Disk loading system

Abstract: A disk loading system comprises a cartridge holder (25) having a cartridge receiver for loading a disk cartridge (200), and a shutter opening arm (51) disposed to the cartridge holder (25) and rotatable by loading/removing of the disk cartridge (200). The system further comprises a first lever rotatably mounted to the cartridge holder (25) so as to provide to the shutter opening arm (51) a torque in the shutter opening direction, a second lever rotatable by a torque of the first lever in the shutter closing direction, and a cartridge stop lug (86) rotatably disposed to undergo a pressing force in the cartridge removing direction by rotation of the second lever. This cartridge stop lug (86) is biased in the direction to stop the disk cartridge (200) within the cartridge receiver.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a disk loading system which is suitable, for example, for use in a portable disk player. Generally, there is known a disk regeneration system which records information such as information on Japanese dictionary or that one on English-Japanese dictionary on an information disk such as an optical disk, and reads out a desired information therefrom to display same on a display part. This disk regeneration system comprises a disk drive for rotating the information disk such as an optical disk having information recorded so as to read out and regenerate same, a keyboard for selecting from information recorded on the information disk a desired information to be read out and generated, and a display for displaying information read out from the information disk as character information. With the disk regeneration system of this type, the disk drive, keyboard, and display are an independent unit, respectively. A combination of these units are usable on a desk, etc., but not portable since each unit is large in size. On the other hand, with the information disk such as an optical disk, since a recording density is remarkably improved, a piece of optical disk with a diameter of 8 cm can record information corresponding to a volume of Japanese dictionary or English-Japanese dictionary. Under these conditions, a demand is to provide a system including such small optical disk capable of a high density recording, which can easily read out and regenerate a desired information in a desired place so as to display same on the display unit as visible information. Recently, to meet such demand, disk players have been proposed wherein the disk drive, keyboard, display constructed independently are integrated to reduce a size of the entirety of the disk player up to a portability thereof. One of the disk players is disclosed in JP-A 3-216855 entitled "Portable Disk Player". With a disk cartridge remover system for an electronic equipment such as a portable disk player of this type, since a shutter opening arm is engaged and disengaged by a link mechanism which is operated by rotation of a cartridge holder, return action (action in the shutter closing direction) of the shutter opening arm is restricted by the link mechanism. That is, in case that a disk cartridge is incorrectly received in the cartridge holder, it is necessary to remove the disk cartridge from the cartridge holder after releasing engagement of the shutter opening arm by rotation of the cartridge holder. As a result, the number of reset operations of the cartridge is increased upon insertion error of the disk cartridge, resulting in complicated reset operation thereof. Further, with a disk clamper mounting system for an electronic equipment such as a portable disk player of this type, it comprises a clamper mounting plate for holding a disk clamper rotatably mounted to the cartridge holder via a support shaft, and a spring for providing thereto a biasing force in the direction of an opening window for insertion of a clamper. That is, the support shaft and the spring are needed in addition to the clamper mounting plate for mounting of the disk clamper to the cartridge holder, resulting in a cost up due to increased number of parts, and complicated structure and assembling work. An object of the present invention is to provide a disk cartridge remover system which allows easy reset operations of a cartridge with reduced number of reset operations thereof upon insertion error of a disk cartridge. EP-A-0 144 068 A2 discloses a data transfer apparatus for use with a magnetic disc cartridge having a cartridge cradle movable between a first position where the disc cartridge is loaded on and unloaded from the same, and a second position where the loaded disk cartridge engages with a disc drive mechanism to be driven thereby. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a system for loading a disk, comprising : a chassis having a disk loading part for loading the disk and a drive for driving the disk; a cartridge holder movably mounted on said chassis for receiving a disk cartridge having the disk; a shutter opening means, disposed to said cartridge holder, for carrying out an opening of a shutter of said disk cartridge in accordance with an insertion of said disk cartridge, said shutter opening means being movable between an ejecting position to eject said disk cartridge and a receiving position to receive said disk cartridge; a bias means for producing a biasing force to always bias said shutter opening means to said ejecting position; and a stop means, disposed to said cartridge holder, for carrying out a stoppage of said disk cartridge in a predetermined position, wherein when said disk cartridge is received within said cartridge receiver, said shutter opening means is moved against said biasing force of said bias means to carry out said opening of said shutter, and when said disk cartridge reached said predetermined position, said stoppage of said disk cartridge is carried out by said stop means characterized in that said cartridge holder is rotatable between a first position wherein said disk cartridge can be inserted and a second position wherein the disk within said disk cartridge is disposed on a disk table in said disk loading part; and by a first lever rotatably mounted to said cartridge holder to provide a torque in the sutter opening direction; and engaging said stop means. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a preferred embodiment of a disk loading system according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective exploded view showing a disk player; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing the disk player with first and second covers opened; Fig. 4 is a sectional view showing the disk player; Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing a battery casing; Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, showing the battery casing with batteries; Fig. 7 is a plan view showing a cartridge holder before loading a disk cartridge; Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7, showing the cartridge holder after loading the disk cartridge; Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing an upper side of the disk cartridge; Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 9, showing a lower side of the disk cartridge; Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 10, showing the upper side of the disk cartridge with a shutter opened; Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 11, showing the lower side of the disk cartridge with the shutter opened; Fig. 13 is a view similar to Fig. 12, showing the cartridge holder and a chassis base plate with a connecting arm engaged with an arm pressing lug; Fig. 14 is a view similar to Fig. 13, showing the cartridge holder and the chassis base plate with a torque transmission lug stranded on a lever pressing lug; Fig. 15 is a view similar to Fig. 14, showing the cartridge holder and the chassis base plate with the torque transmission lug disengaged with the lever pressing lug; Fig. 16 is a view similar to Fig. 15, showing the cartridge holder and the chassis base plate with the torque transmission lug engaged with the lever pressing lug; Fig. 17 is a view similar to Fig. 4, showing the disk player with the disk cartridge set in a disk loading part; Fig. 18 is a view similar to Fig. 6, showing a keyboard cover; Fig. 19 is a partly sectional view showing a remover mechanism of a second cover; Fig. 20 is a side view showing the disk cartridge before its positioning; Fig. 21 is a view similar to Fig. 20, showing the disk cartridge after its positioning; Fig. 22 is a view similar to Fig. 16, showing a cover plate and a battery casing in connection with a mounting state of the first cover relative to a disk player main body; Fig. 23 is a view similar to Fig. 22, showing a lock mechanism of the second cover relative to the disk player main body; Fig. 24 is a view similar to Fig. 23, showing the disk player with an optical disk set in the disk loading part; Fig. 25 is a view similar to Fig. 26, showing the disk player in use; and Fig. 26 is a view similar to Fig. 25, showing the first and second covers integrated with the disk player man body. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described. A disk player to which the present invention applied includes selectively a recording medium such as an optical disk (so-called CD-ROM) housed within a cartridge main body of a disk cartridge and having information recorded such as information on Japanese dictionary or that one on English-Japanese dictionary, or an optical disk (so-called compact disk) having signal recorded such as music signal, and provides a regeneration function and display function of the optical disk for displaying, as visible information, information to be read out therefrom and regenerated on a display part. Referring first to Figs. 2-4, a disk player main body will be described. The disk player, designated by reference numeral A, provides the disk player main body 3 which receives a disk drive 1 for driving an optical disk housed within a cartridge main body of a disk cartridge or an optical disk not housed within the disk cartridge, and an optical pickup 2 as information signal readout means for reading out and regenerating information signal recorded on the optical disk which is rotated by the disk drive 1. The disk player main body 3 comprises a squared box-shaped cabinet 4 with through-holes 4a, 4b and a bottom plate 5 for closing an opening of the cabinet 4 on the bottom side thereof, and it forms therein a disk loading part 6 capable of loading on the upper side thereof the disk cartridge having the optical disk with a diameter of 8 cm. Additionally, in the disk player main body 3, the disk drive 1 and optical pickup 2 are mounted to a chassis base plate 7 stamped out from a metal sheet, and are disposed in the cabinet 4 via this chassis base plate 7. The disk drive 1 comprises a disk table 8 which rotates with the optical disk, and a spindle motor 9 for driving the disk table 8. The spindle motor 8 is mounted to the chassis base plate 7 on the lower side thereof, with a spindle 10 protruding from the upper side thereof, whereas the disk table 8 is mounted to the spindle 10 at the point thereof for unitary rotation. Arranged in a center portion of the disk table 8 is a centering member 11 engaged with a center hole of the optical disk so as to adjust the rotational center of disk table 8 to the center of the optical disk. The centering member 11 is biased by a coil spring, etc. to be movable in the axial direction of the spindle 10. When the optical disk is set on the disk table 8, the centering member 11 is engaged with the center hole of the optical disk in elastically displacing in the axial direction of the spindle 10 so as to adjust the center hole of the optical disk to the rotational center of the disk table 8. On the other hand, the optical pickup 2 is supported by a feed screw 13 which is driven by a pickup feed motor 12 located below the chassis base plate 7, and a slide guide block (not shown) located below the chassis base plate 7, and it is linearly movable in the radial direction of the optical disk on the disk table 8. The movement of the optical pickup 2 in the radial direction of the optical disk is produced by rotation of the feed screw 13 on drive of the pickup feed motor 12. In such a manner, the disk drive 1 and optical pickup 2 are mounted to the chassis base plate 7 which is disposed within the cabinet 4 via L-shaped mounting lugs 14 obtained by bending downward parts of corners of the chassis base plate 7. Each mounting lug 14 is fixed to a mounting support lug 15 protuberantly arranged in the vicinity of a corner of the cabinet 4 via a screw 16. A buffer member 17 is interposed between each mounting lug 14 and mounting support lug 15 so as not to block feed operation of the optical pickup 2 and rotation of the optical disk by the disk drive 1 due to perturbation to be transmitted to the chassis base plate 7 when an impact or the like is given to the cabinet 4. The buffer member 17 is made of elastic material such as a rubber, etc. having a relatively large biasing force, and is so constructed as to have a predetermined elastic force by using a coil spring 18 if necessary. Additionally, the buffer member 17 has an engagement groove 17a engaged with a recess 14a which is formed with the mounting lug 14, and is interposed between the mounting lug 14 and the mounting support lug 15 when the chassis base plate 7 is mounted to the cabinet 4. Disposed to the chassis base plate 7 on the upper side thereof are positioning guide pins 20 and height positioning pins 21 for positioning horizontally and vertically the disk cartridge within the disk loading part 6. Disposed within the disk cartridge part are an electric circuit substrate 22 having a signal processing circuit for processing information signal obtained by reading out the optical disk by the optical pickup 2, and electric circuits indispensable to construction of the disk regeneration system, such as a control circuit for controlling movement of the optical pickup 2, etc. The electric circuit substrate 22 is mounted by screws 24 to a boss 23 which extends downward in the cabinet 4. Referring next to Figs. 1-2 and 8, a cartridge holder will be described. The disk cartridge holder, designated by reference numeral 25, has a clamper insertion window 25a in a position thereof corresponding to the disk table 8, and is rotatably mounted to the chassis base plate 7. Referring to Figs. 9-12, the cartridge holder 25 serves to dispose a disk cartridge 200 on the disk loading part 6 within the disk player main body 3 so as to set the optical disk 201 within the disk cartridge 200 on the disk table 8. Additionally, the cartridge holder 200 is rotatable between a down position wherein it stops to conceal the disk loading part 6, and an up position allowing insertion of the disk cartridge 200 wherein it stops to expose the disk loading part 6. The disk cartridge 200 comprises the cartridge main body 202 having an upper half 203 and a lower half 204 which are connected to abut each other, and the optical disk 201 rotatably received therein. The cartridge main body 202 has an opening window 205 which extends in the radial direction of the optical disk 201, and a disk table insertion opening 206 adjacent to the opening window 205 and substantially in the center thereof, which the disk table 8 of the disk drive 1 for driving the optical disk 201 gets in. Movably mounted to the cartridge main body 202 is a shutter 207 made of a metal sheet with an U-shaped section and having a pair of upper and lower cover plates 207a, 207b for opening and closing the opening window 205 and the disk table insertion opening 206. The shutter 207 is biased by a shutter closing spring 210 so that the disk cartridge 200 closes the opening window 205 and the disk table insertion opening 206 during nonuse. Additionally, the shutter 207 has on the front side thereof an engagement hole 208 with which a roller of a point of a shutter opening arm (which will be described hereinafter) is engaged. When the disk cartridge 200 is loaded in the cartridge holder 25, the shutter opening arm is rotated, and the shutter 207 is moved against biasing force of a shutter closing spring 210 in following rotation of the shutter opening arm. This movement of the shutter 207 causes the opening window 205 and the disk table insertion opening 206 to open. The cartridge holder 25 for holding the disk cartridge 200 having such a construction is formed substantially in plate with a size sufficient to hold the disk cartridge 200, and it has two edges integrally formed with cartridge supports 26, 27 for supporting both edges of the disk cartridge 200, respectively. The cartridge supports 26, 27 are formed in L-shape, and obtained by bending both edges of a main plane 28 of the cartridge holder 25. A receiver 25A for inserting the disk cartridge 200 is formed between the cartridge supports 26, 27, and has a cartridge loading opening 29 at the front thereof which opens inside and outside. For easy and sure loading operation of the disk cartridge 200 to the cartridge holder 25, a plastic cartridge carrier 30 is protuberantly arranged at an upper edge of the cartridge loading opening 29. A lower side of the cartridge carrier 30 on the side of the cartridge loading opening 29 is formed in inclined guide face so as to guide insertion of the disk cartridge 200. The cartridge loading opening 29 has a width smaller than a length of a diagonal line of the disk cartridge 200 to prevent the disk cartridge 200 from slantly getting in. The cartridge holder 25 has rotation support lugs 32 on both sides of the rear end thereof supported to holder mounting lugs 31 on the chassis base substrate 7 via support shafts 33. Referring next to Figs. 1, 4 and 7-8, the disk clamper will be described. The disk clamper, designated by reference numeral 35, is disposed to the main plane 28 of the cartridge holder 25 substantially in the center portion thereof via a clamper mounting plate 36. The disk clamper 35 is movable between the inside and outside of a clamper insertion window 25a of the cartridge holder 25 so as to hold the optical disk in cooperation with the disk table 8. Disposed through the clamper mounting plate 36 is a cylindrical part 39 protruding from the upper side of a disk pressing plate 38 for pressing the optical disk, thus preventing the disk clamper 35 from falling out of the clamper mounting plate 36 by a flange part 40 of the cylindrical part 39. Specifically, the disk clamper 35 is playingly supported to the clamper mounting plate 36 so as to be axially movable and rotatable within the cylindrical part 39. The disk clamper 35 has a face opposite to the disk table 8 on which a magnet 41 made of magnetic material such as a metal plate is installed to attract the disk table 8. The magnet 41 enables the optical disk to surely rotate with the disk table 8 when the disk clamper 35 holds the optical disk in cooperation with the disk table 8. Additionally, the disk clamper 35 has in the face thereof opposite to the disk table 8 an engagement protrusion 35a to be engaged with a positioning engagement recess 8a of the disk table 8. When the disk clamper 35 is attracted on the disk table 8, the engagement protrusion 35a is engaged with the positioning engagement recess 8a, thus adjusting the disk clamper 35 to the rotational center of the disk table 8. The clamper mounting plate 36 for supporting the disk clamper 35 is formed with a pair of U-shaped elastic support lug 42 to be located at the back of a base end part of the plate 36, which is engaged with a pair of support lugs 45 formed by erectly disposing a part of the main plane 28 of the cartridge holder 25. The clamper mounting plate 36 is thus elastically supported relative to the main plane 28 of the cartridge holder 25, and is biased in the direction as indicated by arrow A in Fig. 4 so that the disk clamper 35 is located in the cartridge holder 25 (clamper insertion window 25a). Additionally, the clamper mounting plate 36 has a rear edge formed with an aground lug 36a which is interposed between the pair of elastic support lugs 42 and protrudes rearward and slantly upward, and one side edge formed with an inclined lug 36b which protrudes forward and slantly upward. Referring next to Figs. 1-2 and 7-8, a shutter opening mechanism will be described. The shutter opening mechanism, designated by reference numeral 50, is disposed to the cartridge holder 25, and is so constructed as to move the shutter 207 of the disk cartridge 200 to open the opening window 205 and the disk table insertion opening 206 of the cartridge main body 202, thus exposing outside a signal recording face of the optical disk 201, and an opening periphery of a center hole 201a. The shutter opening mechanism 50 comprises the shutter opening arm 51 which is rotatable by loading/removing of the disk cartridge 200 in/from the cartridge holder 25, and a torsion spring 57A for providing to the shutter opening arm 51 a resilient force in the cartridge drawing direction or shutter closing direction. The shutter opening arm 51 of the shutter opening mechanism 50 has a long arm part 51a which provides at the point thereof a shutter closing roller 56 to be engaged with the pin engagement hole 208 of the shutter 207, and at the base end thereof an U-shaped support part 57. The support part 57 of the shutter opening arm 51 is supported to the cartridge holder 25 at the rear end thereof via a rotation support shaft 58, and it is rotatable on the rotation support shaft 58 in the directions as indicated by arrows B and C in Fig. 2. Additionally, at the base end of the shutter opening arm 51, a connecting arm 65 is disposed on the main plane 28 of the cartridge holder 25. The rotation support shaft 58 is disposed to an L-shaped erection lug 59 obtained by bending a part of the cartridge holder 25 at the rear end thereof. Referring next to Figs. 1, 7-8, and 13-16, a disk clamper detachment mechanism and a disk cartridge removal mechanism will be described. The disk clamper detachment mechanism, designated by reference numeral 93, comprises a connecting link 53 slidably mounted to the chassis base plate 7, a slide plate 82 moved by swing motion of the connecting link 53, and a clamper mounting plate rotating lever 48 rotated by movement of the slide plate 82, and it is so constructed as to detach the disk clamper 35 from the disk table 8 by rotation of the cartridge holder 25. The slide plate 82 of the disk clamper detachment mechanism 93 has a pair of long holes 62 at a predetermined interval in the longitudinal direction thereof, which are engaged with a pair of slide pins 61 erectly disposed on the main plane 28 of the cartridge holder 25 on the upper side thereof. Disposed in the vicinity of a forward one 62 of the two long holes 62 is an extension lug 68 having a guide face 68a opposite to the inclined lug 36b, whereas slidably disposed in the vicinity of a rearward one 62 of the two long holes 62 is the clamper mounting plate rotating lever 48 having a support shaft 48a on the main plane 28 of the cartridge holder 25. The clamper mounting plate rotating lever 48 has a long hole 48b which extends in the peripheral direction of a circle having the support shaft 48a as a center, and is engaged with a pin 28a erectly disposed on the main plane 28 of the cartridge holder 25, and an engagement protrusion 48c which is located forward in the longitudinal direction of the long hole 48b and between the two elastic support lugs 42, and is engaged with the aground lug 36a of the clamper mounting plate 36a. Additionally, the clamper mounting plate rotating lever 48 has a lever pressing lug 52 including an inclined part 52a for lever stranding, and an arm pressing lug 54 including a pressing part 54a engageable with the connecting arm 65. The clamper mounting plate rotating lever 48 is rotated by movement of the slide plate 82, and the engagement protrusion 48c is slidably engaged with the aground lug 36a of the clamper mounting plate 36, thus detaching the disk clamper 35 from the disk table 8. On the other hand, the disk cartridge remover mechanism, designated by reference numeral 84, comprises the cartridge holder 25 having the receiver 25A for loading the disk cartridge 200, the shutter opening arm 51 disposed to the cartridge holder 25 and rotatable by loading/removing of the disk cartridge 200, and a cartridge stop lever 86 for stopping the disk cartridge 200 in a rear stop position of the shutter opening arm 51. The cartridge holder 25 of the disk cartridge remover mechanism 84 provides the clamper mounting plate rotating lever 48 as a first lever for providing to the shutter opening arm 51 rotation in the shutter opening direction as indicated by arrow B in Fig. 2, a cartridge lock releasing lever 85 as a second lever which rotates by torque of the clamper mounting rotating lever 48 in the shutter closing direction, and a cartridge stop lever 86 which rotates by rotation of the cartridge lock releasing lever 85. The cartridge stop lever 86 includes a protrusion 86a engaged with a recess 200a having an opening on the side and bottom of the disk cartridge 200, and is biased in the direction to stop the disk cartridge 200 within the cartridge receiver 25A by an inverted S-shaped elastic lug 86b. The cartridge lock releasing lever 85 is integrally formed with an elastically deformable torque transmission lug 87 having an inclined face 87a corresponding to the inclined part 52a of the lever pressing lug 52. Rotation of the cartridge lock releasing lever 85 in the cartridge stop direction is restricted by a stopper 88 erectly disposed on the main plane 28 of the cartridge holder 25. With the disk cartridge remover mechanism 84 having such a construction, when setting the disk cartridge 200 to the cartridge holder 25, the disk cartridge 200 is inserted in the cartridge holder 25 against a resilient force of the torsion spring 57 as shown in Fig. 13. Specifically, insertion of the disk cartridge 200 causes the cartridge stop lever 86 to rotate in the direction as indicated by arrow D in Fig. 7, and further insertion of the disk cartridge 200 causes the protrusion 86a of the cartridge stop lever 86 to locate in the recess 200a as shown in Fig. 8. At that time, since engagement of the connecting arm 65 of the shutter opening arm 51 with the pressing part 54a of the arm pressing lug 54 is released as shown in Fig. 14, the cartridge holder 25 is rotated by the own weight thereof in the direction as indicated by arrow E in Fig. 14, and the connecting link 53 is swung in the direction as indicated by arrow F in Fig. 14, moving forward the slide plate 82 in the direction as indicated by arrow G in Fig. 14. In interlock with this forward movement, the clamper mounting plate rotating lever 48 is rotated in the direction as indicated by arrow H in Fig. 14, releasing stranded engagement of the engagement protrusion 48c with the aground lug 36a. When the clamper mounting plate rotating lever 48 is further rotated in the direction as indicated by arrow H in Fig. 14, the torque transmission lug 87 is elastically deformed by a pressing force of the lever pressing lug 52 so as to strand the inclined part 52a on the inclined face 87a. When the clamper mounting plate rotating lever 48 is further rotated in the same direction, engagement of the lever pressing lug 52 with the torque transmission lug 87 is released as shown in Fig. 15. Additionally, since the clamper mounting plate 36 is rotated in the direction as indicated by arrow I in Fig. 17, the disk clamper 35 is located in the cartridge holder 25, and attracted on the disk table 8 by an attractive force of the magnet 41, enabling unitary rotation of the optical disk 201 set on the disk table 8 with same. On the other hand, when removing the disk cartridge 200 from the cartridge holder 25 with the disk cartridge remover mechanism 84, the cartridge holder 25 is rotated in the direction as indicated by arrow J in Fig. 17 against an attractive force of the magnet 41. Specifically, rotation of the cartridge holder 25 causes the connecting link 53 to swing in the direction as indicated by arrow K in Fig. 16, moving backward the slide plate 82 in the direction as indicated by arrow L in Fig. 16. In interlock with this backward movement, the clamper mounting plate rotating lever 48 is rotated in the direction as indicated by arrow M in Fig. 16, obtaining stranded engagement of the aground lug 36a with the engagement protrusion 48c. When the clamper mounting plate rotating lever 48 is further rotated in the direction as indicated by arrow M in Fig. 16, not only the cartridge lock releasing lever 85 is rotated in the direction as indicated by arrow N in Fig. 16, but the cartridge stop lever 86 is rotated in the direction as indicated by arrow O in Fig. 16 by a pressing force of the lever pressing lug 52, disengaging the protrusion 86a of the cartridge stop lever 86 with the recess 200a. Thus, the disk cartridge 200 is moved in the direction as indicated by arrow P in Fig. 7 by a resilient force of the torsion spring 57A of the shutter opening arm 51. In this embodiment, the disk cartridge remover mechanism 84 is so constructed that removal of the disk cartridge 200 can be carried out by drawing same in the direction as indicated by arrow Q in Fig. 8 against an engagement force of the recess 200a of the disk cartridge 200 with the protrusion 86a of the cartridge stop lever 86. Further, in this embodiment, the disk cartridge remover mechanism 84 is so constructed that not only the aforementioned disk cartridge 200, but the optical disk can be loaded, and when disk cartridge 200 don't insert in the cartridge holder 25, accordance with a rotation of cartridge holder 25, the shutter opening arm 51 can be moved in a position on the disk table 8 not to block rotation of the optical disk by pressing force of pressing lug 54. As described above, according to the present invention, there provide a cartridge holder having a cartridge receiver for loading a disk cartridge, and a shutter opening arm disposed to the cartridge holder and rotatable by loading/removing of the disk cartridge. There also provide a first lever rotatably mounted to the cartridge holder so as to provide to the shutter opening arm a torque in the shutter opening direction, a second lever rotatable by a torque of the first lever in the shutter closing direction, and a cartridge stop lug rotatably disposed to undergo a pressing force in the cartridge removing direction by rotation of the second lever. This cartridge stop lug is biased in the direction to stop the disk cartridge within the cartridge receiver. Thus, engagement of the cartridge stop lug with the disk cartridge can be released independently. Accordingly, upon insertion error of the disk cartridge, it is not necessary to remove the disk cartridge by providing rotation to the cartridge holder as in the prior art, resulting in easy reset operations of the cartridge with a reduced number of reset operations thereof. Further, according to the present invention, there provide a holder having an opening window for inserting a clamper in a position corresponding to a table for setting the disk, and a clamper mounting plate mounted to the holder for holding the disk clamper. The clamper mounting plate is made of a sheet elastically deformable and having a basing force in the direction to locate the disk clamper in the opening window, enabling the clamper to move in the opening window by elastic deformation of the clamper mounting plate. Accordingly, a support shaft and a spring which were indispensable for mounting of the disk clamper to the holder become unnecessary, resulting in a cost down, and simplified structure and assembly work with reduced number of parts.

Claims: A system for loading a disk (201), comprising: a chassis having a disk loading part (6) for loading the disk (201) and a drive for driving the disk (201); a cartridge holder (25) movably mounted on said chassis for receiving a disk cartridge (200) having the disk; a shutter opening means (50), disposed on said cartridge holder (25), for carrying out an opening of a shutter (207) of said disk cartridge (200) in accordance with an insertion of said disk cartridge (200), said shutter opening means (50) being movable between an ejecting position to eject said disk cartridge (200) and a receiving position to receive said disk cartridge (200); a bias means (57, 57A) for producing a biasing force to always bias said shutter opening means (50) to said ejecting position; and a stop means (86), disposed on said cartridge holder (25), for carrying out a stoppage of said disk cartridge (200) in a predetermined position, wherein when said disk cartridge (200) is received within said cartridge holder, said shutter opening means (50) is moved against said biasing force of said bias means (57, 57A) to carry out said opening of said shutter (207), and when said disk cartridge (200) has reached said predetermined position, said stoppage of said disk cartridge (200) is carried out by said stop means (86) characterized in that said cartridge holder (25) is rotatable between a first position wherein said disk cartridge (200) can be inserted and a second position wherein the disk (201) within said disk cartridge (200) is disposed on a disk table (8) in said disk loading part (6); and by a first lever (48) rotatably mounted on said cartridge holder (25) to provide a torque in the shutter opening direction; and a second lever (85) rotable by the torque of said first lever (48) and engaging said stop means (86). A system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: a releasing means (84) for releasing said stoppage of said disk cartridge (200) by said stop means (84) in accordance with a movement of said cartridge holder (25) from said second position to said first position. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said releasing means (84) urges when said cartridge receiver does not have disk cartridge (200) to move said shutter opening means (50) to said receiving position in accordance with said movement of said cartridge holder (25) from said first position to second position. A system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said shutter opening means (50) includes a rotation arm (51) having one end rotatably supported to said cartridge holder (25) and the other end having an engagement part to be engaged with said shutter (207) of said disk cartridge (200), said engagement part of said cartridge holder (25) being engaged with said shutter (207) in accordance with said insertion of said disk cartridge (200), said rotation arm (51) being rotated against said biasing force of said bias means (86) in accordance with said insertion of said disk cartridge (200). A system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising: a disk clamp means (93), disposed to correspond to said disk table (8), for carrying out a clamping of the disk (201) in cooperation with said disk table (8) when said cartridge holder (25) is in a close position; and a disk clamp releasing means (84) for releasing said clamping of the disk (201) by said disk clamp means (93) in accordance with said movement of said cartridge holder (25) from said second position to said first position. A system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said disk clamp means (93) includes a disk clamper part (35) for holding the disk (201) in cooperation with said disk table (8), and a clamper support arm (36) for supporting said disk clamper part (35), said clamper support arm (36) always biasing said disk clamper part to said disk table (8). A system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said clamper support arm (36) includes an elastically displaceable plate member (36).

Inventors: AKIYAMA MASANORI, YAMAMORI EIJI, AKIYAMA, MASANORI, YAMAMORI, EIJI
Applicants: SONY CORP, SONY CORPORATION
Application year: 1992
Main classification: G11B17
IPC codes: G11B33, G11B25, G11B17