Read/write head carriage assembly for a floppy disk drive
AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
InventorJan G. Krane
Life of this patent
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Abstract
There is disclosured a read/write head carriage assembly for a data storage device such as a floppy disk drive. The carriage assembly includes a base which is movable, relatively, in a linear direction parallel to the plane of the recording medium. A head support arm is pivoted at one end with respect to the base. First and second magnetic transducers are mounted in opposed relationship on the base and on the free end of the support arm, respectively. The two transducers are gimbal-mounted to permit self alignment to the recording medium.
Claims10
A read/write head carriage assembly for a data storage device for use with a flexible, double-sided magnetic recording medium, said carriage assembly comprising, in combination:
- (a) a carriage base mounted in said data storage device for relative motion in a substantially linear direction parallel to the plane of said recording medium, said base having a first transducer mounting location;
- (b) a support arm having two ends, one end being pivoted with respect to said base and the other end having a second transducer mounting location movable with said support arm toward and away from said first transducer location;
- (c) a first gimbal mounted on said base at said first transducer mounting location;
- (d) a first magnetic transducer mounted on said first gimbal so as to be in operative relationship with one side of said recording medium, said first transducer having two degrees of freedom about two perpendicular first axes substantially parallel to the plane of said recording medium;
- (e) a first load point means, coupled to said base, engaging a central region of said first transducer to provide a load point that is fixed relative to said base in a direction normal to the plane of said recording medium;
- (f) a second gimbal mounted on said support arm at said second transducer mounting location;
- (g) a second magnetic transducer mounted on said second gimbal so as to be in operative relationship with the opposite side of said recording medium, said second transducer having two degrees of freedom about two perpendicular second axes substantially parallel to the plane of said recording medium;
- (h) spring means for mechanically biasing said support arm toward said base, thereby causing said second transducer to exert a tracking force through said recording medium against said first transducer,
- said base being mounted in said data storage device such that said recording medium remains substantially planar in the area where it passes between said first and second transducers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.