JPH0973749A - Disk cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase a limit of the number of times for opening/closing a shutter and the durability by using a coil spring, the coil element surface of which makes a right angle with the surface formed by both arm parts. SOLUTION: When the shutter 5 is in the closed state, the shutter 5 is energized in the direction of the arrow A by the coil spring 11 with the bending stress of a coil part 11a. The coil spring 11 is furthermore bent when the shutter 5 is in the opened state. In such a manner, the coil part 11a of the coil spring 11 repeats the bending and recovering in accordance with the opening/closing operations of the shutter 5. At this time, the stress generated on the coil spring 11 does not concentrate on a part like as the case of a twist coil spring because the main stress is the bending stress of the coil part 11a, so the durability against the repeated operations is enlarged, and the limit of the number of times for opening/closing the shutter is also increased.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disk cartridge, and more particularly to a disk cartridge containing a recording disk such as an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there are many types of disk cartridges constructed by accommodating a recording disk in a cartridge, and the most popular one is a micro floppy disk. In this type, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a recording disk 2 is rotatably housed in upper and lower shells 3a and 3b, and a head insertion hole 4 is formed in one of the upper and lower shells 3a and 3b. . Further, a shutter 5 for closing the head insertion hole 4 to prevent foreign matter, dust, and the like from entering is provided in the cartridge housing so as to be openable and closable. The shutter 5 is normally biased by a torsion coil spring 6 or the like to a position that closes the head insertion hole 4.

By biasing the shutter 5 with a spring, the shutter 5 is automatically opened / closed in response to an operation of attaching / detaching the disk cartridge 1 to / from the disk recorder.

The use of such a torsion coil spring has no practical problem in a cartridge such as a micro floppy disk having a relatively short shutter opening / closing stroke. However, large-diameter MO cartridges such as 5.25 inches have come into practical use. Since this cartridge has a large shutter stroke and is frequently used for taking in and out by an automatic changer, it is necessary to guarantee the use of 50,000 times / roll.

Therefore, the torsion coil spring used in the above-mentioned micro-floppy disk or the like may be broken by the insertion and removal of tens of thousands of times.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to improve the spring structure of the shutter to provide a disk cartridge having a large shutter opening / closing limit and high durability.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, in the disk cartridge according to the invention of claim 1, a coil portion, an arm portion extended from both ends of the coil portion, and a tip of the arm portion are provided. And a coil spring configured so that the coil element surface of the coil portion is at a right angle to the surface formed by both arms, and the coil spring is housed in the empty space composed of the upper and lower shells. One hook portion is locked to a locking portion provided on the shutter, and the other hook portion is housed in the void of the shell, and the bending stress of the coil portion of the coil spring is used for the biasing force of the shutter.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. 1A and 1B are plan views of a disc cartridge of the present invention. FIG. 1A shows a state where a shutter is closed, and FIG. 1B shows a state where the shutter is opened. FIG. 2 shows a coil spring used in the disc cartridge of the present invention, (a) is a perspective view, and (b) is a side view. The disc cartridge 7 shown in FIG. 1 comprises an upper shell 3a and a lower shell 3b, and a flexible recording disc 2 is rotatably accommodated between them. The recording disk 2 is provided with a metal center core 8, and the center core 8 is chucked by a spindle of a disk drive device through a center hole 8a formed in the lower shell 3b.
Further, rectangular head insertion holes 4a and 4b are formed in the upper shell 3a and the lower shell 3b along the radial direction.

In order to close the head insertion holes 4a, 4b, a shutter 5 is reciprocally mounted in a recess 9 formed in each of the upper shell 3a and the lower shell 3b so as to straddle the cartridge housing. A window 10 is formed on both sides of the shutter 5 so as to match both insertion holes 4a and 4b. When the shutter 5 is in the open position as shown in FIG. The head overlaps the insertion holes 4a and 4b, and the head can be inserted.

When the shutter 5 is in the closed position as shown in FIG. 1A, the head insertion holes 4a and 4b are closed by the shutter 5. When the disc cartridge is not used, the shutter 5 is moved in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1A by the coil spring 11 that is contracted between the shutter 5 and the upper and lower shells 3a and 3b so that the shutter 5 is always in the closed position. Being energized.

The coil spring 11 is composed of a coil portion 11a formed by winding a stainless wire several times, arm portions 12a and 12b linearly extending from both ends thereof, and hook portions 13a and 13b provided at the tips of the arm portions. There is. More specifically, arm portions 12a12 extended from both ends of the coil portion 11a.
b has a constant opening angle about the coil portion 11a. The coil portion 11a is configured such that the surface of the coil element 11b is at a right angle to the surface formed by the both arm portions 12a and 12b.

The coil spring 11 includes upper and lower shells 3a and 3a.
It is housed in a space defined by b and has both arms 12
Hook portions 13a provided at the ends of a and 12b are engaged with engagement portions 14a provided on the shutter 5, and 13b are engaged with engagement portions 14b provided in empty spaces of the shells 3a and 3b.

With this configuration, when the shutter 5 is in the closed state, the coil spring 11, as shown in FIG.
The shutter 5 is moved to the arrow A by the bending stress of the coil portion 11a.
Bias in the direction. Then, when the shutter 5 is in the open state, the coil spring 11 is further bent as shown in FIG.

As the shutter 5 is opened and closed in this way, the coil portion 11a of the coil spring 5 repeats bending and recovery. At that time, the stress generated in the coil spring 5 is mainly the bending stress of the coil portion 11a, so that the stress is not concentrated on a part and the durability against repeated operation is increased.

[0015]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a disc cartridge having a high limit of the number of times of opening and closing the shutter and having excellent durability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a disc cartridge according to the present invention, in which (a) shows a state in which a shutter is closed, and (b).
Indicates that the shutter is open.

2A and 2B are a perspective view and a side view, respectively, showing a coil spring used in a disk cartridge according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a conventional disc cartridge.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Conventional Disc Cartridge 2 Recording Discs 3a, 3b Upper and Lower Shells 4a, 4b Head Insertion Hole 5 Shutter 6 Torsion Coil Spring 7 Disc Cartridge 8 of the Present Invention 8 Center Core 8a Center Hole 9 Recess 10 Window Hole 11 Coil Spring 11a Coil Part 11b Coil Element 12a , 12b Arms 13a, 13b Hooks 14a, 14B Locking parts

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A coil portion, an arm portion extending from both ends of the coil portion, and a hook portion provided at a tip of the arm portion, wherein the both arm portions form a coil element surface of the coil portion. A coil spring configured so as to be perpendicular to the surface of the shutter, the coil spring is housed in a space formed by upper and lower shells, and one of the hook portions is locked to a locking portion provided on the shutter, and the other A disk cartridge with the hook part stored in the empty space of the shell.