Abstract:
A scanning device for magazine-type storage media, especially magazine player for optical disks, and a method to drive such player, the player being provided to cooperate with a magazine-type container having extremely dense packaging of storage media, where the storage media are secured against damages even when they are removed from the container. The disks are coupled to trays of the container. For playback the container is inserted into a playback device, a tray of the container is moved into a playback position, a disk is released from the tray and coupled to a mechadeck for playback.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention relates to a scanning device for magazine-type storage media, especially magazine player for optical disks, and a method to drive such player, the player being provided to cooperate with a magazine-type container having extremely dense packaging of storage media. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Known concepts of scanning devices using storage media housed in a container give access to a storage medium via an opening of the container. The storage medium is secured against damages by the container, often referred to as cartridge. However, dense packaging is not possible here. Known magazine-type containers do also not provide for extremely dense packaging of storage containers. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   An object of the invention is to provide a scanning device for storage media provided in a magazine-type container having dense packaging where the storage media are secured against damages even when they are removed from the container. 
   According to the invention a scanning device for storage media the storage media being coupled to a tray of a container, in which several storage media are housed and which tray is removed completely from the container for enabling scanning of the storage medium, the container being insertable into and removable out of the scanning device comprises: an optical pickup which is arranged on a mechadeck, the mechadeck being moveable towards a first side of a tray when this tray is removed from the container. Said first side corresponds to the side of the scanning medium at which scanning, i.e. reading or writing, is performed by means of the optical pickup. The mechadeck is further provided with a disk release ring, which is either moveable relative to the mechadeck towards or away from the tray in said removed position or it is fixed in said direction. The disk release ring being moveable in order to actuate a disk holder of the tray. Preferably, the disk release ring is rotated about a small angle for releasing disk holders of the tray thus releasing the recording medium, preferably a disk, from the tray. The disk release ring has the shape of an open ring, also called c-shape, and is moveable towards the same side of the tray as the mechadeck. That means that the disk release ring is moved towards or away from the tray at the same first side of the tray as the mechadeck, that is the side of the tray, at which the disk can be taken away from the tray. This has the advantage that the disk release ring is directly coupled to the mechadeck thus not needing a special actuator or special construction parts to hold it in said position. This also reduces the necessary space, especially above the tray position. The open ring shape of the release ring is preferably a c-shape, however, it is not necessarily a circular ring but can also have the shape of a horseshoe or any other open shape, which allows for correct positioning of disk release means as disk release pins on the disk release ring. This shape might well be rectangular shape, square shape or any other polygon shape. An advantage of the open ring shape is that through the opening scanning access, e.g. reading or writing access, to the disk is possible without conflicting with the release ring. Further, undisturbed movement of the pickup is made possible thereby. The storage media are coupled to a tray and thereby secured by the tray against damages even when the tray and thus the disk is removed from the container. Even in this case, the disk stays coupled or affixed to the tray. 
   Advantageously the device according to the invention is provided with a clamper being moveable towards said tray in its removed position from the opposite side compared to the mechadeck. This has the advantage to surely affix the recording medium to the mechadeck. Further, it allows to use conventional design of mechadecks having a damper to be used with the device according to the invention without necessity of extensive redesign. Instead of using a clamper a fixing of recording medium to the mechadeck, especially to a turntable of the mechadeck, is also be possible according to the invention via clip fixing the recording medium to the turntable. Such clip fixation is preferably releasable via an actuator being moveable towards said tray from said opposite side. 
   According to the invention the device is provided with a sensor for detecting direct or indirect contacting of mechadeck and tray. Direct contacting means for example that a part of the mechadeck directly contacts the tray. This part is preferably the sensor itself, or a sensor attached to the disk release ring or any other arrangement performing a similar task. Indirect contact means for example contacting via the recording medium either in its position coupled to the tray or in its position coupled to the mechadeck. In the first case a turntable of the mechadeck contacts the disk, in the latter case the recording medium comes into contact with the tray and this contact is sensed. Sensing when mechadeck and tray come into contact has the advantage that the respective movement can then be stopped at the optimum position. Moving the mechadeck too far could result in deformation or even destruction of recording medium and/or tray while stopping the movement too early might not allow for correct releasing of the scanning medium from the tray or coupling the recording medium to the tray. 
   Preferably the movement of said mechadeck towards or away from the tray is a tilting movement. This has the advantage that conventional means for performing such tilting movement of the mechadeck can be used without any or without great change of design. At first glance it seems to be impossible to use a tilting movement of the mechadeck as the trays coming from different positions in the container are arranged at different height positions with respect to the mechadeck. Therefore, in case of a tilting movement parallel orientation of mechadeck and tray can only be reached for one of the tray positions while for the other tray positions at least a slight angle remains. This non-parallel orientation may lead to problems when trying to release the storage medium from the tray or when affixing it to the tray. However, according to the invention the movement of the mechadeck is stopped or made slower as soon as the mechadeck comes into contact with the tray such as to only exert an acceptable force to the storage medium. For releasing the storage medium from the tray, tray release means are opened, the mechadeck is slowly moved away from the tray thus allowing parallel orientation of storage medium and turntable or mechadeck to each other and then the storage medium is fixed to the mechadeck. When bringing back the disk to the tray, the movement of the mechadeck is stopped as soon as the disk comes into contact with the tray. Then coupling between storage medium and mechadeck is removed or at least released and the mechadeck is slowly moved further towards the tray until the storage medium and tray are in parallel orientation, thus allowing correct coupling of storage medium to tray. That means the disk assumes a non-parallel orientation with regard to the tray only in cases where such is save, e.g. because it is affixed to the mechadeck or because it is in contact with the tray and the mechadeck thus being affixed against slip or getting out of place. Preferably, the disk release ring is provided with disk release pins, which are arranged slightly outwardly of the outer rim of the recording medium. This has the advantage that exact positioning of the recording medium is assured by means of these pins and exact centering with regard to mechadeck and/or tray is assured. Getting sidewardly out of position of the storage medium is prevented even when it is not affixed to any of tray and mechadeck. This is especially advantageous in case of upend positioning, i.e. when the plane of the storage medium is oriented not parallel to the surface of the earth, i.e. when its main axis of rotation is not in the same direction as direction of gravitation. 
   A device according to the invention is provided with guiding rails being arranged corresponding to the different positions of said trays inside said container. Preferably, at least one of these rails is fixed in its position to the device and thus does not need to be moved. It is fixed independent of which tray of the container is to be removed from the container. This has the advantage that this guide rail is adjusted once during production of the device and does not need adjustment with regard to the position of the trays in the container. Therefore, exact relative positioning of guide rail and container is assured. Such exactness is necessary for enabling correct removing of a tray from the container and for moving a tray back to the container. If such is not done exactly malfunction might occur. A guiding rail which is fixed to the device has the advantage that production of the device is made easy and no space for moving means of said guiding rail are necessary. Advantageously a guiding rail is arranged to extend above and below a tray moving slider, which is moved for taking a tray out of the container or returning it back into the container. Such guide rail makes possible movement of tray moving slider as well as guidance of the tray at the side of the tray, at which the tray moving slider attaches it. Preferably, vertical movement of the tray moving slider is coupled to vertical movement of said guiding rail. 
   Preferably, the height of a tray to be used with the invention corresponds to the sum of heights of bottom plate and cover plate of said container to be used with the invention. This has the advantage that extremely dense packaging is made possible. 
   A method to move a storage medium from a container housing several trays to which tray a storage medium is coupled into a scanning position of a scanning device comprises the steps of: moving a tray moving slider in a first direction to assume a position to cooperate with one of the trays of the container; moving said tray moving slider in a second direction to remove said tray out of said container into a release position; moving a mechadeck and a disk release ring from the same side towards said tray until the mechadeck and the storage medium come into contact with each other; fixing said storage medium to the mechadeck; releasing the coupling between storage medium and tray; and moving said mechadeck away from said tray to assume the scanning position of the storage medium. 
   A method according to the invention to move back a storage medium from its scanning position to its position inside said container comprises reversed steps as described above. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Further advantages can be seen from the figures and the following description of preferred embodiments. The invention, however, is not restricted to these embodiments. Measures within the range of a skilled person are also covered by the invention. The figures show: 
     FIG.  1 : perspective view of a container used with the invention; 
     FIG.  2 : perspective view of partly opened container; 
     FIG.  3 : Cross sectional view of a part of a container; 
     FIG.  4 : bottom view of a container; 
     FIG.  5 : different type of container; 
     FIG.  6 : container and device before insertion; 
     FIG.  7 : container being inserted into device; 
     FIG.  8 : container inserted position; 
     FIG.  9 : tray release slider in release position; 
     FIG.  10 : tray being moved out of container; 
     FIG.  11 : final position for tray; 
     FIG.  12 : mechadeck in tray contact position; 
     FIG.  13 : disk released from tray; 
     FIG.  14 : playback position reached; 
     FIG.  15 : mechadeck with tilting movement; 
     FIG.  16 : mechadeck and disk affixed to upper tray; 
     FIG.  17 : mechadeck returning disk to upper tray; 
     FIG.  18 : mechadeck having returned disk to upper tray. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of a container  1  used with the invention. The container consists of a bottom plate  2 , side walls  3 ,  4  between which trays  5  are arranged and a cover plate  6 . The cover plate  6  is provided at its upper, outer surface with a rectangular depression  7  in which a circular, transparent window  8  is arranged. Preferably, the transparent window  8  consists of the same material as the rectangular depression  7 , wherein just the surface of the window  8  is smooth while the surface of the depression  7  is rough, so that transparency or intransparency is reached. Through the transparent window  8  it is easy to check the content of the upper one of trays  5 . 
   The height H of the container  1  of  FIG. 1  is much smaller than its depth D and its width W, both defining a first base line D and a second base line W of a rectangle being given by the dimensions of bottom plate  2  or cover plate  6 . In the embodiment of  FIG. 1  the dimensions of height H equals H=10 mm, depth D equals D=125 mm and width W equals W=142 mm. These dimensions are identical with those of a usual optical disk container, also called Jewel box. However, the container  1  according to the invention is able to store up to three disks  25  instead of a single one according to the usual container. As can be seen at the front side of container  1 , the height of bottom plate  2  and cover plate  6  is half the size of each of the trays  5 . That means, if two identical containers  1  are stacked one upon the other the difference between two trays  5  is always an integer multiple of the height of one tray  5 , as the height of neighbouring bottom plate  2  and cover plate  6  add together to the height of one tray  5 . As can be seen further the front sides of the trays  5  are plane and form together with the respective front sides of bottom plate  2 , cover plate  6  and side walls  3 ,  5  a substantially plane front surface. 
   The trays  5  are provided with projections  9  at the upper end and being guided in guide grooves  10  of the side walls  3 ,  4 . At the left side of the container  1 , at side wall  3  there is arranged an identification area  11  which, in the Figure, comprises several electrical contacts  12 . Instead of electrical contacts, it is also possible to arrange for optically accessible markings as for example a bar code or other contactless identification means. There is further provided read-write protection means  13 , consisting of three dip-switches  14  for manually setting a read or write protection for each of the trays  5 . Side wall  3  is further provided with an orientation groove  15  which has no counterpart at the other side and which is arrange asymmetrically, so that correct orientation of the container  1  can be assured by use of orientation groove  15 . A release groove  16 , which is also present at side wall  4 , can be accessed in order to release one or several of the trays  5  to be able to be slit out of the container  1 . Support areas  17 , at which the height H is controlled to be very close to defined values are indicated, however, not visible in the scale used. There are three support areas  17  in order not to create indefiniteness. The container  1  is further provided with connector openings  18  to which connecting means may be attached in order to connect two or more containers  1  together to a single part. 
   Orientation grooves  19  are arranged at the height of the middle tray  5  at the front edge of the side walls  3  and  4 . These orientation grooves  19  may be used in order to assure correct orientation of container  1  relative to a replay device.  FIG. 2  shows a perspective view of a partly opened container  1 . Same parts are indicated with same reference numbers throughout the application and are referred to only in case of different function or additional information. The cover plate  6  is removed in  FIG. 2  (not shown), as well as the top one of trays  5  which is shown separately. Guide grooves  10  are visible now more clearly. 
   At the far end of side walls  3 ,  4  there are arranged releasable locking means  20 . They consist of pivotable levers  21  having a first nose  22  to cooperate with a respective hole  23  of the tray  5  and a second nose being accessible at the release groove  16  from the outside. In the Figure, there is shown a single lever  21  in side wall  4  for releasing or locking all three trays  5  at the same time. At the other side wall  3 , there are three levers  21  stacked one over another, so that by selecting one of these levers  21  a special tray to be released can be selected. Both visible trays are filled with an optical recording medium  25 . The separated tray  5  shows clearly projections  9  and hole  23  to be guided in guide grooves  10 . The projections  9  having holes  23  are provided with a rising edge  26  in order to move levers  21  when the tray  5  is inserted into its locked position. Gripping holes  27  are arranged within the tray  5  in order to be able to access the disk  25  by means of the fingers of a human hand. Orientation wholes  28  are provided in the tray  5  in order to assure exact positioning of the tray  5  in a playback device. 
     FIG. 3  shows a partly cross sectional view along line AA of FIG.  1 . On the bottom plate  2  there is arranged at the right hand side a side wall  4  having guiding grooves  10 . Within the guiding grooves  10  projections  9  of the trays  5  are guided. The projections  9  are arranged at the upper part of trays  5  and extend outwardly. At the lower part of the trays  5  there are arranged support areas  29  extending radially inwardly with respect to a circular depression of the tray  5 . The circular depression accommodates the disk  25 . As can be seen, the thickness of the support areas  29  is very small and reduces in radially inwardly direction. This ensures, that the optical recording medium  25  is supported only at its outer edge. Preferably the support areas  29  are provided with a slope at their upper surface as well as on their lower surface. This has the advantage that even in case that the container is turned upside down, the disk  25  housed in a tray  5  is supported by the neighbouring tray  5  at the sloped lower surface of its support areas  29 . Similarly the inner part of cover plate  6  is provided with a sloped circular area  85  which is shown in  FIG. 1A  in an exaggerated manner. This sloped circular area  85  has also a disk supporting function in case of the container  1  being turned upside down. 
     FIG. 4  shows a bottom view of a container  1  used with the invention. The bottom plate  2  is provided with a rectangular depression  35  which depression is about 0.1 mm deep. The depression  35  is preferably used to stick a label on it. Because of the depth of the depression and the thickness of the label, which latter is smaller than the former, no additional thickness to the container  1  is added. At side wall  4  there is provided a depression  36  which is also suited for sticking a label on it. Here, too, the thickness of the label is smaller than the depth of the depression  36  so that the size of the container  1  is not increased even if a label is sticked on it. The advantage of a label sticked at depression  36  is, that it is visible, even if several containers  1  are stacked together. In this case only the depression  35  of the lowest container  1  in the stack would be visible, whereas all depressions  36  of the stacked containers  1  are visible, and thus all labels arranged there. In order to increase the size of depression  36  release groove  16  might be arranged nearer to the end of side wall  4 . The dimensions of the outer surfaces of trays  5  and the parts surrounding trays  5  are such that there is only very small open space between trays  5  and surrounding parts. This ensures that it is very unlikely that dust or other particles that might have a disturbing effect may enter into the container  1 . 
     FIG. 5  shows, in a perspective view, a different type of container used with the invention. Most parts are similar to those as described above especially with regard to FIG.  1  and therefore not described in detail here. Orientation groove  15  is arranged near the front edge  86  of the container. The side wall  3  does not extend up to this front edge  86  so that there is a space between bottom plate  2  and cover plate  6 . Into this space hooks  87  of trays  5  extend. The hooks  87  have a slightly inclined face  88  in order to reliably coact with a pulling nose  113  (not shown) of a push-pull element  89  (not shown) for removing the tray  5  from container  1 . Container  1  of this embodiment is provided with orientation grooves  19  at side walls  3 , 4  in order to provide for correct positioning of container  1  within a magazine or another storing device. Orientation grooves  19  as well as connector openings  18  may also be used to seize or grab container  1  in order to move it e.g. into a magazine type player or within such device. Also other openings or recesses of container  1  as e.g. orientation groove  15  may be used therefore. Container  1  is further provided with back walls  90  at least partly closing the back side of container  1  which is the visible side in the drawing. Thus the container is open for removal and insertion of trays  5  only at its front side while the opposite side, the back side, is partially closed. Back walls  90  assure higher stability of the container  1 . It is to be understood that many of the features described here but not shown in other embodiments described elsewhere in this application may advantageously be incorporated there and vice versa. 
     FIG. 6  shows a container  1  and magazine type player  39  before insertion. Container  1  is to be inserted through slit  160 . Tray release slider  55  is provided for moving a tray  5  out of container  1  after insertion. Disk release ring  96  is provided with four disk release pins  95  the function of which will be described later. Disk release ring  96  is not a complete circular ring but is about c-shaped having an opening at ends  171 ,  171 ′. The opening defined by ends  171 ,  171 ′ makes possible linear movement of an optical pick-up  45  of optical pick-up unit  40 . This movement is possible even if disk release ring  96  is in a position as shown here or even in a lower position. As described here, disk release ring  96  is fixed in its position with regard to mechadeck  44 , but is rotatable about a small angle a about the axis of rotational symmetry of its main circular shape. A turntable  172  is provided for rotating a disk-like recording medium (not shown here). A damper  173  is provided to be lowered so as to clamp the disk-shaped optical recording medium on turntable  172  in order to assure a correct rotation. 
     FIG. 7  shows container  1  during insertion into device  39  through slit  160 . Insertion may be performed using certain mechanics or a drawer for the container  1 , which are not shown here. Guiding rails  180 ,  181  are provided to guide a tray  5  when removed out of container  1  which shall be shown later. As shown here, both guiding rails  180 ,  181  have a guiding space  182  that is substantially the height of a tray  5 . They are coupled to each other and to slider  55  in order to be moveable together in vertical direction as indicated by arrow  163 . Guiding rail  181  is provided with two openings  183  to make possible horizontal movement of slider  55  relative to rail  181  in a direction as indicated by arrow  164 . 
     FIG. 8  shows a container  1  in its inserted position in device  39 . Slider  54  is being moved from a position lower than container  1  into a position for actuating one of trays  5 . As shown here it has reached the position of lowest tray  5 . Push-pull element  89  engages with its pushing nose  112  and its pulling nose  113  orientation grooves  15 ,  15 ′ of container  1 . If container  1  is wrongly inserted or is an incorrect container, i.e. is not provided with orientation grooves  15 ,  15 ′, movement of slider  55  in direction as indicated by arrow  163  is blocked thus indication of wrong type or wrong oriented container is possible. Different to the previous figure guiding rail  180 ′ is fixedly attached to device  39 . It is provided with guiding spaces  182  having the same dimension as projection  9  of trays  5  so as to guide trays  5  when removed from container  1 . As vertical position of container  1  in the device is correctly adjustable, the positions of projection  9  and guiding space  182  coincide correctly. Guiding rail  181  is not shown here for simplicity reasons. 
     FIG. 9  shows slider  55  in a released position to remove upper tray  5  from container  1 . Releasable locking means  20  for the upper tray  5  is actuated (not shown here) in order to allow movement of upper tray  5  out of container  1 . For simplicity reasons none of the guiding rails is shown here. Disk release ring  96  and mechadeck  44  are in a lowered position so as to not coming into contact with tray  5  during its movement out of the container. That means that even disk release pins  95  are well below tray  5 . On the other hand, damper  173  is arranged in an upper position so as to not come into contact with tray  5  during its movement. 
     FIG. 10  shows a tray  5  when being removed from container  1 . Slider  55  is therefore moved in a direction as indicated by arrow  164 . It is therefore provided with a toothed rack  198  to which a toothed wheel (not shown) is attached. It can be seen how tray  5  is guided by guiding rails  180 ,  181 . It can further be seen that the storage medium disk  25  is held by holding projections  92  of disk holders  91  of tray  5 . 
     FIG. 11  shows the final position of tray  5 . Clamper  173  is still above, i.e. not in contact with disk  25  and mechadeck  44  as well as disk release ring  96  is still not in contact with tray  5  or disk  25 . 
     FIG. 12  shows mechadeck  44  and clamper  173  in a contact position with the tray  5  or disk  25 , respectively. Turntable  172  (not visible here) contacts disk  25  from below while damper  173  contacts disk  25  from above. Disk release pins  95  extend through openings  105 . As could be seen, mechadeck  44  as well as disk release ring  96  have been moved towards the lower side  197  of tray  5  while damper  173  has been moved towards the opposite side, the upper side  196  of tray  5 . This movement is shown here as a linear movement. This movement is driven by a motor and appropriate gear means. 
     FIG. 13  shows how disk  25  is released from tray  5 . Mechadeck  44  of optical pick-up unit  40  is already moved upwards compared to its previous position. Disk release ring  96  is mechanically coupled to mechadeck  44  and thus also already moved upwards. Thereby, disk release pins  95  extend through openings  105  between tray  5  and disk  25 . Rotation of disk release ring  96  about a small angle brings disk release pins  95  into contact with disk holders  91  in order to rotate them to assume a disk release position. Disk holders  91  as shown in  FIG. 13  are already in the disk release position while those shown in  FIG. 12  are still in the disk holding position. Disk  25  is now supported by turntable  172 , not visible here, and clamped on turntable  172  by damper  173 . Disk release pins  95  extend so far from disk release ring  96  that there is sufficient play between disk release ring  96  and disk  25  in order to provide rotation of disk  25 . However, disk  25  is still in contact or at least nearly in contact with tray  5  as shown in this figure. 
     FIG. 14  shows the playback position of disk  25 , which is reached by lowering mechadeck  44  and damper  173  about a small distance. In this view holding projections  92  of disk holders  91  are visible. In the holding position of disk holders  91  these projections  92  hold the disk at the lower surface of its outer rim while the upper surface of its outer rim is in contact with support area  29 . In an alternative embodiment, which is not shown here, mechadeck  44  is provided fixed in device  39  while disk release ring  96  is moved upwards to release disk  25 , which is then held by the inner circumference of ring  96 . Then, ring  96  is lowered so as to bring disk  25  into contact with turntable  172 . Ring  96  is lowered further to allow for free rotation of disk  25 , which is clamped by damper  173 . For returning disk  25  back to tray  5  the afore mentioned actions are performed in opposite order for both alternatives. An advantage of the first alternative is that disk release ring  96  does not need to provide holding support for disk  25  and that it does not need to be provided with orientation means to assure the correct positioning of disk  25 . The second alternative has the advantage that not the complete mechadeck  44  is to be moved upwards and downwards but only disk release ring  96 . This allows to design the upwards and downwards movement mechanics and drives simpler than in the first alternative. 
   It is visible that optical pickup  45  is in its outermost left position whereas it is shown in the previous figures in its outermost right position. Said outermost right position corresponds to the radial inner position with regard to disk  25  while the outermost left position refers to the radially outer position with regard to disk  25 . Undisturbed movement of pickup  45  between its outermost positions is possible as disk release ring  96  has an opening as described before. 
     FIG. 15  shows in a cross-sectional diagrammatical view mechadeck  44  provided for tilting movement in contact with disk  25  coupled to tray  5  of middle position. Indicated by dotted lines are upper tray  5 ′ and lower tray  5 ″. Mechadeck  44  is tiltable about axis  184 . To mechadeck  44  turntable  172  is affixed via disk motor  185 . Disk release ring  96  is attached to mechadeck  44  via ring holder  186 , which also performs rotation of ring  96  about a small angle as described above. This functionality is not shown in detail here. Also only diagrammatically shown are sensors  187 , which are affixed to ring  96  and produce a sensor signal when contacting tray  5 . Also visible are disk release pins  95  which extend through openings  105 . Holding projections  92  of disk holders  91  are also visible. Clamper  173  abuts turntable  172  so that disk  25  is clamped between these two parts. For enabling free rotation of disk  25  mechadeck  44  is tilted about a small angle as indicated by arrow  188  after disk holders  91  have been released. Thereby disk  25  is brought out of contact with tray  5 . 
     FIG. 16  shows the situation when mechadeck  44  comes into contact with upper tray  5 ′ via sensor  187 . Contact is indicated and further tilting movement of mechadeck  44  is stopped. Via release pins  95  disk holders  91  are moved into the release position which makes disk  25  fall about a small distance until it is stopped by turntable  172 . Clamper  173  is lowered and ensures that disk  25  is clamped to turntable  172  as shown in FIG.  17 . From this position mechadeck  44  is rotated about a small angle as indicated by arrow  188  to allow undisturbed rotation of disk  25 . For returning disk  25  back to upper tray  5 ′ mechadeck  44  is tilted about axis  184  in opposite direction as indicated by arrow  188  until it assumes the position as shown in FIG.  17 . This position is sensed by sensor  187  so that further movement is stopped. Then damper  173  is removed and mechadeck  44  is tilted about a small angle further in opposite direction of arrow  188 . As disk  25  already abuts at the right side of  FIG. 17  to tray  5 ′ it is tilted in clockwise direction until also its left side as shown contacts upper tray  5 ′. This position is shown in  FIG. 18  where it is visible that disk  25  is held by right side of turntable  172  against tray  5 ′. Now rotation of disk release ring  96  makes disk release pins  95  actuate disk holders  91  in order to bring them back into a holding position in which holding projections  92  grip below the lower surface of disk  25  thus holding disk  25  tight at tray  5 ′. Mechadeck  44  is now tilted in clockwise direction as indicated by arrow  188  to come out of contact with tray  5  in order to make possible movement of tray  5 ′ into container  1  as described above. It is to be noted that the tilting movement is shown in diagrammatical way in which angles and distances not necessarily correspond to real relations and are partly exaggerated.