Abstract:
Disc handling device is configured to pick up, retain and release discs for compact disc players, and the like. The disc handling device has a body from which depend two flexible arms sized to grasp and release the edges of the disc. The body has a central plunger for centering the handling device and for releasing the retention fingers in the compact disc storage box. A first actuator on the body moves the arms to grasp position, and a second actuator moves the arms to a release position.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention is directed to a handling device particularly suited for picking up and releasing discs for compact disc players and the like. 
     Music and other audio signals are sampled, digitized and then recorded on discs. The modern compact disc is supplied to the consumer in a box in which the disc is protected and retained. Since a great deal of information is coded on the disc, it is necessary to protect the surface of the disc from receiving noise information from such sources as dust and fingerprints. Thus, the disc should be enclosed, and if handled in the fingers, should only be handled at the edges. In order to prevent the disc from moving in its box, which movement might have an adverse effect on the information bearing surface, the box is provided with a plurality of resilient fingers which engage within the central hole in the disc to hold it in place. These fingers must be released when the disc is lifted out of its box. At present, there is no device which permits the handling of such a disc without finger contact on the disc. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In order to aid in the understanding of this invention, it can be stated in essentially summary form that it is directed to a disc handling device particularly suitable for picking up, moving and depositing discs carrying audio information thereon. The device has a body which carries first and second arms flexibly mounted thereon. The arms have surfaces which can engage the discs. A first actuator closes the arms so that they can grasp the disc, and the first actuator is connected so that when it is released, the surfaces on the arms engage the disc so that it may be lifted with the device. A second actuator on the body releases the arms so that the disc is released therefrom. 
     It is, thus, an object and advantage of this invention to provide a disc handling device which is particularly suitable for picking up, placing and releasing an audio disc. 
     It is a further object and advantage of this invention to provide a disc handling device which has first and second arms which are spread and released by operation of a first actuator to permit them to grasp on the edges of an audio disc and a second actuator which releases the arms from grasp on the audio disc. 
     It is a further object and advantage of this invention to provide a disc handling device which is economic to build and reliable in operational character so that it can be employed to quickly, economically and safely grasp, position and release discs. 
     The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The present invention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the disc handling device of this invention showing the device in association with an audio disc in its box, with the box open. 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view of the disc handling device, showing the disc and box in phantom line. 
     FIG. 3 is a side-elevational view of the disc handling device in the open position ready to grasp a disc, as seen generally along the line 3--3 of FIG. 2, with parts broken away and parts taken in section. 
     FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, showing the device grasping a disc. 
     FIG. 5 is an enlarged central section, with parts broken away, substantially through the center of the device, showing it in the start position of FIG. 3. 
     FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5, showing it in the grip position of FIG. 4. 
     FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 5, showing it in the release position. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The disc handling device 10 of this invention is particularly designed for handling compact audio discs such as the one indicated at 12, but is also useful for handling other circular devices such as vinyl analog audio discs for phonographs or magnetic hard discs for computers. Other similar discs might usefully be handled by a similar device. In each case, the disc is of different size so that a somewhat different size of the disc handling device would be useful in each case. Its use in handling compact digital audio discs is the preferred embodiment and is described. 
     The compact disc 12 is usually supplied in a box 14 which has a base 16 and a box cover 18 which is hinged to the base. The box base has a recess 20 which is circular and larger than the diameter of the round disc 12 to provide a clearance. The recess is deeper than the thickness of disc 12 so that the disc does not touch the bottom of the recess, but it is held thereabove by means of a shoulder 22, see FIGS. 3 and 4. A plurality of spring fingers 24 extend above shoulder 22 and resiliently engage within the central hole 26 in the dics. The spring fingers are configured so that they resiliently engage within the hole in the disc when engaged therein to hold the disc in place. When the fingers are pressed down, in the direction downward of the sheet in FIGS. 3 and 4, the spring fingers release from the interior of the central hole 26. FIG. 5 shows the engaged position of the spring fingers 24 on the disc 12, while FIGS. 6 and 7 show the release position of the spring fingers 24 on the disc 12. 
     Disc handling device 10 has a body 28 on which arms 30 and 32 are movably mounted. As shown, the arms 30 and 32 are respectively pivoted on pivot pins 34 and 36, see FIGS. 3 and 4, and are resiliently urged towards each other by means of springs 38 and 40, respectively wrapped around the pivot pins 34 and 36 and respectively engaged on arms 30 and 32 together with being engaged on the body 28. The bottom ends of arms 30 and 32 are respectively fitted with grippers 42 and 44 which are configured to engage upon the edges of the disc 12. FIG. 4 shows the grippers in engagement with the edges of the disc and resiliently engaged therewith by means of the spring force. FIG. 3 shows the arms spread sufficiently so that the grippers are out of engagement with the edges of the disc. The arms are sufficiently resiliently mounted to achieve this grip and separation from grip. While the arms are shown as being pivoted on the body, with springs to provide the resilient closing action, it can be appreciated that the arms can be integrally formed with the body and made of a resilient material which permits this grip and separation. Arms 30 and 32 are respectively provided with cam grooves which have cam surfaces 46 and 48 facing each other. Spreader 50 has cam follower tips 52 and 53 which are engaged against the cam surfaces within the cam groove. The spreader moves up and down against the cam surfaces to urge the arms from the closed position shown in FIG. 4 to the open position shown in FIG. 3. As is seen in these figures, the cam surfaces are deeper in the arms in the direction towards the free end of the arms so that, as the spreader moves towards the free end of the arms, those free ends with their grippers are permitted to move together through the resiliency of their mounting. 
     FIG. 5 is an enlarged drawing corresponding to FIG. 3, with parts broken away. FIGS. 3 and 5 represent the device in its starting position where it is held in the hand approaching the disc to be picked up. As it is held in the hand, the index and middle finger are respectively engaged in recesses 54 and 56, while the thumb is engaged on the first actuator 58. The first actuator is a pushbutton threaded into detent rod 60. Bore 62 in body 28 carries bearing sleeve 64 therein. Detent release tube 66 slides within sleeve 64 and bearing sleeve 68 slides within detent release tube 66. Bearing sleeve 68 is carried on the exterior of detent rod 60. Sleeves 64 and 68 are provided for the purpose of presenting good bearing surfaces to minimize wear and provide long life to the device. With well-chosen, long-wearing materials, the use of these separate sleeves could be avoided. They provide sliding bearing surfaces for the parts with which they are associated. 
     Cross bore 70 in detent rod 60 carries a pair of detent balls 72 and 74. Detent spring 76 is a compression spring between and engaged with detent balls 72 and 74. As the first actuator 58 is depressed and detent rod 60 moves downward through body 28, the detent rod reaches a position where the detent balls are in alignment with detent recesses 78 and 80, see FIG. 6. At that point, the detent balls spring into the recesses and retain the first actuator in the depressed, actuated position. As is seen in FIG. 3, below the detent cross bore 70, the detent rod 60 carries threads 82 which engage in central tube 84 of spreader 50. Compression spring 86 is positioned within spring housing 88, which is part of body 28. The upper end of compression spring 86 engaged against a shoulder on detent rod 60 urges the detent rod 60 upward to the unactuated position shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. In this position, the upper end of central tube 84 stops against the bottom of spring housing 88 to define the unactuated upper position of spreader 50 at detent rod 60. As previously stated, in this unactuated position, the arms 30 and 32 together with their grippers 42 and 44 are spread. 
     It should be noted that central tube 84 of spreader 50 has a downwardly facing nose surface 90. Centering plug 92 extends centrally out of this nose surface and is urged in the extended position by means of compression spring 94. Centering plug 92 is configured to enter within the opening defined between spring fingers 24 of the disc retainer. As is seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, as the device is brought into position, plug 92 enters the center hole between the spring fingers and grippers 42 and 44 rest on the top surface of the disc 12. In this position, actuator 58 is depressed. Depressing the actuator causes three simultaneous actions. The completion of this actuation is shown in FIGS. 4 and 6. As the actuator 58 is depressed, nose surface 90 engages on spring fingers 24 and presses them down. Due to their structure, this pivots them inwardly, as illustrated in FIG. 6, so that the spring fingers unlock from the central hole 26 in the disc 12. At the same time, spreader 50 moves downward with respect to body 28 and arms 30 and 32. This moves the cam follower tips 52 and 53 downward with respect to the cam surfaces 46 and 48 to permit the arms to move together so that the grippers 42 and 44 engage on the edges of the compact disc. The disc is now released and grasped so that, if the device is raised in this condition, the disc will come with it. However, to avoid inadvertently dropping the disc by inadvertent release of the first actuator 58, detent balls 72 and 74 are thrust outward to extend partway into detent recesses 78 and 80, see FIG. 6. This resilient detent is strong enough to overcome the return force of actuator return spring 86. Thus, the disc is retained with the detent rod 60 in the actuated position, even though no downward force is continued on actuator 58. By manual manipulation of the device 10, the disc 12 is brought to its new position. It is put in position by manipulation of device 10, and the device 10 is released. 
     Release is accomplished by pressing on release actuator 96 which is mounted on detent release tube 66. As seen in FIG. 6, when the release actuator 96 is unactuated, its bottom edge 98 is positioned above the detent recesses 78 and 80. However, as the release actuator or second actuator 96 is pressed, the bottom edge 98 engages the spherical surfaces of detent balls 72 and 74 to thrust the detent balls back into their cross bore 70 against detent spring 76, to the position shown in FIG. 7. This releases detent rod 60 so that, in the absence of any applied force, the detent rod 60, spreader 50 and actuator 58 rise to the unactuated position shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. This releases the grippers from the edges of the disc so that the disc 12 is released from the device. During release, nose surface 90 can be engaged against spring fingers 24 to depress them to permit placing the disc thereon during release of the disc. If the disc then has not seated completely on shoulder 22, the device can be inverted so that the hole in the top surface of actuator 96 fits around the fingers 24 and the actuator 96 presses against the disc 12 to force it down onto shoulder 22, with fingers 24 then completely engaged onto the disc. Thus, a disc handling cycle is completed with safe handling of the disc without manual handling of the disc. 
     This invention has been described in its presently contemplated best mode, and it is clear that it is susceptible to numerous modifications, modes and embodiments within the ability of those skilled in the art and without the exercise of the inventive faculty. Accordingly, the scope of this invention is defined by the scope of the following claims.