JPH097345A - Magnetic disk cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To make it possible to identify the kinds of cartridges having the different recording capacities and the like automatically with a disk driving device so that the identification is possible and to form the cartridge simply at the low cost by forming an identifying piece having the identifying hole indicating the kind of the cartridge by using the different member from the main body of a case, and forming the unitary body together with the case main body. CONSTITUTION: A cartridge 15, wherein a magnetic disk-shaped sheet 12 is rotatably contained, is mounted on a disk driving device. An identifying piece 20 is brought into contact with the position facing an identifying-hole detecting means. Then, the number and the positions of identifying holes 20a provided in the identifying piece 20 are detected by a photoelectric means. The kind of the cartridge 15 is automatically identified. Furthermore, the identifying piece 20 comprising synthetic resin is contained in an notch 10e in the tight contact shape by pushing a flange part 20b into the inner space of the case 10. Then, the identifying piece 20 and shell haves 10A and 10B comprising the different synthetic resins are made to form the unitary body by ultrasonic welding and the like. With this constitution, the cartridge can be formed simply at the low cost.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic disk cartridge in which a magnetic disk sheet is housed in a case, and the magnetic disk sheet is rotated at a high speed to be used for magnetic recording and reproduction. The present invention relates to a magnetic disk cartridge provided with a means for identifying a disk drive device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a magnetic disk in which magnetic layers are formed on both surfaces of a disk-shaped base made of a flexible polyester sheet or the like, and magnetic recording is performed on the magnetic layers by a magnetic head while rotating at high speed (so-called so-called Floppy disk) is provided, and its ease of handling,
It is mainly used as a recording medium for computers because of its low cost.

Recently, this type of magnetic disk is rotatably housed in a small hard case and is used as a magnetic disk cartridge, as represented by a so-called 3.5-inch type magnetic disk. Is increasing.

For such a magnetic disk cartridge, there is always a demand for a large capacity, and 3.5 inch type and storage capacity of 1 MB (megabyte) or 2 MB has already been put into practical use, and nowadays. Storage capacity of 100MB or more has been provided.

[0005]

As described above, when a magnetic disk cartridge having a higher recording capacity than that of the conventional product is provided, a disk drive device for driving the large capacity magnetic disk cartridge is provided. It may be newly provided. This new disk drive
In addition to being able to drive a new large-capacity magnetic disk cartridge, in many cases it is also possible to drive a so-called "backward compatible" function for the convenience of the user, that is, a conventional magnetic disk cartridge that is lower in terms of recording capacity. Often formed to have the capability.

As described above, when a plurality of types of magnetic disk cartridges having different recording capacities and the like are driven by a common disk drive device, it is necessary to take measures such as changing the transfer rate according to the type of the cartridge. May be. In this case, if the disk drive device can identify the type of the loaded magnetic disk cartridge, operations such as transfer rate change can be automatically performed, which is extremely convenient.

Conventionally, as a method of identifying the type of a recording medium such as a magnetic tape cassette, an identification hole having a different installation position and number for each type is provided in the case, and an apparatus in which the recording medium is loaded is A method of detecting this identification hole mechanically or photoelectrically is widely known.

When this method is applied to a magnetic disk cartridge, the shape of the case differs depending on the cartridge type at the identification hole. Therefore, when the case is formed by, for example, injection molding, a metal is used for each type. It is necessary to change the type partially. The work of partially changing the case manufacturing means according to the type of the cartridge, such as changing the mold, is very troublesome.

If the case manufacturing means such as the above-mentioned mold is prepared separately for each kind of cartridge, the above-mentioned work is of course unnecessary, but in that case, the number of molds is increased. However, the manufacturing cost of the magnetic disk cartridge becomes extremely high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic disk cartridge which allows the disk drive device to automatically identify the cartridge type such as the recording capacity and which can be formed easily and inexpensively.

[0011]

As described above, the magnetic disk cartridge according to the present invention is a magnetic disk cartridge in which a disk-shaped magnetic disk sheet is rotatably housed in a case. The identification piece formed of a member different from the case body is included in the case body.

[0012]

If the discriminating piece as described above is integrated with the case body, the disc drive can automatically discriminate the cartridge type.

Further, the case main body excluding the above identification piece is
Since the shape can be fixed regardless of the cartridge type, it is only necessary to prepare one expensive means such as a mold for manufacturing the case main body, and of course, it is not necessary to partially change it. Is. On the other hand, since the identification pieces are usually extremely small, it is possible to form them at the same time by using one mold, which is relatively inexpensive.

As described above, the magnetic disk cartridge according to the present invention can be formed easily and inexpensively.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. 1 and 2 respectively show a magnetic disk cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the front side and the back side. As shown in the figure, in a hard case 10 formed of, for example, a synthetic resin, a center core 11 is rotatably held, and the center core 11 is
A magnetic disk sheet 12 having a central circular hole is attached. This magnetic disk sheet 12 is a disk-shaped base made of a flexible polyester sheet or the like, on which magnetic layers are formed.

The hard case 10 has two shell halves 10.
Although A and 10B are fixed to each other like a lid,
Both shell halves 10A and 10B are provided with a magnetic head insertion opening 10a. Also this hard case 10
A shutter 13 having an engaging portion (not shown) that engages with a guide groove 10b formed in the shell half 10B and is slidable in the left-right direction in the drawing is assembled therewith. The shutter 13 is formed of, for example, a stainless steel plate or an aluminum plate, or a plastic such as polyacetal resin in a substantially U-shaped cross section.
It is attached so that the upper portions of A and 10B are covered from the outside. Further, openings are provided in the portion of the shutter 13 that covers the shell half 10A and the portion that covers the shell half 10B, respectively.
13a is provided.

The shutter 13 has the other end of a torsion spring 14 having one end locked in the hard case 10 locked therein. Therefore, the shutter 13 uses the torsion spring 14
Is urged in the direction of arrow A in the figure by shell half 10A,
The step portions 10c formed on the respective portions 10B are brought into contact with each other, and the closed state (state shown in the figure) is normally maintained. When the shutter 13 is in this closed state, the opening 13a of the shutter 13 has a shell half 10A,
It is provided at a position away from each magnetic head insertion opening 10a of 10B. Therefore, the magnetic head insertion opening 10a is normally closed by the shutter 13 and foreign matter such as dust is prevented from entering the hard case 10 through the shutter 13.

The magnetic disk cartridge 15 of the present embodiment having the above-mentioned structure is a so-called 3.5 inch type, but is much larger than the conventionally known 3.5 inch type magnetic disk cartridge. For example
It has a recording capacity of 128MB.

In order to identify the magnetic disk cartridge 15 having the recording capacity of 128 MB to the disk drive device, which will be described later, the shell halves 10A and 10B forming the case body have, for example, three identification holes 20a. The identification piece 20 is fixed. The identification piece 20 will be described later in detail.

The magnetic disk cartridge 15 of this embodiment
Has a recording capacity of 1 MB, which is conventionally known.
Compared with the 5-inch type magnetic disk cartridge, the outer shape is almost the same, but the structure is different in that the biasing directions of the shutter 13 are opposite. That is, all the conventional 3.5-inch type magnetic disk cartridges will be described with reference to FIG.
It is configured to be normally closed by being biased in the opposite direction.

The magnetic disk cartridge 15 of this embodiment
Is driven by a disk drive having a so-called "backward compatible" function. That is, the magnetic disk cartridge 15 is loaded into a disk drive device having a pair of left and right shutter opening members 30L and 30R as shown in FIG. These shutter opening members 30L and 30R are rotatably held around rotating shafts 31L and 31R, respectively, and the shutter opening member 30L on the left side is moved in the direction of arrow D by the biasing means (not shown), and the shutter on the right side. The opening members 30R are biased to rotate in the arrow E direction.

The magnetic disk cartridge 15 is loaded into the disk drive unit by pushing it in the direction of arrow C in FIG. When the magnetic disk cartridge 15 is pushed in in this way, the shutter opening members 30L and 30R rotate against the force of the bias. At this time, since the small recess 10d is formed in the hard case 10, the left shutter opening member 30L is engaged with the upper left end portion of the shutter 13. When the shutter opening member 30L rotates in this state,
The shutter 13 resists the biasing force of the torsion spring 14,
Move to the right in FIG.

When the magnetic disk cartridge 15 is finally pushed to a predetermined loading position, the shutter 13 reaches an open position where its opening 13a is aligned with the magnetic head insertion opening 10a of the hard case 10 as shown in FIG. Moving. In this state, a magnetic head (not shown) of the disk drive device can contact the magnetic disk sheet 12 through the openings 13a and 10a, and information can be recorded or reproduced.

When the shutter 13 is opened as described above, the shutter opening member 30R on the right side is a moving shutter.
Since it slides on the upper end surface of 13, the opening operation of this shutter 13 is not hindered.

The above-mentioned conventional 3.5-inch type magnetic disk cartridge is also loaded in the above-mentioned disk drive device. In that case, the right shutter opening member 30R
Moves the shutter to the open position.

The magnetic disk cartridge 15 of this embodiment
Is loaded in the predetermined loading position shown in FIG. 3, an identification hole detecting means (not shown) provided in the disk drive device.
Comes to a position facing the identification piece 20. This identification hole detecting means detects the identification hole 20a provided in the identification piece 20 by, for example, a mechanical or photoelectric method, and the type of the magnetic disk cartridge 15 depends on the number and position of the detected identification holes 20a. (Recording capacity in this example) is identified.

In this way, the magnetic disk cartridge
If you can identify 15 types, in the disk drive,
It is also possible to automatically set conditions such as a transfer rate that must be changed according to the recording capacity.

Next, the identification piece 20 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, the identification piece 20 is formed of a member different from the shell halves 10A and 10B constituting the case body, and has a shape having a flange portion 20b having a thickness substantially equal to the internal space of the case 10. On the other hand shell half 10
A notch 10e communicating with the internal space of the case is formed in A and 10B.

As an example, the identification piece 20 made of synthetic resin is
The flange portion 20b is inserted into the inner space of the case so that the flange portion 20b is tightly housed in the notch 10e, and ultrasonic welding is performed in that state to be integrated with the shell halves 10A and 10B.

Note that the identification piece 20 shown in FIG. 4 has three identification holes 20a, but an identification piece of another shape in which some of the identification holes 20a do not exist is also appropriately prepared. They are selected according to the type of magnetic disk cartridge and then integrated with the shell halves 10A and 10B.

As described above, in the case where the maximum three identification holes 20a are formed, 2 ³ = 8 cartridge types can be shown. Further, the information shown by the identification hole 20a is not limited to the recording capacity as a matter of course. For example, the presence or absence of the identification hole 20a provided at the first position indicates two types of discs, and the information at the second and third positions is shown. There are four types of recording capacity depending on the presence or absence of the identification hole 20a provided,
Etc. are also possible.

Even if the eight kinds of identification pieces 20 are manufactured as described above, since they are extremely small, it is possible to perform injection molding at the same time by using one mold.
It can be formed relatively inexpensively. On the other hand shell half
The shell half 10A and 10B may have a constant shape regardless of the cartridge type such as the recording capacity.
It is only necessary to prepare one mold or the like for manufacturing A and 10B, and of course, work such as partial modification is not necessary. Therefore, the magnetic disk cartridge 15 can be easily and inexpensively formed.

Next, referring to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, another example of the identification piece that can be used in the present invention will be described. The identification piece 35 having the two identification holes 35a shown in FIG.
The notch 10 in the case 10 in the same way as the identification piece 20 shown in
Although it is inserted into e to be integrated, a hook-shaped retaining portion 35b as shown in the drawing is formed in a portion inserted into the internal space of the case 10. On the other hand, in case 10,
An engagement pin 10g extending in the thickness direction of the internal space (direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing) is provided.

The identification piece 35 is formed of a synthetic resin such as polyacetal resin having a relatively high elasticity. When the identification piece 35 is inserted into the notch 10e from the lower side in the figure, the retaining portion 35b has a sloped portion. Is pushed by the engagement pin 10g, and elastically bends toward the identification hole 35a. Then, when the identification piece 35 is inserted into a position where it is tightly accommodated in the notch 10e, the retaining portion 35b completely rides over the engagement pin 10g and engages with the engagement pin 10g as shown in the drawing. It becomes a state. In this case, the identification piece 35 may not be welded to the case body, or may be welded with complete care.

The identification piece 40 having the two identification holes 40a shown in FIG. 6 has a retaining portion 40b like the identification piece 35 of FIG. 5, and the retaining portion 40b is used for the engagement pin 10g of the case 10. To be engaged with. In addition, this identification piece 40
A stopper 40c is provided at the rear end in the insertion direction.
The notch 10e of the case 10 is shaped so as to have a portion which is closely fitted to the stopper portion 40c.

By combining the stopper portion 40c and the notch 10e in this way, even if the identification piece 40 is integrated with the case body only by engaging with the engagement pin 10g, the identification piece 40 can be formed.
Will not rattle.

The discriminating piece 50 having the two discriminating holes 50a shown in FIG. 7 has substantially the same thickness as the inner space of the case body composed of the shell halves 10A and 10B. The identification piece 50 has a width slightly larger than the opening 10h formed in the shell halves 10A and 10B, and the identification piece insertion hole 10k formed in the end surface of the shell halves 10A and 10B.
Is inserted into the above internal space.

Further, a stopper portion 50b which is tightly assembled with the insertion hole 10k is provided at the rear end of the identification piece 50 in the insertion direction. When the identification piece 50 is inserted to a predetermined position, the stopper portion 50b contacts a stopper portion (not shown) formed in the shell halves 10A and 10B, and the position of the identification piece 50 is defined there. The identification piece 50 is integrated with the shell halves 10A and 10B by ultrasonic welding or the like in that state.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a front side of a magnetic disk cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the back side of the magnetic disk cartridge.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state in which the magnetic disk cartridge is loaded in a disk drive device having a backward compatibility function.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing an enlarged main part of the magnetic disk cartridge.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing another example of an identification piece that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing still another example of the identification piece that can be used in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing still another example of the identification piece that can be used in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Hard case 10A, 10B Shell half 10e Notch 10g Engaging pin 10h Opening 10k Identification piece insertion hole 11 Center core 12 Magnetic disk sheet 15 Magnetic disk cartridge 20, 35, 40, 50 Identification piece 20a, 35a, 40a, 50a Identification Holes 35b, 40b Stopper 50b Stopper

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A magnetic disk cartridge in which a disk-shaped magnetic disk sheet is rotatably housed in a case, and an identification piece formed of a member different from the case main body has an identification hole indicating a cartridge type. , A magnetic disk cartridge characterized by being integrated with this case body. 2. A notch communicating with the internal space is formed in the case body, and the identification piece is accommodated in the notch with a part of the identification piece inserted in the internal space. The magnetic disk cartridge according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The separation piece according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the identification piece is formed with a retaining means for engaging with a part of the case body and preventing it from coming out of the case body. Magnetic disk cartridge.