JPH0410125B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a recording medium inspection device, and more specifically, to a recording medium inspection device that inspects a large number of floppy disks (hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, floppy disks) housed in a case. The present invention relates to a recording medium testing device that can continuously test floppy disks (disks stored in a case) and that can realize an easy-to-operate floppy disk testing device.

[Prior art] 5.25-inch or 3.5-inch floppy disks are increasingly being used, but the manufacturing process involves an inspection process that consumes a lot of time. Requires 1 piece per piece
An important issue is how to efficiently inspect a large number of floppy disks.

Therefore, a number of disk characteristic measuring devices (inspection devices or inspection units as floppy disk drives installed to measure and test the characteristics of floppy disks; the same shall apply hereinafter) are installed as a group to run the floppy disks in parallel. In some cases, floppy disks are loaded and inspected, and cases containing floppy disk media (including 3.5-inch cassettes, 5.25-inch jackets, etc.) are stacked vertically in a cartridge-type hopper. A floppy disk inspection apparatus is used that feeds floppy disks one by one to a disk characteristic measuring apparatus and continuously inspects them.

[Problems to be solved] In the case of the former group type floppy disk inspection equipment, the equipment is large, has high equipment costs, takes up space, and does not have a large processing capacity per unit. . On the other hand, with the latter stacking type hopper, there is a limit to the amount of cases that can be stacked due to the weight of the cases and the height seen from the operational point of view, so it is not possible to stack too many cases, and the cartridges have to be replaced many times. I need it. Therefore, it is troublesome to manage and is not easy to operate.

In particular, on the stacker side, which stores floppy disks according to the inspection results, there are usually four pairs of floppy disks between the supply side and the stacker side, since the floppy disks are classified into pass, fail, etc. and stored in the respective stackers. Operability is not good unless the quantity on the supply side is increased by about 1%.

The present invention is intended to solve the problems of the prior art, and aims to provide a recording medium testing device that can continuously test many floppy disks and the like and has good operability.

[Means for Solving the Problems] Means in the recording medium inspection apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned object includes a conveyance path in which cases containing recording media are placed upright and stacked horizontally. a forced conveyance mechanism for forcibly conveying the case in the lateral direction, and a substantially vertical wall surface disposed on the destination side of the forced conveyance mechanism and against which the leading portion of the conveyed case comes into contact; a case delivery mechanism that sends out the case that has come into contact with it from the transport path of the forced transport mechanism along this wall surface, and a case transfer section that has a carrier that receives and holds the case sent out from the case delivery mechanism and moves horizontally. , a recording medium characteristic measuring device that is placed on the opposite side of the forced conveyance mechanism across the path of horizontal movement of the carrier, and measures the characteristics of the recording medium by receiving the case held from the carrier. It is inclined so that the feeding direction is lower in the range of 2° to 6° from the horizontal.

[Function] In this way, a recording medium housed in a case, such as a floppy disk, is placed at an angle of 2° to
Stand it upright at an angle of 6 degrees and stack it horizontally.
By feeding them, it is possible to line up many floppy disks, and no matter how many floppy disks are lined up, their height does not change, and they can be fed smoothly in the lateral direction.

Furthermore, since the hopper section serving as the supply side can be placed in front of the recording medium inspection apparatus, recording media (for example, floppy disks) housed in the case can be easily stacked horizontally.

As a result, a recording medium inspection device with good operability can be realized, and moreover, it becomes possible to continuously and efficiently inspect many recording media such as floppy disks.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a 3.5-inch floppy disk inspection device to which the recording medium inspection device of the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of its carrier conveyance section.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the carrier portion.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a 3.5-inch floppy disk inspection device, which includes a hopper section 2, a stacker section 3, a floppy disk cassette transfer section 4, and a disk characteristic measuring device 5.

The hopper section 2 is disposed at the front of the 3.5-inch floppy disk inspection apparatus 1, and is located in front of the floppy disk cassette transfer section 4.
It consists of a belt conveyance mechanism 21, a cassette delivery mechanism 22, a roller delivery mechanism 29, and a pressure mechanism 23. Here, the belt conveyance mechanism 2
1 is two plate belts 24, 2 arranged in parallel.
4, which are stretched around driven pulleys 25, 25 and drive pulleys 26, 26 located at both ends of these plate belts 24, 24. The drive pulley 26 is connected to the conveyor belt drive motor 2.
6a via a pulley 26b, and the plate belts 24, 24 move.

A large number of cassettes 27, 27, . . . containing 3.5-inch floppy disk media are strung between two plate belts 24, 24, arranged vertically, and stacked in a horizontal direction. The leading cassette 27 on the destination side of these cassettes is in contact with the wall surface 22a of the cassette delivery mechanism 22. The cassette 27 has two grooves 2 in upper and lower stages.
2b, 22b and has two claws 22c that protrude from the wall surface 22a, and these claws engage with the rear part of the cassette 27 to push out the cassette and move the cassette 27 toward the floppy disk cassette transfer section 4 side. discharge.

The cassette 27 pushed out by the claws 22b, 22b is fed into the carrier 40 via a roller feeding mechanism 29 disposed in front of the cassette 27.

Note that the claw 22c is operated by an actuator 22d fixed to the back side of the wall surface 22a. Further, a bar 28 provided adjacent to the belt 24 located at the back is a guide bar for preventing the cassette from being inserted in the wrong direction.

Incidentally, the cassette 27 here is assumed to be such that the lid side and the main body side are not welded together, but are merely temporarily attached and can be disassembled at any time. This is what is called a temporarily assembled case.

Now, the cassette 2 located at the rear of the hopper section 2
7 is constantly pressed by the pressure plate 23a of the pressure mechanism 23. This pressure plate 23a is connected to the arm 23b.
The rear end of the arm 23b is fixed to the top of the moving table 23c. Mobile table 23c
is fitted onto the shaft 23d and moves laterally on this shaft 23d. A plate spring portion 23 of the convex spring 23f is attached to the bottom of the moving table 23c.
The tip side of e is fixed. As a result, the moving table 23c is pulled in the feeding direction with a constant force,
While maintaining each cassette 27 in an upright state, the rearmost cassette 27 is pushed, and the cassettes 27 stacked laterally are forcibly conveyed by a belt and sent toward the wall surface 22a.

In such a configuration, the convex spring 2
3f is in a steady state in which the leaf spring portion 23e is pulled out and a force acts in the direction of retracting it, which causes a constant force to be applied to the cassette 27 via the pressure plate 23a regardless of its position. A force is applied to hold the cassette 27 upright at any position during the forced lateral transport process.

Here, the plate belt 2 on which the cassette 27 is placed is
4, 24 and the shaft 23d are inclined several degrees, for example, about 2 to 6 degrees, so that the cassette delivery mechanism 22 side is lower.

Therefore, the wall surface 22a is also not vertical,
An angle that is several degrees obtuse (approximately 2° to 6° corresponding to the above) opens in correspondence with the cassette transport path.
Slanted outward (backwards). Note that the wall surface 22a and the plate belts 24, 2, which are the cassette transport path,
It is perpendicular to the conveyance surface of No. 4. By tilting the feeding surface of the cassette 27 in this way, even if the amount of cassettes stacked in the horizontal direction increases,
Since the weight of the cassettes generates a moving force in the feeding direction, this combined with the forced conveyance by the belt applies an approximately constant force to all cassettes 2 in the conveying direction.
7, and even when stacked in large numbers, the pressure plate 23
It is not necessary to increase the pressure applied by a, and many cassettes can be transported laterally in an upright state with a relatively small force.

As described above, the hopper conveyance path is forced to be conveyed and provided with an inclination, thereby reducing the contact force between the cassettes 27 and preventing scratches from occurring due to movement.

On the other hand, if the slope of this conveyance path is made horizontal, the pressing force must be increased, and if the amount of cassettes stacked in the lateral direction increases, the pressure and the lateral transfer force may damage the cassettes from contact with each other, or There is also a risk of damage. If this inclination is made too large, the pressure applied to the cassette 27 on the distal end side will increase, and the claw 22c will not be able to feed the cassette sufficiently.
Scratches may occur due to contact between stacked cassettes 27,
In particular, during the feeding operation, weight is applied to the cassette on the distal end side, and there is a risk of damage. Therefore, the above-mentioned inclination range becomes the optimum feeding angle, and the cassette 2
7 can be moved smoothly.

Now, as described above, the cassette 27 ejected from the cassette delivery mechanism 22 is delivered to the carrier 40 provided in the floppy disk cassette transfer section 4 via the delivery roller mechanism 29. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the floppy disk cassette transfer section 4 includes a carrier transfer section 41 that transfers the carrier 40 in the horizontal direction, and moves the carrier 40 from the horizontal state to the vertical +α state, that is,
90° + α (angle selected from α = 2° to 6°)
A rotating rotary actuator 42 (see Figure 3), and a push-in claw mechanism 43 (see Figure 2)
It consists of Note that 41a is the carrier conveyance section 4.
1, 41b is a carrier stage thereof, and 41c is a shaft for receiving the carrier stage 41b. Further, 41d is a support plate for fixing the drive motor etc. to the frame of the device;
A motor e is fixed to the supporting body 41d and rotates the ball screw 41a.

The carrier 40 is sized to hold the cassette 27 between rollers, and as shown in FIG. 42 is driven, the state changes from horizontal to vertical +α, and when the drive is released, the state becomes horizontal. In addition, 401,410
are roller shaft drive mechanisms, which drive upper or lower rollers disposed on the left and right sides and front and back of the carrier 10, respectively.

The roller shaft drive mechanism 410 is fixed on the carrier stage 41b in a vertical +α state,
A pair of front and rear rollers 411, 412 that stand upright in the range of 92° to 96° corresponding to the wall surface 22a and are driven by a belt wrapped around them, and a similar roller (the lower side is not visible in the figure). is the shaft 411a on the lower side,
412a. These top and bottom,
A total of four rollers on the left and right sides are driven by a pulley 420. The drive is performed by driving the roller 413 via the belt 421, and the shaft 4
The roller 412 and the lower roller connected through the roller 12a are driven. Further, the front and rear rollers 411 and 412 are connected via a belt and are driven simultaneously, resulting in four rollers being driven simultaneously. Although the motor that drives the pulley 420 is not shown in the figure, its shaft is 4
It is 22.

The roller shaft drive mechanism 401 is fixed horizontally on the carrier stage 41b and is located horizontally. There is a pair of front and rear rollers 403, 404 driven by the belt 402, and a similar roller on the right side (the right side is not visible in the figure), and these are connected via shafts 403a, 404a, respectively. combined. Total of 4 in front and back, left and right
Two rollers are driven by a pulley (not shown) similar to pulley 420 through its belt 422 . The driving is performed by driving the roller 405 with a belt 422, and this and the shaft 404.
The roller 404 coupled via a and the roller located to the left thereof are driven simultaneously. moreover,
Front and rear rollers 403 and 404 are connected via a belt 402 and are driven simultaneously, resulting in four rollers being driven simultaneously.

On the other hand, the push-in claw mechanism 43 has a push-in claw 43a as shown in FIG.
3a is located approximately in the center of the space surrounded by the four rollers of the roller shaft drive mechanism 401, and when actuated, it stands up diagonally and moves forward from there, resisting the force of the return spring 43d. move on. This push-in claw 43
The mechanism that drives a forward is the carrier stage 4.
A square shaft 43b penetrating through 1a, and a shaft 43b
and a motor 43c that rotationally drives the push-in claw mechanism 43.

That is, due to the rotation of the motor 43c, the shaft 43
b rotates, and the rotational force of this shaft 43b is transmitted to the arm of the push-in claw 43a, causing the push-in claw 43a to stand up and move forward. With this, cassette 27
push the rear part of the cassette 27 out of the carrier 40. Note that the push-in pawl 43a releases the return spring 4 when the motor 43c stops driving.
A force of 3d returns it to the initial position shown in FIG.

In the floppy disk cassette moving unit 4 having such a structure, when the carrier 40 receives the cassette 27, it is positioned vertically +α corresponding to the wall surface 22a of the cassette delivery mechanism 22. And rollers 44a and rollers 44 that are provided in front and rear, left and right, and form a pair of upper and lower rollers.
b, rollers 45a, 45b, rollers 46a, 46
b, and the rollers 47a and 47b are the cassette 27.
The cassette 27 is stored or sent out by holding the front and rear sides of the cassette 27.

That is, when the carrier 40 is in a horizontal state, the lower rollers 44b, 45b, 46 are connected to the four rollers of the roller shaft drive mechanism 401.
When the carrier 40 is in the vertical +α state, the upper rollers 44a, 45a, 46a, 47a are in contact with the four rollers of the roller shaft drive mechanism 410 and are driven. be done. Then, depending on this driving direction, the cassette 27 moves forward or backward to perform storage or delivery.

The cassette 27 discharged from the cassette feeding mechanism 22 is held vertically +α with both ends thereof being held between upper and lower rollers 46a, 46b and rollers 47a, 47b on the rear side, and driven by a roller shaft drive mechanism 410. and then pulled in by the rear roller. Then, the cassette 27 is held in the carrier 40 by being held between eight upper and lower rollers at the front and rear slightly inner peripheral portions or at the upper and lower ends on both sides.

Here, when the carrier 40 has stored the cassette 27, the operation of the rotary actuator 42 is stopped, and the carrier 40 is rotated by 90°+α and becomes in a horizontal state. It is positioned in front of the cassette loading port of the disk characteristic measuring device 5. Therefore, the lower roller 4 is
4b, 45b and rollers 46b, 47b, the cassette 27 is sent to the disk characteristic measuring device 5. Next, the motor 43c of the push-in pawl mechanism 43 is driven, and the tip of the push-in pawl 43a engages with the rear part of the cassette 27, thereby removing the cassette 27.
is pushed out, and the cassette 27 is loaded into the disk characteristic measuring device 5.

After the inspection is completed, each roller of the carrier 40 is driven in the opposite direction to receive the cassette 27 discharged from the disk characteristic measuring device 5, and the inspected cassette 27 is stored in the carrier 40. Next, the carrier 40 is horizontally moved to the stacker section 6 and positioned at the stacker position corresponding to the inspection result.

The stacker section 6 is provided with four stackers 61, 62, 63, and 64 corresponding to the inspection results: pass, upper surface pass, lower surface pass, and fail. The carrier 40 that has been inspected drives its rollers again to eject the inspected cassette 27 stored therein, and sends the cassette 27 to the lower side of one of the stackers 61, 62, 63, and 64. At this time, the push-in claw mechanism 43 is driven, and the cassette 27 is loaded onto the lower side of the stacker by the push-in claw 43a. A mechanism is provided below each stacker 61, 62, 63, 64 to receive and lift up the cassette 27.
7 at the bottom of the stacker and hold it there. Incidentally, at the lowest end of each stacker 61, 62, 63, 64, a claw that moves back and forth is provided on the side wall thereof, and the cassette 27 is held by this claw.

As explained above, the carrier shown in the embodiment is merely an example, and various handling mechanisms such as chucks, suction mechanisms, etc. can be used to take out and feed the cassettes.

In particular, the reason why a carrier that holds the cassette between eight rollers is used is to inspect the case in a disassembled state before it is welded. Therefore, for rejected floppy disks, the floppy disk medium can be removed from the cassette, and the cassette can be used again by storing a new floppy disk medium itself. In addition, for a cassette that is completely assembled by welding the main body of the lid, it is possible to use the cassette without using a carrier as in the example.
Various transport methods can be used.

Various horizontal movement mechanisms for the carrier in the embodiments can be considered, and are not limited to the embodiments. Further, the pressurizing mechanism of the hopper portion can also take various forms. Further, in the hopper, the cassette is forcibly fed by a belt, but the forced feeding mechanism is not limited to the belt, and various mechanisms such as chain feeding can be applied.

Furthermore, the stacker section does not necessarily need to be placed on the same side of the horizontal movement path as the disk characteristic measuring device, but may be placed on a belt conveyance mechanism, etc. that directly corresponds to the test results, depending on the test results. It may be configured as follows.

In the embodiment, a floppy disk medium is shown as an example, but it goes without saying that the present invention is applicable to general recording media housed in a case.

Furthermore, although the embodiments mainly describe a 3.5-inch floppy disk, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the size of such a floppy disk. Of course, the recording medium characteristic measuring device in the present invention may be a simple recording medium drive device such as a floppy disk drive.

[Effects of the Invention] As can be understood from the above explanation, in the present invention, a recording medium, such as a floppy disk, housed in a case is tilted at an angle of 2° to 6° on the supply side. By stacking them horizontally and supplying them, it is possible to line up many floppy disks.Moreover, no matter how many floppy disks are lined up, their height does not change, and horizontal feeding can be performed smoothly.

Furthermore, since the hopper section serving as the supply side can be placed in front of the recording medium inspection apparatus, it is possible to easily stack the recording media housed in the case in the horizontal direction.

As a result, a recording medium inspection device with good operability can be realized, and moreover, it becomes possible to continuously and efficiently inspect many recording media such as floppy disks.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a 3.5-inch floppy disk inspection device to which the storage medium inspection device of the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of its carrier conveyance section.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the carrier portion. 1...3.5 inch floppy disk inspection device,
2... Hopper part, 3... Stacker part, 4... Floppy disk cassette transfer part, 5... Disk characteristic measuring device, 21... Belt conveyance mechanism, 22... Cassette feeding mechanism, 23... Pressure mechanism, 24... Plate belt, 27 ...Cassette, 40...Carrier, 41...Carrier transport section, 42...Rotary actuator,
43...Pushing claw mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A forced conveyance mechanism that has a conveyance path in which cases containing recording media are placed upright and stacked horizontally, and forcibly conveys the cases in the horizontal direction; and this forced conveyance mechanism. has a substantially vertical wall surface that is placed on the destination side of the case and is in contact with the leading portion of the sent case, and the case that is in contact with it is removed from the conveyance path of the forced conveyance mechanism along this wall surface. a case feeding mechanism that sends out a case; a case transfer section having a carrier that receives and holds a case sent out from the case feeding mechanism and moves horizontally; a recording medium characteristic measuring device that receives the case held from the carrier and measures the characteristics of the recording medium, and the conveying path is lower in the feeding direction in the range of 2° to 6° from horizontal. A recording medium inspection device characterized by being inclined as shown in FIG. 2 The recording medium is a floppy disk medium,
The forced conveyance mechanism is a belt conveyance mechanism having a conveyance belt on which the cases containing the floppy disk media are placed upright and stacked horizontally, and the case transfer section has a carrier that houses the cases and a conveyor belt that carries the cases in which the floppy disk media are stored. It has a rotation mechanism that rotates from a vertical direction corresponding to a wall surface of the case delivery mechanism to a horizontal direction, and receives the case sent out from the case delivery mechanism in the vertical direction and rotates it in the horizontal direction. 2. The recording medium inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium characteristic measuring apparatus receives the conveyed case horizontally. 3. A stacker section is arranged on the same side as the recording medium characteristic measuring device with respect to the horizontal movement path, and includes a stacker section consisting of a plurality of stackers for storing cases according to the inspection results, the recording medium is a floppy disk medium, and The conveyance mechanism is a belt conveyance mechanism having a conveyance belt on which the cases containing the floppy disk medium are placed upright and stacked horizontally;
The case transfer unit includes a carrier including a roller conveyance mechanism having a plurality of pairs of rollers arranged vertically, and a rotation mechanism that rotates the roller conveyance mechanism from a vertical direction to a horizontal direction corresponding to the wall surface of the case delivery mechanism. the case sent out from the case sending mechanism is received in the vertical direction by driving the plurality of rollers, is held between the plurality of pairs of rollers, and is recorded by rotating the carrier in the horizontal direction. The case is sent to a medium characteristic measuring device, and the case sent out from the recording medium characteristic measuring device is received and held in the horizontal direction by driving the plurality of pairs of rollers, and horizontally moved to the position of the stacker according to the inspection result. , the plurality of pairs of rollers are driven to discharge the sandwiched case and send it to the stacker, the recording medium characteristic measuring device horizontally receives the sent case, and after the inspection is completed, the case is horizontally placed. The recording medium inspection device according to claim 1, characterized in that the recording medium inspection device discharges the recording medium.