JPH073741B2 - Disk cassette - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a disk cassette, and more particularly to a disk cassette in which disks such as a magnetic disk and an optical disk that are accessible by a drive-side head are stored on both sides.

[Prior Art] Recently, as external storage floppy disks used in electronic devices such as word processors and personal computers, small floppy disks such as 3.5-inch floppy disks are often used in accordance with downsizing and price reduction of electronic devices. Also, to ensure protection of the floppy disk, the disk is typically provided in a rigid cassette.

On the other hand, the floppy disk drive (drive) that drives the floppy disk to read and write to the disk also
The size of the disk has been reduced to correspond to the size of the disk. In general, a disc can record and reproduce information on both sides of the disc. Therefore, the disc drive device is provided with two heads for recording and reproducing for accessing the front surface of the disc and a head for accessing the rear surface.

However, in such a disk drive device capable of accessing both sides of the disk, it is necessary to provide two recording / reproducing heads, hold them at the correct positions, and control the drive. A disk single-sided drive device that drives only one head to access only one side of the disk is common.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In a disk single-sided drive device as described above, even if a disk is originally capable of recording and reproducing on both sides, only one side can be used. Although the high density of the magnetic medium has been realized and only one side of the magnetic medium has become possible to read and write a large amount of information as compared with the conventional art, it is impossible and uneconomical.

Therefore, the present invention provides a disc cassette used in a disc device capable of recording and reproducing data on both sides of a disc by reversing the front and back of the disc and inserting the disc into the single-sided drive device by utilizing a disc single-sided drive device which is currently popular. The purpose is to do.

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the present invention, in order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, in a disk cassette storing disks whose heads are accessible on both sides, A drive hub is provided on the back side, an opening is formed in the disc cassette, and the drive hub is exposed from the opening so that the disc can be turned upside down and engaged with the disc drive device. A structure is adopted in which the drive hub and the inner wall of the cassette can be brought into contact with each other in the vicinity of the opening when the disc drive device and the drive hub are engaged with each other.

[Operation] According to such a structure, it is possible to perform recording and reproduction on both front and back surfaces of a single-sided disk drive device by reversing the disk and engaging it through the drive hub. Further, when the disk drive device and the drive hub are engaged, the drive hub and the inner wall of the cassette come into contact with each other in the vicinity of the opening for exposing the drive hub, so that the warp of the disk cassette can be prevented.

[Examples] Hereinafter, details of the present invention will be described based on Examples shown in the drawings.

First Embodiment A reference numeral 1 in FIGS. 1 and 2 denotes a disk cassette (hereinafter abbreviated as a cassette) that stores a disk such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk, which is thin and has a substantially square shape and is made of rigid plastic or the like. It is formed of a rectangular parallelepiped housing-like upper portion 1a and a lower portion 1b, and accommodates a magnetic disk or an optical disk 2 (hereinafter referred to as a disk) inside.

A drive hub 3 that engages with a spindle 6 of a disk drive device and rotates the disk 2 is provided at the center of the front surface and the back surface of the disk 2. As is apparent from FIG. 2, the hub 3 is composed of an upper hub 3a made of a magnetic material, a lower hub 3b, and a molded hub body 3c made of plastic or the like for connecting them. Upper hub 3a and lower hub 3b
Center holes 4a and 4b are respectively formed in the centers of the holes, and the spindle 6 is engaged with the holes. Drive holes 5a and 5b are formed in the upper and lower hubs 3a and 3b, respectively, and drive pins 7 on the drive device side are engaged with these holes to rotate the hub 3 and the disk 2.

A flange 3d is formed on the hub body 3c, and the disc 2 is fixed thereto. As shown in detail in FIG. 3, the hub body 3c has annular protrusions 3e, 3 having a semicircular cross section, which extend vertically in a circular shape on the peripheral side portions thereof.
f is formed, and these protrusions 3e and 3f are fitted in the corresponding annular grooves 1c and 1d on the cassette side, respectively. When the spindle 6 is engaged with the center hole 4b on the back surface of the cassette 1 as shown in FIG. 2, the protrusion 3e abuts on the groove 1c, whereby the pressure on the driving device side is transferred through the protrusion 3e to the upper portion 1a of the cassette. To prevent the inside of the cassette upper part 1a from being warped. Further, when the cassette 1 engages with the center hole 4a on the front surface, the projection 3f abuts on the groove 1d and similarly prevents the cassette 1b portion from being warped inward.

A magnet 8 is provided on the disk drive device side to ensure engagement between the hub 3 and the drive device.

In addition, a slightly recessed rectangular slide surface 9a is formed at one end of the cassette upper portion and lower portion 1b (first
Figure). A head window 10a for allowing a magnetic head (not shown) to slidably contact the disk 2 is provided at substantially the center of the sliding surface.
10b are formed respectively, and recesses 11a, 11 for guiding pins of a shutter opening / closing mechanism (not shown) are formed at the ends of the sliding surface.
b is formed. A shutter 12 having four openings 12a to 12d for opening and closing the above-described head windows 10a and 10b is provided. A guide claw 12e of the shutter 12 slides on the slide surface by engaging a guide hole 13 provided on the slide surface 9a, and the head windows 10a and 10b are opened and closed by the shutter 12.

It should be noted that the disc cassette has reference holes 18a, so that the cassette occupies the reference position when it is inserted into the disc drive.
18b is formed, and a write protect hole 17a for preventing writing and a write protect notch 19a are formed on both sides of the cassette.

In such a configuration, when the cassette 1 is inserted into the disk device with the front side facing the shutter 12, the shutter opening / closing mechanism (not shown) slides the shutter 12 in the direction in which the head windows 10a and 10b are opened, and the magnetic field is released through the opened head window. A head (not shown) is slidably contacted. At the same time, as shown in FIG. 2, the spindle 6 of the disk drive device is fitted into the center hole 4b on the back side of the hub 3 and aligned with the reference position, and the drive pin 7 is fitted into the drive hole 5b. Then
Rotation of the drive pin 7 about the spindle 6 rotates the hub 3 and the disk 2 fixed to the hub 3 to enable magnetic recording and reproduction. Further, at this time, the magnet 8 on the spindle side attracts the lower hub 3b made of a magnetic material, so that there is no rotational deviation of the disk and stable rotation can be obtained.

Further, the cassette 1 usually has a small thickness and tends to warp inward, and if the cassette 1 is set in the driving device while keeping it as it is, an appropriate gap is lost between the cassette and the disc, which may hinder the disc rotation. . Therefore, when the disk drive device engages with the hub, the entire hub 3 moves upward in FIG. 2, and the pressing force pushes up the inside of the cassette 1a portion to correct the inward warp. In this embodiment, the annular projection 3e is a corresponding annular groove formed on the upper part 1 of the cassette.
Since it fits into 1c, it is possible to prevent the warpage of the cassette and maintain an appropriate gap.

In addition, when the cassette is inserted into the device with the back side,
The spindle 6 is fitted in the center hole 4a and the drive pin 7 is fitted in the drive hole 5a to rotate the disk 2, and the annular projection 3f is fitted in the annular groove 1d to prevent the cassette from warping.

Second Embodiment In the above-described embodiment, the hub 3 is the upper hub made of a magnetic material.
3a, a lower hub 3b, and a molded hub body 3c that connects them, a center hole that fits with the spindle 6 that serves as a reference hole, and a drive hole that fits a drive pin are the upper hub and the lower hub, respectively. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the center holes 4a, 4b and the drive holes 5a, 5b are formed in the hub body 3c to be molded.

In the case of this embodiment, the hub body 3c to be molded is formed.
Since each center hole and drive hole are provided in
It is possible to bring the portion having a complicated shape to the hub body side to be molded, and it is possible to obtain an advantage that the processing of the upper hub and the lower hub made of a magnetic material can be simplified.

Third Embodiment Further, in the above-described embodiment, the annular projections 3e, 3f formed on the hub hit the annular grooves 1c, 1d on the cassette side to prevent the cassette from being deformed during driving. Since the annular projections 3e and 3f having a semicircular cross section are in contact with the annular grooves 1c and 1d over the entire circumference, friction during the rotation of the disk becomes large.

An improved version of this is shown in FIGS.
In the figure, the same parts as those in the above-mentioned embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the case of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of warp preventing portions which come into contact with the annular grooves 1c and 1d of the cassette are circumferentially arranged at equal intervals, for example, three. It is composed of a hemispherical ball 20. Therefore, hub 3 and cassette 1
Since the contact point of is a point contact and the contact is a minimum, the load at the time of disk rotation can be remarkably reduced.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the ball 20 is formed integrally with the hub body 1c, and in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the ball 20 is a ball holding member 21 attached to the hub body 3c.
The ball 20 is stored in a ball groove 22 formed in the hub body 3c in the embodiment shown in FIG. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the ball 20
As a result of rolling, only rolling friction is generated on the cassette surface, and stable rotation of the disc with less friction can be obtained.

Fourth Embodiment FIGS. 9 and 10 show another embodiment of the drive hub. In this embodiment, the hub 3 is entirely made of a magnetic material made of iron pieces or the like. That is, the hub 30 has the center holes 31a and 31b into which the spindle 6 is fitted and the drive pin 7
Drive hubs 32a, 32b into which are fitted, and projections 33a, 33b that come into contact with the inner wall of the cassette during driving, respectively, are provided in the upper hub 30a and the lower hub 30b. Also, a flange 34 is formed on the lower hub 30b, and the disc 2 is fixed thereto.

Protrusions 33a, 33b formed on the upper hub 30a and the lower hub 30b
As shown in detail in FIG. 10, a plurality of, for example, three, semicircular elongated protrusions are arranged at equal intervals to effectively prevent warpage during driving and to cassette. And the rotational friction of the hub is minimized.

In this embodiment also, FIG. 2 or FIG.
Of course, as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, the contact of the projection with the inner wall of the cassette can be circumferential contact, point contact or rolling contact.

[Effect] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, in a disk cassette in which the head accommodates disks accessible on both sides, drive hubs are provided on the front and back surfaces of the disk, and the disk is By forming an opening in the cassette and exposing the drive hub through the opening, the disk can be turned upside down to engage with the disk drive, and the disk drive and the drive hub can be engaged. Since the drive hub and the inner wall of the cassette can be brought into contact with each other in the vicinity of the opening when they are combined, it is possible to perform recording and reproduction on both sides by using a single-sided drive disc drive. It is possible to record and reproduce a large amount of information, and it is economical. In addition, it is possible to prevent the warp of the disc cassette when the disc drive device and the drive hub are engaged with each other, and it is possible to obtain an excellent effect that reliable recording and reproduction can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

Each drawing shows an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cassette, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the cassette, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a drive hub, and FIGS. FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a different embodiment of the hub, FIG. 6 is a plan view of the hub used in FIG. 5, and FIGS. 7 to 9 are sectional views showing further different embodiments of the hub. FIG. 10 is a plan view of the hub used in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 ... Cassette, 3 ... Hub 4a, 4b ... Center hole 5a, 5b ... Drive hole 6 ... Spindle, 7 ... Drive hole 8 ... Magnet, 20 ... Ball

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A disk cassette having a disk in which a head is accessible on both sides, drive hubs are provided on the front and back surfaces of the disk, and an opening is formed in the disk cassette. By exposing the drive hub, the disc can be turned upside down so that it can be engaged with the disc drive device, and when the disc drive device and the drive hub are engaged, the drive hub is near the opening. A disc cassette, characterized in that the disc and the inner wall of the cassette can be brought into contact with each other.