U.S. patent application number 11/377608 was filed with the patent office on 2006-08-17 for disk cartidge, disk recording medium device and disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus technical field.
This patent application is currently assigned to Sony Corporation. Invention is credited to Naoki Inoue, Manabu Obata.
Application Number | 20060184959 11/377608 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 19118579 |
Filed Date | 2006-08-17 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060184959 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Obata; Manabu ; et
al. |
August 17, 2006 |
Disk cartidge, disk recording medium device and disk recording
and/or reproducing apparatus technical field
Abstract
The present invention relates to a disk cartridge in which a
disk-like recording medium such as an optical disk, a
magneto-optical disk and a magnetic disk is accommodated within a
disk compartment of a cartridge housing, a disk recording medium
device in which the disk-like recording medium is accommodated in
advance within the disk compartment so as to become freely
rotatable and a disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus for
recording and/or reproducing information by using this disk
recording medium device. According to a disk cartridge of the
present invention, there is provided a disk cartridge composed of a
cartridge housing including an upper shell, a rotary member and a
lower shell, a shutter member movable between the opening position
and the closing position to open and close an opening portion of
the cartridge housing and a shutter fixing means for holding the
shutter member in the closed state at the closing position and in
which the shutter member is held in the opened state at the opening
position by the shutter fixing means. According to the present
invention, there is no risk that vibrations generated from an
external apparatus will be transmitted to the disk cartridge and
the like through an open and hold mechanism. Thus, malfunctions
caused by vibrations can be prevented or suppressed when
information is written in and read out from the disk-like recording
medium.
Inventors: |
Obata; Manabu; (Kanagawa,
JP) ; Inoue; Naoki; (Kanagawa, JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
OBLON, SPIVAK, MCCLELLAND, MAIER & NEUSTADT, P.C.
1940 DUKE STREET
ALEXANDRIA
VA
22314
US
|
Assignee: |
Sony Corporation
Tokyo
JP
|
Family ID: |
19118579 |
Appl. No.: |
11/377608 |
Filed: |
March 17, 2006 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
10432535 |
May 23, 2003 |
7051349 |
|
|
PCT/JP02/09957 |
Sep 26, 2002 |
|
|
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11377608 |
Mar 17, 2006 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
720/738 ;
G9B/23.033; G9B/23.036 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G11B 23/0312 20130101;
G11B 23/0308 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
720/738 |
International
Class: |
G11B 23/03 20060101
G11B023/03 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Sep 27, 2001 |
JP |
2001-297511 |
Claims
1. In a disk cartridge comprising: a cartridge housing in which a
disk compartment is formed between an upper shell and a rotary
member or between said rotary member and a lower shell by combining
said upper shell, said rotary member and said lower shell, said
rotary member is supported by at least one of said upper shell and
said lower shell so as to become freely rotatable and in which an
opening portion is provided on at least one of said upper shell and
said lower shell or on at least one of said upper shell and said
lower shell and said rotary member; a shutter member provided on
said cartridge housing so as to become movable between the opening
position at which it opens said opening portion and the closing
position at which it closes said opening portion in response to
rotation of said rotary member; and shutter fixing means for
holding said shutter member in the closed state at said closing
position, a disk cartridge characterized in that said shutter
member is held in the opened state at said opening position by said
shutter fixing means.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention relates to a disk cartridge in which a
disk-like recording medium such as an optical disk, a
magneto-optical disk and a magnetic disk is accommodated within a
disk compartment of a cartridge housing, a disk recording medium
device in which the disk-like recording medium is accommodated
within the disk compartment so as to become freely rotatable and a
disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus for recording and/or
reproducing information by using this disk-like recording
medium.
BACKGROUND ART
[0002] As a disk recording medium device in which a disk-like
recording medium capable of recording and/or reproducing
information such as audio data, video data or computer data is
accommodated within a cartridge housing so as to become freely
rotatable, there is known a disk recording medium device having an
arrangement shown in FIG. 42, for example. This disk recording
medium device 1 is an information recording media which
incorporates therein a write once magneto-optical disk on which
users are able to record (write) information such as computer data
later on.
[0003] This disk recording medium device 1 comprises a cartridge
housing 2 composed of a pair of upper shell 2a and lower shell 2b,
a magneto-optical disk 4 accommodated within a disk compartment 3
of this cartridge housing 2 so as to become freely rotatable and so
forth. The cartridge housing 2 has on its upper and lower surfaces
provided an upper and lower opening portion 5 that extends from a
central portion to one side. This opening portion 5 can be opened
and closed by a shutter member 6 that can slide along one side. The
shutter member 6 is constantly spring-biased in the direction to
close the opening portion 5 under spring force of a spring, not
shown. Reference numeral 6a denotes a presser member for preventing
a tip end portion of the shutter member 6 from being disengaged
from the opening portion inadvertently.
[0004] The magneto-optical disk 4 has at its central portion
provided a disk-like center hub 7 made of metal. This center hub 7
is located at the position opposing to the inner end portion of the
opening portion 5, i.e. located at substantially the central
portion of the cartridge housing 2. A turntable provided on the
main body side of an information recording and reproducing
apparatus is mounted to the center hub 7. The magneto-optical disk
4 is chucked to the turntable and thereby the magneto-optical disk
is rotated at a predetermined velocity (e.g. constant linear
velocity). At that time, a magneto-optical pickup device of which
the head portion is inserted into the opening portion 5 functions
to record or reproduce information on or from the magneto-optical
disk 4.
[0005] However, in the conventional disk recording medium device
having the above-mentioned arrangement, the shutter member 6 that
is provided on the cartridge housing 2 so as to become freely
slidable is constantly spring-biased in the direction in which it
closes the opening portion 3 by a spring. When the disk recording
medium device is in use, the shutter member 6 is slid in the
direction in which it opens the opening portion 3 to open the
opening portion against spring-biasing force of this spring. To
this end, a disk recording and reproducing apparatus that records
and reproduces an information signal by using this disk recording
medium device 1 needs an open and hold mechanism for holding the
shutter member 6 at the opening position in order to hold the
opening portion 3 in the opened state while the disk recording
medium device is in use.
[0006] While such open and hold mechanism is generally provided on
the disk recording and reproducing apparatus, various vibration
sources are existing on the disk recording and reproducing
apparatus and shocks are applied to the disk recording and
reproducing apparatus from the outside unavoidably. Vibrations
generated from this disk recording and reproducing apparatus or
shocks inputted to the disk recording and reproducing apparatus
from the outside are transmitted through the open and hold
mechanism to the disk recording medium device 1. As a result, when
vibrations from the disk recording and reproducing apparatus are
applied to the disk recording medium device 1, vibrations are
transmitted to the magneto-optical disk 4 and a magneto-optical
head of a magneto-optical pickup device and the like. There arises
a problem in which an information signal is read out from and
written in the magneto-optical disk 1 inaccurately.
[0007] When external shocks are applied to the disk recording
medium device 1, it is unavoidable that the open and hold mechanism
for holding the shutter member 6 at the opening position is
disengaged from the disk recording and reproducing apparatus. In
such case, the shutter member 6 that intends to move toward the
closing direction is brought in contact with the optical head of
the optical pickup device and the turntable. As a result, there is
a risk that the optical head will be broken or that the shutter
member 6 itself will be broken.
[0008] In particular, as a storage capacity of an optical disk is
increasing progressively and a recording density is increasing
progressively, pitches of recording patterns is becoming narrower
and linear density is increasing more in recent years. Thus, when
an information recording surface of a magnetic recording medium
such as an optical disk and a magneto-optical disk is vibrated or
smudged by dusts and the like, such vibrations and the smudged
information recording surface hinder the optical pickup device from
reading or writing information correctly. So that information
cannot be read out from and written in the disk recording medium
device normally.
[0009] In view of the aforesaid aspect, it is an object of the
present invention to provide a disk cartridge, a disk recording
medium device and a disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus in
which when a shutter member has finished opening the opening
portion, pressure from an open and hold mechanism of an external
apparatus and which is used to hold the shutter member at the
opening position can be prevented from being applied to a cartridge
housing so that the shutter member can be held at the opening
position by an inside mechanism.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
[0010] In a disk cartridge according to the present invention,
there is provided a disk cartridge comprising a cartridge housing
in which a disk compartment is formed between an upper shell and a
rotary member or between the rotary member and a lower shell by
combining the upper shell, the rotary member and the lower shell,
the rotary member is supported by at least one of the upper shell
and the lower shell so as to become freely rotatable and an opening
portion is formed on at least one of the upper shell and the lower
shell or at least one of the upper shell and the lower shell and
the rotary member, a shutter member provided on the cartridge
housing so as to become movable between the opening position at
which it opens the opening portion and the closing position at
which it closes the opening portion in response to rotation of the
rotary member, a shutter fixing means for holding the shutter
member in the closed state at the closing position and in which the
shutter member is held in the opened state at the opening position
by the shutter fixing means.
[0011] Further, in a disk cartridge according to the present
invention, there is provided a disk cartridge comprising a
cartridge housing in which a disk compartment is formed by
combining an upper shell and a lower shell and an opening portion
is provided on at least one of the upper shell and the lower shell,
a shutter member provided on the cartridge housing so as to become
movable between the opening position at which it opens the opening
portion and the closing position at which it closes the opening
portion and a shutter fixing means for holding the shutter member
in the closed state at the closing position and in which the
shutter member is held in the opened state at the opening position
by the shutter fixing means.
[0012] In a disk recording medium device according to the present
invention, there is provided a disk recording medium device
comprising a cartridge housing in which a disk compartment is
formed between an upper shell and a rotary member or between the
rotary member and a lower shell by combining the upper shell, the
rotary member and the lower shell, the rotary member is supported
by at least one of the upper shell and the lower shell so as to
become freely rotatable and an opening portion is provided on at
least one of the upper shell and the lower shell or between at
least one of the upper shell and the lower shell and the rotary
member, a disk-like recording medium accommodated within the disk
compartment so as to become freely rotatable, a shutter member
provided on the cartridge housing so as to become movable between
the opening position at which it opens the opening portion and the
closing position at which it closes the opening portion in response
to rotation of the rotary member and a shutter fixing means for
holding the shutter member in the closed state at the closing
position and in which the shutter member is held in the opened
state at the opening position by the shutter fixing means.
[0013] Further, in a disk recording medium device according to the
present invention, there is provided a disk recording medium device
comprising a cartridge housing in which a disk compartment is
formed by combining an upper shell and a lower shell and an opening
portion is provided on at least one of the upper shell and the
lower shell, a disk-like recording medium accommodated within the
disk compartment so as to become freely rotatable, a shutter member
provided on the cartridge housing so as to become movable between
the opening position at which it opens the opening portion and the
closing position at which it closes the opening portion and a
shutter fixing means for holding the shutter member in the closed
state at the closing position and in which the shutter member is
held in the opened state at the opening position by the shutter
fixing means.
[0014] In a disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus according
to the present invention, there is provided a disk recording and/or
reproducing apparatus comprising a disk recording medium device
including a cartridge housing in which a disk-like recording medium
is accommodated within a disk compartment so as to become freely
rotatable, a shutter member movable between the opening position at
which it opens an opening portion provided on the cartridge housing
so as to expose a part of the disk-like recording medium and the
closing position at which it closes the opening portion and a
shutter fixing means for holding the shutter member in the closed
state at the closing position, a shutter opening and closing means
for opening and closing the opening portion by moving the shutter
member in response to inserting and ejecting operations of the disk
recording medium device and a table drive apparatus to which the
disk recording medium device is loaded detachably and which is
inserted into the disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus from
the opening portion opened by the shutter opening and closing means
to chuck and rotate the disk-like recording medium, wherein the
cartridge housing is formed by combining the upper shell and the
lower shell or by combining the upper shell, the rotary member and
the lower shell, the disk compartment is formed between the upper
shell and the lower shell or between the upper shell and the rotary
member or between the rotary member and the lower shell and the
shutter member is held in the opened state at the opening position
by the shutter fixing means.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a disk
recording medium device according to an embodiment of the present
invention from the upper surface side in an exploded fashion.
[0016] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a disk
recording medium device according to an embodiment of the present
invention from the lower surface side in an exploded fashion.
[0017] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an upper shell of a
disk cartridge for use with a disk recording medium device
according to the present invention from the upper surface side.
[0018] FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the upper shell of the disk
cartridge for use with the disk recording medium device according
to the present invention.
[0019] FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a chucking ring and a
ring holder attached to the upper shell of the disk cartridge for
use with the disk recording medium device according to the present
invention from the upper surface side.
[0020] FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the central portions of
the chucking ring and the ring holder attached to the upper shell
of the disk cartridge for use with the disk recording medium device
according to the present invention from the lower surface side in a
cross-sectional fashion.
[0021] FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a rotary member of the
disk cartridge for use with the disk recording medium device
according to the present invention from the upper surface side.
[0022] FIG. 8 is a plan view of the rotary member of the disk
cartridge for use with the disk recording medium device according
to the present invention.
[0023] FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a pair of shutter
members of the disk cartridge for use with the disk recording
medium device according to the present invention from the upper
surface side.
[0024] FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the assembled state of
a pair of shutter members of the disk cartridge for use with the
disk recording medium device according to the present invention
from the upper surface side.
[0025] FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a lock member of the
disk cartridge for use with the disk recording medium device
according to the present invention from the upper surface side.
[0026] FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the lock member of the
disk cartridge for use with the disk recording medium device
according to the present invention from the lower surface side.
[0027] FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing a mis-erase prevention
member of the disk cartridge for use with the disk recording medium
device according to the present invention from the upper surface
side.
[0028] FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing the lower shell of the
disk cartridge for use with the disk recording medium device
according to the present invention from the upper surface side.
[0029] FIG. 15 is a plan view of the lower shell of the disk
cartridge for use with the disk recording medium device according
to the present invention.
[0030] FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing the state in which a
pair of shutter members is attached to the rotary member of the
disk recording medium device shown in FIG. 1 to thereby close the
inside opening portion.
[0031] FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing an outward arrangement
of the disk recording medium device shown in FIG. 1.
[0032] FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing the disk recording
medium device shown in FIG. 17 from the lower surface side and
illustrates the state in which the opening portion is closed by
closing a shutter mechanism.
[0033] FIG. 19 is a perspective view showing the disk recording
medium device shown in FIG. 17 from the lower surface side and
illustrates the state in which the opening portion is opened by
opening the shutter mechanism.
[0034] FIG. 20 is an explanatory cross-sectional view taken along
the lines connecting a pair of positioning holes of the disk
recording medium device shown in FIG. 17.
[0035] FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram view to which reference
will be made in explaining chucking in the disk recording medium
device according to the present invention and illustrates, in a
cross-sectional fashion, the state obtained before an optical disk
is attached to the turntable.
[0036] FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram to which reference will be
made in explaining chucking in the disk recording medium device
according to the present invention and illustrates, in a
cross-sectional fashion, the state obtained after the optical disk
has been attached to the turntable.
[0037] FIGS. 23 are perspective views to which reference will be
made in explaining the manner in which the rotary member is
elevated and lowered relative to the upper shell when the opening
portion of the disk recording medium device according to the
present invention is opened and closed, wherein FIG. 23A is an
exploded perspective view, FIG. 23B is a perspective view showing
the state in which the rotary member is lowered relative to the
upper shell and FIG. 23C is a perspective view showing the state in
which the rotary member is elevated relative to the upper
shell.
[0038] FIG. 24 is a diagram to which reference will be made in
explaining how to calculate clearances among a cam portion of the
upper shell and a cam protrusion of a rotary member of the disk
cartridge according to the present invention and shows sizes of the
upper shell, the rotary member, the lower shell and the shutter
member in the form of reference numerals.
[0039] FIG. 25 is a diagram to which reference will be made in
explaining how to calculate a clearance between a cam portion of
the upper shell and a cam protrusion of a rotary member of the disk
cartridge according to the present invention and shows its
clearance in the form of reference numerals.
[0040] FIG. 26 is a perspective view showing a disk recording
and/or reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the
present invention.
[0041] FIG. 27 is a perspective view showing a feed screw drive
device of the disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus according
to the present invention and illustrates a part of a power
transmission member and so forth in a cross-sectional fashion;
[0042] FIG. 28 is an explanatory block diagram showing a circuit
arrangement of a disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0043] FIG. 29 is a perspective view showing the state presented
before the disk recording medium device is loaded onto the table
drive apparatus of the disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus
according to the present invention.
[0044] FIG. 30 is a perspective view showing the state presented
when the disk recording medium device is being loaded onto the disk
recording and/or reproducing apparatus according to the present
invention.
[0045] FIG. 31 is a perspective view showing a shutter opening and
closing means that opens and closes the shutter mechanism of the
disk recording medium device according to the present
invention.
[0046] FIG. 32 is a diagram to which reference will be made in
explaining the manner in which the shutter mechanism of the disk
recording medium device according to the present invention is
opened and closed by the shutter opening and closing means and
illustrates the state obtained until an initial operation convex
portion of a rack rod reaches to an opening window of the lower
shell after a pair of shutter members had closed the opening
portion of the lower shell and the opening portion of the rotary
member completely.
[0047] FIG. 33 is a plan view showing a main portion of FIG. 32 in
an enlarged-scale.
[0048] FIG. 34 is a perspective view showing a main portion of FIG.
33 in a more enlarged-scale.
[0049] FIG. 35 is a diagram to which reference will be made in
explaining the manner in which the shutter mechanism is opened and
closed by the shutter opening and closing means in the state in
which the lower shell is removed from the disk recording medium
device according to the present invention and illustrates the state
obtained when a pair of shutter members is slightly opened
(approximately 5.degree.) after the initial operation convex
portion of the rack member had engaged with an initial operation
concave portion of the rotary member to enable the rotary member
begin to rotate.
[0050] FIG. 36 is a plan view showing a main portion in an
enlarged-scale and to which reference will be made in explaining
relationships among the rotary member, the lower shell, the lock
member and the like in the state in which the upper shell is
removed from the recording medium device shown in FIG. 35.
[0051] FIG. 37 is a diagram to which reference will be made in
explaining the manner in which the shutter mechanism is opened and
closed by the shutter opening and closing means in the state in
which the lower shell is removed from the disk recording medium
device according to the present invention and illustrates the state
obtained when a pair of shutter members is largely opened
(approximately 30.degree.) after a rack portion of the rack rod had
meshed with a gear portion of the rotary member.
[0052] FIG. 38 is a plan view showing a main portion in an
enlarged-scale and to which reference will be made in explaining
relationships among the rotary member, the lower shell, the lock
member and the like in the state in which the upper shell is
removed from the disk recording medium device shown in FIG. 37.
[0053] FIG. 39 is a diagram to which reference will be made in
explaining the manner in which the shutter mechanism is opened and
closed by the shutter opening and closing means in the state in
which the lower shell is removed from the disk recording medium
device according to the present invention and illustrates the state
obtained when a pair of shutter members opens the opening portion
completely (approximately 55.degree.) after a stopper convex
portion of the rack member had engaged with a set position concave
portion of the rotary member.
[0054] FIG. 40 is a plan view showing a main portion in an
enlarged-scale and to which reference will be made in explaining
relationships among the rotary member, the lower shell, the lock
member and the like in the state in which the upper shell is
removed from the disk recording medium device shown in FIG. 39.
[0055] FIG. 41 is an explanatory diagram showing a main portion and
to which reference will be made in explaining a tooth form of the
rack portion of the rack rod shown in FIG. 31.
[0056] FIG. 42 is a perspective view showing a disk cartridge
according to the prior art.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
[0057] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below
with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIGS. 1 to 41 are
diagrams showing embodiments of a disk cartridge; a disk recording
medium device and a disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus
according to the present invention.
[0058] In the present application, "disk cartridge" refers to such
a disk cartridge having a main arrangement comprising an upper
shell, a lower shell or an upper shell, a lower shell and a rotary
member and one or a pair of shutter members (two shutter members
and a combination of more than three shutter members may be
possible) and a housing presented before a disk-like recording
medium is accommodated. A "disk recording medium device" refers to
such a disk recording medium device in which a disk-like recording
medium is accommodated within a disk compartment and which
comprises a combination of a cartridge housing and a disk-like
recording medium. Further, "disk recording and/or reproducing
apparatus" refers to such a disk recording and/or reproducing
apparatus which comprises a combination of a disk recording medium
device, a table drive apparatus and the like.
[0059] A disk recording medium device 10 including a disk cartridge
according to the present invention accommodates therein a read-only
optical disk in which various information signals such as a music
signal as audio information and a video signal and a music signal
as video information are recorded in advance or an optical disk in
which information signals such as audio information and video
information can be recorded only once (write once optical disk) or
an optical disk 11 in which information signals such as audio
information and video information can be recorded repeatedly
(rewritable optical disk) as a disk-like recording medium.
[0060] However, the disk-like recording medium is not limited to
the above-mentioned optical disks and a magnetic disk having a
magnetic thin film layer formed on the surface of a thin disk to
store information based upon the magnetization state of the
specific position, a magneto-optical disk capable of writing or
reading information in or out of a similarly formed magnetic thin
film layer by the use of an optical head and a magnetic head and
other disk-like recording mediums can be applied to the present
invention, for example.
[0061] The disk recording medium device 10 comprises, as shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2, a cartridge housing 12 formed by combining a pair of
an upper shell 13, a rotary member 14 and a lower shell 15, an
optical disk 11 accommodated within a disk compartment 16 formed
within this disk cartridge 12 so as to become freely rotatable, a
pair of shutter members 19a, 19b for opening and closing an inside
opening portion 18 and an outside opening portion 17 formed in the
rotary member 14 and the lower shell 15 and the like. The disk
cartridge is obtained by removing the optical disk 11 from this
disk recording medium device 10.
[0062] Since the disk recording medium device 10 generally uses the
optical disk 11 such that the optical disk is placed in the
horizontal state, the shell disposed on the upper side of the
optical disk 11 is referred to as the "upper shell 13" and the
shell disposed on the lower side of the optical disk 11 is referred
to as the "lower shell 15". However, the disk recording medium
device 10 is also able to use the optical disk 11 such that the
optical disk 11 is placed in the vertical state or in the oblique
state. In such case, the upper shell 13 in this embodiment may be
referred to as a "first shell" and the lower shell 15 may be
referred to as a "second shell".
[0063] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the upper shell 13 is formed of a
thin dish-like member having substantially a square shape of which
the front side is shaped like an arc. This upper shell 13 has a
lower surface (surface appearing as a front surface in FIG. 4) in
which an annular upper inner surface wall 21 continued in the
circumferential direction is formed at the central portion thereof.
A circular upper concave portion 16a is set on the inside of this
upper inner surface wall 21. Then, an annular cam groove 22 is
provided on the outside of the upper inner surface wall 21 so as to
be continued in the circumferential direction to surround the upper
inner surface wall 21. Cam portions 22a of predetermined lengths
(portions hatched in a cross-stripes fashion) are provided at three
portions of the circumferential direction of the cam groove 22 with
substantially an equal interval. The cam portion 22a is adapted to
lift up the rotary member 14 so that the rotary member may approach
the lower shell 15 when the rotary member 14 is rotated, displaced
and moved to a predetermined position of the upper shell 13.
Actions of the cam portion 22a will be described in detail later
on.
[0064] On the outer peripheral edge of the upper shell 13, there
are formed an upper front edge 13a, left and right upper side
surface edges 13b, 13c and an upper rear surface edge 13d. The
upper front surface edge 13a has a first concave portion 23a formed
at its substantially central portion to properly position the lower
shell 15 and to insert and eject an optical head which will be
described later on. A central portion of the upper rear surface
edge 13d is concaved in the inside to provide a concave portion
13.sub.d0 to which the lower rear surface edge of the lower shell
15 is attached. Further, the upper rear surface edge 13d has a
second concave portion 23b formed at its substantially central
portion to properly position the lower shell 15. Then, the upper
inner surface wall 21 has recesses 21a, 21b of shapes and sizes
corresponding to the respective concave portions 23a, 23b formed at
its positions opposing to the first and second concave portions
23a, 23b.
[0065] Two front upper surrounding walls 24a, 24b are formed on one
upper front surface edge 13a and between the upper side surface
edge 13c and the cam groove 22 of the upper shell 13 with a
predetermined clearance. Further, among the upper rear surface edge
13d, the upper side surface edge 13b and the cam groove 22, there
are provided two rear upper surrounding walls 24c, 24d with a
predetermined clearance. Then, two rear side upper surrounding
walls 24e, 24f are formed on the upper rear surface edge 13d and
between the upper side surface edge 13c and the cam groove 22d with
a predetermined clearance. These upper surrounding walls 24a to 24f
are set to be higher than the upper inner surface wall 21. In
particular, the three upper surrounding walls 24a, 24c and 24e
located at the respective corner portions are set to be high enough
to contact with the inner surface of the lower shell 15 upon
assembly-process.
[0066] Further, on the inside of the rear upper surrounding wall
24e of the upper shell 13, there is provided an upper concave
portion 26a of a plug housing portion 26 to which a mis-erase
prevention member 25, which will be described later on, is attached
slidably. This upper concave portion 26a is formed of the upper
rear surface edge 13d with an upper recess 27a for forming the
upper half of the opening window 27 for sliding the mis-erase
prevention member 25 and an upper housing wall 28a provided so as
to surround the inside of the upper recess 27a. Then, the upper
concave portion 26a is provided with a guide portion 29 having two
notches formed thereon to intermittently render the mis-erase
prevention member operative. Further, the upper shell 13 has screw
fixing protrusions 30 formed at its four corner portions to fix the
lower shell 15 by screws.
[0067] As shown in FIG. 3, the upper surface of the upper shell 13
is slightly expanded upwardly from the central portion to the rear
surface, and an expanded portion 31 of the upper shell has a
nonskid holding concave portion 31a formed at its rear surface to
prevent a user from slipping the disk recording medium device when
a user holds the disk recording medium device. This expanded
portion 31 has a triangular instruction mark 31b formed at its
front surface to indicate the correct insertion direction in which
the disk recording medium device 10 should be inserted into the
disk recording and reproducing apparatus. An upper surface
attachment surface 31c is provided between the instruction mark 31b
and the holding concave portion 31a to attach a label where users
can write recorded contents and other necessary items.
[0068] A chucking ring 33 is supported at the central portion of
the inner surface of this upper shell 13 by a ring holder 34 so as
to become freely rotatable. The chucking ring 33 and the ring
holder 34 have arrangements shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 in an
enlarged-scale. Specifically, the chucking ring 33 is shaped like a
disk made of a magnetic material (e.g. stainless steel SUS430,
etc.) that can be attracted by a magnet. Then, a plurality of
annular concave and convex portions having different diameters are
provided at concentric circles, whereby the chucking ring 33 is
provided with a flange portion 33a located at the outermost
periphery of the concentric circle, a holding portion 33b that
contacts with the optical disk 11, a tapered portion 33c set
between the holding portion 33b and the flange portion 33a, a
position restriction portion 33d located at the innermost periphery
of the concentric circle and an escape portion 33e set between the
position restriction portion 33d and the holding portion 33b.
[0069] The holding portion 33b of the chucking ring 33 plays a role
of a presser portion for pressing the optical disk against the
turntable by pressing the peripheral edge portion that surrounds
the center hole 11a of the optical disk 11. This holding portion
33b projects to one surface side and the flange portion 33 projects
to the opposite surface side. Then, with a proper step difference
between the surface of the flange portion 33a and the surface of
the holding portion 33b, the escape portion 33e and the position
restriction portion 33d are set from the side of the holding
portion 33b to the flange portion 33a.
[0070] The position restriction portion 33d of the chucking ring 33
opposes the tip end portion of the fitting portion 81a of the
turntable 81 as shown in FIGS. 21 and 22 and serves as a magnetic
force reception portion that receives magnetic force of a magnet 97
incorporated within the fitting portion 81a. This position
restriction portion 33d is provided at its center with a tapered
concave portion 33f matched with the shape of the tip end portion
of the fitting portion 81a. Upon chucking, the tip end portion of
the fitting portion 81a is fitted into the tapered concave portion
so as to become freely detachable.
[0071] The ring holder 34 is generally shaped like a ring and
includes an inward inside flange 34a formed at one surface side and
an outward outside flange 34b formed on the other surface side. The
ring holder 34 supports the chucking ring 33 such that the chucking
ring is accommodated therein so as to become freely rotatable. The
chucking ring has the outside flange 34b integrally fixed to
substantially the central portion of the inner surface of the upper
shell 13 by a fixing means such as fusion or adhesion using an
adhesive agent. In order to make the surface of the outside flange
34b of the ring holder 34 become flush with the inner surface of
the upper shell 13, the upper shell 13 has an attachment hole 13e
into which the outside flange 34b is fitted.
[0072] Although the inside diameter of the inside flange 34a of
this ring holder 34 is larger than the outside diameter of the
holding portion 33b of the chucking ring 33, the inside diameter of
the inside flange is smaller than the inside diameter of the flange
portion 33a and is large enough to come in contact with the
slanting surface of the tapered portion 33c. Accordingly, the thick
portion set on the inside of the radius portion of the chucking
ring 33 is inserted into the center hole 34c of the ring holder 34
up to its intermediate portion. Then, the tapered portion 33c of
the chucking ring 33 is supported from the underside by the inner
peripheral edge of the inside flange 34a of the ring holder 34. As
a consequence, within the ring holder 34, the chucking ring 33 can
be moved in the plane direction in a predetermined, range and can
also be moved in the thickness direction (axis direction)
perpendicular to the plane direction within a predetermined
range.
[0073] The attachment hole 13e formed on the inner surface of the
upper shell 13 is provided with two annular convex portions 98a,
98b in correspondence with the shape of the above-mentioned ring
holder 34. Two annular convex portions 99a, 99b are shaped so as to
become concentric with the center of the chucking ring 33. The
outer surface of the position restriction portion 33d is opposed to
the inner surface of the first annular convex portion 99a set at
the inside and the inner surface of the tapered portion 33c of the
chucking ring 33 is opposed to the outer surface of the second
annular convex portion 99b set at the outside. According to the
existence of the first and second annular convex portions 99a, 99b,
an inclination angle of the chucking ring 33 can be decreased in
the state in which the disk recording medium device 10 is placed in
the vertical direction.
[0074] The lower shell 15 is combined with the lower surface of the
upper shell 13. As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 14 and 15, the lower shell
15 has the outside shape approximately similar to that of the upper
shell 13 and is formed of a thin dish-like member of approximately
square-shape of which the front surface side is shaped like an arc.
This lower shell 15 is provided with the outside opening portion 17
that is opened in the front surface side. The outside opening
portion 17 comprises a table opening portion 17a provided at
substantially the central portion of the lower shell 15 and a head
opening portion 17b extended from this table opening portion 17a
along the radius direction and which is opened in the front
surface.
[0075] The outside opening portion 17 is adapted to enable a
turntable of a table drive device, which will be described later
on, and an optical head of an optical pickup device, which will be
described later on, to face the optical disk 11 accommodated within
the disk compartment 16. The outside opening portion is wide enough
to enter and eject the turntable of the table drive apparatus and
the optical head of the optical pickup device. Specifically, the
turntable is entered into and ejected from the table opening
portion 17a and the optical head is entered into and ejected from
the head opening portion 17b.
[0076] Moreover, the lower shell 15 has lower inner surface walls
36a, 36b, 36c and 36d of arc-shapes formed at its four corners, and
the lower concave portion 16b is set on the inside of the inner
surface walls 36a to 36d. Further, the outside opening portion 17
of the lower shell 15 has a rib 37 formed at its inner surface
peripheral edge to decrease a clearance between it and the shutter
member for increasing an airtight property.
[0077] The rib 37 includes an arc-like rib portion 37a formed along
the peripheral edge of the table opening portion 17a in a
semicircle fashion, linear rib portions 37b, 37b formed along the
two edges of the head opening portion 17b in parallel to each other
and symmetrical rib portions 37c, 37c extended in the opposite
direction so as to well balance with the linear rib portions 37b.
The two linear rib portions 37b and the two symmetrical rib
portions 37c have shield portions 38a, 38b formed at their outside
portions to close clearances formed at the outside portions of the
two shutter members 19a, 19b.
[0078] Further, within the lower concave portion 16b of the lower
shell 15, there is provided a pair of operation convex portions
39a, 39b for opening and closing a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b
based upon the rotation movement of the rotary member 14. A pair of
operation convex portions 39a, 39b is disposed at both sides of the
outside opening portion 35 so as to sandwich the table opening
portion 17a.
[0079] The lower shell 15 has a lower front surface edge 15a, right
and left lower side surface edges 15b, 15c and a lower rear surface
edge 15d formed at its outer peripheral edge. The lower front
surface edge 15a, the lower side surface edges 15b, 15c and the
lower rear surface edge 15d have stepped structures in which
stepped portions are formed on the intermediate portions of the
height directions and in which the upper portions increase in
thickness. The thin portions of the lower front surface edge 15a,
the right and left lower side surface edges 15b, 15c and the lower
rear surface edge 15d enter the inside portions of the upper front
surface edge 13a, the upper side surface edges 13b, 13c and the
upper rear surface edge 13d of the upper shell 13 to cause the
respective stepped portions to come in contact with the respective
lower end faces of the upper front surface edge 13a, the upper side
surface edges 13b, 13c and the upper rear surface edge 13d.
[0080] An opening end 40a of the head opening portion 17b defined
at substantially the central portion of the lower front surface
edge 15a of the lower shell 15 engages with the first concave
portion 23a of the upper shell 13 so that the front side is
properly positioned. The lower rear surface edge 15d has a
positioning portion 40b (see FIG. 32) formed at its central portion
to engage with the second concave portion 23b of the upper shell 13
so that the rear side is properly positioned. This positioning
portion 40b has a label attachment wall 41 provided at its outside
and the outer surface of the label attachment wall serves as a
label attachment surface. This label attachment wall 41
considerably projects toward the side of the upper shell 13 so as
to become able to keep a flat surface portion as wide as possible.
Upon assembly-process, this label attachment wall is inserted into
the concave portion 13.sub.d0.
[0081] The lower front surface edge 15a, the lower side surface
edge 15c and the inner surface wall 36b of the lower shell 15
constitute a front lower surrounding wall 42a. Further, the lower
rear surface edge 15d, the lower side surface edge 15b and the
lower inner surface wall 36c constitute a rear lower surrounding
wall 42b. Then, the lower rear surface edge 15d, the lower side
surface edge 15c and the lower inner surface wall 36d constitute a
rear lower surrounding wall 42c. As a result, when the upper and
lower shells 13, 15 are assembled, the front upper surrounding wall
24a of the upper shell 13 is fitted into the inside of the front
lower surrounding wall 42a. Then, the rear upper surrounding wall
24c is fitted into the inside of the rear lower surrounding wall
42b, and the rear upper surrounding wall 24e is fitted into the
inside of the rear lower surrounding wall 42c.
[0082] Further, on the inside of the rear lower surrounding wall
42c of the lower shell 15, there is provided the lower concave
portion 26b to which the mis-erase prevention member 25 is
attached. This lower concave portion 26b is composed of the lower
rear surface edge 15d in which the lower recess 27b forming the
lower half of the opening window 27 is formed and the lower housing
wall 28b provided so as to surround the inside of the lower recess
27b. This lower concave portion 26b has a guide groove 43 formed on
its lower surface to guide the mis-erase prevention member 25 to
thereby restrict the slide direction. This lower concave portion
26b and the upper concave portion 26a constitute the plug housing
portion 26.
[0083] This mis-erase prevention member 25 has an arrangement that
is shown in FIG. 13 in an enlarged-scale. Specifically, the
mis-erase prevention member 25 is generally shaped like a cube and
the front portion 25a is provided with a projection portion which
projects to one side. The opposite side of the projection portion
of this front portion 25 is provided with an operation protrusion
25b that is used by users to slide the mis-erase prevention member
25. Further, the mis-erase prevention member 25 has a guide
protrusion 25c formed on its lower surface to slidably engage with
the guide groove 43 of the lower shell 15. The mis-erase prevention
member has an engagement portion 25d provided on the rear surface
opposite to the front surface portion 25a to engage with the guide
portion 29 to prevent the mis-erase prevention member from being
dropped. Although not shown, in the vicinity of this engagement
portion 25d, there is provided a resilient member that is
resiliently engaged with the recess of the guide portion 29,
although not shown. Resilience of this resilient member may enable
users to feel sense of clicking when users slide the mis-erase
prevention member.
[0084] Further, as shown in FIG. 15, the lower shell 15 has front
attachment holes 44a and back attachment holes 44b provided at four
corner portions to fasten the lower shell 15 to the upper shell 13
by screws. The respective rear attachment holes 44b extend through
cylindrical cylinder shaft portions 45 provided on the inner
surface of the lower shell 15 and the tapping protrusions 30 of the
upper shell 13 are fitted into the inner surface side of the
respective attachment holes 44b.
[0085] Further, in the vicinity of the respective cylinder shaft
portions 45, there are provided positioning shaft portions 46a,
46b. While the first positioning shaft portion 46a is formed as a
planar circle-like convex portion, the second positioning shaft
portion 46b is formed as a planar oblong convex portion. The two
positioning shaft portions 46a, 46b have a pair of reference
protrusions 47, 47 provided at their upper ends to properly
position the upper and lower shells 13, 15. A pair of reference
protrusions 47, 47 is circular in plane shape and is approximately
the same in height.
[0086] The upper shell 13 has a pair of reference holes 48, 48
corresponding to a pair of reference protrusions 47, 47 as shown in
FIG. 20. In order to avoid interference with the respective
reference protrusions 47, the upper shell 13 has an escape portion
49a curved like a circle and an escape portion 49b curved like an
ellipse provided at the rear upper surrounding wall 24c and the
rear upper surrounding wall 24e as shown in FIG. 4.
[0087] The lower shell 15 has a pair of positioning holes 50a, 50b
provided at its positioning shaft portions 46a, 46b to open in the
lower surface opposite to the reference protrusion 47. A pair of
positioning holes 50a, 50b is adapted to properly position the disk
recording medium device 10 at the disk loading portion that is the
predetermined position of the disk recording and reproducing
apparatus. To this end, while the first positioning hole 50a is
circular as seen from the flat surface, the second positioning hole
50b is shaped like an oblong ellipse hole that can absorb size
error generated in the horizontal direction when the disk recording
medium device is properly positioned to the disk loading
portion.
[0088] The rotary member 14 is made freely rotatable within the
upper and lower concave portions 16a, 16b formed when the upper
shell 13 and the lower shell 15 having the above-mentioned
arrangements are combined together. The upper and lower shells 13,
15 and the rotary member 14 constitute the cartridge housing
12.
[0089] One side edge portions 13b, 15b of the upper and lower
shells 13, 15 thus combined have an opening window 52 formed at
approximately their central portions to expose a part of the outer
peripheral surface of the rotary member 14. This opening window 52
consists of an upper recess portion 52a provided at the joint
portion of the upper shell 13 and a lower recess portion 52b
provided at the joint portion of the lower shell 15. Further, the
upper and lower shells 13, 15 have a loading guide groove 53
provided at their one side edge portions 13b, 15b to extend along
their joint surface in the front and rear direction. The loading
guide groove 53 is provided in order to enable a shutter opening
and closing means, which will be described later on, to rotate the
rotary member 14 when the shutter opening and closing means is
inserted into the loading guide groove.
[0090] The other side edge portions 13c, 15c have a mis-insertion
detection groove 54 extended in somewhere of the front and rear
direction along the joint surface in an opposing relation to this
loading guide groove 53. Half portions of the loading guide groove
53 and the mis-insertion detection groove 54 are provided on the
upper shell 13 and the lower shell 15 so that square grooves are
respectively formed when the two shells 13, 15 are combined
together. According to the combination of the loading guide groove
53 and the mis-insertion detection groove 54, the disk recording
medium device 10 can be prevented from being erroneously inserted
into the apparatus when the disk recording medium device is loaded
onto the table drive apparatus and hence the disk recording medium
device 10 can constantly be loaded onto the table drive apparatus
with correct attitude.
[0091] Further, a lock housing portion 55 is formed on the inside
of one front edge portions 13a, 15a of the upper and lower shells
13, 15. Then, the lock housing portion 55 has a lock member 56,
which shows a concrete example of a shutter fixing means, swingably
provided thereon to lock the rotary member 14 at predetermined
position. The lock housing portion 55 is communicated with the
lower concave portion 16b and is also communicated with the loading
guide groove 53 through an opening hole 57 bored on one side edge
portions 13b, 15b. A support shaft 58 which swingably supports the
lock member 56 is provided on the lower shell 15 forming one of the
lock housing portion 55 in such a manner as to protrude toward the
side of the upper shell 13.
[0092] As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 in an enlarged-scale, the lock
member 56 is formed of a lever-like member that is fitted into the
support shaft 58 so as to become freely rotatable and which can
swing in the plane direction. Specifically, the lock member 56
consists of an annular rotary shaft portion 56a, an operation arm
56b projecting to one side from this rotary shaft portion 56a and a
lock arm 56c and a resilient arm 56d, both of which are projecting
to the other side from the rotary shaft portion 56a. The operation
arm 56 has an input portion 56.sub.b1 provided at its tip end to
project in the lateral direction. The input portion 56.sub.b1 of
the operation arm 56b has a hammerhead-like shape and has strength
large enough to endure pressing force applied from the lateral
direction.
[0093] Pushing force is applied to the input portion 56.sub.b1 of
this operation arm 56 by a rack portion 85a of a rack rod 95 which
will be described later on. Specifically, when the disk recording
medium device 10 is loaded onto the disk recording and/or
reproducing apparatus, the gear teeth of the rack portion 95a are
brought in contact with the input portion 56.sub.b1 from the
lateral direction due to relative movement between the disk
recording medium device and the rack rod 95 so that the input
portion 56.sub.b1 is pushed into the opening hole 57 by pressing
force of the gear teeth. Then, a plurality of gear teeth of the
rack portion 95a are sequentially brought in contact with the
surfaces opposing the loading guide groove 53 of the input portion
56.sub.b1, whereby the input portion 56.sub.b1 is held within the
opening hole 57.
[0094] A direction win which external force that is pushing force
on the surface in which each addendum of the rack portion 85a comes
in contact with the input portion 56.sub.b1 acts is set to be
longer than an addendum distance x of the rack portion 95a that is
the same as the addendum distance x of the gear portion 60a of the
operated portion 60 provided on the rotary member 14 so as to
rotate the rotary member 14. As described above, when the length w
of the input portion 56.sub.b1 at its direction in which external
force acts is set to be longer than the addendum distance x of the
rack portion 95a, it is possible to prevent the disk cartridge from
being broken when the disk cartridge is caught with addendums of
the rack portion 95a. A relationship between the length w of this
input portion 56.sub.b1 and the addendum distance x of the rack
portion 95a will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 41
later on.
[0095] The lock arm 56c and the resilient arm 56d of the lock
member 56 have a clearance of a proper size formed therebetween.
The resilient arm 56d is given resilience of proper strength. Then,
the lock arm 56c has a lock claw 56.sub.c1 provided at its tip end
and the resilient arm 56d has a support head portion 56.sub.d1
provided at its tip end. The lock claw 56.sub.c1 of the lock arm 56
is formed of a wedge-like concave portion that protrudes in the
direction opposite to the input portion 56.sub.b1. This lock claw
56.sub.c1 has a protrusion 56.sub.c2 protruded from its one side to
the direction in which the hole of the rotary shaft portion 56a is
extended. A support head portion 56.sub.d1 of the resilient arm 56d
is cylindrical in shape and this support head portion 56d1 is
brought in contact with the lower front edge portion 15a of the
lower shell 15.
[0096] The lock member 56 having the above-mentioned arrangement is
attached to the support shaft 58 in the state shown in FIGS. 32 to
40. Specifically, in the state in which the lock claw 56.sub.c1 is
directed toward the side of the lower concave portion 16b, the
rotary shaft portion 56a is fitted into the support shaft 58 and
the support head portion 56d1 of the resilient arm 56d is brought
in contact with the inner surface of the lower front edge portion
15a. As a consequence, the lock arm 56c is inwardly spring-biased
under spring force of the resilient arm 56d, whereby the lock claw
56.sub.c1 at the tip end of the lock arm is protruded into the
lower concave portion 16b. At the same time, the input portion
56.sub.b1 of the operation arm 56b is inserted into the opening
hole 57 from the inside and the tip end of the input portion
56.sub.b1 is projected into the loading guide groove 53.
[0097] The lock member 56 that is the above-mentioned spring member
may be suitably made of polyacetal (POM), for example. It is
needless to say that other engineering plastics can be applied to
the lock member and that a metal spring member can be used as the
material of the lock member. The lock member 56 is not limited to
the shape of this embodiment and shape, layout and so forth of the
lock member can be selected properly so long as it includes the
operation arm 56b, the lock arm 56c and the resilient arm 56d.
Conversely, the support shaft 58 may be provided on the upper shell
13 so that it can be supported to the side of the upper shell so as
to become freely rotatable. Further, half support shafts may be
protruded from both shells and two support shafts may support the
lock member 56.
[0098] The rotary member 14 that is made freely rotatable within
the upper and lower concave portions 16a, 16b of the upper shell 13
and the lower shell 15 has the arrangement shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 7
and 8. This rotary member 14 has a flat surface portion 14a formed
of a disk-like thin plate member and a ring portion 14b continued
to the outer peripheral edge of this flat surface portion 14a. The
inside opening portion 18 is formed on the flat surface portion 14a
of this rotary member 14. This inside opening portion 18 is
substantially equal to the outside opening portion 17 of the lower
shell 15 in shape and in size.
[0099] Specifically, similarly to the outside opening portion 17,
the inside opening portion 18 also includes a table opening portion
18a set at the central portion of the flat surface portion 14a and
into and from which the turntable is inserted and ejected and a
head opening portion 18b continued to the table opening portion 18a
and into and from which the optical head is inserted and ejected.
Then, the table opening portion 18a of the flat surface portion 14a
has the support edge portion 14c provided at its inner peripheral
edge to support the inside non-recording area of the optical disk
11 from the underside in the free condition.
[0100] At one portion of the outer peripheral surface of the ring
portion 14b of the rotary member 14, there is provided an operated
portion 60 that is engaged with the rotary member by the shutter
opening and closing means to rotate the rotary member 14 within a
predetermined angular extent when the shutter opening and closing
means is moved in a reciprocation fashion. As shown in FIGS. 7, 8
and the like, this operated portion 60 includes a gear portion 60a
having a large number of gear teeth formed over the circumferential
direction in a predetermined angular extent (approximately
30.degree.), a front slide portion 60b continued to one side of
this gear portion 60a, a rear slide portion 60c continued to the
other side of the gear portion 60a, a first land portion 60d
provided at the position distant from the gear portion 60a in the
circumferential direction by a predetermined distance and a second
land portion 60e provided at the position distant from the front
slide portion 60b in the circumferential direction by a
predetermined distance.
[0101] An inclined surface portion 60f whose height on the side of
the rear slide portion 60c is decreased is provided between the
rear slide portion 60c and the first land portion 60d of the
operated portion 60. The outer peripheral surface of the front
slide portion 60b of the operated portion 60 is substantially the
same as the addendum circle of the gear portion 60a in height, and
the outer peripheral surface of the rear slide portion 60c is
substantially the same as the bottom circle of the gear portion in
height. Then, one side of the inclined surface portion 60f is set
to be substantially as high as the rear slide portion 60c, and the
other side is linearly extended like a tangent and is reached to
the top surface of the first land portion 60d. Further, the front
slide portion 60b has an initial operation concave portion 61a
formed of a recess having an arc-like cross-section provided at its
approximately central portion of the circumferential direction, and
the rear slide portion 60c and the inclined surface portion 60f
have a set position concave portion 61b formed of a recess having a
trapezoidal cross-section provided therebetween.
[0102] Since the gear portion 60a and the front and rear slide
portions 60b, 60c of this operated portion 60 are protruded from
the outer peripheral surface of the ring portion 14b to the
outside, an upper escape portion 52a and a lower escape portion 52b
are provided on the corresponding portions of the upper shell 13
and the lower shell 15 so as to avoid them from contacting with
these protruded portions and to allow them to pass therein as shown
in FIGS. 4 and 15. The upper and lower escape portions 52a, 52b
constitute the opening window 52. Then, a second engagement portion
that is engaged by the lock claw 56c, of the lock member 56 is
constructed at the position in which the opening portions 17, 18
are closed by the set position concave portion 61b.
[0103] The end portion on the opposite side of the gear portion 60a
of the front slide portion 60b comprises an end stopper 63a of the
opening side, the end portion on the opposite side of the inclined
surface portion 60f of the first land portion 60d comprises a first
end stopper 63b of the closing side and the end portion opposing
the end stopper 63a of the second land portion 60e comprises a
second end stopper 63a of the closing side. Then, the first end
stopper 63b comprises a first engagement portion that is engaged by
the lock claw 56c, of the lock member 56 at the opening position in
which the opening portions 17, 18 are opened.
[0104] Thus, the lower shell 15, the rotary member 14 and the lock
member 56 are placed in the following positional relationship upon
assembly-process. As shown in FIGS. 32 and 33, in the shutter
closed state in which the outside opening portion 17 of the lower
shell 15 and the inside opening portion 18 of the rotary member 14
are rotated and displaced most largely, the front slide portion 60b
of the operated portion 60 is opposed to the opening window 52 of
the cartridge housing 12 and the first end stopper 63b of the first
land portion 60d is brought in contact with the opening end 40a of
the lower shell 15. At that time, the second end stopper 63c of the
second land portion 60e is opposed to the positioning portion 40b
of the lower shell 15. The lock claw 56c, of the lock member 56 is
engaged with the set position concave portion (second engagement
portion) 61b of the rotary member 14, and the rotary member 14 is
being locked by this lock member 56.
[0105] In this state, when the rotary member 14 is released from
being locked by the lock member 56 and is rotated in the
predetermined direction by a predetermined angle, the inside
opening portion 18 agrees with the outside opening portion 17 and
hence the two outside and inside opening portions 17, 18 are opened
a great deal. As a result, the disk housing portion 16 is opened
through the two outside and inside opening portions 17, 18 to
expose a part of the information recording surface of the optical
disk 11. At that time, the end stopper 63a of the front slide
portion 60b contacts with the positioning portion 40b of the lower
shell 15 to prevent the rotary member 14 from being rotated more.
The set position concave portion 61b is opposed to the opening
window 52 and the lock claw 56c, of the lock member 56 is engaged
with the first end stopper 63b, whereby the rotary member 14 is
held in the locked state.
[0106] Arc-like cam protrusions 64 which are disposed at two places
in the circumferential direction are provided on the end face of
the opening side of the ring portion 14b of the rotary member 14.
These cam protrusions 64 are engaged with the cam grooves of the
upper shell 13 when the rotary member 14 is assembled with the
upper shell 13 and the like. Then when the rotary member 14 is
rotated a predetermined angle, the respective cam protrusions 64
are slid over the cam portions 22a of the cam grooves 22, whereby
the rotary member 14 is urged against the side of lower shell
15.
[0107] This rotary member 14 has a pair of support shafts 14d, 14d
provided at its flat surface portion 14a to support a pair of
shutter members 19a, 19a such that the shutter members can be
freely rotated in the plane direction of the flat surface portion
14a. A pair of support shafts 14d, 14d forms supporting points
corresponding to a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b and is disposed
about the center of the table opening portion 18a in a point
symmetry fashion so that one of the support shafts may be located
at the edge portion of the head opening portion 18b.
[0108] A pair of shutter members 19a, 19b consisting the shutter
mechanism 19 attached to the rotary member 14 through a pair of
support shafts 14d, 14e is comprised of the two shutter members
19a, 19b which are the same in shape and in size. A pair of shutter
members 19a, 19b has a shape and a structure shown in FIGS. 9, 10
and so forth. Specifically, a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b is
formed of an approximately semicircular thin plate member.
[0109] Bearing holes 65a are formed on the respective shutter
members 19a, 19b at their one side portions of the chord sides. A
pair of support shafts 14d is engaged with the respective bearing
holes 65a so as to become freely rotatable, respectively. When the
tip end portions of the respective support shafts 14d are caulked,
a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b is placed over the flat surface
portion 14a of the rotary member 14 and thereby attached so as to
turn freely. At that time, a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b is
attached in such a manner that their chord sides may oppose to each
other.
[0110] Stepped portions 66 having predetermined lengths in the
direction perpendicular to the chord lines are provided on the
chord sides of a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b. The stepped
portions 66 form a convex-side joint portion 66a and a concave-side
joint portion 66b at their respective sides. The respective joint
portions 66a, 66b have overhang portions 67a, 67b provided thereat
so as to overhang in the directions perpendicular to the directions
in which the chords are extended. As a consequence, in a pair of
shutter members 19a, 19b, the end face of the convex-side joint
portion 66a and the end face of the concave-side joint portion 66b
are opposed to each other with the result that the overhang portion
67a of the convex-side joint portion 66a and the overhang portion
67b of the concave-side joint portion 66b are fastened
together.
[0111] As shown in FIG. 16, a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b is
attached to the rotary member 14 in such a manner that their chord
sides may be opposed to each other. Accordingly, when a pair of
shutter members 19a, 19b is rotated so as to be detached from each
other to the outside, the respective shutter members 19a, 19b are
moved on the flat surface portion 14a outwardly, by which the
inside opening portion 18 is opened completely. On the other hand,
a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b is rotated toward the inside to
cause their joint portions 66a, 66b to contact with each other,
whereby the shutter mechanism 19 is shaped in approximately circle.
As a result, the central portion of the inside opening portion 18
is completely closed by a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b.
[0112] Further, the respective shutter members 19a, 19b have open
and close grooves 68 provided thereon to allow the shutter members
19a, 19a to open and close the opening portions 17, 18 through the
rotation movement of the rotary member 14. One ends of the
respective open and close grooves 68 are set at substantially the
central portions of the respective shutter members 19a, 19b and the
respective open and close grooves are formed so as to be extended
to the outside of prolonged lines which connect one ends and the
bearing holes 65a. At the outside end portions of a pair of open
and close grooves 68, there are provided resilient members 69a
which are formed by recessing the above outside end portions and
concave portions 69a which are used to escape the operation convex
portions 39a, 39b of the lower shell 15. Corresponding operation
convex portions of a pair of operation convex portions 39a, 39b of
the lower shell 15 are slidably engaged with a pair of open and
close grooves 68.
[0113] Furthermore, a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b has
rib-escape grooves 70 that are shaped like concave grooves
corresponding to the ribs 37 serving as the ribs of the lower shell
15 in the state in which the opening portions 17, 18 are closed
completely. Specifically, the rib-escape grooves 70 are formed like
substantially U-shaped grooves corresponding to the arc-like rib
portions 37a and a pair of linear rib portions 37b, 37b of the ribs
37. On the opposite sides of the rib-escape grooves, there are
provided flat-surface-like escape surfaces 70a corresponding to the
symmetrical rib portions 37c, 37c. The rib-escape grooves 70 and
the ribs 37 constitute a labyrinth-like dust-proof clearance 71
having a crank-like shape as shown in FIG. 21.
[0114] This dust-proof clearance 71 has the above labyrinth-like
clearance to prevent dusts and smudges from entering the disk
compartment. The dust-proof clearance 71 is formed when the rotary
member 14 is rotated in predetermined direction to allow a pair of
shutter members 19a, 19b to completely close the opening portions
17, 18. The labyrinth-like clearance having the crank-like shape is
formed at the joint surface between a pair of shutter members 19a,
19b and the lower shell 15, whereby dusts and smudges can be
prevented from passing thereto without difficulty. Thus, dusts and
smudges can be prevented or effectively suppressed from entering
the disk compartment 16.
[0115] Conversely, the above-mentioned ribs may be provided on a
pair of shutter members and corresponding rib-escape grooves may be
provided on the lower shell with similar effects being achieved.
Although a clearance is set between the outer peripheral edge and
the shutter members 19a, 19b on the side of the flat surface
portion 14a of the rotary member 14, since such clearance is closed
by a shielding portion 38a provided on the lower shell 15, it is
possible to prevent dusts and smudges from entering into the disk
compartment from the above clearance.
[0116] A pair of shutter members 19a, 19b having the
above-mentioned arrangement is assembled on the rotary member 14
with a predetermined positional relationship such that a pair of
shutter members can open and close the inside opening portion 18 as
shown in FIG. 16. Then, the rotary member 14 having a pair of
shutter members 19a, 19b is assembled with a predetermined
positional relationship relative to the upper and lower shells 13,
15 as shown in FIG. 20.
[0117] Specifically, when the cartridge housing 12 is assembled,
the upper and lower shells are fastened together in such a manner
that the inside opening portion 18 of the rotary member 14 may
oppose to the outside opening portion 17 of the lower shell 15. At
that time, of the operated portions 60 of the rotary member 14, the
front slide portion 60b continued to one side of the gear portion
60a is disposed on the opening window 52 of the cartridge housing
12, whereby the initial operation concave portion 61a is disposed
at substantially the central portion of the opening window 52. This
rotary member 14 and the upper shell 13 constitute the disk
compartment 16 formed of a circular space portion.
[0118] This disk compartment 16 accommodates therein the optical
disk 11, which shows a concrete example of the disk-like recording
medium, in such a manner that the optical disk can be freely
rotated with predetermined clearances in the outside of the radius
direction and in the thickness direction. At that time, when the
optical disk 11 is of the single side recording system in which an
information recording surface is formed on only one side, the
optical disk is accommodated within the disk compartment in such a
fashion that the information recording surface thereof may be
opposed to the opening portions 17, 18. As a result, a label
attachment surface, which is the other surface of the optical disk
11, is set on the side of the upper shell 13 and the chucking ring
33 is opposed to the central center hole 11a.
[0119] The optical disk 11 is formed of a thin disk-like recording
member having the center hole 11a bored at its central portion. The
turntable 81 of the table drive apparatus 78 housed within the disk
recording and reproducing apparatus is fitted into the center hole
11a of the optical disk 11 as shown in FIG. 22. The chucking ring
33 is attracted by magnetic force of the magnet 97 incorporated
within this turntable 81 and the optical disk 11 is held by the
chucking ring 33 and the turntable 81 and thereby formed as one
body in the rotation direction. Then, the turntable 81 and the
optical disk 11 may be rotated together at a predetermined speed
(e.g. constant linear velocity) by driving the spindle motor 75 to
which the turntable 81 is attached.
[0120] Synthetic resins such as ABS resin
(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin) and HIPS (high impact
polystyrene resin), for example, may be suitable as materials of
the upper shell 13, the rotary member 14, the lower shell 15, the
shutter the members 19a, 19b, the mis-erase prevention member 25
and the ring holder 34.
[0121] However, it is needless to say that other engineering
plastics may also be used suitably and that other metal materials
such as aluminum alloy and stainless steel can also be used
suitably. A material of the chucking ring 33 is not limited to the
above-mentioned stainless steel, and not only metals such as iron
and other magnetic materials but also magnetic materials in which
plastics have contained magnetic materials can be applied to the
material of the chucking ring.
[0122] The disk recording medium device 10 having the
aforementioned arrangement can be assembled with ease as follows.
The assembly work of this disk recording medium device 10 is
carried out in the state in which the upper shell 13 is faced
downward. First, the optical disk 11 is set within the upper
concave portion 16a of the upper shell 13. At that time, the
optical disk 11 is inserted into the upper concave portion 16a in
the state in which the information recording surface is faced
downward.
[0123] Next, the opening side of the rotary member 14 is fitted
into the upper concave portion 16a in such a manner as to cover the
optical disk 11, whereby the optical disk 11 is rotatably
accommodated within the disk compartment 16 formed of the rotary
member 14 and the upper shell 13. At that time, the direction in
which the inside opening portion 18 of the rotary member 14 is
extended is made coincident with the front and rear direction of
the upper shell 13 and the front slide portion 60b of the rat
operated portion 60 is faced to the opening window 52.
[0124] It is desired that the shutter mechanism 19 should be
assembled to the rotary member 14 in advance. In that case, the
chord sides of a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b are opposed to
each other, and the respective bearing holes 65a are fitted into
the respective support shafts 14d of the rotary member 14, thereby
the shutter members being set on the flat surface portion 14a.
Then, the tip end portions of the respective support shafts 14d are
caulked to allow a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b to be attached
to the flat surface portion 14a in such a manner that a pair of
shutter members can open and close the inside opening portion
18.
[0125] Next, the lock member 56 is attached to the support shaft 58
of the lock housing portion 55. At that time, the support head
portion 56.sub.d1 of the resilient arm 56d of the lock member 56 is
brought in contact with the inner surface of the upper front edge
portion 13a of the upper shell 13 and the input portion 56.sub.b1
of the operation arm 56b is protruded into the loading guide groove
53 from the opening hole 57 of the cartridge housing 12 under
spring force of the resilient arm 56d. Then, the lock claw 56c, of
the lock arm 56c of the lock member 56 is engaged with the set
position concave portion 61b of the operated portion 60. As a
result, the rotary member 14 is locked by the lock member 56.
[0126] At the same time or before and after the rotary member is
locked by the lock member, the mis-erase prevention member 25 is
attached to the plug housing portion 26. In this case, the
mis-erase prevention member is inserted from the side of the guide
protrusion 25c, the engagement portion 25d is engaged with the
guide portion 29 and the operation protrusion 25b is engaged with
the lower recess 27b of the opening window 27.
[0127] Next, the lower shell 15 is laid over the rotary member 14
including the shutter mechanism 19 and this lower shell 15 is
combined to the upper shell 13. At that time, the opening end 40a
of the lower shell 15 is fitted into the first concave portion 23a
of the upper shell 13, and the positioning portion 40b of the lower
shell 15 is fitted into the concave portion 23b of the upper shell
13. At the same time, the respective positioning shaft portions
46a, 46b of the lower shell 15 are fitted into the respective
escape portions 49a, 49b of the upper shell 13. Then, the reference
protrusions 47 provided on the respective positioning shaft
portions 46a, 46b are fitted into the respective reference holes 48
of the upper shell 13, whereby the lower shell 15 may be properly
positioned to the upper shell 13 automatically.
[0128] At that time, if a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b is set
in the state shown in FIG. 16, then a pair of operation convex
portions 39a, 39b provided within the lower concave portion 16b of
the lower shell 15 can be respectively opposed to the concave
portions 69b of the open and close grooves 68 provided on the
respective shutter members 19a, 19b. As a result, regardless of the
exact positions of a pair of open and close grooves 68, a pair of
operation convex portions 39a, 39b can be engaged with a pair of
open and close grooves 68, 68 with ease only by combining the lower
shell 15 with the upper shell 13 together.
[0129] Thereafter, by the use of a plurality of stationary screws,
the lower shell 15 can be fastened and fixed to the upper shell 13,
whereby the assembly work of the disk recording medium device 10
having the outside appearance and shape shown in FIG. 17 and which
has the cross-sectional arrangement shown in FIG. 20 is
completed.
[0130] In this case, without using a fixing means consisting of
separate members such as stationary screws, the joint surfaces of
the upper shell 13 and the lower shell 15 can be directly bonded
together by a suitable means such as an adhesive agent. As
described above, according to the disk recording medium device 10
of this embodiment, the number of used assemblies is relatively
small and the assembly work can be carried out with ease.
[0131] Although not shown, if the cartridge housing is provided
with an opening portion of size corresponding to two of the
above-mentioned opening portions 17, 18, then the disk recording
medium device becomes able to use two optical heads simultaneously.
In this case, the opening portions of size corresponding to two
opening portions may be disposed at a right angle and thereby
shaped as an L-like opening portion. Alternatively, the
above-mentioned opening portions of size corresponding to two
opening portions may be disposed on a straight line in an opposing
relation to each other and thereby shaped as an I-like opening
portion.
[0132] In this case, if the rotary member 14 and the lower shell 15
for use with one head are used instead of the rotary member and the
lower shell for use with two heads, then while a new information
signal is being recorded by one optical head, an information signal
that has been just recorded by the other optical head can be
processed in such various manners as to confirm the recorded state
of the information signal. If the rotary members and the lower
shells are exchanged with each other for one head or two heads,
then the manufacturing process of the disk recording medium device
can cope with the manufacturing process for use in one head and the
manufacturing process for use in two heads with ease. Thus, the
manufacturing and assembly lines can be made common and hence the
disk recording medium device according to the present invention can
properly meet the needs of users.
[0133] According to the disk recording medium device 10 having the
aforementioned arrangement, the rotary member 14 can be rotated by
small force, accordingly, a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b can be
opened and closed by small drive force. In addition, the rotary
member 14 can generate resistance to impacts and vibrations
inputted from the outside so that a pair of shutter members 19a,
19b may become difficult to open.
[0134] The disk recording medium device 10 can be used by a disk
recording and reproducing apparatus 73 which shows a concrete
example of the disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus having
the arrangement shown in FIG. 26, for example.
[0135] The disk recording and reproducing apparatus 73 includes the
tape drive apparatus 78 to chuck and rotate the optical disk 11 and
the optical pickup device 79 to read an information signal from the
optical disk and to write an information signal on the optical disk
by radiating laser beams on the information recording surface of
the optical disk 11 and is mounted on a chassis 74.
[0136] The chassis 74 is shaped like a flat surface having
approximately a square shape and includes a reinforcement rib 74a
that is obtained by continuously bending the peripheral edge of the
chassis upward. The reinforcement rib 74 includes support
protrusions 74b provided at its four positions to support the
chassis 74 to the members on the side of the apparatus body shown
in FIGS. 29 and 30.
[0137] A motor base plate 76 having the spindle motor 75 mounted
thereon is fixed to approximately the central portion of the
chassis 74 by a fixing means such as stationary screws. A first
opening portion 77a and a second opening portion 77b, both of which
are shaped like squares, are provided on the chassis 74 at its
respective sides of the longitudinal directions across the spindle
motor 75. The table drive apparatus 78 is attached in association
with the first opening portion 77a. The second opening portion 77b
is used to attach another table drive apparatus, not shown.
[0138] The disk recording and reproducing apparatus 73 consists of
the table drive apparatus 78 for rotating the optical disk 11 at a
predetermined speed (e.g. constant linear velocity), the optical
pickup device 79 which shows a concrete example of a pickup device
for writing an information signal on the optical disk and for
reading an information signal from the optical disk and a pickup
movement apparatus 80 for moving this optical pickup device 79
close to or away from the table drive apparatus 78 and so
forth.
[0139] The table drive apparatus 78 is comprised of the spindle
motor 75, the turntable 81 integrally provided at the rotation
portion of this spindle motor 75 and the like. The spindle motor 75
is attached onto the motor base plate 76 made of a thin plate
metal, and a flexible wiring plate 76a is fixed to the upper
surface of the motor base plate 76 by a fixing means such as an
adhesive agent. Then, wiring of the spindle motor 75 and wiring of
a table drive connector are connected to the wiring circuit of the
flexible wiring plate 76a. Further, a plurality of flexible wiring
plates 76b are fixed to the connector.
[0140] As shown in FIGS. 21, 22 and the like, the spindle motor 75
includes a fixed portion 75a fixed to the motor base plate 76 and a
rotary portion 75b rotatably supported by this fixed portion 75a.
The turntable 81 is integrally provided with a rotary shaft that
serves as a rotation center of the rotary portion 75b. The
turntable 81 includes a fitted portion 81a fitted into the center
hole 11a of the optical disk 11 and a table portion 81b disposed at
the lower portion of this fitted portion 81a and on which the
peripheral edge portion of the center hole 11a is held and the
like. Then, the fitted portion 81a houses therein the magnet 97.
The chucking ring 33 is opposed to this turntable 81 and the
optical disk 11 set on the table portion 81b is held under
attraction force of the chucking ring 33 attracted by the magnet
97, whereby the optical disk 11 can be chucked and rotated in
unison with the turntable 81.
[0141] As shown in FIG. 26, a pair of guide shafts 82a, 82b is
disposed in parallel to each other so as to sandwich the spindle
motor 75 from both sides. A pair of guide shafts 82a, 82b is formed
of a round bar-like member whose outer peripheral surface is made
smooth. Then, the first guide shaft 82a is supported at its
respective ends by an adjustment plate 83. The second guide shaft
82b is supported at its respective ends by the chassis 74.
[0142] The adjustment plate 83 is attached to the chassis 74 in
such a manner that its attitude can be changed. By changing the
attitude of the adjustment plate 83, it becomes possible to adjust
degree of parallelism between a pair of guide shafts 82a and 82b.
By a pair of guide shafts 82a, 82b, the optical pickup device 79 is
supported so as to move close to or away from the turntable 81. One
end portions of a pair of guide shafts 82a, 82b are disposed at
both sides of the spindle motor 75 and the other end portions are
made parallel to each other and extended in the direction in which
they are moving away from the spindle motor 75.
[0143] The optical pickup device 79 comprises a slide member 84
guided and slid by a pair of guide shafts 82a, 82b, an optical head
set on this slide member 84 and which can be moved back and forth
in a reciprocation fashion and the like. The slide member 84 is
large enough to cross a pair of guide shafts 82a, 82b and is formed
as a block-like shape in order to increase rigidity. A pair of
bearing portions 84a is provided at one side of the longitudinal
direction of this slide member 84 in the width direction crossing
the longitudinal direction. The first guide shaft 82a is slidably
inserted into these bearing portions 84a. Further, on the other
side of the longitudinal direction of the slide member 84, there is
provided an insertion hole, not shown, into which the second guide
shaft 82b is inserted slidably. This insertion hole is larger than
the diameter of the second guide shaft 82b and hence the slide
member 84 can be rotated about the first guide shaft 82a so that
the slide member can be inclined an amount corresponding to such
clearance in the upper and lower direction.
[0144] The optical head of the optical pickup device 79 includes a
biaxial actuator having an objective lens 79a, an optical control
unit having a semiconductor laser, a photo-electric conversion
element or the like for recording and reproducing an information
signal through this biaxial actuator and so forth. Most of the
biaxial actuator is covered with a head cover 79b and the objective
lens 79a is exposed from an opening portion formed on this head
cover 79b. This objective lens 79a is opposed to the information
recording surface of the optical disk 11 set onto the turntable
81.
[0145] Of a pair of guide shafts 82a, 82b, the first guide shaft
82a is supported by a pair of shaft support members 83a, 83a
provided on the adjustment plate 83. The respective shaft support
members 83a are provided with a pair of shaft presser plates 83b
and the first guide shaft 82a is fixedly supported by fixing these
shaft presser plates with screws 83c. The second guide shaft 82b is
supported by a pair of shaft support members 74c, 74c provided on
the chassis 74 and fixedly supported by screwing with fixing screws
74e. Then, a feed screw drive device 98 serving as a pickup
movement device is attached to the adjustment plate 83.
[0146] The feed screw drive device 98 is comprised of a feed screw
85, a feed motor 86, a support plate 87, a power transmission
member 88 and the like as shown in FIG. 27 in an enlarged-scale.
The feed screw 85 is obtained by forming a streak of screw groove
85a, which is spirally extended, on an outer circumference surface
of a round bar slightly shorter than the guide shafts 82a, 82b
along substantially the whole length of the axis direction. A
trapezoid shape whose cross-section is trapezoid having slight
inclination angles on both side surfaces of the groove may be
suitable as the screw shape of this feed screw 85 and a square
thread whose cross-section forms a square may be suitable as the
above-mentioned screw shape of the feed screw. Moreover, a
semicircular thread whose cross-section forms a semicircle may be
applied to the above-mentioned screw shape of the feed screw, and
other screws of well-known shapes can be applied to the
above-mentioned screw shape of the feed screw.
[0147] The feed screw 85 may serve as a rotary shaft of the feed
motor 86, which is a drive source, as well. The feed screw is
directly rotated by the feed motor 86. The feed motor 86 includes a
cylindrical motor case 86a and a case cover 86b that closes one
opening portion of the motor case 86a. The motor case 86a is fixed
to a motor supporting member 87a of a support plate 87 by a fixing
means such as caulking and thereby configured integrally therewith.
A coil portion that is wound in an annular fashion is fitted into
and fixed to the inner peripheral surface of this motor case 86a
and an annular magnet is fitted into the inside of the coil portion
by a fixing means such as insertion with pressure.
[0148] The support plate 87 is formed of a long and slender plate
material made of plate metal having approximately the same length
as that of the feed screw 85a. The support plate 87 has a motor
support member 87a and a screw support member 87b provided at its
respective ends in the longitudinal direction, and the motor
support member and the screw support member are opposed to each
other when they are erected in the same direction. The motor
support member 87a has an aperture 88a bored at its central portion
and has also a fitting aperture 88b bored at its height position
corresponding to the aperture 88a in the upper portion of the screw
support member 87b. The feed motor 86 is fixed to the outer surface
of the motor support member 87a and the feed screw 85 is inserted
into the aperture 88a. Then, a tip end portion of the feed screw 85
is supported by a bearing member, which is fitted into and fixed to
the fitting aperture 88b, so as to become freely rotatable.
[0149] The support plate 87 has a guide rib 87c that is one side of
the support plate obtained after one side of the width direction of
the support plate has been continuously erected along the
longitudinal direction. This guide rib 87c is disposed
substantially just under the feed screw 85 and is also extended in
substantially parallel to the axis line of the feed screw 85.
Further, the support plate 87 has two insertion apertures 87d and
two positioning apertures 87e defined therein. The two positioning
apertures 87e are used to properly locate the support plate 87 at
predetermined position, and the support plate is attached to the
adjustment plate 83 by attachment screws 89a inserted into the
insertion apertures 87d.
[0150] A feed nut 90, which shows a concrete example of a power
transmission member, is used to convert rotation force of the feed
screw 85 into rectilinear motion and to transmit the rectilinear
motion to the slide member 84. The feed nut is composed of a first
nut member 90a and a second nut member 90b and a coil spring 90c
for spring-biasing the two nut members 90a, 90b in the direction in
which they are moved away from each other.
[0151] The first nut member 90a includes a nut body shaped like a
block and a cylindrical cylinder shaft portion continued to one
surface side of this nut body and has also at its one side of the
axial direction aperture extending through the nut body and the
cylinder shaft portion a first screw portion 90.sub.a1 that is
screwed with the screw groove 85a of the feed screw 85. Further,
the first nut member 90a is provided with a protrusion portion
90.sub.a2 that is protruded in the lateral direction perpendicular
to the axis direction. This protrusion portion 90.sub.a2 has a slit
extended in the direction in which the cylinder shaft portion is
extended. The guide rib 87c of the support plate 87 is engaged with
this slit so as to become freely slidable. The second nut member
90b is formed of a sleeve-like cylindrical member and has an axis
direction aperture bored at its central portion. The axis direction
aperture has a second screw portion 90.sub.b1 formed at one side
thereof to be screwed into the screw groove 85a of the feed screw
85. Further, the axis direction aperture has a fitting aperture
into which the cylindrical shaft portion of the first nut member
90a is fitted detachably. This fitting aperture has a key-like
protrusion that is protruded in the inside of the radius direction.
The coil spring 90c is interposed between the second nut member 90b
and the first nut member 90a. Under spring force of this coil
spring, a pair of nut members 90a and 90b is spring-biased in the
direction in which the nut members are made distant from each other
to thereby absorb axis-direction fluctuations generated between the
feed nut 90 and the feed screw 85.
[0152] The first and second nut members 90a, 90b having the
above-mentioned arrangements and the coil spring 90c are integrally
combined and assembled on the feed screw 85. The assembly work of
the first and second nut members and the coil spring will be
described below, for example. First, after the coil spring 90c had
been inserted into the cylinder shaft portion of the first nut
member 90a, the cylinder shaft portion is fitted into the fitting
aperture of the cylinder shaft portion of the second nut member
90b. Next, the feed screw 85 is inserted into the feed nut 90 where
the two nut members 90a, 90b had been assembled.
[0153] In this case, the coil spring 90c is slightly contracted by
moving the two nut members 90a, 90b close to each other. In the
state in which this compressed state is being held, the feed screw
85 is turned and inserted into the feed nut 90. As a result, the
thread portion of the first nut member 90a is meshed with the screw
groove 85a of the feed screw 85 and the thread portion of the
second nut member 90b is simultaneously meshed with the screw
groove 85a. As a result, under spring force of the coil spring 90c,
the first nut member 90a is spring-biased in the direction in which
it is moved away from the feed motor 86, whereby the second nut
member 90b is spring-biased in the direction in which it is moved
close to the feed motor 86.
[0154] As a result, in the screw portion of the first nut member
90a, the thread surface of the left-hand side shown in FIG. 27 is
urged against the left-hand side thread surface of the feed screw
85 so that a clearance is produced between the right-hand side
thread surface and the left-hand side thread surface. Similarly, in
the thread portion of the second nut portion 90b, the thread
surface of the right-hand side shown in the sheet of drawing is
urged against the right-hand side thread surface of the feed screw
85 so that a clearance is produced between the left-hand side
thread surface and the right-hand side thread surface. As a result,
a clearance on the whole of the feed nut 90 can be removed and
hence fluctuations between the feed nut and the feed screw 85 can
be absorbed. Then, since the slit provided on the protruded portion
90.sub.a2 of the first nut member 90a is engaged with the guide rib
87c of the support plate 87, the feed nut 90 can be linearly moved
to the axis direction of the feed screw 85.
[0155] Further, the first nut member 90a is provided with a drive
protrusion 90d that protrudes in the lateral direction. This drive
protrusion 90d is engaged with a protrusion reception member 91
secured to the slide member 84, and movement force of the feed unit
90 is transmitted through this protrusion reception member 91 to
the slide member 84. The protrusion reception member 91 includes a
fixing member 91a for fixing the protrusion reception member to the
slide member 84, a support member 91b continued to this fixing
member 91a and a resilient member 91c continued to the support
member 91b.
[0156] The fixing member 91a is formed of a long and slender plate
member and includes the L-like support member 91b provided at its
one side of the width direction in somewhere of the longitudinal
direction. Then, the support member 91b includes a support portion
91d formed of a recess provided at its tip end corner portion of
the free end side to receive and support the drive protrusion 90d.
The resilient member 91c has resiliency of proper strength given by
two corner portions formed of a bent triangle, and a bent portion
at the tip end is formed as a presser portion 91e and opposed to
the support portion 91d. Further, the fixing member 91a has a
plurality of insertion apertures to attach the protrusion reception
member 91 to the slide member 84 and the protrusion reception
member 91 is attached by a fixing means such as fixing screws.
[0157] The drive protrusion 90d of the feed nut 90 attached to the
feed screw 80 is inserted into a clearance between the support
portion 91d of the protrusion reception member 91 thus attached and
the presser portion 91e. Then, the drive protrusion 90d is held
between the support portion 91d and the presser portion 91e under
spring force of the resilient member 91c, whereby force can be
transmitted to the feed nut 90 and the slide member 84.
[0158] A stainless steel plate may be suitably used as materials of
the adjustment plate 83 and the support plate 87, for example. It
is needless to say that a steel plate and other metal plates may
also be used suitably as the materials of the adjustment plate and
the support plate and that engineering plastics having large
strength may also be used suitably as the materials of the
adjustment plate and the support plate. Further, metal materials
such as stainless steel that is difficult to gather rust and which
has sufficiently large strength may be suitably used as a material
of the feed screw 85. Furthermore, a stainless steel plate having
large strength may also be suitably used as a material of the
protrusion reception member 91 and other plate materials also may
be used as the material of the protrusion reception member.
[0159] The aforementioned pair of guide shafts 82a, 82b, the
adjustment plate 83 and the feed screw drive apparatus 98
constitute the pickup movement apparatus that an move the optical
pickup device 79 close to or away from the turntable 81. Next, a
recording and reproducing apparatus body 92 of the disk recording
and reproducing apparatus 73 will be described. FIG. 28 shows a
concrete example of the recording and reproducing apparatus body
92. The recording and reproducing apparatus body is comprised of
the following constituents. Specifically, the recording and
reproducing apparatus body 92 includes three control apparatus of a
system controller S1, a memory controller S5 and a drive controller
D1.
[0160] The system controller S1 and the memory controller S5 are
directly connected and the connected line therebetween is connected
to a read-only memory device (ROM) S2 and a random-access memory
device (RAM) S3. Further, the memory controller S5 is connected
with a memory S4, an encoder S6 for MPEG2 (moving picture
compression system applied to the existing television broadcasting
that corresponds to 3M to 40 Mbps, HDTV and a broadband ISDN) and
an MPEG2 decoder S7. Furthermore, the system controller S1 is
connected with a control panel S8 and a remote control reception
unit S9.
[0161] The drive controller D1 is connected with an
error-correction processing circuit (ECC) D4 and the connected line
therebetween is connected with a memory device (ROM) D2, a memory
device (RAM) D3, a servo circuit D6 and an address decoder D7.
Further, the drive controller D1 is connected with a recording
error judgment circuit D8 for judging whether or not error occurs
in the recording mode. This drive controller D1 is connected
through a command interface to the system controller S1.
[0162] The correction processing circuit D4 is connected through a
data interface to the memory controller S5 and is also connected to
a modem circuit D5. Then, the modem circuit D5 is connected to the
optical head including the objective lens 79a of the optical pickup
device 79. Further, the servo circuit D6 is connected to the
spindle motor 75, the optical pickup device 79 and the recording
error judgment circuit D8. Then, the optical pickup device 79 is
connected to an address decoder D7, and the address decoder D7 is
connected to the recording error judgment circuit D8.
[0163] The recording and reproducing apparatus body 92 having the
above-mentioned arrangement is accommodated within an armor case 93
formed of a hollow housing shown in FIGS. 29 and 30, for example,
and is used as a constituent of the disk recording and reproducing
apparatus 73. The armor case 93 includes a case body 93a that is
opened to the upper surface and the front surface, a case lid 93b
detachably attached to the upper portion so as to close the upper
surface of the case body 93a, a front panel 93c detachably attached
to the front portion so as to close the front surfaces of the case
body 93a and the case lid 93b and so forth. The disk recording and
reproducing apparatus 73 including the recording and reproducing
apparatus body 92, the above-mentioned table drive apparatus 78 and
so forth are accommodated within this armor case 93.
[0164] The case body 93a of the armor case 93, has leg members 93d
provided at its four portions to project downward. The front panel
93c of the armor case 93 is formed of an oblong plate member and
has an oblong cartridge entrance and exit slot 94 provided at its
upper portion. The cartridge entrance and exit slot 94 has
approximately the same size as that of the front surface side of
the disk recording medium device 10. This cartridge entrance and
exit slot 94 is constantly closed by an open and close door 94a
disposed in its inside.
[0165] The open and close door 94a is spring-biased in the closing
side under spring force of a spring, not shown. As shown in FIG.
30, when the disk recording medium device 10 is inserted into
predetermined position by pressing the open and close door 94a at
the front portion of the disk recording medium device, the disk
recording medium device 10 can be automatically loaded onto the
disk recording and reproducing apparatus body by a loading
mechanism, not shown. Then, the disk recording medium device 10
that has been transported by the loading mechanism is properly
located at predetermined position within the armor case 93 and
fixed. At the same time or before and after the disk recording
medium device is properly located and fixed, the shutter mechanism
19 of the disk recording medium device 10 is opened by the shutter
open and close means provided within the armor case 93, whereby the
inside and outside opening portions 17, 18 of the cartridge housing
12 are opened.
[0166] FIG. 31 shows a rack rod 95 that shows a concrete example of
this shutter open and close means. This rack rod 95 includes a rack
portion 95a meshed with the gear portion 60a of the operated
portion 60 of the rotary member 14, a front resilient member 95b
provided at the tip end side of this rack portion 95a and a rear
resilient member 95c provided at the base end side of the same rack
portion 95a. The rack portion 95a of the rack rod 95 is formed of a
straight rod material and is protruded at its intermediate portion
to one surface side. The rack portion has gear teeth the number of
which is approximately the same as that of the gear portion
60a.
[0167] Assuming that the rack portion 95a of the rack rod 95 is
shaped as shown in FIG. 41, for example, then the distance x
between adjacent addendums of the rack portion 95a and the length w
of the input portion 56.sub.b1 of the lock member 56 should
preferably have the following relationship.
[0168] Where m: module [0169] .alpha.: pressure angle (e.g.
20.degree.) [0170] x: addendum distance [0171] y: addendum size
[0172] h: height of tooth (h=m) [0173] .pi.m: pitch [0174] .pi.m/2:
1/2 of pitch
[0175] The pressure angle .alpha. is not limited to 20.degree. and
other angles such as 14.5.degree. can be applied to the pressure
angle. The addendum size y is given by the following equation: y =
.pi. .times. .times. m / 2 - 2 .times. .times. x .times. .times. z
= .pi. .times. .times. m / 2 - 2 .times. .times. x .times. .times.
m .times. .times. x .times. .times. tan .times. .times. 20 .times.
.degree. ##EQU1##
[0176] The addendum distance x is given by the following equation:
x = .pi. .times. .times. m - y = .pi. .times. .times. m - ( .pi.
.times. .times. m / 2 - 2 .times. .times. x .times. .times. m
.times. .times. x .times. .times. tan .times. .times. 20 .times.
.degree. ) = .pi. .times. .times. m / 2 + 2 .times. .times. x
.times. .times. m .times. .times. x .times. .times. tan .times.
.times. 20 .times. .degree. ##EQU2##
[0177] Therefore, the length w of the input portion 56.sub.b1 is
set to be larger than x (addendum distance). Such size relationship
can be applied to the rack portion 95a of the rack rod 95 and the
input portion 56b, of the lock member 56 with the following effects
being achieved, for example.
[0178] When the shutter opening and closing operations of the disk
cartridge of the above-described disk recording medium device 10
are carried out by rack-like parts integrally formed or composed of
a plurality of assemblies, the lock mechanism of the shutter
mechanism is released by the rack-like parts. At that case, when
the length w of the input portion 56.sub.b1 for releasing the lock
mechanism is set to be larger (longer) than the distance x between
adjacent addendums of the rack portion 95a, the addendum of the
rack portion 95a can constantly act on the input portion 56.sub.b1.
As a result, the input portion 56.sub.b1 can be constantly pressed
by the addendum of the rack portion 95a, load fluctuations
generated such as when the input portion is caught with the
addendum of the rack portion 95a can be suppressed so that smooth
shutter opening and closing operations can be realized.
[0179] As a result, load fluctuations generated when the shutter of
the disk recording medium device 10 is opened and closed by the
table drive apparatus 78 can be suppressed reliably without any
special devices. Then, the input portion 56.sub.b1 can be prevented
from being caught with the addendum of the rack portion 95a of the
rack rod 95 and the disk cartridge can be prevented from being
broken when the input portion is caught with the addendum.
[0180] The front resilient member 95b of the rack rod 95 is
extended in the same direction of the rack rod 95 and is made
resilient properly. An initial operation convex portion 96a is
provided at the tip end portion of the front resilient member.
Further, the rear resilient member 95c is similarly extended in the
same direction of the rack rod 95 and is made resilient properly. A
stopper convex portion 96b is provided at the tip end portion of
the rear resilient member. The initial operation convex portion 96a
and the stopper convex portion 96b are protruded in the same
direction as that of the gear teeth of the rack portion 95a and
these initial operation portion and stopper convex portion are set
on the same straight line.
[0181] Further, although the initial operation convex portion 96a
has an arc-like cross-section, the size and height of the initial
operation convex portion are approximately the same as those of the
gear teeth of the rack portion 95a. On the other hand, although the
stopper convex portion 96b has a cross-section that is an angle
form similarly to the gear teeth of the rack portion 95a, the size
and height of the cross-section of the stopper convex portion are
formed slightly larger. Then, the front and rear resilient members
95b, 95c are given resiliency of proper strength, whereby the
initial operation convex portion 96a and the stopper convex portion
96b can be moved rearward with resiliency. In FIG. 31, reference
numeral 95d designates a guide portion that serves as a
reinforcement portion for use with the rack rod 95 as well. This
guide portion 95d is engaged with the loading guide groove 53 of
the disk recording medium device 10.
[0182] The manner in which the rotary member 14 of the disk
recording medium device 10 is rotated, the shutter mechanism 19 is
opened and closed and other members are operated in unison with
actions of the rack rod 95 having the above-mentioned arrangement
will be described with reference to FIGS. 29 and 30 and FIGS. 32 to
40.
[0183] As shown in FIG. 29, the inside and outside opening portions
17, 18 of the disk recording medium device 10 are completely closed
by the shutter mechanism 19 until the disk recording medium device
is inserted into the cartridge entrance and exit slot 94 of the
armor case 93. In this state, as shown in FIG. 30, when the disk
recording medium device 10 is inserted from the cartridge entrance
and exit slot 94 of the armor case 93 into the disk recording and
reproducing apparatus 73, the lock member 56 is released from the
locked state by the rack rod 95 disposed within the armor case 93.
Thereafter, the rack rod 95 acts to open a pair of shutter members
19a, 19b to allow the inside and outside opening portions 17, 18 to
be opened, thereby a part of the information recording surface of
the optical disk 11 being exposed.
[0184] First, as shown in FIGS. 30 and 32, when the disk recording
medium device 10 is inserted into the cartridge entrance and exit
slot 94 of the armor case 93 a predetermined amount, the initial
operation convex portion 96a of the rack rod 95 is entered into the
loading guide groove 53 formed on one side surface portion of the
disk recording medium device 10. As a result, the initial operation
convex portion 96a inserts the input portion 56.sub.b1 of the lock
member 56 protruded in the loading guide groove 53 into the lock
housing portion 55 with pressure against spring-biasing force of
the resilient arm 56d.
[0185] Consequently, the lock member 56 is rotated about the
support shaft 58 to allow the lock claw 56, to be disengaged from
the set position concave portion 61b as shown in FIGS. 33 and 34.
As a result, the rotary member 14 is released from the locked state
and thereby becomes able to rotate freely.
[0186] In this case, although the input portion 56.sub.b1 that had
been inserted into the opening hole 57 with pressure by the initial
operation convex portion 96a is protruded into the loading guide
groove 53 temporarily under spring force of the resilient arm 56d,
the input portion is inserted again into the opening hole 57 with
pressure by the teeth of the rack portion 95a continuing the
initial operation convex portion 96a. The inserted state of this
input portion 56.sub.b1 is being continued during a period in which
the rack portion 95a is being opposed to the input portion
56.sub.b1. At that time, since the length w of the input portion
56.sub.b1 is larger than the distance x
(=.pi.m/2+2.times.m.times.tan 20.degree.) between the adjacent
addendums of the rack portion 95a, the addendum of the rack portion
95a can constantly act on the input portion 56.sub.b1. As a result,
hammering generated when the addendum of the rack portion 95a
contacts with the input portion 56b, and load fluctuations
generated when the input portion is caught with the addendum of the
rack portion can be prevented or suppressed so that smooth shutter
opening and closing operations can be realized.
[0187] Next, as shown in FIG. 35, the disk recording medium device
10 is inserted into the cartridge insertion direction F and the
disk recording medium device 10 is advanced relative to the rack
rod 95, whereby the initial operation convex portion 96a is brought
in contact with the front slide portion 60b of the operated portion
60 of the rotary member 14 and slid over the front slide portion
60b. At that time, since the front resilient member 95b has
resiliency of proper strength, when the front resilient member 95b
is flexed, the initial operation concave portion 96a is flexed
backward, moved and slid over the front slide portion 60b. As a
result, the initial operation convex portion 96a is entered into
the initial operation concave portion 61a of the operated portion
60.
[0188] This convex portion 96a is engaged with the concave portion
61a, whereby the rotary member 14 is rotated in the
counter-clockwise direction in the sheet of drawing by repulsive
force from the rack rod 95. As a result, the rotary member 14 is
rotated a predetermined angle in response to a relative movement
amount between it and the rack rod 95, whereby the rack portion 95a
is meshed with the gear portion 60a of the operated portion 60
before the convex portion 96a is disengaged from the concave
portion 61a. Thus, a power transmission route becomes strong so
that movement force of the rack rod 94 is positively transmitted to
the rotary member 14, thereby the rotary member being rotated a
predetermined angle. At that time, the lock claw 56, of the lock
member 56 is moved upwardly along the inclined surface portion 60e
as shown in FIG. 36.
[0189] Next, as shown in FIG. 37, before the rack portion 95a that
linearly advances and the gear portion 60a that advances in a
curved fashion are released from being meshed with each other, the
stopper convex portion 96b is engaged with the set position concave
portion 61b provided on the rear slide portion 60c of the operated
portion 60. At that time, the lock claw 56c, of the lock portion 56
is passed through the inclined surface portion 60f and slid over
the first land portion 60d as shown in FIG. 38.
[0190] Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 39, when the stopper convex
portion 96b is firmly meshed with the set position concave portion
61b, the rack portion 95a and the gear portion 60a are released
from the meshed state. Thus, the insertion operation of the disk
recording medium device 10 is completed and the disk recording
medium device 10 is set to the cartridge loading portion that is
the predetermined position of the table drive apparatus 78.
[0191] At that time, the lock claw 56.sub.c1 of the lock member 56
is slid along the top surface of the first land portion 60d,
dropped on the side distant from the gear portion 60a and is
thereby engaged with the first end stopper 63b as shown in FIG. 40.
At the same time, the end stopper 63a of the front slide portion
60b is brought in contact with the positioning portion 40b of the
lower shell 15 from the inside. The operated portion 60 of the
rotary member 14 is sandwiched by the positioning portion 40b and
the lock claw 56.sub.c1 from both sides and the rotary member 14 is
locked by the engagement of the lock claw 56.sub.c1 and thereby
inhibited from being rotated. Thus, opening operations of a pair of
shutter members 19a, 19b are completed so that the inside and
outside opening portions 17, 18 are opened completely.
[0192] Thereafter, pressing force applied to the cartridge housing
12 is released by the rack rod 95. Meaning for releasing the
pressing force is to remove such a risk that vibrations and shocks
generated on the side of the table drive apparatus 78 when the
rotary member 14 or the like is loosened by pushing force while
pushing force is being applied to the rotary member 14 and the
like, for example, will be transmitted through the rack rod 95 to
the cartridge housing 12. To be concrete, after opening operations
of a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b had been finished, the rack
rod 95 is moved away from the cartridge housing 12 and loads
applied to the cartridge housing 12 (in particular, the rotary
member 14 and the like) are released by the rack rod 95.
[0193] At that time, the cartridge housing 12 of the disk recording
medium device 10 is positioned with high accuracy by a pair of
reference holes 48, 48 of the upper shell 13 and a pair of
reference protrusions 47, 47 of the lower shell 15 as described
above, and a pair of positioning holes 50a, 50b are provided on the
lower shell 15 so as to become coaxial with these reference
protrusions 47 and so forth. Thus, when the disk recording medium
device 10 is loaded onto the disk loading portion of the table
drive apparatus 78, since accuracy with which the lower shell 15 is
positioned on the table drive apparatus 78 becomes equal to
accuracy with which the upper shell 13 is positioned on the table
drive apparatus, it is possible to increase accuracy with which the
upper shell 13 is positioned on the table drive apparatus.
[0194] In the state in which the disk recording medium device is
set, since the stopper convex portion 96b is firmly meshed with the
set position concave portion 61b, there is then no risk that the
rotary member 14 will be rotated. At that time, in the initial
state in which the rotary member 14 begins to rotate, as shown in
FIGS. 23C and 25, a plurality of cam protrusions 64 provided on the
end face of the ring portion 14b of the rotary member 14 are slid
over the cam portion 22a provided on the cam groove 22 of the upper
shell 13.
[0195] As a result, the flat surface portion 14a of the rotary
member 14 is moved toward the side of the lower shell 15, whereby a
pair of shutter members 19a, 19b is held between the fiat surface
portion 14a and the lower shell 15. Thus, friction force is
generated between the rotary member 14 and the lower shell 15 so
that force necessary for rotating the rotary member 14 should
increase unavoidably. If the rotary member 14 is rotated against
friction force generated when the cam protrusions are slid over the
cam portion 22a, then the cam protrusion 64 passes the cam portion
22a as shown in FIG. 23B. In consequence, since friction force
generated when the cam protrusion 64 passes the cam portion
disappears, the rotary member 14 becomes able to rotate very easily
and smoothly from now on.
[0196] A pair of shutter members 19a, 19a is rotated about the
support shaft 14d in unison with the rotation of the rotary member
14. At the same time, the operation convex portions 39a, 39b of the
lower shell 15 are slidably engaged with the open and close grooves
68 provided on the respective shutter members 19a, 19b.
Consequently, when the rotary member 14 is rotated, the respective
open and close grooves 68 are rotated relative to a pair of
operation convex portions 39a, 39b. As a result, a pair of shutter
members 19a, 19b is moved toward the inside (toward the center of
the rotary member 14) in which they are moved close to each other
in response to the rotation amount of the rotary member 14.
[0197] Thus, a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b is changed from the
state shown in FIG. 32 through the states shown in FIGS. 35 and 37
to the state shown in FIG. 39 to open the inside and outside
opening portions 17, 18 and thereby moved to the positions opposing
in the right and left. Thus, since the inside opening portion 18 of
the rotary member 14 and the outside opening portion 17 of the
lower shell 15 are opened completely, a part of the optical disk
accommodated within the disk compartment 16 is exposed from the
inside and outside opening portions 17, 18 (see FIG. 19).
[0198] As a result, the inside and outside opening portions 17, 18
are changed from the state shown in FIG. 18 to the state shown in
FIG. 19 with the result that it becomes possible to insert the
turntable 81 and the optical head having the objective lens 79a
into the inside and outside opening portions 17, 18. Accordingly,
the turntable 81 or the like is moved toward the side of the disk
recording medium device 10 or the disk recording medium device 10
is moved toward the side of the turntable 81 and the state shown in
FIG. 21 is changed into the state shown in FIG. 22, whereby the
turntable 81 is entered into the table opening portions 17a, 18a
provided at the central portion of the cartridge housing 12 and the
optical head is entered into the head opening portion 17b, 18b.
[0199] Consequently, the fitting portion 81a of the turntable 81 is
fitted into the center hole 11a of the optical disk 11 and the
peripheral edge portion of the center hole 11a is held on the table
portion 81b. At the same time, magnetic force from the magneto 97
incorporated within the fitting portion 81a acts on the position
restriction portion 33d serving as the magnetic force reception
portion of the chucking ring 33 held on the ring holder 34 of the
upper shell 13 and the chucking ring 33 is attracted by the
magnetic force. As a result, the holding portion 33b of the
chucking ring 33 is urged against the peripheral edge portion of
the center hole 11a of the optical disk 11 by the magnetic force of
the magnet 97, whereby the peripheral edge portion is held between
the holding portion 33b and the table portion 81a of the turntable
81.
[0200] Consequently, the optical disk 11 is chucked onto the
turntable 81 by the chucking ring 33 and thereby the optical disk
11 is integrated with the rotation direction of the turntable 81.
At that time, the tip end portion of the table portion 81a of the
turntable 81 is fitted into the concave portion 33f of the position
restriction portion 33d of the chucking ring 33, whereby the
chucking ring 33 is properly positioned to the turntable 81 at the
same time. Thus, the chucking ring 33 is properly positioned at
substantially the central portion of the turntable 81.
[0201] As a result, the chucking ring 33 is floated from the upper
shell 13 so that predetermined clearances are held between the
inner surface of the tapered portion 33c of the chucking ring 33
and the outside inclined surface of the second annular convex
portion 99b of the upper shell 13, between the outer surface of the
tapered portion 33c and the inner peripheral edge of the inner
flange 34a of the ring holder 34 and between the surface of the
position restriction portion 33d of the chucking ring 33 and the
inside inclined surface of the first annular convex portion 99a of
the upper shell 13 to thereby prevent the above-mentioned elements
from rubbing with each other.
[0202] Concurrently with the chucking operation, the optical head
of the optical pickup device 79 enters into the opening portions
17, 18 to allow its objective lens 79a to oppose the information
recording surface of the optical disk 11 with a predetermined
clearance. Thus, the disk recording and reproducing apparatus 73
becomes able to reproduce or record an information signal from or
on the information recording surface of the optical disk 11.
[0203] Accordingly, the table drive apparatus 78 is operated, the
spindle motor 75 is driven to rotate the optical disk 11 through
the turntable 81. At the same time, the optical pickup device 79 is
driven to allow the objective lens 79a of the optical head to
irradiate laser beams on the information recording surface of the
optical disk 11. Thus, the information signal can be read out from
the information recording surface of the optical disk 11 or a new
information signal can be written on the information recording
surface. In this manner, the information signal can be reproduced
or recorded by the disk recording and reproducing apparatus 73.
[0204] Next, the manner in which the disk recording medium device
10 is ejected from the armor case 93 will be described. After the
information signal had been reproduced or recorded, when a user
operates a cartridge eject button (not shown) provided on the armor
case 93, for example, the loading mechanism is activated to
disengage the disk recording medium device 10 from the disk
recording and reproducing apparatus 73 so that the disk recording
medium device is ejected from the armor case 93.
[0205] For example, in the state in which the disk recording medium
device 10 is fixed to the disk loading portion, the spindle motor
75 is moved rearward and the turntable 81 is pulled out from the
opening portions 17, 18 of the disk recording medium device 10. At
that time, when the spindle motor 75 is moved rearward, first, the
turntable 81, the optical disk 11 and the chucking ring 33 are
moved in unison with each other. Then, when the turntable, the
optical disk and the chucking ring are moved a little in unison
with each other, the tapered portion 33c of the chucking ring 33 is
brought in contact with the inner peripheral edge of the inner
flange 34a of the ring holder 34 fixed to the upper shell 13.
[0206] When the spindle motor 75 is further moved rearward, the
movement force of the spindle motor becomes larger than the
attraction force of the magnet 97 so that the chucking ring 33 is
detached from the turntable by resistance of the ring holder 34. As
a result, the chucking ring 33 is held on the upper shell 13 by the
ring holder 34. Next, the peripheral edge portion of the center
hole 11a of the optical disk 11 is brought in contact with the
support edge portion 14c of the rotary member 14 and the spindle
motor 75 is further moved rearward to allow the fitting portion 81a
of the turntable 81 to be removed from the center hole 11a of the
optical disk 11. As a result, the optical disk 11 is held within
the disk compartment 16 of the cartridge housing 12. Then, the
spindle motor 75 is continuously moved rearward until the turntable
81 is completely extracted from the opening portions 17, 18.
[0207] Thereafter, when the disk recording medium device 10 is
moved in the eject direction by eject operation of the loading
mechanism, the rack rod 95 is relatively move rearward. When the
disk recording medium device 10 is moved rearward relative to this
rack rod 95, the rotary member 14 is rotated by the stopper convex
portion 96b engaged with the set position concave portion 61b.
Then, before the convex portion 96b is disengaged from the concave
portion 61b, the rack portion 95a is meshed with the gear portion
60a and the rotary member 14 is continued to rotate by the meshed
state between the rack portion and the gear portion.
[0208] At that time, since the tip end of the stopper convex
portion 96b of the rack rod 95 has already been inserted into the
opening window 52 of the cartridge housing 12, the convex portion
96b is brought in contact with the edge of the opening window 52.
However, since the rear resilient member 95c that was integrated
with the convex portion 96b has resiliency of proper strength, this
rear resilient member 95c is flexed and deformed with the result
that the convex portion 96b is deformed to the outside with
resiliency and passed through the edge of the opening window 52.
Therefore, even though the height of the convex portion 96b is
higher than the height of the gear teeth of the rack portion 95a,
the convex portion 96b distant from the concave portion 61b can be
easily extracted from the opening window 52. Accordingly, the
rotation of the rotary member 14 will be maintained later on.
[0209] When the rotary member 14 is rotated, the initial operation
convex portion 96a is engaged with the initial operation concave
portion 61a before the rack portion 95a is disengaged from the gear
portion 60a within the opening window 52. The convex portion 96a is
engaged with the concave portion 61a, whereby the rotary member 14
is continued to rotate and the rotary member 14 is rotated to the
initial position. As a result, since the second end stopper 63c of
the rear slide portion 60c of the operated portion 60 is brought in
contact with the positioning portion 40b of the lower shell 15,
this contact will hinder the rotary member 14 from rotating later
on.
[0210] On the other hand, since the disk recording medium device 10
and the rack rod 95 are continued to move relatively, the rotary
member 14 is given rotation force by movement force of the convex
portion 96a engaged with the concave portion 61a. Repulsive force
of this rotation force is given to the convex portion 96a, the
front resilient member 95b is flexed and deformed by this repulsive
force and the convex portion 96a is moved to the outside, thereby
the engagement between the convex portion and the concave portion
61a being released.
[0211] Thereafter, the initial operation convex portion 96a of the
rack rod 95 is passed through the opening hole 52, whereby the
input portion 56.sub.b1 of the lock member 56 is protruded from the
opening hole 57 into the loading guide groove 53. At the same time,
the lock claw 56.sub.c1 of the lock member 56 is moved to the
inside and thereby meshed with the set position concave portion 61b
of the operated portion 60 of the rotary member 14. As a result,
the lock member 56 locks the rotary member 14 to stop rotation of
the rotary member.
[0212] At that time, a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b executes
operations opposite to those executed when the disk recording
medium device is inserted into the armor case to thereby close the
inside and outside opening portions 17, 18 completely. Since the
cam protrusion 64 of the rotary member 14 is located within the cam
groove 22, the rotary member 14 can be rotated by small force.
Further, since the cam protrusion 64 is brought in contact with the
cam portion 22a and slid over the cam portion, the above-mentioned
friction force will be applied to rotation of the rotary member 14
later on. Then, immediately before the shutter mechanism 19 is
closed, the operation convex portion 39b (or 39a) moves the open
and close groove 68 to the outermost side portion so that the
operation convex portion contacts with and presses the resilient
member 69a. Thus, spring force is generated in the resilient member
69a by pushing force of the operation convex portion 39b (or
39a)
[0213] Under spring force of this resilient member 69a, urging
force for acting on the other shutter member 19a (or 19b) is
generated in the central stepped portion. Since this urging force
is produced in both of the shutter members 19a, 19b, an airtight
property of a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b can be improved more
by their urging force. Therefore, a dust-proof property at the
joint portion between a pair of shutter members 19a and 19b can be
improved so that dusts and smudges can be prevented from entering
the disk compartment 16 more effectively.
[0214] In this manner, the whole of the inside and outside opening
portions 17, 18 is completely closed by a pair of shutter members
19a, 19b (see FIG. 32, etc.), and in this closed state, the disk
recording medium device 10 is ejected from the cartridge entrance
and exit slot 94 of the armor case 93 to the outside of the case.
Thus, the ejection operation of the disk recording medium device 10
is completed.
[0215] In the above-mentioned disk recording medium device 10, the
sizes of the thickness direction among the upper shell 13, the
rotary member 14, the lower shell 15 and the shutter members 19a,
19b should preferably be set so as to satisfy the relationships
shown in FIGS. 24 and 25 and an equation. Meanings of reference
letters A to K shown in FIG. 24 and reference symbol .SIGMA. shown
in FIG. 25 are as follows:
[0216] (1) A: height from the end face of an upper front surface
edge 13a of the upper shell 13 or the like to the surface of the
cam groove 22 A=2.9 mm+0.1/0 mm
[0217] (2) B: height from the end face of the upper front surface
edge 13a of the upper shell 13 or the like to the upper surface
B=3.85 mm.+-.0.05 mm (reference size)
[0218] (3) C: height from the end face of the lower front surface
edge 15a of the lower shell 15 or the like to the lower surface
C=4.15 mm+0.1/-0 mm (reference size)
[0219] (4) D: height from the end face of the lower front surface
edge 15a of the lower shell 15 or the like to the bottom surface
D=3.3 mm.+-.0.05 mm
[0220] (5) E: thickness of the shutter members 19a, 19b E=1.1
mm+0/-0.05 mm
[0221] (6) F: height from the lower surface of the rotary member 14
to the end face F=4.7 mm+0/-0.1 mm
[0222] (7) G: height of the cam protrusion 64 of the rotary member
14 G=0.2 mm+0/-0.05 mm
[0223] (8) H: height of the cam portion 22a of the upper shell 13
H=0.2 mm+0/-0.05 mm
[0224] (9) J: height of the rib 37 of the lower shell 15 J=0.2
mm+0/-0.05 mm (reference size)
[0225] (10) K: depth of the rib escape groove 70 of the shutter
members 19a, 19b K=0.2 mm+0.05/-0 mm (reference size)
[0226] (11) .SIGMA.: ideal clearance produced between the cam
portion 22a and the cam protrusion 64 upon assembly-process
.SIGMA.=-H+A+D-E-F-G . . . *=0 mm+0.45/-0 mm (accumulated
tolerance) 0.064 mm+0.322/-0 mm (mean square.times.1.66)
[0227] As is clear from the above-mentioned equation *, the ideal
clearance .SIGMA. should preferably be selected in a range of from
0 mm to 0.45 mm and the most preferable value of the ideal
clearance is approximately 0.2 mm.
[0228] In this embodiment, the rotary member 14 that rotates to
open and close the shutters may be operated in a clearance of
approximately 0.4 mm (center value of tolerance) between the upper
shell 13 and the lower shell 15. The clearance is narrowed to
approximately 0.2 mm when the disk recording medium device is
preserved. When the clearance ranging from 0 mm to 0.45 mm (optimum
value is about 0.2 mm) is set while the rotary member 14 is not
urged against the upper shell 13 as described above, the route in
which dusts and smudges may enter the disk recording medium device
can be narrowed as much as possible so that dusts and smudges can
be prevented from entering the disk compartment 16 effectively.
[0229] Moreover, in this embodiment, since the rib 37 (arc-like rib
portion 37a and linear rib portion 37b) is provided on the
peripheral edge portion of the outside opening portion 17 of the
lower shell 15, the rib escape groove 70 is provided at the portion
opposing a pair of shutter members 19a, 19b that opposes the rib 37
in the shutter closed state and the rib 37 and the rib escape
groove 70 constitute the dust-proof clearance 71, a dust-proof
property obtained when the disk recording medium device 10 is
preserved in which the opening portions 17, 18 are completely
closed by the shutter members 19a, 19b can be improved and hence
dusts and smudges can be effectively prevented from entering the
disk compartment 16.
[0230] The cartridge housing can be configured by combining the
upper and lower shells without the rotary member. Then, as shown in
FIG. 42 which shows an example of the prior art, a cartridge
housing may include a shutter member that can linearly move to open
and close an opening portion. If the cartridge housing having such
arrangement is provided with the chucking ring 33 and the ring
holder 34 of the above-mentioned embodiment, similar effects to
those of the above-mentioned embodiment can be achieved. Further,
the opening portion may include only either the upper shell or the
lower shell. In such case, the chucking ring may be provided on a
shell having no shell formed thereon.
[0231] The present invention has been described so far but the
present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment.
For example, while the present invention is applied to the example
in which the optical disk is used as the information recording
medium as described above, the present invention can be applied to
magnetic disks such as a magneto-optical disk and a flexible disk
and other various kinds of disk-like recording mediums. Further,
while the present invention is applied to the example in which the
disk recording and reproducing apparatus capable of both of
recording and reproducing information is used as the disk recording
and/or reproducing apparatus as described above, it is needless to
say that the present invention may be applied to a disk recording
apparatus or a disk reproducing apparatus that is capable of either
recording or reproducing information.
[0232] While the lower shell 15 and the rotary member 14 of the
cartridge housing 12 are provided with the opening portions 17, 18
as described above, the present invention is not limited thereto
and the upper shell 13, for example, may be provided with an
opening portion to enable users to access the disk recording medium
device from the upper and lower directions of the cartridge housing
12. In this case, the above-mentioned convex rib and concave groove
may be set on the rotary member and the shutter member. Further,
the rotary member and the lower shell may constitute a disk
compartment, a disk-like recording medium may be accommodated
within this disk compartment and the upper shell may be provided
with an opening portion. In this case, the above-mentioned chucking
ring 33 is provided on the lower shell.
[0233] Furthermore, while the shutter opening and closing means is
fixed and the opening portion is opened and closed by moving the
disk recording medium device when the shutter is opened and closed
as described above, the present invention is not limited thereto
and the shutter member may be opened and closed by relatively
moving the shutter opening and closing means and the disk
cartridge. For example, the shutter member may be opened and closed
by moving the shutter opening and closing means with a suitable
means such as a motor after the disk recording medium device has
been fixed to the disk loading portion.
[0234] As described above, the present invention can be variously
modified without departing from the gist thereof.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
[0235] As described above, according to the disk cartridge of the
present application, in the disk cartridge comprising the cartridge
housing (combination of the upper shell and the lower shell or
combination of the upper shell, the rotary member and the lower
shell) including the disk compartment, the shutter member that is
movable between the opening position and the closing position to
open and close the opening portion and the shutter fixing means for
holding the shutter member in the closed state at the closing
position, since the shutter member is held in the opened state by
the shutter fixing means even at the opening position, the shutter
member need not be held in the opened state by the open and hold
mechanism of the external apparatus. Thus, there is no risk that
vibrations generated from the external apparatus will be
transmitted through the open and hold mechanism to the disk
cartridge and the like. Therefore, malfunctions caused by
vibrations can be prevented or suppressed when information is
written and read. Moreover, even when shocks are applied to the
external apparatus, the open and hold mechanism is disengaged from
the disk cartridge and the shutter member can be prevented from
being moved to the closed state automatically. There is then no
risk that the shutter member will contact with the optical head of
the optical pickup device and the turntable. Accordingly, there can
be removed a risk that the optical head and the shutter member will
be broken.
[0236] Further, according to the disk recording medium device of
the present application, in the disk recording medium device
comprising the cartridge housing (combination of the upper shell
and the lower shell or combination of the upper shell, the rotary
member and the lower shell) including the disk compartment, the
disk-like recording medium, the shutter member that is movable
between the opening position and the closing position to open and
close the opening portion and the shutter fixing means for holding
the shutter member in the closed state at the closing position,
since the shutter member is held in the opened state by the shutter
fixing means even at the opening position, the shutter member need
not be held in the opened state by the open and hold mechanism of
the external apparatus. Thus, there is no risk that vibrations
generated from the external apparatus will be transmitted through
the open and hold mechanism to the disk cartridge and the like.
Therefore, malfunctions caused by vibrations can be prevented or
suppressed when information is written and read. Moreover, even
when shocks are applied to the external apparatus, the open and
hold mechanism is disengaged from the disk cartridge and the
shutter member can be prevented from being moved to the closed
state automatically. There is then no risk that the shutter member
will contact with the optical head of the optical pickup device and
the turntable. Accordingly, there can be removed a risk that the
optical head and the shutter member will be broken.
[0237] Further, according to the disk recording and/or reproducing
apparatus of the present application, in the disk recording and
reproducing apparatus comprising the disk recording medium device
including the disk compartment in which the disk-like recording
medium is accommodated and the shutter member movable between the
opening position at which it opens the opening portion formed so as
to expose a part of the disk-like recording medium and the closing
position at which it closes the opening portion, the shutter
opening and closing means for opening and closing the shutter
member and the table drive apparatus for chucking and rotating the
disk-like recording medium, since the shutter member is held in the
opened state by the shutter fixing means even at the opening
position, the shutter member need not be held in the opened state
by the open and hold mechanism of the external apparatus. Thus,
there is no risk that vibrations generated from the external
apparatus will be transmitted through the open and hold mechanism
to the disk cartridge and the like. Therefore, malfunctions caused
by vibrations can be prevented or suppressed when information is
written and read. Moreover, even when shocks are applied to the
external apparatus, the open and hold mechanism is disengaged from
the disk cartridge and the shutter member can be prevented from
being moved to the closed state automatically. There is then no
risk that the shutter member will contact with the optical head of
the optical pickup device and the turntable. Accordingly, there can
be removed a risk that the optical head and the shutter member will
be broken. Therefore, the information signal is recorded and
reproduced by using the disk recording medium device in which the
optical head and the shutter member can be prevented from being
broken. Thus, reading and writing of information can be normally
executed in safety.
* * * * *