Optical inspection and alignment verification system

Apparatus for optical verification of head alignment for floppy disk transducer assembly, comprising:

• an inspection microscope having two optical paths with eyepieces spaced for independent viewing, reticles, focusing means, an objective probe and optical means for converging the two independent optical paths towards each other towards said objective probe;
• said objective probe having space parallel transparent viewing surfaces on opposite sides thereof and have a thickness between said surfaces small enough to permit insertion of the probe between opposing heads of a transducer assembly, said probe including image transmission and reflection means for transmitting images of the transducer heads adjacent said viewing surfaces to the probe to and in alignment with said optical paths of said inspection microscope, said inspection microscope providing magnified images of the faces of said transducer heads at said reticles and eyepieces for measurement thereof;
• and
• an optical tracking scope and means positioning it in alignment for optical observation of the transducer or transducer mounting flexure of a lift arm of a transducer assembly to be verified and means for measurement of movements thereof due to lift of the lift arm.

Apparatus for optical verification of head alignment for double sided floppy disk transducer assemblies of the type in which at least one head is mounted on a lift arm movable away from the other head for insertion and removal of a diskette and movable toward the other head to a use position with a diskette between the heads, comprising:

• means for supporting a transducer assembly to be inspected;
• an inspection microscope including an objective probe having spaced parallel viewing surfaces on opposite sides thereof and having a thickness permitting insertion of the probe between the opposing heads of a transducer assembly with the viewing surfaces adjacent and opposing the faces of the heads of the assembly, and optical means for providing magnified images of said head faces adjacent said viewing surfaces of said probe, for visual inspection thereof, including reticle means for measurement of the positions of the gaps of said transducer heads;
• and
• an optical tracking scope and means mounting it for observation of movement of the head on the lift arm of the assembly due to opening of the lift arm to receive the objective probe.

Apparatus for optical verification of head alignment for double sided floppy disk transducer assemblies of the type in which at least one head is mounted on a lift arm movable away from the other head for insertion and removal of a diskette and movable towards the other head to a use position with a diskette between the heads, comprising:

• an inspection microscope including an objective probe having spaced parallel viewing surfaces on opposite sides thereof and having a thickness permitting insertion of the probe between the opposing heads of the transducer assembly with the viewing surfaces adjacent and opposing the faces of the heads of the assembly, and optical means for providing magnified images of said head faces adjacent said viewing surfaces of said probe for visual inspection thereof, including reticle means for measurement of the positions of the read/write gaps of said transducer heads;
• means for supporting a transducer assembly to be inspected adjacent said objective probe;
• means for providing relative movements between said probe and said transducer supporting means in three mutually orthogonal axes, said movements permitting insertion of said objective probe between the heads of the transducer assembly when the lift arm is moved away from the other head to receive the probe;
• an optical tracking scope and means positioning it in alignment with said transducer supporting assembly for observation of the lift arm-mounted head or the mounting flexure thereof for observation and measurement of the position thereof prior to and subsequent to lifting of the lift arm to insert the objective probe;
• and
• means for measuring movements of said movement means whereby alignment of said heads can be determined by measuring movements required to align the read/write gaps of said heads with predetermined positions on said reticle means.

A method of measuring alignment of a magnetic disk transducer assembly having a pair of opposed transducers, comprising the steps of:

• inserting between the transducers an optic probe having a pair of optical paths for viewing the respective opposing read/write gaps of the transducer;
• measuring relative movement of the transducers caused by moving them apart to receive the probe by observing the change of position of one of the transducers caused by insertion of the probe with a tracking scope;
• positioning the transducer assembly and probe to a known position relative to each other by observing the read/write gap of one of the transducers through one of the optical paths of the optic probe;
• measuring the position of the read/write gap of the other of the transducers with respect to the known position by observation thereof through the other of the optical paths of the optic probe;
• and
• calculating the alignment of the two transducers by taking the difference between said position measurement and said relative movement measurement.