INFORMATION RECORDING MEDIUM DRIVE APPARATUS

Abstract: A drive apparatus for driving an information recording medium encased in a cartridge. The cartridge (60) has a protection element (80) for protecting the recording medium (88). The drive apparatus has an action member (15) for functioning the protection element (80). The action member (15) projects out of the apparatus when the cartridge (60) is inserted into the apparatus, and retracts into the apparatus when the cartridge (60) is detached from the apparatus. The apparatus comprises a drive unit and a cartridge mounting unit disposed on a base body of the drive unit. The cartridge mounting unit has an operation button (33) disposed at a position which is furthest aparted from the attached car­ tridge and opposite to the base body with respect to the attached cartridge. When the recording medium is a flexible disk (88), the disk is pressed onto a recording or reproducing head by a pad (40). An arm (37) for supporting the pad (40) allows the pressure of the pad onto the disk to increase with rotation of the disk.

Description: This invention relates to an external information storage device for information processing equipment such as a computer and a word processor, and more particularly to a drive apparatus for driving an information recording medium encased in a cartridge having a hard case to write data onto the recording medium or read out data from the recording medium. Recently, needs of floppy disk devices as computer external storage devices have been rapidly increasing. For, the floppy disk is cheap, easy to handle and easily attacheable to and detacheable from a drive apparatus. The latest portable personal computers and word processors have built-in floppy disk storage devices. Since these portable equipment are required to be smaller in size and lighter in weight, a small and low profile storage device is strongly needed. Floppy disk cartridges and drive apparatusses disclosed in U.S. Patent Nos. 4,525,758 and 4,445,155 are applicable to the above portable information processing equipment. However, these conventional drive apparatus are structurally difficult to be more reduced in size. The cartridge disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,525,758 has head windows normally closed by shutters which are connected to an end of an elongated flexible band which has at the other end a protrusion exposed outside of the cartridge. The protrusion, when the cartridge is inserted into the drive apparatus, is pushed by a member fixed to the drive apparatus so that the flexible band moves to open the shutter. The cartridge must be almost fully inserted into the drive apparatus so that the protrusion can be pushed in a distance to fully open the shutter. In other words, the length of the drive apparatus (in the cartridge inserting direction) must be so large that the position of the fully pushed protrusion is in the drive apparatus. The cartridge disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,445,155 has a notch for inhibiting to write data onto the built-in magnetic disk. Since this notch is disposed near a rear corner of the cartridge, the cartridge must be almost fully inserted into the drive apparatus. As described above, the size of the conventional drive apparatus was limited by the standardized structure of the cartridge. Another obstacle for reducing the size of the floppy disc drive apparatus is a pad for pushing the flexible magnetic disc against the magnetic head. Such pad is disclosed in U.S. Patent 3,678,481. The pad is fixed to an end of a turnable arm which is turnable around a pivot disposed at an end of a head carriage movable in the radial direction of the magnetic disk. The arm is urged in such a direction that the pad is pushed against the magnetic head so that the magnetic disk contacts the magnetic head in a proper contact condition. With this structure, however, the size of the head carriage in the longitudinal direction of the drive apparatus must be large, so that the length of the drive apparatus must also be large. An improved pad is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 56-54665, in which an arm mounting the pad is turnably mounted on the frame of the drive apparatus, and the pad is lengthened in the head moving direction. However, this structure still has the following problems. The parallelism of the pad surface and the head surface will not be expected due to variations of the thickness of the pad, thickness of the adhesive to fix the pad, length of the arm and position of the pivot of the arm. Further, the pad would be crept due to high temperature or high humidity so that the pad surface would be curved in the form of the head surface. Thus, the contact pressure of the pad onto the head will not be uniform, so that reliable recording and reproduction of data will not be expected after a long period of use. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an information recording medium drive apparatus which has a size (length and height) reduced remarkably compared with the conventional drive apparatus. Another object of the present invention is to provide a drive apparatus which is easy to attach and detach a cartridge encasing therein an information recording medium. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a drive apparatus to which a cartridge encasing therein an information recording medium can be accurately attached. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an information recording medium drive apparatus which has a highly reliable data recording and reproducing performance. A further object of the present invention is to provide an information recording medium drive apparatus having a cartridge mounting unit separated from a drive unit so as to improve productivity of the drive apparatus. A still further object of the invention is to provide an information recording medium drive apparatus allowing a label on a cartridge to be easily visible even when the cartridge is attached to the drive apparatus. The present invention provides a drive apparatus for driving an information recording medium encased in a cartridge having a head window and a shutter means movable between a closed position at which the shutter means covers the head window and an open position at which the head window is open, said apparatus comprising: a cartridge mounting unit for mounting therein the cartridge inserted thereinto; a shutter opening means disposed in the cartridge mounting unit for moving the shutter means of the cartridge from the closed position to the open position to open the head window of the cartridge when the cartridge is inserted into the cartridge mounting unit; and a drive unit having a base body on which the cartridge mounting unit is mounted, the driving unit having in the base body a driving means for driving the recording medium in the cartridge mounting unit, and a read/write head for accessing the recording medium through the head window of the cartridge inserted in the cartridge mounting unit, characterized in that the shutter opening means comprises: move means movable in response to a movement of the cartridge in a cartridge-insertion direction, in which the cartridge is inserted into the cartridge mounting unit; conversion means, operably connected to the move means, for converting a first force produced by the movement of the move means to a second force acting in a predetermined direction; and action means movable between a first position, where the action means is substantially fully encased in the cartridge mounting unit, and a second position, where a part of the action means is projected out of the cartridge mounting unit, the action means being operably connected to the conversion means for motion under the second force in a direction from the first position to the second position to move the shutter means of the cartridge from the closed position to the open position. The action means is to allow means provided in a cartridge encasing therein an information recording medium to be functioned when the cartridge is attached to or detached from the drive apparatus. The means provided in the cartridge may be a means for opening or closing a head window on the cartridge or a means for inhibiting undesirable data writing. The action means is projected from the drive apparatus when the cartridge is inserted into the drive apparatus, and entered into the drive apparatus when the cartridge is detached from the cartridge. The drive apparatus preferably includes an operation member or an operation button which is disposed at a position furthest apart from the cartridge attached to the drive apparatus and opposite to a base body of a drive unit with respect to the attached cartridge so as to be easily operated by an operator to eject the cartridge. The apparatus preferably further includes a pad for pressing the recording medium onto a recording or reproducing head, and an arm mounting at an end of the pad and turnable about a pivot. The pad functions such that the pressure of the pad against the recording medium increases as the recording medium rotates. When the action means is provided the cartridge can be attached to the drive apparatus in such a state that a rear part of the cartridge is exposed out of the drive apparatus. The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a cartridge applicable to a drive apparatus of the invention; Fig. 2 is a rear view of an embodiment of drive apparatus of the invention, partly broken to show a pad for pressing a recording disk onto a head; Fig. 3 is a partially broken plan view of an embodiment of drive unit of a drive apparatus of the invention; Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of cartridge mounting unit of a drive apparatus of the invention; Figs. 5A and 5B are plan and side views, respectively, of a drive apparatus using the cartridge mounting unit of Fig. 4, showing a state in which a cartridge is not inserted into the drive apparatus; Figs. 6A and 6B are plan and side views, respectively, of the drive apparatus using the cartridge mounting unit of Fig. 4, showing a state in which a cartridge is attached to the drive apparatus; Fig. 7 is a perspective view of another example of holder applicable to a drive apparatus of the invention; Figs. 8A and 8B are plan views of the holder of Fig. 7, respectively showing states in which a cartridge is not inserted and a cartridge is attached; and Fig. 9 is a plan view of still another example of holder applicable to a drive apparatus of the invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, description will be given on a case that the present invention is applied to a drive apparatus using a cartridge encasing therein a magnetic disk as an information recording medium. Referring to Fig. 1 showing a typical magnetic disk cartridge, a cartridge 60 basically comprises an upper case 61, a lower case 62 and a magnetic disk 88 encased between the cases 61 and 62. The upper and lower cases 61 and 62 respectively have center openings 63 and 64 to which a disk hub 90 is inserted, head windows 66 and 67 into which a magnetic head will be inserted when the cartridge is attached to the drive apparatus, and positioning holes 68, 69 and 70, 71 to which a positioning pin will be fitted when the cartridge is attached to the drive apparatus. The head window 67 is normally closed by a shutter 80 which is turnably mounted on a ring protrusion 65 provided along the circumference of the center opening 64. The head window 66 is also normally closed by the similar configuration (not shown). The shutter 80 is connected at an end with one end of a flexible band 81 so as to be turned about the center opening 64 by a longitudinal direction movement of the flexible band 81. The flexible band 81 is urged by a spring 83 in a direction to close the shutter 80. At the other end of the flexible band 81 is provided a protrusion 82 exposed at a side of the cartridge 60. When the cartridge is inserted into the drive apparatus, the protrusion 82 is pushed by an element of the drive apparatus so that the flexible band 81 moves in the direction to open the shutter 80 thereby to allow the magnetic head contact the magnetic disk 88 via the head window 67. In short, a cartridge applicable to the drive apparatus of the invention may have such a configuration that a shutter normally closing a head window will be opened by a force supplied from the drive apparatus when the cartridge is attached to the drive apparatus. Fig. 2 shows a rear view of an embodiment of drive apparatus of the invention. Referring to Fig. 2, the drive apparatus comprises a drive unit A and a cartridge mounting unit B which are separated from each other. An embodiment of the drive unit A is shown in Fig. 3. Referring to Fig. 3, the drive unit comprises a spindle 1 for rotating the magnetic disk 88, a drive motor 2 for driving the spindle 1, a head carriage 4 mounting thereon a magnetic head 3, a lead screw 5 for driving the head carriage 4, a stepping motor 6 for rotating the lead screw 5 as an output shaft, and a base body 7 for mounting the above construction elements. The spindle 1 engages at an end with the disk hub 90 to transmit a rotational driving power to the disk hub 90. To the other end of the spindle 1 is fixed a flywheel 8. The drive motor 2 is a DC motor whose radial dimension is larger than the axial direction dimension. A small pulley 9 is fixed to the shaft of the drive motor 2. The pulley 9 is connected to the flywheel 8 via a thin elastic drive belt 10. The drive motor 2 is controlled to rotate at a desired number of rotations, and the rotational driving force is transmitted via the pulley 9, the drive belt 10 and the flywheel 8 to the spindle 1. The head carriage 4 has such a shape that the dimension in the widthwise direction of the drive unit is larger than the dimension in the longitudinal direction of the drive unit. The magnetic head 3 is mounted on an upper surface of the head carriage 4 near an end in the longitudinal direction of the head carriage 4. At a lower surface near the other end in the longitudinal direction of the head carriage 4 are provided a needle 58 engaging with the lead screw 5, a pair of reference protrusions 4a and 4b which are contacting the lead screw 5, and a means (not shown) for urging the reference protrusions 4a and 4b to allow them continuously keep in contact with the lead screw 5. The stepping motor 6 turns intermittently so that the angle of each turn corresponds to the number of pulse signals applied thereto. The turning motion of the stepping motor 6 is converted to a linear motion of the head carriage 4 along the lead screw 5 by means of the lead screw 5 and the needle 58. Thus, the stepping motor 6 can reciprocate the head carriage 4 so as to move the magnetic head 3 to a position on a desired recording track of the magnetic disk 88. An embodiment of the cartridge mounting unit B is shown in Fig. 4. Referring to Fig. 4, the cartridge mounting unit has a holder 11, slide plate 12 and an outer plate 13. Two pairs of pins 51-54 are fixed to opposite side surfaces of the holder 11. The pin 51 is inserted into a guide hole 15a of an action member 15 and the pin 52 is inserted into a guide hole 15b of the action member 15 and a guide hole 17a of a move member 17, whereby the action member 15 is slidably supported by the pins 51 and 52 and the move member 17 is slidably supported by the pin 52. The pin 53 is inserted into a guide hole 16a of an action member 16 and the pin 54 is inserted into a guide hole 16b of the action member 16 and a guide hole 18a of a move member 18, whereby the action member 16 is slidably supported by the pins 53 and 54 and the move member 18 is slidably supported by the pin 54. The move member 17 and 18 respectively have at their ends cartridge contact portions 17b and 18b which protrude into an internal space of the holder 11 through guide holes 19 and 20, respectively, provided at the side surfaces of the holder 11. The cartridge contact portions 17b and 18b will contact a front surface of a cartridge when the cartridge is inserted into the internal space of the holder 11. Cartridge support portions 11a and 11b extending respectively from the lower sides of the side surfaces of the holder 11 to be in parallel with the upper surface of the holder 11 will support the inserted cartridge. Shafts 23 and 24 are fixed to the lower surfaces of the cartridge support portions 11a and 11b, respectively. Pulleys 21 and 22 having circumferential guide grooves 21a and 22a are rotatably mounted on the shafts 23 and 24, respectively. A string 25 guided along the guide groove 21a of the pulley 21 is fixed at one end through a hole 17c provided at the cartridge contact portion 17b of the move member 17, and hooked at the other end by a hook 15c provided on the lower edge of the action member 15. A string 26 guided along the guide groove 22a of the pulley 22 is fixed at one end through a hole 18c provided at the cartridge contact portion 18b of the move member 18, and hooked at the other end by a hook 16c provided on the lower edge of the action member 16. Each of the strings 25 and 26 should be mechanically strong and flexible, but not elastic (not expanded or contracted by an external force or a temperature or humidity change), and may be a synthetic resin string or a metal wire. Tension springs 29 and 30 are respectively mounted between the hook 15c of the action member 15 and a hook 27 provided at the rear end of the cartridge support portion 11a of the holder 11 and between the hook 16c of the action member 16 and a hook 28 provided at the rear end of the cartridge support portion 11b of the holder 11 so as to elastically urge the action member 15 and 16 in the direction toward the rear end of the holder 11. Thus, the tension springs 29 and 30 apply specific tension to the strings 25 and 26, respectively, so that the move members 17 and 18 are elastically urged in the opposite direction to the direction of the elastic urging force applied to the action members 15 and 16 and held at positions nearest to a cartridge inserting entrance 11c within movable ranges of the move members 17 and 18. The strings 25 and 26 connect the move members 17 and 18 with the action members 15 and 16, respectively, without slacking. It may be easily understood that the pulleys 21 and 22 reverse the directions of the forces generated by the tension springs 29 and 30 via the strings 25 and 26. Thus, the strings 25 and 26 and the pulleys 21 and 22 constitute a conversion means to convert the movements of the move members 17 and 18 to the movements of the action members 15 and 16. The holder 11 is further provided with a clamper 31 for elastically urging the disk hub 90 of the magnetic disk 88 toward the spindle 1 of the drive unit A and a plate spring 32 for urging the clamper 31. The slide plate 12 is a U-shaped member having at its side surfaces cam portions 12a-12d for slidably engaging with the pins 51-54, respectively. Nearly a center of the front edge of the slide plate 12 is fixed a operation button 33. The outer plate 13 support a lock lever 34 and a turntable arm 37 on a lower surface of its upper plate portion. The lock lever 34 is turnably mounted on a shaft 35 fixed to the lower surface of the upper plate portion of the outer plate 13. A pad 40 is mounted on an free end of a lower surface of the turnable arm 37. The pad 40 is lengthened in a direction in which the magnetic head 3 will move. The turnable arm 37 is turnable about a pivot shaft 38 and urged downward by a pressure spring 39 which is also turnably mounted on the pivot shaft 38. The pivot shaft 38 is fixed to the lower surface of the upper plate portion of the outer plate 13. The pressure spring 39 is supported at both ends to the upper plate portion of the outer plate 13 and contacts at its center bent portion 39a a free end portion of an upper surface of the turnable arm 37 so that the pad 40 is elastically urged toward the magnetic head 3. The position of the pivot shaft 38 is located above a position which is advanced than the position of the pad 40 in a rotating direction of the magnetic disk 88 so that the pressure of the pad 40 against the surface of the magnetic disk 88 will increase with the rotation of the magnetic disk 88. This feature will be described later in more detail. When the cartridge is not attached to the drive apparatus, the turnable arm 37 contacts a protrusion 11d provided on the holder 11 thereby to be prevented from turning in the urged direction. The pins 51-54 provided on the side surfaces of the holder 11 are respectively inserted into the cam portions 12a-12d of the slide plate 12 from the inside to the outside of the slide plate 12, and further inserted into vertically elongated holes 13a-13d provided at the side plate portions of the outer plate 13. Accordingly, the holder 11 can reciprocate along the vertically elongated holes 13a-13d of the outer plate 13. In other words, the holder 11 is capable of vertically moving toward or away from the drive unit A. The slide plate 12 is reciprocally movable in a direction nearly perpendicular to the moving direction of the holder 11 by the slidable engagements of the cam portions 12a-12d with the pins 51-54. The slide plate 12 is urged in a direction opposite to a cartridge inserting direction (indicated by an arrow C in Figs. 5A and 5B) by tension springs 45 and 46 which are respectively mounted between protrusions 41 and 42 provided on the slide plate 12 and protrusions 43 and 44 provided on the outer plate 13. The lock lever 34 is urged in a direction in which a notch 34a provided at an end of the lock lever 34 moves toward a notch 12e provided on the slide plate 12 by a tension spring 36 which is hooked at one end by a protrusion 34c provided near the other end of the lock lever 34 and hooked at the other end by a protrusion 47 provided on the upper plate portion of the outer plate 13. Accordingly, the lock lever 34 normally engages with the notch 12e of the slide plate 12 when the cartridge is not inserted into the holder 11. When the cartridge is inserted into the holder 11, a bent portion 34b provided at the other end of the lock lever 34 to expose the inside of the holder 11 is pushed by the cartridge, so that the lock lever 34 is turned to be disengaged from the notch 12e. Next, operation of the drive apparatus having the cartridge mounting unit of Fig. 4 will be described. Figs. 5A and 5B show a state in which the cartridge 60 is not inserted into the cartridge mounting unit B. The slide plate 12 is in a position in which the operation button 33 is fully pushed - in the position moved rightmost in Figs. 5A and 5B. The lock lever 34, with the notch 34a engaging with the notch 12e of the slide plate 12, is holding the slide plate 12 to the outer plate 13 against the urging forces of the tension springs 45 and 46. The holder 11 with the pins 51-54 lifted by the cam portions 12a-12d is held at a position furthest aparted from the base body 7 of the drive unit A. The action members 15 and 16 are elastically urged in the direction opposite to the cartridge inserting entrance 11c by the tension springs 29 and 30 so that the whole bodies of the action members 15 and 16 including the protrusions 15d and 16d are held within the cartridge mounting unit B. The elastic urging forces applied to the action members 15 and 16 are transmitted to the strings 25 and 26, reversed in direction by the pulleys 21 and 22, and applied to the move members 17 and 18, respectively. Accordingly, the move members 17 and 18 are elastically urged to be held in positions nearest to the cartridge inserting entrance 11c within the movable ranges thereof. The turnable arm 37 applied with the urging force of the pressure spring 39 is supported by the protrusion 11d of the holder 11 so as to be approximately parallel with the upper plate portion of the outer plate 13. When the cartridge is inserted from the inserting entrance 11c into the internal space of the holder 11 and moved in the direction indicated by the arrow C, the front surface 60a of the cartridge 60 first contact the contact portions 17b and 18b of the move members 17 and 18. Thereafter, the move members 17 and 18 will be moved in the direction C in accordance with the movement of the cartridge 60 in the direction C. With this movement, the action members 15 and 16 respectively connected to the move members 17 and 18 via the strings 25 and 26 and the pulleys 21 and 22 move in the direction opposite to the direction C. The moving distances of the action members 15 and 16 are equal to those of the move members 17 and 18, respectively. Since the action members 15 and 16 are always urged in the reverse direction (direction C) to their moving direction by the tension springs 29 and 30, the strings 25 and 26 will never slack. According to the inserting movement of the cartridge 60 in the direction C, the action members are projected out of the cartridge mounting unit B. The length of the projected portion of each of the action members 15 and 16 is equal to the inserted distance of the cartridge 60. One of the protrusions 15d and 16d respectively provided at the front ends of the action members 15 and 16 (the protrusion 15d in this case) contacts the protrusion 82 provided on the flexible band 81 of the cartridge 60 and pushes the same in the direction opposite to the direction C so that the flexible band 81 is moved to open the shutter 80. When the cartridge 60 is further moved in the direction C, the front surface 60a of the cartridge 60 will touch the bent portion 34b of the lock lever 34. Since the lock lever 34 is being applied with a moment in a direction indicated by an arrow E in Fig. 5A by the tension spring 36, a force is applied from the bent portion 34b to the front surface 60a of the cartridge 60 in the direction opposite to the cartridge inserting direction C - the force acts in the direction to push back the cartridge 60. When the cartridge 60 is further pushed to move against the pushing back force, the lock lever 34 is turned in a direction opposite to the direction E, so that the notch 34a of the lock lever 34 is disengaged from the notch 12e of the slide plate 12. At this time, the action members complete their projecting movement and are held in specified positions. The shutter 80 of the cartridge 60 is fully opened so that the head windows 68 and 69 are fully opened to accept the magnetic head 3. The slide plate 12 with the engagement at the notch 12e released moves in the direction opposite to the direction C by the urging force of the tension springs 45 and 46. With this movement of the slide plate 12, the cam portions 12a-12d of the slide plate 12 move the pins 51-54 downward along the vertically elongated holes 13a-13d of the outer plate 13, whereby the holder 11 together with the cartridge 60 held therein moves downward toward the drive unit A. With this movement of the holder 11, the turnable arm 37 contacting the protrusion 11d of the holder 11 turns downward about the pivot shaft 38 by the urging force of the pressure spring 39 so that the pad 40 moves toward the head 3 of the drive unit A. Figs. 6A and 6B show a state in which the holder 11 has completed the above downward movement and is held in a specified position - the state in which the cartridge 60 is completely attached to the drive apparatus. The slide plate 12 is in a position that the operation button 33 is projected mostly from the drive apparatus (moved to the leftmost position in Figs. 6A and 6B). The holder 11 and the cartridge 60 are closest to the base body 7 of the drive unit A, and aparted furthest from the operation button 33. The cartridge 60 is always being urged in the direction opposite to the inserting direction (direction C in Figs. 5A and 5B) by the move members 17 and 18. However, since the positioning pin 7a (in Fig. 3) provided on the base body 7 of the drive unit A is fitted to the positioning holes 68, 70 or 69, 71 of the cartridge 60, the cartridge 60 is not moved by the urging force of the move members 17 and 18. The magnetic disk 88 in the cartridge 60 is pressed against the magnetic head 3 by the pad 40 to be ready for data recording or reproduction. The pad 40 is mounted on the turnable arm 37 which is supported by the pivot shaft 38 mounted on the outer plate 13. Since the pivot shaft 38 is located above a position on the magnetic disk 88 advanced than a position on the magnetic disk 88 contacted by the pad 40 in a rotating direction G of the magnetic disk 88 (i.e. a point on the disk 88 passes the position below the pad 40 first, and thereafter passes the position below the pivot shaft 38) as shown in Fig. 6A, the pressing force of the pad 40 against the magnetic disk 88 increases when the magnetic disk 88 is rotating than when the magnetic disk 88 is stationary. The reason for this can be explained as follows. When the magnetic disk 88 is rotating, a friction is caused between the contacting surfaces of the pad 40 and the magnetic disk 88. Due to this friction, the pad 40 is given a force in the rotating direction of the magnetic disk 88, so that the turnable arm 37 is given a moment around the pivot shaft 38 in the urged direction of the turnable arm 37. Since the angle formed by the turnable arm 37 and the surface of the magnetic disk 88 is kept an acute angle (less than 90°) as shown in Fig. 2 and the magnetic disk 88 is rotating in the direction G as shown in Fig. 6A, the above moment produced by the above friction acts on the turnable arm 37 so as to press the pad 40 against the magnetic disk 88. This additional pressing force will not increase infinitely, but converge into a certain value which is substantially determined by an initial pressing force (at the stationary state of the magnetic disk 88), the distance between the pivot shaft 38 and the contact surface of the pad 40, the distance between the pivot shaft 38 and the surface of the magnetic disk 88, and the frictional coefficient between the contacting surfaces of the pad 40 and the magnetic disk 88. Therefore, the pressing force of the pad 40 against the magnetic disk 88 during the rotation of the magnetic disk 88 can be freely designed to be an arbitrary desired value. Experiments by the applicants showed that the additional pressing force due to the friction will be several % to several tens % of the initial pressing force. The increased pressing force of the pad 40 solves the conventional problems thereby to assure reliable data recording and reproduction. That is, even if the contacting condition of the pad 40 with the disk 88 is not uniform at the stationary state of the disk 88 due to variations of the thickness of the pad 40, the dimensions of the arm 37, and the positions of the pivot shaft 38, the pad 40 is pressed against the disk 88 securely and uniformly when the disk 88 is rotating. Further, even if the contact surface of the pad 40 is deformed due to high temperature or high humidity, the pad 40 is pressed against the disk 88 securely and uniformly when the disk 88 is rotating. Next, the operation to detach the cartridge 60 from the drive apparatus will be described. When detaching the cartridge, an operator may push the operation button 33 toward a direction indicated by an arrow H shown in Figs. 6A and 6B. Since the operation button 33 is in the position furthest aparted from the mounted cartridge 60, the operator can push the operation button 33 very easily. When the operation button 33 is pushed in the direction H, the slide plate 12 is moved in the same direction H. With this movement of the slide plate 12, the cam portions 12a-12d respectively guide the pins 51-54 of the holder 11 to move upward along the vertically elongated holes 13a-13d of the outer plate 13. Therefore, the holder 11 and the cartridge 60 held therein move upward so as to apart from the base body 7 of the drive unit A. With this upward movement of the holder 11, the turnable arm 37 contacting the protrusion 11d of the holder 11 turns about the pivot shaft 38 in the direction opposite to the urging force of the pressure spring 39, so that the pad 40 is aparted from the surface of the magnetic disk 88. When the slide plate 12 reaches the position as shown in Figs. 5A and 5B, the lock lever 34 turns in the direction E, so that the notch 34a of the lock lever 34 engages with the notch 12e of the slide plate 12. At this time, the holder 11 is held in the position furthest aparted from the base body 7 of the drive unit A, and the turnable arm 37 is held to be apploximately parallel with the upper plate portion of the outer plate 13. The cartridge 60 released from the positioning pin 7a of the drive unit A is ready to be dismounted. The cartridge 60 is urged in the direction opposite to the direction C (in Figs. 5A and 5B) by the move members 17 and 18. The urging forces of the move members 17 and 18 are produced by the tension springs 45 and 46, and transmitted via the action members 15 and 16 and the strings 25 and 26. Therefore, the cartridge 60 moves in the direction opposite to the direction C with keeping in contact with the move members 17 and 18. At the same time, the action members 15 and 16 move in the direction C in cooperation with the movement of the move members 17 and 18 so as to enter into the cartridge mounting unit B. The moving distances of the action members 15 and 16 are equal to those of the move members 17 and 18, or the moving distance of the cartridge 60. The flexible band 81 of the cartridge 60 is urged in the direction to close the shutter 80 by the spring 83. The urged direction of the flexible band 81 is equal to the moving direction of the action members 15 and 16. Accordingly, the flexible band 81 being in contact at the protrusion 82 thereof with the protrusion 15d of the action member 15 moves to follow the movements of the action members 15 and 16 so as to allow the shutter 80 close the head windows 66 and 67. The action members 15 and 16 and the move members 17 and 18, after completing the above movements, become the states as shown in Figs. 5A and 5B. The whole bodies of the action members 15 and 16 including the protrusions 15d and 16d are stored in the cartridge mounting unit B. The move members 17 and 18 are positioned closest to the cartridge inserting entrance 11c within their movable ranges. The head windows 66 and 67 of the cartridge 60 are completely closed by the shutter members. However, the cartridge 60 is not completely moved out of the drive apparatus, but remains in a position in which a part of the cartridge is left in the cartridge mounting unit B so that the cartridge does not drop out of the drive apparatus. The cartridge 60 will be pulled out of the drive apparatus by the operator. In the above described embodiment, the object to be functioned by the action member was the means for opening or closing the head windows of the cartridge - the means comprising the shutter, the flexible band and the protrusion on the flexible band. But, the action member may be modified to function other objects possessed by other cartridges for protecting recording media encased therein. For example, the action member may be modified to detect a means for inhibiting undesired data writing or erroneous data erasing - a notch, for example, provided on the cartridge. Further, in the above described embodiment, the conversion means for changing the direction of movement of the move member to a different direction of movement of the action member was comprised by the string or wire and the pulley. But, the conversion means may be modified to have any other configurations (some of them will be described later). For example, the pulley can be substituted by a pin, or the string and the pulley can be substituted by a chain or toothed band and a gear, respectively. An important point in the foregoing description is that a part (say a third of a full length) of the cartridge is exposed out of the drive apparatus when the cartridge is attached to the drive apparatus. Since the protrusion 82 of the flexible band 81 is actuated by the projected action member 15 or 16, the cartridge 60 is not necessary to be fully stored in the drive apparatus. Therefore, the length of the drive apparatus can be remarkably reduced compared with the conventional drive apparatus. Further, since a display label 74 provided on the case of the cartridge 60 can be seen when the cartridge 60 is attached to the drive apparatus, the operator can easily recognize what kind of information is recorded on the recording medium encased in the attached cartridge. Fig. 7 shows a modified conversion means of the drive apparatus of the invention, in which the same part as that shown in Fig. 4 is omitted for simplifying the explanation. Action members 102 and 103 are slidably mounted on both sides of a holder 100, respectively. The action members 102 and 103 respectively have at the respective front ends protrusions 102a and 103a, and at the respective sides on the upper plate of the holder 100 rack portions 102b and 103b. The protrusions 102a and 103a are to touch the protrusion 82 of the cartridge 60 for moving the flexible band 81. On the upper plate of the holder 100 are mounted move members 104 and 105 slidably in parallel with the action members 102 and 103, respectively. The move members 104 and 105 respectively have at the respective rear ends pins 106 and 107 projected into the internal space of the holder 100, and at the respective sides facing the action members 102 and 103 rack portions 104a and 105a. The rack portions 102b and 104a are engaged with a pinion 108 at the opposite sides of the pinion 108, respectively. The rack portions 103b and 105a are engaged with a pinion 109 at the opposite sides of the pinion 109, respectively. The pinions 108 and 109 are rotatably mounted on the upper plate of the holder 11. Thus, the action member 102 and the move member 104 are movable in opposite directions, and the action member 103 and the move member 105 are movable in opposite directions. The pins 106 and 107 are to touch the front surface of the cartridge 60. The move members 104 and 105 are urged in the direction opposite to the cartridge inserting direction by tension springs 110 and 111, respectively, so that the action members 102 and 103 are urged in the cartridge inserting direction. Two pairs of pins 112-115 fixed to the side plates of the holder 100 support the action members 102 and 103 slidably, and are inserted into cam portions of a slide plate similar to the slide plate 12 in Fig. 4 and further into vertically elongated holes of an outer plate similar to the outer plate 13 in Fig. 4. Next, operation of the Fig. 7 embodiment will be described with reference to Figs. 8A and 8B. Referring to Fig. 8A, the cartridge 60 is not inserted into the drive apparatus. With cooperating actions of the tension springs 110 and 111 and the pinions 108 and 109, the move members 104 and 105 are urged in the leftward direction in the figure and the action members 102 and 103 are urged in the rightward direction in the figure. Therefore, the action members 102 and 103 are held within the drive apparatus. When the cartridge 60 is inserted into the holder 100 and moved in the rightward direction, the cartridge 60 first touch the pins 106 and 107 of the move members 104 and 105. Thereafter, the move members 104 and 105 are moved rightward following the movement of the cartridge 60 thereby to rotate the pinions 108 and 109, respectively. Accordingly, the action members 102 and 103 are moved leftward and projected out of the drive apparatus. One of the protrusions 102a and 103a (102a in Fig. 8A) of the action members 102 and 103 is in contact with the protrusion 82 of the flexible band 81 and pushes the same to move the flexible band 81 thereby to open the head windows 66 and 67 of the cartridge 60. When the cartridge 60 is further inserted rightward, the slide plate 12 is unlocked and moves in the leftward direction, and the holder 100 together with the cartridge 60 will be moved downward to be in the specified final position in the same way as described before in the case of the Fig. 4 embodiment. Fig. 8B shows the state that the holder 100 is in the specified final position - the state that the cartridge 60 is completely attached to the drive apparatus. The cartridge 60 with the head windows 66 and 67 fully opened is exposed at a part out of the drive apparatus, so that the label portion 74 can be easily seen. The other operation than that described above is the same as that described before with reference to Figs. 5A, 5B, 6A and 6B. The operation to detached the cartridge is merely reverse to the above described attaching operation, and therefore may be easily understood. Fig. 9 shows another modified conversion means of the drive apparatus of the invention, in which the same part as that shown in Fig. 4 is omitted for simplifying the explanation. Action members 121 and 122 are slidably mounted on both sides of a holder 120, and provided at the respective front ends with protrusion 123 and 124 for touching the protrusion 82 of the cartridge 60. Pins 131 and 132 are respectively fixed to the action members 121 and 122 near the respective rear ends thereof. Move members 125 and 126 provided at their respective centers with elongated holes 125a and 126a are turnably mounted at their respective one ends on the pins 131 and 132. The move members 125 and 126 are provided also at their respective other ends with pins 127 and 128 projected into the internal space of the holder 120 for touching the front surface of the inserted cartridge 60. To the elongated openings 125a and 126a are fitted fixed pins 129 and 130, respectively, fixed to the upper plate of the holder 120 so that the move members 125 and 126 are slidable along the fixed pins 129 and 130, respectively. When the cartridge 60 is inserted into the holder 120 in the rightward direction in Fig. 9, the pins 127 and 128 touched by the front surface of the cartridge 60 is pushed rightward, so that the move members 125 and 126 turn about the fixed pins 129 and 130 as supporting points, respectively, thereby to move the pins 131 and 132 as points of action in the leftward direction. Accordingly, the action members 121 and 122 move in the direction (leftward) opposite to the cartridge inserting direction to project out of the drive apparatus. With this movement of the action members 121 and 122, one of the protrusions 123 and 124 pushes the protrusion 82 of the flexible band 81 of the cartridge 60 so as to move the shutters to open the head windows 66 and 67. When the cartridge 60 is inserted furthest into the holder 120, the head windows 66 and 67 are completely opened, and the cartridge 60 itself is held with a part including the label portion being exposed out of the drive apparatus. The following operation is basically the same as that described before, and the cartridge detaching operation is reverse to the cartridge attaching operation, which may be easily understood without any further explanation.

Claims: A drive apparatus for driving an information recording medium (88) encased in a cartridge (60) having a head window (66,67) and a shutter means (80) movable between a closed position at which the shutter means covers the head window and an open position at which the head window is open, said apparatus comprising: a cartridge mounting unit (B) for mounting therein the cartridge inserted thereinto; a shutter opening means (15,16,17,18,21,22,25,26) disposed in the cartridge mounting unit for moving the shutter means of the cartridge from the closed position to the open position to open the head window of the cartridge when the cartridge is inserted into the cartridge mounting unit; and a drive unit (A) having a base body (7) on which the cartridge mounting unit is mounted, the driving unit having in the base body a driving means (1,2,8,9,10) for driving the recording medium in the cartridge mounting unit, and a read/write head (3) for accessing the recording medium through the head window of the cartridge inserted in the cartridge mounting unit, characterized in that the shutter opening means comprises: move means (17,18,; 104,105; 125,126) movable in response to a movement of the cartridge (60) in a cartridge-insertion direction, in which the cartridge is inserted into the cartridge mounting unit (B); conversion means (21,22,25,26; 102b,103b,104a,105a,108,109; 125a,126a,129,130), operably connected to the move means, for converting a first force produced by the movement of the move means to a second force acting in a predetermined direction; and action means (15,16; 102,103; 121,122) movable between a first position, where the action means is substantially fully encased in the cartridge mounting unit, and a second position, where a part of the action means is projected out of the cartridge mounting unit, the action means being operably connected to the conversion means for motion under the second force in a direction from the first position to the second position to move the shutter means of the cartridge from the closed position to the open position. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cartridge mounting unit comprises: an outer plate (13) connected to the drive unit and into which the cartridge is inserted in the cartridge-insertion direction; a holder (11; 100; 120) for receiving the cartridge inserted into the outer plate and for holding the cartridge in a fully-inserted position, at which a part of the cartridge is projected out of the outer plate: a slide plate (12) for maintaining the cartridge in the fully-inserted position; and an operation element (33), operably connected to the slide plate and operable by an operator, for releasing the slide plate to allow the cartridge to be withdrawn from the cartridge mounting unit. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the operation element (33) is disposed on an opposite side of the cartridge from the driving unit when the cartridge has been inserted into the outer plate (13). An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said move means and said action means are movably mounted on the holder. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said conversion means comprises a string (25,26) which is fixed at one end thereof to the move means and at the other end to the action means, and guide means (21,22) for guiding the string. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said guide means (21,22) comprises a pulley. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said conversion means comprises a first rack (104a,105a)provided on the move means (104,105), a second rack (102b,103b) provided on the action means (102,103), and a pinion (108,109) engaging at opposite sides thereof with the first and second racks. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said conversion means converts a turning motion of the move means (125,126) to a linear motion of the action means (121,122). Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said move means (125,126) comprises a plate-like move member, and said conversion means comprises a hole (125a,126a) provided at a center of the move member, and a fixed pin (129,130) loosely inserted into the hole. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said conversion means (21,22,25,26; 102b,103b,104a,105a,108,109; 125a,126a,129,130) converts a linear motion of the move means to a linear motion of the action means in a direction opposite to a direction of the linear motion of the move means. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said cartridge mounting unit (B) comprises: a holder (11; 100; 120) for holding the cartridge and movable toward and away from the base body (7) of the driving unit (A); a slide plate (12) reciprocally movable in direction substantially perpendicular to the movable direction (C) of said holder and being urged in a specific direction; an outer plate (13) for supporting said slide plate; and an operation element (33), connected to said slide plate, to be operated by an operator for detaching the cartridge from the cartridge mounting unit. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said outer plate (13) is disposed at a position opposite to said base body (7) with respect to said cartridge being inserted. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said holder (11; 100; 120) is provided at both sides with at least a pair of pins (51,52,53,54; 112,113,114,115), and said slide plate (12) is provided at both sides with cam portions (12a,12b,12c,12d) engaging with said pins, said outer plate (13) being provided at both sides with vertically elongated holes (13a,13b,13c,13d) engaging with said pins for guiding said holder. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said action means (15,16; 102,103; 121,122) is slidably mounted on said holder. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said action means (15,16; 102,103; 121,122) is movable with being guided by at least a pair of pins (51,52,53,54; 112,113,114,115) provided on both sides of said holder. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said operation element (33) is disposed at a position which is furthest apart from the cartridge being attached and opposite to said base body (7) with respect to the cartridge being attached. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording medium (88) is a flexible disk, and said apparatus has a pad (40) for pressing the flexible disk onto the read/write head (3), and a turnable arm (37) supporting at a free end said pad so that a pressure of said pad onto said flexible disk increases with a rotation of said flexible disk. An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein a pivot (38) of said turnable arm is disposed at a position above a tangential position on said flexible disk which is in advance, in the direction of rotation of said flexible disk, of the position where said pad (40) is in contact with said flexible disk.

Inventors: ARAKAWA, TORU, MASAKI, KIYOSHI, OBA, SOUJI, SUYAMA, SATOSHI
Applicants: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
Application year: 1986
Main classification: G11B17
IPC codes: G11B17, G11B23