 is secured to the carriage by a suitable fastener such as screw 51.
  • pedestal 50 m ' ay be made integrally with the carriage.
  • Pedestal 50 has a generally flat upper surface parallel to the face of the lower transducer terminating in a straight edge 58 which defines the other fulcrum or bending axis for leaf hinge 44, for the arm moving in a downward direc- tion.
  • the outer end of leaf hinge 44 is placed on top of pedestal 50, and is held in place by clamping piece 52 and suitable fasteners 53 which pass through the clamping piece and leaf hinge into the pedestal.
  • the inward edge of clamping piece 52 is radiused as shown at reference number 54 to distribute the stress in the leaf hinge 44 as it flexes upward as during an unloading operation.
  • Arm 35 is urged downwardly, towards the floppy disk, by a spring 55 bearing against the upper surface of the arm and secured to the top of clamping piece 52 " by a backing plate 56 and fasteners 57.
  • the top surface of pedestal 50 is parallel to the plane of the face of the lower transducer.
  • the height of pedestal 50 is selected as required so that the face of the upper transducer, at a time just prior to contact with the disk surface in a loading operation, will be parallel to the plane of the face of the lower transducer.
  • the end of body 36 remote from hinge assembly 43 is formed with a generally rectangular opening 60 having a ledge 61 near its bottom at one end and a pair of spaced ledges 62, 63 at its other end: the ledges are all of the same height from surface 41.
  • a flexure member 65 is secured to the lower side of the outer end of body 36 by spot welding to fasteners 64 which pass through the arm in the locations indicated in Figure 2.
  • the flexure is shown in greater detail in Figure 5.
  • the flexure is made from a thin piece of non ⁇ magnetic, resilient material: in the preferred embodi- ment, stainless steel is used.
  • Various portions or zones have been etched away to form a two axis gimbal.
  • a cen ⁇ tral rectangular portion 66 connects continuously through symmetrically opposite narrow connecting strips 67 to a rectangular annulus 68.
  • the latter portion in turn is connected at opposite connecting strips 69 to the outer portion 70 of the flexure piece. It will be understood that the above-mentioned central portion, annulus and connecting strips are all continuously and integrally part of the same original strip from which the other areas have been etched away to form the structure described.
  • Transducer 32 is secured to a part of the cen ⁇ tral portion 66 as is described below, and the flexure provides a definite two axis or X-Y gimbal for the trans- ducer. Specifically, the Y axis passes through, and is defined by, strips 67, and the X axis similarly passes through strips 69.
  • Transducer 32 consists of a sandwich of core pieces and ceramic spacer pieces generally of the type shown in my prior U.S. Patent No. 4,152,742. It comprises a generally rectangular body with the core pieces forming read/write and erase gaps on the face of the transducer, and with the rearward legs of the pole pieces extending away from the transducer body for attachment of magnetic coils, wires, and a back bar. Transducer 32 is adhesively secured to the central portion 66 of the flexure, with the transducer body centered on the intersection of the X and Y axes with the transducer oriented with its read/write gap in the proper direction for data transfer. Apertures 71 and 72 in central portion 66 provide clearance for the rear legs of the core pieces of the transducer assembly. Referring to Figures 3 and 4, coils 73, 74 of the trans ⁇ ducer are placed on the legs which pass through the aper ⁇ tures and above flexure member 65. The back bar may then be put in place.
  • flexure 65 provides a torsionally resil- ient mounting for allowing rotation of the transducer about X and Y axes, while not interfering magnetically with the transducer operation.
  • Phenolic connector board 75 is generally rectangular in shape and sized to fit alongside transducer 32 on central portion 66 of flexure 65.
  • a central notch 76 is provided along one side of connector board 75 as shown in Figure 2.
  • the same edge of connector board 75 has an interrupted downwardly extending lip 77, as seen in Figure 9, which passes through apertures 78 in flexure member 65 and into a notch 79 provided in the back side of the body of trans ⁇ ducer 32.
  • Connector board 75 is adhesively secured to the central portion 66 of flexure 65.
  • Flex strip 81 is an extremely compliant printed circuit having a plurality of flat conductors 92 extending between a first end 93 configured to conform to the size of connector board 75, and a second end 94 at which the conductors are enlarged to provide pads or terminals 95 to which wires 88 are .to be soldered.
  • the conductors are provided with holes 96.
  • End 93 is placed on connector board 75 and terminal eye ⁇ lets 82 are passed through holes 96 and into, but not through, connector board 75.
  • the end 94 of flex cable 81 passes upwardly through a slot 97 in body 36 which opens into recess 87 formed therein.
  • a low transverse partition 90 within recess 87 has small longitudinal slots 91 to frictionally engage and retain the individual wires 88 of a cable 80.
  • Terminals 95 are soldered to the ends of the wires 88, and the end 94 of flex cable 81 can be adhesive ⁇ ly secured at 98 in recess 87.
  • the wires 88 are the ends of a connecting cable
  • Intersecting passages 83, 84, 85 and 86 are formed in the upper surface of piece 52 as seen in Figure 2, so that cable 80 may be led from the arm 35 to the front passage 83, and from there through one of three alternate routes through passages 84, 85 or 86, to lead the cable towards the carriages on either side or the back of pedestal 50 as required for use on a given disk drive design. In any case, the cable will be held in place by the back end of spring 55 which fits down over piece 52 to form the top for the passages.
  • cable 83 has its outer insulative covering and shield cut away at about the place where it passes through passage 83.
  • connector board 75, eyelets 82 and flex strip 81 materially facilitates the process of con ⁇ necting windings 73, 74 to the wires of cable 80 and external circuits.
  • the wires used in the winding of coils 73, 74 are extremely fine and delicate.
  • a snap-in insert 120 having a top 121 with a lifting tab 122.
  • the walls of opening 60 are slightly undercut as seen at number 123 of Figure 8, to accept a plurality of- resilient catches 124 integral with top 121, which depend therefrom to engage the under ⁇ cuts.
  • one wall of insert 120 is formed as an integral resilient member 125 to engage body 36 near the site where flex strip 81 passes through slot 97. Insert 120 may be manually snapped into place in recess 60 to engage ledges 61, 62 and 63, with its resilient catches 124 engaging the undercut portions 123 of the recess. Resilient member 125 pushes against the back edge of recess opening 60 to stabilize the position of insert 120 in place along the Y axis. Cover 120 can subsequently be permanently secured in place.
  • Insert 120 is provided with numerous strengthen ⁇ ing ribs as shown in Figures 7 and 8.
  • One of these ribs, identified by reference number 130, has a central enlarge ⁇ ment 131 in which is formed a threaded hole 132 extending obliquely through the insert to receive a set screw 133.
  • set screw 133 has a rounded or spherical tip 134.
  • Set screw 133 is arranged at an angle to pass through the notch 76 in connector board 175 so as to engage the upper surface of flexure member 65 while at the time providing clearance for the coils.
  • the point of contact between the set screw and the flexure member is at the point of intersection of the X and Y axes of the flexure 65 previously described.
  • the tip of set screw 133 positioned for nominal engagement with flexure 65, provides a pivot point for the X-Y gimballing action of transducer 32. Any combination of rotational movements about the X and Y axes is per ⁇ mitted by flexure 65 so that the transducer face can conform to the plane of the lower transducer during a data transfer operation- However, no motion of the flexure is permitted in a direction perpendicularly upward from the surface of the disk, but rather forces in that direction are transmitted through the transducer, set screw 133, snap top 120 to the arm as a whole. Similarly, the force applied to transducers 32 and 33 for proper engagement of the floppy disk is transmitted from spring 55, through arm body 36, snap cover 120 and set screw 133 to transducer 32.
  • snap-in insert 120 provides a number of practical advantages in the manufacture of transducer assemblies. For one thing, an uncluttered top opening is provided in arm 35 prior to insertion of insert 120, which materially facilitates the assembly of the coils, back bar, and terminal board, and the step connecting of the coil wires to the eyelets. Further, since the set screw 133 is in the insert 120, there is no pivot pin within the arm near the transducer coils as in the prior art, thus further facilitating assembly.
  • dif ⁇ ferent inserts 120 having different sized and shaped lift ⁇ ing tabs 122 can be provided to meet the requirements of different drive manufacturers, permitting the manufacture of a single basic arm structure.
  • the preferred embodiment uses set screw 133 to form the pivot point for the upper transducer gimbal, it is possible instead to use a pin whose position may be adjusted, or to provide an insert molded pin in insert 120. However, for accuracy of adjustment, the set screw or the adjustable pin is preferred.
  • Set screw 133 is adjusted, with insert 120 in place in the arm, so that the tip of set screw 133 which forms the actual pivot point is just even with the bottom surface 41 of arm 35; or in other words, until it just contacts the surface of flexure 65 in its unflexed state. This can best be done by testing for electrical continuity between the set screw and the flexure while adjusting.
  • Both the adjustable set screw 133 or an adjus - able pin have advantages over a pivot point formed from a plastic protrusion within the arm as in the prior art.
  • a plastic pivot point tends to wear, forming a flat spot which is inferior as a pivot for the gimbal compared with a hard, rounded one.
  • an adjustable pivot such as set screw 133 or an ad ⁇ justable pin can be set for optimum position. If the pivot point is too high or away from the flexure, the transducer will bounce excessively during loading. If the pivot point is too low the flexure will be distorted.
  • FIG 9 shows in greater detail the positional relationship of the upper transducer 32 and the lower transducer 33 in operative position engaging the floppy disk 20.
  • Lower transducer 33 is a part of a lower trans- ducer head assembly having a base in the shape of an octagonal nut configuration, known in the industry as a "button head" configuration.
  • the lower head support comprises an outer support form or housing 150 molded from plastic material, with a beveled or conically shaped upper ring portion 151, surrounding a generally flat circular plateau area 152.
  • the lower transducer could be of the type known in the prior art where the transducer is immovably fixed in the housing.
  • Transducer 33 having a Z-axis suspension as disclosed and claimed in the above- identified co-pending .application. Transducer 33 is then permitted a limited degree of movement in the Z axis, which is perpendicular to the nominal disk plane.
  • the slider transducers 32 and 33 apart from their particular suspension and support structures, are preferably identi ⁇ cal. This provides an economic benefit in terms of sim- plicity and ease of manufacture, and it provides a func ⁇ tional benefit in that the mutual contact areas on the top and bottom of the floppy disk are of the same size.
  • ramps 160 and 161 With the lower transducer 33 projecting upwardly from the plateau surface 152 of the lower housing, ramps 160 and 161 have been provided to guide the diskette on insertion and removal, in order to protect the transducer and facilitate diskette entry and removal.
  • the ramps 160 and 161 are integral with, and extend above the plateau surface 152, on either side of the location of transducer 32. If necessary, as in the case of the above-identified copending application on "Z-Axis Flexure Suspension Appa ⁇ ratus", ramps 160 and 161 can be bifurcated or gapped along their extent perpendicular to the plane of Figure 9 to provide clearance for the lower head suspension.
  • the upper arm 35 is pivoted up ⁇ wardly at its leaf hinge as indicated in Figure 13, by means of a lifting solenoid or other mechanism (not shown) engaging the lifting tab.
  • a lifting solenoid or other mechanism (not shown) engaging the lifting tab.
  • the leading edge 162 of envelope or jacket 21 engages and rides up ramp 160.
  • a bevel 153 is provided along the edge of the lower transducer adjacent ramp 160, and this also helps to guide the envelope above and across the transducer surface.
  • the top of ramp 160 is higher than the start of the bevel 153 to ensure that the diskette does not engage the side of the transducer.
  • the transducers of the preferred embodiment incorporate such a bevel, but in addition, provide impor ⁇ tant beveling at the corners of the transducers. It has been found that the most significant amount of wear of the disk surface occurs not during steady state movement of the disk across the transducer for access in operative data transfer position, but during the loading and un ⁇ loading process. It has been discovered that in prior art systems excessive wear on the disk is caused by the cor ⁇ ners of the transducer as the upper arm comes down to load its transducer onto the disk. A somewhat similar wear problem occurs during unloading as a result of off center lifting of the arm which causes dragging of one or two corners of the transducer.
  • edges alone would intersect at the corners leaving a sharp edge which, while tapering away from the disk, would still provide a stress concen- tration point for cutting grooves or digging .into the surface of the disk upon landing.
  • edges are removed by conical beveling sections 157 at each corner, which blend into the edge bevels 153-156.
  • all the edge and corner bevels are smoothed and blended tangen- tially to the face of the transducer during a final polishing operation to remove any sharp edges and discon ⁇ tinuity from the face area.
  • Upper transducer 32 is similarly provided with edge bevels 140-143 which are preferably 15 degrees, and corner bevels 144. Again, all bevels are blended together and to the face to remove all sharp edges.
  • the 15 degree bevel is preferred for the upper transducer because it provides a broader corner bevel to even better distribute the impact force.
  • the 30 degree bevel is pre ⁇ ferred for the lower transducer for cooperation with ramps 160, 161 as previously described.

Landscapes

  • Supporting Of Heads In Record-Carrier Devices (AREA)

Abstract

An electromagnetic transducer assembly includes a carriage (30) carrying a first transducer (33) projecting therefrom and a load arm (35) carrying a second transducer (32) arranged for gimballing movement above a pair of mutually perpendicular axes, the arm being connected to the carriage by a leaf hinge assembly (43) for movement to load or unload transducer (32) to the disk recording medium (20). The transducers have planar disk engaging faces surrounded by edge bevels (140-143, 153-156) which merge smoothly with each other at conical corner surfaces (144, 157), and which are blended smoothly into the faces. The second transducer (32) is mounted in the arm on a flexure member (65), which also mounts a connector block (75) to which a flex strip (81) is connected, and which includes eyelet pins (82) for facilitating the wiring of the transducer coils (73, 74). The arm has an aperture (60) near the end which includes transducer (32) which permits access thereto during assembly. Insert cover (120) fits in the aperture and includes a lifting lab (122), and an adjustable pivot member (133) for the gimballing of the transducer. The base includes ramps (160, 161) for facilitating the insertion and removal of a diskette (21) into operative position with respect to the transducers. The hinge assembly includes a leaf spring (44) and means (45-47, 52, 53) clamping it to the arm and to the base. A spring (55) urges the arm in a first direction about the hinge, and acts as a cover for passages (83-86) leading a connection cable (80) to the flex strip.

Description

TRANSDUCERS AND SUPPORTING ARM ASSEMBLY FOR DOUBLE SIDED FLOPPY DISK
Technical Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to magnetic recording apparatus, and more specifically to improvements in support structures for electromagnetic transducers of the type particularly usable with a magnetic disk data storage system, for transferring data between the trans¬ ducer and a flexible magnetic disk. Background of the Prior Art
Requisite to all magnetic data storage systems are a magnetic data recording media for storing data in magnetic form and an electromagnetic transducer having one or more "heads", for performing "reading" and/or "writing" of data in magnetic form, respectively from or onto the recording media. While such magnetic data storage systems have utilized data recording media of various configura¬ tions (such as tapes, rigid disks and drums), the so-called "floppy disk" media has recently found wide applicability not only in program storage and entry appli¬ cations, but also in a number of diverse data entry, stor¬ age and control applications. The "floppy disk" media is a thin, generally planar flexible or pliant magnetic disk having magnetically sensitive surfaces and currently ro- tatable at speeds of approximately 360 rpm, within a pro¬ tective envelope or jacket cover. Data transfer to and from the floppy disk is achieved by one or more elec¬ tromagnetic heads arranged within, and collectively form¬ ing a transducer. The transducer (or transducers) com- municate with one or both surfaces of the floppy disk through window openings in the protective envelope.
A number of various transducer structures useful for communicating with floppy disks have appeared in the prior art. In general, those portions of such transducers that are responsible for the electromagnetic transfer to and from the floppy disk, have not significantly differed from one another in their basic component pieces. Each such transducer basically comprises a plurality of ag- netic core members prepositioned with respect to one another, secured together and interconnected with one or more coils, to define an operable electromagnetic trans¬ ducer. For the most part, such transducer structures, as used in association with data transfer to and from a floppy disk, have comprised a single channel read/write head, and may typically also include an eraser head. The eraser head generally comprises a plurality of erase cores for trimming a "track" of information written onto the floppy disk surface, and for erasing a pair of guard-band areas on each side of the trimmed track. For the purpose of this invention, the particular structural details and relative placement of the electromagnetic components which collectively comprise the various head portions of an electromagnetic transducer are not important per se, since this invention applies equally well to any electromagnet- ically operative "type" of such transducer and component head structures thereof, whether they are multiple or single, erase, read, write, or combination read/write heads. In the initially introduced single-sided sys¬ tems, electromagnetic data transfer between the transducer and floppy disk is possible only to one side of the floppy disk at a time. Efficiency is significantly improved with a double sided system. In such a system, data transfer to both sides of the floppy disk is possible at the same time. This is made possible through the use of a pair of generally opposed transducers, operatively disposed to sandwich the floppy disk therebetween, thus simultaneously engaging both surfaces of the floppy disk. Floppy disk systems of the prior art, both single and double sided, have typically mounted their respective transducer "assemblies" upon a movable carriage structure which is radially indexed with respect to a relatively fixed position floppy disk. Movement of the carriage structure enables the transducer or transducers carried thereby to access different desired circular "tracks" located at different radial positions on the magnetizable surface of the floppy disk. Positioning of the movable carriage structure must be aligned and con¬ trolled with respect to the nominal disk plane, which is defined as that plane in which a surface of a floppy disk nominally lies during operative rotation of the disk. Since a floppy disk has two data transfer surfaces that are separated by the thickness of the floppy disk, a double sided system will be concerned with two nominal disk planes, generally referred to as "upper" and "lower" nominal disk planes. In an optimally operative system, except for that portion of the floppy disk that is engaged by the transducers, it is desirable for the two data transfer surfaces of the floppy disk to lie perfectly planar respectively in the upper and lower nominal disk planes, with no imperfections therein, such as wobble, or deformation caused for example by imperfections in the disk itself, by the flexible nature of the disk or by motion transmitted to the disk by the apparatus rotating the disk.
Prior art floppy disk data transferring systems have differed in their designs of the transducer support structures that are mounted to the movable carriage. In early single sided floppy disk systems, the transducer generally had a curved surface for operably engaging the floppy disk and for penetrating into and beyond the nomin- al disk plane of the engaged data transfer surface. The transducer was generally fixedly mounted to the movable carriage. A hinge arm carrying a pressure pad was pivot- ally mounted to the carriage to allow for disk entry. The arm was spring loaded, such that the pressure pad carried thereby engaged the disk at a location directly opposite the transducer head, and applied a known force to the disk, conforming the pliant disk into intimate engagement with the curved transducer head. This early single sided syste offered limited capacity in data transfer since data transfer to only one side of the disk at a time could be achieved, and was thus relatively slow.
Larger capacity and faster data access and transfer requirements have resulted in double sided data transfer floppy disk systems, having the capability of simultaneously transferring data with both sides of a floppy disk. As above stated, such systems generally have a pair of transducers mounted to operatively engage oppo- site surfaces or sides of the floppy disk, in generally opposed relationship to one another. The opposed trans¬ ducers are generally positioned such that their respective head "gaps" are slightly radially offset relative to one another, for minimizing magnetic flux interaction between the transducers.
In such prior art double sided floppy disk data transfer systems, the upper and lower recording surface areas of the floppy disk may periodically move out of their respective upper and lower nominal disk planes. Such deviations could, for example, be caused by distorted disks or excessive disk wobble (i. e., perturbations in the disk surfaces as the disk rotates). It has therefore been thought to be desirable for the oppositely disposed transducer heads to be movably mounted in opposition to one another, so that the transducer heads could follow the actual path of the floppy disk recording surfaces passing therebetween, as they deviated from the upper and lower nominal disk planes. Accordingly, various transducer mounting arrangements have been devised in the prior art, to accommodate such deviations in floppy disk operative movement.
One such mounting configuration, described in U. S. Patent No. Re. 29,380, reissued August 30, 1977, illus¬ trates a method of mounting a pair of transducer slider heads in opposing relationship upon a pair of fixed sup¬ port arms-, movable under solenoid action, toward and into engagement with the disk in a "loading" operation, and away from and out of engagement with the disk during a "unloading" operation. The support arms engage stop members on a carriage to limit the closure distance there¬ between to a fixed predetermined amount. The opposing transducer heads are urged into forceable engagement with the disk by a pair of coil springs underlying the trans¬ ducer heads, to sandwich the floppy disk therebetween.
As pointed out more fully in copending U. S. Patent Application entitled "Z-Axis Flexure Suspension Apparatus" by Leonard Kronfeld, serial number 82,009, filed October 5, 1979, and assigned to the same assignee as the present application, such a structure is subject to certain disadvantages in terms of lack of sensitivity of movement to follow deviations of the floppy disk, intro¬ duction of data transfer errors caused by shifting of the transducers relative to the recording tracks, slow damping response following a loading operation, and reduced inti¬ macy of contact between the transducer heads and the recording surfaces of the floppy disk.
Another variation of a dual transducer mounting configuration is described in U. S. Patent No. 4,089,029 issued May 9, 1978. In that structure, a pair of trans¬ ducers mounted on long cantilevered support arms are mechanically urged together under spring bias, with each of the oppositely disposed transducers carried thereby being independently mounted on a gimbal structure which allows universal pivotal motion of the respective trans¬ ducer head assemblies. The disk engaging surfaces of the transducer heads are generally planar. The pivoted trans¬ ducer support arms are interlocked such that motion of one such arm tending to raise one of the transducers from engagement with the surface of the disk also moves the second arm so as to move the second transducer from the opposing surface of the disk, for loading and unloading the disk into and out of operative position. Each arm is urged with a predetermined force against its corresponding side of the disk, tending to maintain intimate contact between the transducer carried by that arm and its respec¬ tively engaged disk surface. The composite structure
G :FI \ sandwiches the floppy disk between the opposed transducers at a relatively weak loading force of six to seven grams, which tends to give rise to instability. Also, while the double-gimballed structure is configured to enable rapid responsive movement of the transducer heads to accomodate perturbations in disk movement out of the Nominal Disk Planes, such transducer tracking movements give rise to shifting or offset errors, as pointed out in greater detail in the above-identified copending application. The system is very complicated and expensive to construct and manufacture.
A relatively recent configuration of a double sided floppy disk data transfer system is disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 4,151,573 issued April 24, 1979. This structure is configured to improve the intimacy of contact between the transducer disk surfaces and to reduce some of the disadvantages of the prior double-gimbal transducer support structure. This structure uses an asymmetrical transducer support structure having a first or lower transducer with a planar transducer core surface that is immovably fixed (as in early single-sided transfer sys¬ tems). A second (upper) transducer is mounted on a uni¬ versally movable gimbal structure and is pivotally movable by a spring loaded arm into operative proximity with the fixed lower transducer head so as to sandwich, the floppy disk therebetween at a predetermined force. The lower transducer head structure is sized (in surface area) relatively larger than the upper transducer head, so as to extend considerably beyond the outline dimensions of the upper core transducer. The core surface of the lower transducer is mounted so as to penetrate excessively into the nominal disk plane of a loaded floppy disk, and the upper transducer carried by the gimballed support struc¬ ture acts as a pressure pad for the lower fixed transducer head. Conversely, the lower fixed transducer head acts as a pressure pad for the upper transducer core. While reducing some of the shifting and offset tracking errors inherent in the double gimbal structures described above,
O.V : this structure still experiences some mispositioning of the transducer relative to the recording tracks of the lower surface of the floppy disk, due to the fixed nature of the lower transducer head. The structure according to that patent also has the disadvantage of excessive wear on the floppy disk due to the "hard" landing of the upper transducer during loading of the system. These particular shortcomings of the prior art are overcome by the improve¬ ment disclosed and claimed in the above-identified co- pending application.
Summary of the Invention These and other problems existing in the prior art are overcome by the improved transducers and support¬ ing arm assembly of the present invention. According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a transducer arm for use with a double sided floppy disk data recording system. The arm includes an elongate body portion which has first and second opposite faces with an aperture through the body near the first end of the arm. A hinge is provided at the second end of the arm for connecting to a support member of a .transducer assembly. A substan¬ tially planar flexure member which has an apertured central portion and which is shaped to enable pivotal gimballing movement of the central portion about mutually perpendicular axes normally lying in the plane of the member is attached to the first end of the arm, and a transducer is mounted on the flexure. A cover, which in the preferred embodiment is a snap-in insert, is provided for closing the aperture in the arm. The cover includes a lift tab which is positioned to project laterally beyond the arm, and an adjustable pivot member positioned to pro¬ ject into the aperture to engage the flexure member at the point of intersection of the gimbal axes. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the pivot member is an adjustable set screw.
According to another aspect of the invention, a connector board is secured to the central portion of the flexure member adjacent the transducer. A conducting means, preferably a flex strip positioned along the arm in a recess therein connects from a cable to the connector board, which includes eyelets which extend through the conductors of the flex strip and into the terminal board. Windings from the coils for the magnetic transducer can be wrapped around the eyelets, and the eyelets and the flex strip can be soldered simultaneously to the terminal eyelets. According to another aspect of the invention, the hinge provided at the second end of the arm can in¬ clude a leaf hinge, and means for clamping the leaf, the clamping means containing a plurality of intersecting passages so that a conductor cable connecting from the transducer at the end of the arm can be routed through one of the passages for connection to an external system. A bias spring for the arm is secured over the clamping means to cover the intersecting passages to further hold the cable in place. According to another aspect of the invention, the body portion of the transducer arm has a cut away or recessed portion in the flat lower surface adjacent the end of the arm remote from the transducer. A leaf hinge, and a pair of clamping plates are provided. The clamping plates are connected to one end of the leaf hinge, prefer¬ ably by spot welding, and the sandwich structure is connected to the arm with one of the clamping plates fitting into the recess portion of the lower side of the arm. The clamping plates have opposed straight edges contacting the leaf hinge, and cooperating to define a bending axis or fulcrum for the leaf hinge. Preferably, the outer surface of the lower clamping plate is generally co-planar or even with the generally flat lower surface of the arm. According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an improved magnetic transducer for use in a magnetic disk data storage system. The transducer includes a transducer body made up of bonded core and ceramic pieces configured with a planar face in which the recording, or read/write gap is positioned. In use, the transducer is positioned with the planar face in contact with the disk recording medium for data transfer opera¬ tions. In case of a double sided floppy disk recording system, a pair of such transducers are used, and means are provided for supporting the transducers and moving them into operative data transfer position wherein the faces of the transducers are in mutual contact with the disk recording medium on opposite sides thereof.
Each transducer is beveled along the edges which join the planar face. In addition, the corners formed by the intersection of these adjacent edges are beveled, pre- ferably with a conic section bevel which blends smoothly with the edge beveling on either side of the corner. In addition, all edge and corner bevels are smoothly blended or radius into the planar face of the transducer to avoid surface discontinuities. By beveling the comers, un- wanted wear producing stress concentrations are avoided in the case of engagement of a corner of the transducer body with the recording medium during transducer loading or un¬ loading on the medium.
In the case of a double sided system, wherein the first transducer is mounted on a load arm which is pivoted away from the second transducer to insert or re¬ move a floppy disk, and is brought into contact with the disk for data transfer operation, the bevels on the first transducer are preferably approximately 15 degrees. The bevels on the second transducer are preferably approxi¬ mately 30 degrees, to aid in insertion and removal of the floppy disk where it is necessary to engage and move across the transducer during insertion or removal.
According to the present invention there is pro- vided an improved magnetic transducer assembly for a mag¬ netic disk data storage system including a transducer having a planar face for contacting the recording disk during data transfer operations, and a housing for posi¬ tioning the transducer with its face projecting therefrom for operatively contacting the disk recording medium when in operative data transfer position. A guide ramp is positioned on the housing, or preferably is formed inte¬ grally with the housing. The ramp is positioned adjacent the transducer, and it slopes from the housing toward the transducer to guide the edge of a recording disk over the face of the transducer when the disk is being inserted into the transducer assembly. A second ramp may be pro¬ vided on the housing on the opposite side of the trans¬ ducer to guide the protective envelope of a diskette over the transducer upon removal of the diskette from the transducer assembly. Beveling is preferably incorporated into the edges of the transducer adjacent the ramp to further assist in guiding the disk recording medium across the transducer during insertion or removal operations. Brief Description of the Drawings In the drawing: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a magnetic transducer assembly according to the present invention, parts thereof being broken away for clarity;
Figure 2 is an exploded view of a portion of Figure 1 to a larger scale; Figure 3 is a sectional view along the line 3-3 of Figure 1;
Figure 4 is a fragmentary view similar to Figure 3 but to a larger scale;
Figure 5 is a view of a flexure used in the transducer assembly of Figure 1;
Figure 6 is a view of a flex cable used in the assembly;
Figure 7 is a bottom view of a snap-in insert used in the assembly; Figure 8 is a fragmentary sectional view along the line 8-8 of Figure 1; Figure 9 is a fragmentary view generally like Figure 4 but to a still larger scale, parts being omitted or shown in section;
Figure 10 is an enlarged bottom view of a first transducer, to a larger scale;
Figure 11 is an enlarged top view of a second transducer;
Figure 12 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary detailed view of a portion of the transducers of Figure 9, the recording medium being omitted; and
Figure 13 is a partially schematic view showing the insertion of a diskette into the transducer assembly. Description of the Preferred Embodiment
In Figure 1, a portion of a "diskette" or "floppy disk" is shown inserted into a data transfer position with respect to a transducer assembly according to the present invention. Because of space limitations in Figure 1, most of the floppy disk is broken away. The floppy disk comprises a thin nominally planar disk 20 of flexible material, the surfaces of which are coated with a magnetizable material. Disk 20 is enclosed in a protec¬ tive envelope 21. Envelope 21 has upper and lower aligned radially extending slots 22, which, as seen also in Figure 9, extend between inner ends 23 and outer ends 24 to define transducer access areas for the surfaces of the disk. Conventional disk drive ' means (not shown) are provided to cause rotation of disk 20 within envelope 21 as suggested by arrow 25 in Figure 1. Envelope 21 of course does not rotate, as it is held in place by suitable guide means (not shown) as is generally known.
A carriage indicated by the general reference number 30 is provided for the support and movement of the transducers as explained in greater detail below. Car¬ riage 30 connects in practice to a lead screw or other positioning means as is generally known in the prior art to move the carriage radially as desired to bring the transducers into engagement with the desired ones of the plurality of circular tracks recorded on the disk 20 at different radial spacings. As seen more clearly in Figures 4 and 9, a pair of transducers 32 and 33 are supported and carried by carriage 30 for engagement with the recording medium. For convenience throughout this patent specification, transducer 32 will be referred to as the "upper transducer" or "head" and transducer 33 will be referred to as the "lower transducer" or "head". However, the terms "upper" and "lower" are used merely for conveni- ence of identification, and do not imply a required rela¬ tionship, since the head assembly could also be incor¬ porated in a diskette recording system with orientation on edge, or "upside down" from the orientation shown in the figures, or with any other desired orientation. Upper transducer 32 is connected to carriage 30 by means of the support arm structure which is described in more detail below in this specification. The upper transducer and arm assembly can operate either in conjunc¬ tion with an immovably fixed lower transducer of the type disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 4,151,573, discussed above; or preferably, with a transducer having a Z-axis flexure suspension as set forth in the above-identified copending application.
With either a fixed or a Z-axis suspension lower transducer, the function of the upper transducer arm assembly is to maintain the transducer in properly aligned opposing engagement of the floppy disk 20, with the faces of the transducers parallel and in intimate contact with the recording surfaces of the disk for optimum data trans- fer. As pointed out in the above-mentioned copending application, this task can be best achieved with the Z-axis suspension for the lower transducer 33; but in either case, the improved upper transducer arm assembly described herein will aid in efficient and reliable data transfer.
As seen in the figures, with particular refer¬ ence to Figure 2, arm 35 comprises a body portion 36 which is preferably molded of plastic or other lightweight electrically nonconductive material, although it is not essential that it be non-conductive. Body 36 has a gener¬ ally flat bottom surface 41, one end of which is cut away at reference number 42 to receive a leaf hinge assembly 43. The leaf hinge assembly includes a leaf spring 44, which is preferably made of a suitably resilient metal, having one end generally adapted to fit within the cut away portion 42 of the body 36, and an opposite end con- figured for securing to a pedestal 50, or other clamping means. The overall width of leaf hinge 44 is selected in conjunction with the width of body 36 and pedestal 50 to provide the desired degree of torsional rigidity. Leaf hinge 44 is preferably cut away in the central, or flexing portion so as to minimize its stiffness or resistance to bending, as the leaf hinge is used only for hinging pur¬ poses and not as a spring tensioning member, since a separate spring 55 is provided for that purpose. The left end of leaf hinge 44 in Figure 2 is spot welded between upper and lower backing plates 45 and 46, and this sand¬ wiched structure is secured within cut away portion 42 of body 36 by fasteners 47.
It has been the practice in the prior art to inbed the end of the leaf hinge into the body of the transducer arm during the molding process. However, the improved structure described above with reference to Figure 2 offers several important advantages. For one thing, the straight edges of backing plates 45 and 46 form a definite straight clamping edge defining the beginning of the bendable or flexing portion of the leaf hinge. Another advantage is that different shapes and sizes of leaf hinges can be made and secured to a single type of body 36, so that a single transducer arm assembly can be adapted to different leaf hinges for connection to differ- ent -types of carriages made by different manufacturers, thus providing a manufacturing and cost improvement. In the preferred embodiment, a pedestal 50 and a clamping piece 52 are provided for securing the outer end of the leaf hinge. Pedestal 50 is secured to the carriage by a suitable fastener such as screw 51. Alternately, pedestal 50 m'ay be made integrally with the carriage. Pedestal 50 has a generally flat upper surface parallel to the face of the lower transducer terminating in a straight edge 58 which defines the other fulcrum or bending axis for leaf hinge 44, for the arm moving in a downward direc- tion. The outer end of leaf hinge 44 is placed on top of pedestal 50, and is held in place by clamping piece 52 and suitable fasteners 53 which pass through the clamping piece and leaf hinge into the pedestal. The inward edge of clamping piece 52 is radiused as shown at reference number 54 to distribute the stress in the leaf hinge 44 as it flexes upward as during an unloading operation.
Arm 35 is urged downwardly, towards the floppy disk, by a spring 55 bearing against the upper surface of the arm and secured to the top of clamping piece 52 "by a backing plate 56 and fasteners 57. The top surface of pedestal 50 is parallel to the plane of the face of the lower transducer. The height of pedestal 50 is selected as required so that the face of the upper transducer, at a time just prior to contact with the disk surface in a loading operation, will be parallel to the plane of the face of the lower transducer.
The end of body 36 remote from hinge assembly 43 is formed with a generally rectangular opening 60 having a ledge 61 near its bottom at one end and a pair of spaced ledges 62, 63 at its other end: the ledges are all of the same height from surface 41.
A flexure member 65 is secured to the lower side of the outer end of body 36 by spot welding to fasteners 64 which pass through the arm in the locations indicated in Figure 2. The flexure is shown in greater detail in Figure 5. The flexure is made from a thin piece of non¬ magnetic, resilient material: in the preferred embodi- ment, stainless steel is used. Various portions or zones have been etched away to form a two axis gimbal. A cen¬ tral rectangular portion 66 connects continuously through symmetrically opposite narrow connecting strips 67 to a rectangular annulus 68. The latter portion in turn is connected at opposite connecting strips 69 to the outer portion 70 of the flexure piece. It will be understood that the above-mentioned central portion, annulus and connecting strips are all continuously and integrally part of the same original strip from which the other areas have been etched away to form the structure described.
Transducer 32 is secured to a part of the cen¬ tral portion 66 as is described below, and the flexure provides a definite two axis or X-Y gimbal for the trans- ducer. Specifically, the Y axis passes through, and is defined by, strips 67, and the X axis similarly passes through strips 69.
Transducer 32 consists of a sandwich of core pieces and ceramic spacer pieces generally of the type shown in my prior U.S. Patent No. 4,152,742. It comprises a generally rectangular body with the core pieces forming read/write and erase gaps on the face of the transducer, and with the rearward legs of the pole pieces extending away from the transducer body for attachment of magnetic coils, wires, and a back bar. Transducer 32 is adhesively secured to the central portion 66 of the flexure, with the transducer body centered on the intersection of the X and Y axes with the transducer oriented with its read/write gap in the proper direction for data transfer. Apertures 71 and 72 in central portion 66 provide clearance for the rear legs of the core pieces of the transducer assembly. Referring to Figures 3 and 4, coils 73, 74 of the trans¬ ducer are placed on the legs which pass through the aper¬ tures and above flexure member 65. The back bar may then be put in place.
With transducer 32 thus mounted to arm 35 as described above, flexure 65 provides a torsionally resil- ient mounting for allowing rotation of the transducer about X and Y axes, while not interfering magnetically with the transducer operation.
Electrical connections between transducer 32 and the system with which it will be used are made with the help of a connector board 75 having eyelets 82, a flex strip 81 and a cable having a plurality of wires. Phenolic connector board 75 is generally rectangular in shape and sized to fit alongside transducer 32 on central portion 66 of flexure 65. A central notch 76 is provided along one side of connector board 75 as shown in Figure 2. The same edge of connector board 75 has an interrupted downwardly extending lip 77, as seen in Figure 9, which passes through apertures 78 in flexure member 65 and into a notch 79 provided in the back side of the body of trans¬ ducer 32. Connector board 75 is adhesively secured to the central portion 66 of flexure 65.
Flex strip 81 is an extremely compliant printed circuit having a plurality of flat conductors 92 extending between a first end 93 configured to conform to the size of connector board 75, and a second end 94 at which the conductors are enlarged to provide pads or terminals 95 to which wires 88 are .to be soldered. At the end 93 of the flex strip, the conductors are provided with holes 96. End 93 is placed on connector board 75 and terminal eye¬ lets 82 are passed through holes 96 and into, but not through, connector board 75. The end 94 of flex cable 81 passes upwardly through a slot 97 in body 36 which opens into recess 87 formed therein. A low transverse partition 90 within recess 87 has small longitudinal slots 91 to frictionally engage and retain the individual wires 88 of a cable 80. Terminals 95 are soldered to the ends of the wires 88, and the end 94 of flex cable 81 can be adhesive¬ ly secured at 98 in recess 87. The wires 88 are the ends of a connecting cable
80 which connects to the system (not shown) with which the assembly is to be used. Intersecting passages 83, 84, 85 and 86 are formed in the upper surface of piece 52 as seen in Figure 2, so that cable 80 may be led from the arm 35 to the front passage 83, and from there through one of three alternate routes through passages 84, 85 or 86, to lead the cable towards the carriages on either side or the back of pedestal 50 as required for use on a given disk drive design. In any case, the cable will be held in place by the back end of spring 55 which fits down over piece 52 to form the top for the passages. Preferably, cable 83 has its outer insulative covering and shield cut away at about the place where it passes through passage 83. The inner wires 88, twisted loosely together, con¬ tinue beneath spring 55 along the top of the body 36 and into recess 87 to the slots in partition 90 as previously described. Peeling off the outer covering and shield before the wires cross the leaf hinge has been found to be desirable so that the stiffness of the cable 80 does not interfere with the flexing of the leaf hinge. By routing the cable and wires as described above, the necessary electrical connections between the head and the carriage are made in a secure manner with the cable and wires being protected from accidental snagging, binding or rubbing by other components, both during assembly and during opera¬ tion. This routing is clearly preferable to one prior art technique which involved gluing the cable to the side of the arm, pedestal and carriage.
The use of connector board 75, eyelets 82 and flex strip 81 materially facilitates the process of con¬ necting windings 73, 74 to the wires of cable 80 and external circuits. It will be appreciated that the wires used in the winding of coils 73, 74 are extremely fine and delicate. In the prior art which did not include con¬ nector board 75 and pins 82, it was necessary to solder these delicate wires directly to pads or terminals on a flex strip, which is a difficult procedure at best and one which is subject to excessive heating of the flex strip as the wires are heated to a high enough temperature to burn off their insulation. These problems are solved in the present invention by first simply winding the delicate wires from coils 73, 74 around the appropriate eyelet 82, which conveniently holds the wires in place. Heat and solder can then be applied to pins 82 to solder both the wires to the eyelets, and the eyelets to the flex strip conductors simultaneously. Since there is no manual holding or positioning of the delicate wires during the soldering operation, the soldering can generally be accom- plished with minimum time, and minimum chance of damage to the coil windings or the flex strip which might otherwise result in shorting between flex strip conductors. After the soldering operation, excess length of the delicate wires can be broken off. As further seen in Figure 2, opening 60 in body
36 of the arm may be closed by a snap-in insert 120 having a top 121 with a lifting tab 122. The walls of opening 60 are slightly undercut as seen at number 123 of Figure 8, to accept a plurality of- resilient catches 124 integral with top 121, which depend therefrom to engage the under¬ cuts. In addition, one wall of insert 120 is formed as an integral resilient member 125 to engage body 36 near the site where flex strip 81 passes through slot 97. Insert 120 may be manually snapped into place in recess 60 to engage ledges 61, 62 and 63, with its resilient catches 124 engaging the undercut portions 123 of the recess. Resilient member 125 pushes against the back edge of recess opening 60 to stabilize the position of insert 120 in place along the Y axis. Cover 120 can subsequently be permanently secured in place.
Insert 120 is provided with numerous strengthen¬ ing ribs as shown in Figures 7 and 8. One of these ribs, identified by reference number 130, has a central enlarge¬ ment 131 in which is formed a threaded hole 132 extending obliquely through the insert to receive a set screw 133. As seen more clearly also in Figure 9, set screw 133 has a rounded or spherical tip 134. Set screw 133 is arranged at an angle to pass through the notch 76 in connector board 175 so as to engage the upper surface of flexure member 65 while at the time providing clearance for the coils. The point of contact between the set screw and the flexure member is at the point of intersection of the X and Y axes of the flexure 65 previously described. -
The tip of set screw 133, positioned for nominal engagement with flexure 65, provides a pivot point for the X-Y gimballing action of transducer 32. Any combination of rotational movements about the X and Y axes is per¬ mitted by flexure 65 so that the transducer face can conform to the plane of the lower transducer during a data transfer operation- However, no motion of the flexure is permitted in a direction perpendicularly upward from the surface of the disk, but rather forces in that direction are transmitted through the transducer, set screw 133, snap top 120 to the arm as a whole. Similarly, the force applied to transducers 32 and 33 for proper engagement of the floppy disk is transmitted from spring 55, through arm body 36, snap cover 120 and set screw 133 to transducer 32.
The use of snap-in insert 120 provides a number of practical advantages in the manufacture of transducer assemblies. For one thing, an uncluttered top opening is provided in arm 35 prior to insertion of insert 120, which materially facilitates the assembly of the coils, back bar, and terminal board, and the step connecting of the coil wires to the eyelets. Further, since the set screw 133 is in the insert 120, there is no pivot pin within the arm near the transducer coils as in the prior art, thus further facilitating assembly.
Another advantage resides in the fact that dif¬ ferent inserts 120 having different sized and shaped lift¬ ing tabs 122 can be provided to meet the requirements of different drive manufacturers, permitting the manufacture of a single basic arm structure. Although the preferred embodiment uses set screw 133 to form the pivot point for the upper transducer gimbal, it is possible instead to use a pin whose position may be adjusted, or to provide an insert molded pin in insert 120. However, for accuracy of adjustment, the set screw or the adjustable pin is preferred.
Set screw 133 is adjusted, with insert 120 in place in the arm, so that the tip of set screw 133 which forms the actual pivot point is just even with the bottom surface 41 of arm 35; or in other words, until it just contacts the surface of flexure 65 in its unflexed state. This can best be done by testing for electrical continuity between the set screw and the flexure while adjusting.
Both the adjustable set screw 133 or an adjus - able pin have advantages over a pivot point formed from a plastic protrusion within the arm as in the prior art. A plastic pivot point tends to wear, forming a flat spot which is inferior as a pivot for the gimbal compared with a hard, rounded one. Further, there are difficulties in accuracy of positioning of a molded plastic pivot point, and an adjustable pivot such as set screw 133 or an ad¬ justable pin can be set for optimum position. If the pivot point is too high or away from the flexure, the transducer will bounce excessively during loading. If the pivot point is too low the flexure will be distorted.
Figure 9 shows in greater detail the positional relationship of the upper transducer 32 and the lower transducer 33 in operative position engaging the floppy disk 20. Lower transducer 33 is a part of a lower trans- ducer head assembly having a base in the shape of an octagonal nut configuration, known in the industry as a "button head" configuration. The lower head support comprises an outer support form or housing 150 molded from plastic material, with a beveled or conically shaped upper ring portion 151, surrounding a generally flat circular plateau area 152. As previously mentioned, the lower transducer could be of the type known in the prior art where the transducer is immovably fixed in the housing. However, it is preferred to use a transducer 33 having a Z-axis suspension as disclosed and claimed in the above- identified co-pending .application. Transducer 33 is then permitted a limited degree of movement in the Z axis, which is perpendicular to the nominal disk plane. The slider transducers 32 and 33, apart from their particular suspension and support structures, are preferably identi¬ cal. This provides an economic benefit in terms of sim- plicity and ease of manufacture, and it provides a func¬ tional benefit in that the mutual contact areas on the top and bottom of the floppy disk are of the same size.
In the design of "button head" transducers for single sided floppy disks, it is conventional to provide a transducer that is mounted flush with the housing, but the transducer face is curved and projects into the nominal disk plane to ensure good contact. It is not practical to use a curved transducer face in a double sided system. It is therefore preferable in double sided disk systems to provide flat transducer faces for proper opposed mutual contact with the disk. The plastic body of housing 150 must not be allowed to contact the surface of the floppy disk, because the nature of the plastic is such that it scrapes and wears away the oxide coating, even if the plastic material is initally polished smooth. The prior art double sided head assembly disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 4,151,573, previously discussed, uses a lower trans¬ ducer which, in addition to being immovably fixed in the button housing, has a large shoulder area of ceramic material surrounding the flat portion of the face con¬ taining the gap, which shoulder area is rounded off and blended into the housing. The large ceramic shoulder area is necessary so that the plastic housing does not contact the floppy disk. It has been found to be advantageous to use a smaller, generally rectangular lower transducer which projects upwardly from the plateau region 152 of the lower housing, rather than the type of structure discussed above. This reduces cost for the lower transducer since it can be made, except for finishing operation, identical to the upper transducer. With the lower transducer 33 projecting upwardly from the plateau surface 152 of the lower housing, ramps 160 and 161 have been provided to guide the diskette on insertion and removal, in order to protect the transducer and facilitate diskette entry and removal. The ramps 160 and 161 are integral with, and extend above the plateau surface 152, on either side of the location of transducer 32. If necessary, as in the case of the above-identified copending application on "Z-Axis Flexure Suspension Appa¬ ratus", ramps 160 and 161 can be bifurcated or gapped along their extent perpendicular to the plane of Figure 9 to provide clearance for the lower head suspension.
During the process of insertion of a diskette into the head assembly, the upper arm 35 is pivoted up¬ wardly at its leaf hinge as indicated in Figure 13, by means of a lifting solenoid or other mechanism (not shown) engaging the lifting tab. As the diskette is moved into the head assembly along the direction indicated by arrow 165 in Figure 13, the leading edge 162 of envelope or jacket 21 engages and rides up ramp 160. As seen also in the detail of Figure 12, a bevel 153 is provided along the edge of the lower transducer adjacent ramp 160, and this also helps to guide the envelope above and across the transducer surface. The top of ramp 160 is higher than the start of the bevel 153 to ensure that the diskette does not engage the side of the transducer. Once the floppy disk is in place, the arm can be released to load the heads onto the floppy disk through the access windows.
For removal of the floppy disk, arm 35 is once again raised and the jacket will be moved in the opposite direction. At this point, ramp 161, and adjacent beveled edge 154 on the other side of the lower transducer become important to guide the diskette envelope 21. The portion of envelope 21 at the end 24 of the slot engages and rides up ramp 161 and the beveled side- 154 of the transducer then across the transducer. The ramp, in association with the beveled edge of the transducer, thus prevent the end of the jacket 162 or the end of the access slot 24 of the jacket, from engaging and applying forces to the side of the transducer during the insertion or removal process.
It has been standard practice to bevel the edges adjacent the faces of planar type transducers. This has been done by applying a bevel of approximately 22 degrees to the plane of the face, to each of the four edges bor¬ dering the face. The bevel is often blended by polishing through a slight radius where it joins the face so that there is no sharp discontinuity or edge which would tend to scuff and cause excessive wear to the recording media passing across the head.
The transducers of the preferred embodiment incorporate such a bevel, but in addition, provide impor¬ tant beveling at the corners of the transducers. It has been found that the most significant amount of wear of the disk surface occurs not during steady state movement of the disk across the transducer for access in operative data transfer position, but during the loading and un¬ loading process. It has been discovered that in prior art systems excessive wear on the disk is caused by the cor¬ ners of the transducer as the upper arm comes down to load its transducer onto the disk. A somewhat similar wear problem occurs during unloading as a result of off center lifting of the arm which causes dragging of one or two corners of the transducer. If the faces of the transducer were perfectly mutually parallel at the moment of contact with the disk during loading, and if the disk were per¬ fectly planar with no wobble or deformations, the corners of the transducers adjacent the faces would not present a problem. However, in practice, there will be a certain amount of non-parallelism, due to the inevitable manu¬ facturing tolerances, and due to the fact that the "free" or neutral position of flexure 65 will not necessarily hold the transducer 32 parallel to the disk. This means in practical terms that the upper transducer at the moment of impact with the disk will not be parallel to either the disk or the face of the lower transducer, most likely due to some combination of rotations about the X and Y axes. This in turn means that it will be a corner of the trans¬ ducer that engages the disk first, concentrating the landing impact force over a small area and digging into the oxide coating.
In order to minimize these problems, the corners as well as the edges adjacent the transducer faces are beveled in the improved transducer assembly shown in the accompanying drawings. The faces of the upper and lower transducers are shown respectively in Figures 10 and 11. Edge beveling is applied to lower transducer 33 as shown at reference numbers 153, 154, 155, and 156 in Figure 11. The beveling applied to edges 153 and 154 is 30 degrees, to assist in the guiding action of the diskette during insertion and removal, previously described. For con¬ venience, the beveling applied to edges 155 and 156 can be the same. These beveled edges alone would intersect at the corners leaving a sharp edge which, while tapering away from the disk, would still provide a stress concen- tration point for cutting grooves or digging .into the surface of the disk upon landing. These edges are removed by conical beveling sections 157 at each corner, which blend into the edge bevels 153-156. In addition, all the edge and corner bevels are smoothed and blended tangen- tially to the face of the transducer during a final polishing operation to remove any sharp edges and discon¬ tinuity from the face area.
Upper transducer 32 is similarly provided with edge bevels 140-143 which are preferably 15 degrees, and corner bevels 144. Again, all bevels are blended together and to the face to remove all sharp edges. The 15 degree bevel is preferred for the upper transducer because it provides a broader corner bevel to even better distribute the impact force. However, the 30 degree bevel is pre¬ ferred for the lower transducer for cooperation with ramps 160, 161 as previously described.

Claims

WE CLAIM:
1. A transducer ^arm assembly for use with a double sided floppy disk, comprising, in combination: an elongated body portion having first and second opposite faces and having an aperture therethrough near a first end thereof between said faces; hinge means at the second end of said body portion for connecting said portion to a support member; a substantially plane flexure member having an apertured central portion and configured to enable pivotal movement of said central portion about mutually perpen¬ dicular axes normally lying in the plane of said member; a transducer mounted on said flexure member to project in part through apertures therein; means securing said flexure member to one face of said arm to extend across said aperture therein; and a cover for closing the aperture in said arm at the second face thereof, said cover including a lift tab, positioned to project laterally beyond said arm, and a pivot member positioned to project into said aperture to engage said flexure member at the point of intersection of said axes.
2. An assembly according to claim 1 in which said pivot member is adjustable in a direction having at least a component perpendicular to the plane of said flexure member.
3. An assembly according to claim 2 in which said pivot member is a set screw threadedly traversing said cover.
4. An assembly according to claim 1 in which said cover comprises an insert configured in accordance with said aperture in said body, whereby to determine the loca¬ tion of said pivot member with respect to said flexure member.
5. A transducer arm assembly for use with a double sided floppy disk, comprising, in combination: an elongated body portion having first and second opposite faces and having an aperture therein near a first end thereof; a transducer mounted at said aperture for pivotal movement with respect thereto; hinge means at the second end of said body portion for connecting said assembly to a support, includ- ing a leaf spring projecting from said second end and clamping means being formed with passage means at the surface thereof remote from said leaf spring for conveying electrical conductors to said transducer; and a bias spring having a first end engaging said body portion at a site spaced from said second end thereof, and having a second end secured to said surface of said clamping means and covering said passage means therein.
6. An assembly according to claim 5 in which said hinge means is removably secured to said body portion.
7. An assembly according to claim 5 in which said clamping means has a plurality of intersecting passages completed by said bias spring for guiding a multiple con¬ ductor cable to said body portion, and said body portion includes means for frictionally retaining individual con¬ ductors of said cable for connection to said transducer.
8. A transducer arm assembly for use with a double sided floppy disk, comprising, in combination: an elongated body portion having first and second opposite faces and having an aperture therethrough near a first end thereof between said faces; hinge means at the second end of said body portion for connecting said portion to a support; a substantially plane flexure member having an apertured central portion and configured to enable pivotal movement of said central portion about mutually perpen¬ dicular axes normally lying in the plane of said member; a transducer mounted on said flexure member to project in part through apertures therein, said transducer having a working face on one side of said flexure member and winding means on the other side of said flexure mem¬ ber; means securing said flexure member to one face of said arm so that said winding means are within the aperture in said arm; conductor means extending along said body por¬ tion for making connection to a system external thereto; a connector board secured to said other side of said flexure member adjacent said winding; and terminal means on said board for selective connection to said winding and to said conducting means to enable interconnection therebetween.
9. An assembly according to claim 8 in which said conducting means includes the conductors of a compliant printed circuit.
10. An assembly according to claim 8 in which said terminal means comprises eyelets arranged for the ends of the wires of said windings to be wound therearound.
11. An assembly according to claim 9 in which said printed circuit is positioned on said connector board so that said eyelets pass therethrough in the regions of the conductors printed thereon, and the eyelets are arranged for the ends of said windings to be wound therearound, whereby said conductors and said wires are positioned to enable simultaneous soldering thereof to said eyelets.
12. A magnetic transducer for use in a magnetic disk data storage system, comprising core and ceramic pieces bonded together to form a transducer body having a planar face with the gap positioned therein for contact with a disk recording medium in data transfer operations, the edges of the transducer body adjacent said face being beveled, and the corners at the intersections of the adjacent edges being beveled, whereby stress concentra¬ tions on the recording medium are avoided in case of engagement of the corner of the transducer with the re¬ cording medium during transducer loading or unloading.
13. A magnetic transducer according to claim 12 wherein conic section bevels are applied at said corners to blend with the edge beveling on either side of the corner.
14. A magnetic transducer according to claim 12 or claim 13 wherein the edge and corner bevels are blended or radiused into the planar face of the transistor to avoid surf ce discontinuities.
15. A transducer assembly for double sided floppy disks, comprising: first and second transducers, each having a body with a planar face having a read/write gap therein; means supporting said first and second trans- ducers for movement to an operative data transducer posi¬ tion in which the faces of said first and second trans¬ ducers are in mutual opposed contact with opposite sides of the floppy disk recording medium; said first and second transducers having beveled edges adjacent said planar faces, and having beveled corners at the intersection of the edges adjacent said planar faces so that stress concentrations on the record¬ ing medium are avoided in case of engagement of the corner of a transducer body with the recording medium during loading or unloading of the transducers on the recording medium.
16. A transducer assembly according to claim 15 wherein the edge and corner bevels are blended or radiused
5 into the planar faces of the transducer.
17. A transducer assembly according to claim 16 wherein conic section bevels are applied at said corners to blend with the edge beveling on either side of the corners.
10 18. A transducer assembly according to claim 16 wherein one of said transducers has edge and corner bevels at an angle of approximately 30 degrees to its planar face, and the other of said transducers has edge and corner bevels at an angle of approximately 15 degrees to
15. its planar face.
19. A leaf hinged transducer support arm for connec¬ tion to a movable transducer support carriage in a double sided floppy disk magnetic transducer assembly, com¬ prising: 20 a thin flexible leaf hinge member; an elongate support arm having means for mount¬ ing a magnetic transducer adjacent one end thereof for contact with a recording medium in operative position, said support arm having a generally flat configuration of 25 the surface thereof adjacent the recording medium in operative position, and having a recessed portion in said flat surface adjacent the end of said arm remote from said transducer; a first clamping plate configured to be received 0 in said recessed portion of said arm; a second clamping plate; means connecting said clamping plates on oppo¬ site surfaces of one end of said leaf hinge member, and for connecting the leaf hinge and clamping plates to said arm with said first clamping plate positioned in said recess; and said first and second clamping plates having opposed straight edges cooperatively defining a bending axis or fulcrum for said leaf hinge.
20. Apparatus according to claim 19 wherein said first and second clamping plates and said recess are configured so that in assembly the outer surface of said second clamping plate is generally planar with the gener- ally flat surface of said arm.
21. Apparatus according to claim 20 wherein said clamping means are spot welded to said leaf hinge gener¬ ally along and adjacent said opposed straight edges.
22. A magnetic transducer assembly for a magnetic disk data storage system, comprising: a magnetic transducer having a planar face; a housing for said transducer; means for positioning said transducer in said housing with its face projecting therefrom for contact with the disk recording medium for operative data trans¬ fer; and a guide ramp positioned on said housing to slope toward the transducer, to guide the edge of a disk record¬ ing medium over the face of the transducer upon insertion of the disk recording medium into operative position with respect to the transducer.
23. A magnetic transducer assembly according to claim 22 further including a second guide ramp positioned on the housing on the opposite side of the transducer from the first guide ramp, and slopping toward the transducer to guide a disk recording medium over the transducer upon removal thereof from operative position with respect to the transducer.
24. A magnetic transducer assembly according to claim 22 or claim 23 further including edge beveling of said transducer adjacent said ramp to further guide the disk recording medium.
PCT/US1980/001301 1979-10-05 1980-10-03 Transducers and supporting arm assembly for double sided floppy disk WO1981001070A1 (en)

Priority Applications (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU64807/80A AU6480780A (en) 1979-10-05 1980-10-03 Transducers and supporting arm assembly for double sided floppy disk
NL8020400A NL8020400A (en) 1979-10-05 1980-10-03
DE19803049955 DE3049955A1 (en) 1979-10-05 1980-10-03 TRANSDUCERS AND SUPPORTING ARM ASSEMBLY FOR DOUBLE SIDED FLOPPY DISK

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US06/082,234 US4315293A (en) 1979-10-05 1979-10-05 Transducer protection guide for diskette insertion and removal
US06/082,237 US4309732A (en) 1979-10-05 1979-10-05 Transducer supporting assembly for double sided floppy disk
US06/082,235 US4315292A (en) 1979-10-05 1979-10-05 Beveled magnetic heads for floppy disk
US06/082,236 US4343025A (en) 1979-10-05 1979-10-05 Transducer arm assembly for floppy disk
US82234 1979-10-05

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO1981001070A1 true WO1981001070A1 (en) 1981-04-16

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Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/US1980/001301 WO1981001070A1 (en) 1979-10-05 1980-10-03 Transducers and supporting arm assembly for double sided floppy disk

Country Status (6)

Country Link
JP (1) JPS56501424A (en)
FR (1) FR2466832A1 (en)
GB (1) GB2071395A (en)
IT (1) IT1133162B (en)
NL (1) NL8020400A (en)
WO (1) WO1981001070A1 (en)

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EP0259952A1 (en) * 1986-07-11 1988-03-16 Konica Corporation Head support system for dual head disc drive
GB2213627A (en) * 1987-12-08 1989-08-16 Hutchinson Technology Magnetic head suspension assembly

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US4443824A (en) * 1981-09-14 1984-04-17 International Business Machines Corporation Magnetic head arm assembly
US6023393A (en) * 1997-07-11 2000-02-08 Antek Peripherals, Inc. Shaped rail opposed slider air bearing configuration for increased flying height control of magnetic heads at elevated flexible disk speeds

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GB2213627A (en) * 1987-12-08 1989-08-16 Hutchinson Technology Magnetic head suspension assembly
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Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
IT8025126A0 (en) 1980-10-03
GB2071395A (en) 1981-09-16
NL8020400A (en) 1981-08-03
JPS56501424A (en) 1981-10-01
FR2466832A1 (en) 1981-04-10
IT1133162B (en) 1986-07-09

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