Patent ID: 8356312

Claim:
A cartridge drive apparatus for a disc cartridge having upper and lower shells that are separately joined to each other to form a cartridge body, in which an accommodated disc is inserted or ejected by separating the upper and lower shells vertically, the cartridge drive apparatus comprising: a cartridge holder which, by inserting the cartridge body, has an upper holder supporting the upper shell and a lower holder supporting the lower shell; and a holder moving mechanism that separates the upper holder and the lower holder of the cartridge holder to separate the upper shell and the lower shell and thus is able to allow the disc to be inserted or ejected; the holder moving mechanism moves one shell, in which the disc is accommodated, of the upper and lower shells, and holds the other shell, in which the disc is not accommodated, at an insertion position; the disc is accommodated in the lower shell of the disc cartridge; the holder moving mechanism includes an upper cam slit, which slides the upper holder in a horizontal direction in which the cartridge body is inserted or removed, and a lower cam slit, which slides the lower holder in the horizontal direction and moves up and down the lower holder in a vertical direction substantially perpendicular to the horizontal direction to be vertically separated from or joined to the upper holder; and the upper and lower shells are slid in an integrated manner throughout the insertion position and an insertion/removal position in which the cartridge body is inserted in or removed from the apparatus body, so that the upper shell is held at the insertion position and the lower holder is moved up and down throughout the insertion position and an insertion/ejection position at which the disc is inserted or ejected.