HEAD DRIVING APPARATUS

Abstract: A head driving apparatus for displacing a magnetic head comprises a plurality of slender rods (2), the respective ends of which are fixed to one another. The slender rods are twisted together by a motor (7) or the like which is connected to one end thereof, so that the other end of the slender rods are finely displaced against the force of an urging means (14), such as a coiled spring. Thus, it is easy to make the apparatus noise and motor capacity small.

Description: This invention relates generally to a head driving apparatus having a fine adjustment device, and more particularly is directed to a device for finely displacing a transducer head, such as a magnetic recording/reproducing head, which is driven by such apparatus. US-A-4630145 discloses a head driving apparatus, in which a lead screw that is drivably connected to a movable carriage, is rotatingly driven by a coarse stepper motor, and axially displaced by a fine stepper motor so as to finely adjust head positions with respect to the tracks of a disk. On the shaft of the fine stepper motor, a second lead screw is provided. One end of a lever is moved by the second lead screw, and the other end of the lever causes the first lead screw, and the other end of the lever causes the first lead screw to be axially displaced against the force of a spring. However, to transmit driving forces smoothly from the second lead screw to the one end of the lever, a certain backlash is needed between them, so that fine displacement of the head becomes difficult to achieve due to play produced at the time when the fine stepper motor is changed from forward rotation to reverse rotation, or vice versa. To avoid such a backlash, if the lever is partly made of an elastic material, the elastic portion of the lever inevitably hinders the accurate transmission of the driving forces, so that the fine displacement of the head becomes likewise difficult. Furthermore, in the apparatus having such a second lead screw, the output of the fine stepper motor must become rather large, so that it is difficult to make the motor small in size and high in rotation. JP-A-61-117771 discloses a head driving apparatus having course and fine adjusting means. The course adjusting means is provided by a belt wound around a rotatable shaft and being connected to a movable bed. The fine adjusting means comprises an electric element adapted to move the reading and/or writing head when deflected by a driving voltage. US-A-4,630,145 discloses a head driving apparatus in accordance with the pre-characterizing portion of claim 1 and which first and second stepper motors for fine and course control respectively drive respective lead screws connected by a lever arm which adds the two motions. The course control lead screws is urged towards the centre of the magnetic storage means being read by a spring. It is an object of the present invention to provide a head driving apparatus for a recording and/or reproducing equipment which avoids the above described problems associated with the prior art. According to the present invention, there is provided a head driving apparatus for displacing a head to record on, and/or to reproduce from recording media, the head driving apparatus comprising: a head carriage on which the head is mounted; a lead screw coupled to the head carriage and urged by resilient means in a predetermined direction; a first motor to coarsely displace the head; a second motor to finely actuate the head and fine derive means for finely displacing the lead screw, characterized by; a plurality of slender rods the respective ends of which are fixed to one another the second motor being connected to turn a first fixed end of the slender rods; urging means for urging the second fixed end of the slender rods in a direction tending to stretch the slender rods; and holding means for holding the second fixed end of the slender rods in a nonrotatable state; and in that the fine drive means are arranged to finely displace the lead screw counter to said predetermined direction in the axial direction thereof of the lead screw, the fine drive means being connected to the second fixed end of the slender rods, whereby, in use, the head is coarsely displaced due to rotation of the lead screw driven by the first motor and finely displaced in the axial direction of the lead screw due to fine displacement of the lead screw driven by the fine drive means that is finely displaced by the slender rods the first fixed end of which is turned by the second motor to intertwine the slender rods with one another, and thereby, the second fixed end of which is finely displaced against the force of the urging means. Fine displacements of the head are obtained by means of intertwining the plurality of slender rods with one another by the help of the rotating means, such as motor or the like. Therefore, the apparatus has no backlash due to hysteresis produced at the time of changing the direction of drive. Further, as the torque necessary for intertwining the slender rods depends upon the rigidity of the slender rods, the rotating means connected to the slender rods which have low rigidity, may have a lower output than that of such a motor as to be decelerated with gears or cams. As will become apparent from the following description, the illustrated embodiment of the present invention offers the following advantages: the head can be accurately displaced without any hysteresis, when it is driven; no noise is made when a head is finely displaced, so that a noiseless apparatus is obtained; the capacity of the required drive means, such as a motor or the like is made small, so as to enable a small-sized motor to finely displace a head at high speed; the fine adjustment device displaces the head through intertwining a plurality of slender rods, is simply and easily assembled, and also, corrections of the length of the slender rods after assembling of the device are simply and easily made. The above, and other features and advantages of this invention, will be apparent in the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment thereof which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals identify the corresponding parts in the several views. In the drawings: Figures 1A and 1B are plan views of a fine adjustment device of a head driving apparatus according to an embodiment of this invention; Figures 2 to 4 are explanatory views for the principle of the fine adjustment device of figures 1A and 1B; Figure 5 is a general plan view of the head driving apparatus; Figure 6 is a plan view of a principal part of the head driving apparatus; Figures 7A and 7B are explanatory sectional views of a pivot bearing; Figure 8 is a fragmentary explanatory plan view of a correction mechanism of the fine adjustment device; Figures 9A to 9C are explanatory perspective views of connections between a lever and slender rods; Figure 10 is an explanatory perspective view of connections of a sub-chassis and a guide shaft with a main chassis; Figure 11 is a sectional view taken along the line XI-XI on figure 5; and Figure 12 is an explanatory sectional view of the connection of the sub-chassis with the main chassis. Referring to the drawings, and initially to figures 1A and 1B, a fine adjustment device 1 of a head driving apparatus which embodies the present invention will be described. As shown in figure 1A, two slender rods 2, such as wires or the like are fixed to each other at both of their ends 2a and 2b by fixing members 3a and 3b. One end of the fixing member 3a is connected to the motor shaft 5 of a stepping motor 7 by the help of a pin 6. The motor shaft 5 is supported by a thrust bearing 4, and rotatable in either of normal and reverse directions, and the centre line of the two slender rods 2 is in alignment with that of the motor shaft 5. The other end fixing member 3b is connected in a non-rotatable fashion to one end 10a of a lever 10 by means of a pin 11. The lever 10 is swung on a fulcrum 9, and urged clockwise in figure 1A by a spring 14 set between a spring stop 12 provided in one end 10a of the lever 10, and a fixed spring stop 13, so that the slender rods 2 are stretched in the direction of arrow a. Thus, when the stopping motor 7 is driven, the slender rods 2 shown in figure 1A are intertwined with each other as shown in figure 1B, so that the slender rods 2 shorten a little and the other end 2b thereof is displaced in the direction of arrow b against the force of the spring 14. In other words, when one end 2a of the slender rods 2 is rotated in normal or reverse direction of arrows c or d, the other end 2b of the slender rods 2 is finely adjusted to its new position. According to the fine adjustment device 1 shown in figures 1A and 1B, the lever 10 is swung on the fulcrum 9 in the direction of arrow e or f due to displacement of the other end 2b of the slender rods 2, which is larger than the displacement of the other end 10b of the lever 10. Next, the principle of the fine adjustment device 1 will be described on reference to figures 2 to 4. When a slender rod 2 of length L and diameter d₁ is wound around a circular cylinder 15 of diameter d₀ at an inclination ϑ (0 ≦ ϑ < π /2) as shown in figure 2, we obtain length L′ shown in figure 2 referring to figure 3: L′ = tπ(d₀ + d₁) tanϑ We also obtain L = tπ(d₀ + d₁)/cosϑ where t: turns of the slender rod 2. ∴ L′ = tπd₁tanϑ d₀ → 0 L = tπd₁/cosϑ d₀ → 0 Therefore, L′ = L sinϑ d₀ → 0 d → 0 Thus, when two slender rods 2 shown in figure 4(A) are intertwined as shown in figure 4(B), the difference ΔL shown in figure 4(B) is ΔL = (L _ L′) = (1 _ sinϑ)L d₀ → 0 Now, a floppy disk equipment embodying the present invention will be described on referring to figures 5 and 6. A motor 23 for driving a floppy disk 27 is arranged on the main chassis 22 of the floppy disk equipment 21, and a motor shaft 25 and a driving pin 26 project from a turntable 24 which is driven by the motor 23. The floppy disk 27 accommodated in a disk cartridge 28 is horizontally mounted on the turntable 24, and rotated, for example, in a direction of arrow g by the turntable 24. A head driving apparatus 30 is also arranged on the main chassis 22 on the rear side of the motor 23, and a guide shaft 31 of the head driving apparatus 30 is horizontally fixed to the main chassis 22 through a pair of fixtures 32, which hold the respective ends of the guide shaft 31. A carriage 33 is movable in a direction of arrows h and i due to guidance of the guide shaft 31, on which a pair of bearings 33a of the carriage 33 are mounted. A pair of magnetic heads 34 secured to the carriage 33 are inserted in a pair of upper and lower head insertion openings (not shown) of the disk cartridge 28 so as to make the magnetic heads 34 contact the upper and lower surfaces of the floppy disk 27, respectively. The magnetic heads 34 are moved by the carriage 33 in the radial direction of the floppy disk 27 as indicated by arrows h and i. A sub-chassis 35 and the guide shaft 31 are disposed on opposite sides of the carriage 33, and the sub-chassis 35 is also secured horizontally to the main chassis 22. A lead screw 36 on the sub-chassis 35 is horizontally supported in parallel with the guide shaft 31 by a pair of bearings 37 provided in the sub-chassis 35, so that it can be movable in the directions of arrows h and i and rotatable in directions of arrows j and k. A needle 38 projecting from the carriage 33 is fitted into a helical groove 36a formed on the periphery of the lead screw 36. One end portion of the lead screw 36 forms a motor shaft 39 of a coarse stepping motor 40 which is fixed to a frame 41 that is formed integrally with the sub-chassis 35. The motor shaft 39 having a rotor 42 is movable with the lead screw 36 is the axial direction thereof with respect to a stator 43 of the stepping motor 40, and urged in the direction of arrow h by the force of a leaf spring 45, which presses the end of the motor shaft 39 through a pivot ball 44. The frame 41 is substantially T-shaped, and in the frame 41, the pair of bearings 37 are provided. A fine adjustment device 47 is arranged on the sub-chassis 35, and two slender rods 48, such as wires or the like of the fine adjustment device 47 are fixed to each other at the both ends thereof by a pair of fixing members 49a and 49b. Further, one of the fixing members 49a is connected, through a coupling 52, to the motor shaft 51 of a fine stepping motor 50 which is fixed to the frame 41 of the sub-chassis 35, and the other of the fixing members 49b is connected in a non-rotatable state to one end 54a of a lever 54 which is swung on a fulcrum 53 in directions of arrows m and n. The blender rods 48 are parallel to the lead screw 36, and the central line of the two blender rods 48 is in alignment with that of the motor shaft 51. Further, the lever 54 is pivotally urged in the direction of arrow n by the force of a tension spring 56 set between a pair of spring stops 55a provided at the other end 54b of the lever 54, and 55b provided on the sub-chassis 35, so that the slender rods 48 are stretched in the direction of arrow p. Further, the other end 54b of the lever 54 abuts against one end 36b of the lead screw 36 through a pivot bearing 57. When the stepping motor 50 is driven, the fixing member 49a is rotated in a direction of arrow s or t by the motor shaft 51 through the coupling 52, so that the two slender rods 48 are intertwined and shortened a little in the direction of arrow p or q against the force of the tension spring 56. Thus, the lever 54 is swung a little on the fulcrum 53 in the direction of arrow m or n, and by the cooperative forces of the lever 54 through the pivot bearing 57, and the leaf spring 45, the lead screw 36 is moved a little in the direction of arrow h or i. Next, the function of the above head driving apparatus 30 will be described. The pair of upper and lower heads 34 shown in figure 5 are in contact with the respective upper and lower faces of the floppy disk 27 which is driven by the motor 23 through the turntable 24. In such a state, when the coarse stepping motor 40 is rotated in the normal or reverse direction, the lead screw 36 is rotated together with the motor shaft 39 in a direction of arrow j or k as shown in figure 6, so that the needle 38 is guided by the groove 36a of the lead screw 36, and the carriage 33 is coarsely displaced in the direction of arrow h or i. Thus, the pair of magnetic heads 34 abutting against the floppy disk 27 are coarsely displaced in the radius direction of the floppy disk 27, and the positional coarse adjustment of the magnetic heads 34 to the track of the floppy disk 27 is made. Then, the fine stepping motor 50 is rotated in the normal or reverse direction due to servo control signals from the floppy disk 27, so that the fine adjustment device 47 functions as mentioned above, and the lead screw 36 is finely displaced in the direction of arrow h or i. The carriage 33 is finely displaced in the direction of arrow h or i by the lead screw 36 through the needle 38 which is guided by the groove 36a of the lead screw 36, and thus, the pair of magnetic heads 34 are finely displaced in the radial direction of the floppy disk 27, so that the fine positional adjustment of the magnetic heads 34 against the track of the floppy disk 27 is made with surety. At the time of the fine displacement of the magnetic heads 34, no noise is made because the two slender rods 48 are only intertwined. Further, if the rigidity of the slender rod 48 is lowered, the load carried by the fine stepping motor 50 is much reduced. Next, the pivot bearing 57 will be described with reference to figures 7A and 7B. The pivot bearing 57 provided at one end 36b of the lead screw 36 comprises: a pivot ball 59, the centre of which is on the axis P₁ of the lead screw 36; and a plurality of balls 60, for example, six balls which function as balls of a ball bearing, and which are provided adjacent to the other end 54b of the lever around the axis P₁ and in contact with the pivot ball 59. The pivot ball 59 is fitted into a hemispheric recess 61 disposed at the end 36b of the lead screw 36, and the plurality of balls 60 is held in a retainer 62 provided at the other end 54b of the lever 54. Thus, when the lead screw 36 is displaced in the direction of arrow h or i by the lever 54 which is swung in the direction of arrow m or n as shown in figure 6, the pivot ball 59 is in rolling contact with the plurality of balls 60, so that the mechanical loss between the lead screw 36 and the lever 54 is made very small. As the distance X₁ between the centres of the balls 60 in figure 7B increases, the angle ϑ₁ formed between the axis P₁ and the direction of a force F₁ which acts on the pivot ball 59 at the contact point P₂ between the pivot ball 59 and the balls 60, becomes larger than 45 degrees, and the component F x1 of the force F₁ which is perpendicular to the axis P₁ becomes larger than the component F y1 of the force F₁ parallel to the axis P₁. Therefore, in order to obtain the component F y1 requisite for making the lead screw 36 displace in the direction of arrow i, the component F x1 becomes too large, so that the mechanical loss between the lead screw 36 and the lever 54 increases. In the embodiment, to make the angle ϑ₁ smaller than 45 degrees, the distance x₁ is reduced as indicted at x₂ in figure 7A, so that the mechanical loss between the lead screw 36 and the lever 54 decreases, whereby it can be easy to smoothly displace the lead screw 36. Next, a correction mechanism 64 for correcting the length L of the slender rods 48 will be described on reference to figures 6 and 8. An adjust screw 66 is formed integrally with a holder 65 in the rear side thereof: in the front side thereof, a retainer 62 is fixed. The adjust screw 66 is fitted into a tapped hole 67 provided at the other end 54b of the lever 54. Further, a slot 68 for a screwdriver is provided in the head of the adjust screw 66. If the contact points P₂ are on a line P₃ determined in the design process, that is, on a line perpendicular to the axis P₁ and passing through the fulcrum 53, the lead screw 36 is to be accurately and smoothly moved in the direction of arrows h and i by the lever 54 swung in the direction of arrows m and n, because balanced forces of the lever 54 act on the lead screw 36 on the upper and lower sides of the line P₃ in figure 8, but due to errors in the length L of the slender rods 48, the contact points P₂ are apt to divert from the line P₃. In the embodiment, according as the length L changes, the adjust screw 66 is rotated by the screwdriver or the like fitted into the slot 68 thereof, whereby the holder 65 is finely moved in direction of arrows u and v so as to bring the contact points P₂ on the line P₃. Thus, the length L of the slender rods 48 is easily corrected after the assembly of the fine adjustment device 47. Next, means for securing the slender rods 48 to the lever 54 will be described on reference to figures 9A to 9C. As shown in figure 9C, if the ends of the slender rods 48 are stretched round a pin 71 provided at the one end 54a of the lever 54 so as to make a loop 70, or as shown in figure 9B, if the pin 71 is fitted into a clearance hole 72 provided in the other fixing member 49b which is fixed to the end of the slender rods 48, the fine adjustment device 47 is apt to have some play due to the low rigidity of the slender rods 48. Therefore, errors are apt to be produced during positional adjustment of the magnetic heads 34. In the embodiment, not only the pin 71 but also a whirl-stop 73 are provided at the one end 54a of the lever 4 as shown in figure 9A, and the fixing member 49b connected to the lever 54 through the pin 71 which is engaged with a hole 74 thereof is also inserted into the whirl-stop 73 as indicted by arrow w in figure 9A. In the whirl-stop 73, there is provided a slit 75 so as to pass the slender rods 48. Thus, the fine adjustment device 47 has no backlash at the end of the slender rods 48, and further, it is very easy to attach the slender rods 48 to the lever 54, and to detach the slender rods 48 from the lever 54. Next, means for fixing the sub-chassis 35 to the main chassis 22 will be described on reference to figures 5, 6 and 10 to 12. As shown in figures 10 and 11, the pair of fixtures 32 for the guide shaft 31, a plurality of fixtures 77 for the sub-chassis 35, and a pair of bases 78 for proper positioning of the sub-chassis 35 are formed integrally with the main chassis 22 which is made of light metal or the like. Further, horizontal reference planes 79 provided in the pair of fixtures 32 for the guide shaft 31, and horizontal reference planes 80 are provided in the plurality of fixtures 77 for the sub-chassis 35 are simultaneously finished by the same processing method and the same manufacturing process, and vertical reference planes 81 provided in the pair of fixtures 32 and similarly, vertical reference planes 82 provided in the pair of bases 78 for proper positioning of the sub-chassis 35 are simultaneously finished by the same processing method and the same manufacturing process, so that the horizontal reference planes 79 and 80 are accurately parallel to one another, and the same may be said of the vertical reference planes 81 and 82. Thus, the respective ends of the guide shaft 31 which are fixed to the pair of fixtures 32 by a pair of keep plates 84 with screws 83 as shown in figures 5 and 11, are pressed against the horizontal reference planes 79 and the vertical reference planes 81. As shown in figure 10, the lead screw 36, the stepping motors 40 and 50, and the fine adjustment device 47 are incorporated in the sub-chassis 35 beforehand, and then, the sub-chassis 35 are horizontally placed on the horizontal reference planes 80 of the plurality of fixtures 77 as shown in figures 6, 11 and 12 so as to make the horizontal bottom face 85 of the sub-chassis 35 contact the horizontal reference planes 80. Thereafter, a counter-sunk screw 87 is vertically screwed in the fixture 77 as shown in figures 6 and 12 so as to press the tapered portion 87b of the head 87a thereof against the upper edge 88a of a V-notch 88 which is provided in one side of the sub-chassis 35, so that as shown in figure 12, the bottom face 85 of the sub-chassis 35 is pressed against the horizontal reference planes 80 of the fixture 77 by the vertical component F y3 of a compressive force F₃, and simultaneously, a pair of vertical reference planes 82 provided in the other side, in other words, in the opposite one of the one side of the sub-chassis 35 are pressed in a direction of arrow x against the vertical reference planes 82 of the base 78 by the horizontal component F x3 of the compressive force F₃. Then, the sub-chassis 35 is surely fixed as shown in figures 6 and 11 to the fixture 77 by a plurality of screws 90 inserted into respective clearance holes 89 which are provided in the sub-chassis 35. Thus, at the time of assembly of the apparatus, the guide shaft 31 and the lead screw 36 can be accurately parallel to each other, and it is easy to put together the main chassis 22 and the sub-chassis 35, in which the lead screw 36, the stepping motors 40 and 50, and the fine adjustment device 47 are incorporated beforehand. Further, if the lead screw 36 and other are treated as a unit, it will make the maintenance of the apparatus very easy. According to the head driving apparatus of this invention, the fine adjustment due to intertwining of the slender rods by the motor or the like, makes no noise, so that it can be easy to make the noise of the apparatus very low. Further, as the output of the motor or the like can be made small, it can be easy to make fine adjustments promptly, even when a small-sized motor is used.

Claims: 1. A head driving apparatus for displacing a head (34) to record on, and/or to reproduce from recording media, the head driving apparatus comprising: a head carriage (33) on which the head (34) is mounted; a lead screw (36) coupled to the head carriage (33) and urged by resilient means (45) in a predetermined direction; a first motor (40) to coarsely displace the head; a second motor (50) to finely actuate the head and fine drive means (54) for finely displacing the lead screw (36), characterized by; a plurality of slender rods (48), the respective ends of which are fixed to one another, the second motor (50) being connected to turn a first fixed end (49a) of the slender rods (48); urging means (56) for urging the second fixed end (49b) of the slender rods (48) in a direction tending to stretch the slender rods; and holding means (71-74) for holding the second fixed end (49b) of the slender rods (48) in a nonrotatable state; and in that the fine drive means (54) are arranged to finely displace the lead screw (36) counter to said predetermined direction in the axial direction of the lead screw, the fine drive means (54) being connected to the second fixed end of the slender rods (48), whereby, in use, the head (34) is coarsely displaced due to rotation of the lead screw (36) driven by the first motor (40), and finely displaced in the axial direction of the lead screw (36) due to fine displacement of the lead screw (36) driven by the fine drive means (54) that is finely displaced by the slender rods (48), the first fixed end (49a) of which is turned by the second motor (50) to intertwine the slender rods with one another, and thereby, the second fixed end (49b) of which is finely displaced against the force of the urging means (56). 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the fine drive means (54) comprises a lever, one end (54a) of which is connected to the second fixed end (49b) of the slender rods (48), and the other end (54b) of which has a push block for pushing one end of the lead screw (36), and the head (34) is finely displaced by the lead screw (36) driven in the axial direction thereof against the force of the urging means, which urges the lead screw in a predetermined direction through the lever. 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the length of the slender rods (48) is corrected by an adjusting device with an adjust screw (66), which can displace the point of contact between the push block and the end of the lead screw (36) in the swing direction of the lead screw (36) in the swing direction of the lever (54).

Inventors: NODA,MASAYUKI C/O SONY CORPORATION, TAKAHASHI, KIYOSHI C/O SONY CORPORATION
Applicants: SONY CORPORATION
Application year: 1988
Main classification: G11B21
IPC codes: G11B21, G11B5