Detachable head-load beam slider arm for disk drive
AssigneeDigital Equipment Corporation
InventorSigmund Hinlein
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An assembly for mounting a head in a disk drive (such as a disk reader or servowriter), comprising a detachable load beam slider arm adapted to carry the head on a distal end thereof, and an actuator arm including a resilient clamp for releasably attaching the proximal end of the load beam slider arm to the actuator arm. Thus, the head may easily be removed and/or replaced simply by removing the head and load beam slider arm as a unit from the actuator arm and replacing it with another head-load beam slider arm unit.
Claims24
An assembly for mounting a head in a disk drive, comprising
- a detachable arm having a generally planar proximal end and a distal end adapted to carry the head, and
- a mounting arm including a resilient clamp for releasably engaging and securing said planar proximal end between said clamp and the mounting arm.
A disk drive comprising
- a pair of disks disposed in spaced, coaxial relationship,
- a pair of heads for communicating with said pair of disks,
- a pair of detachable head-supporting arms, each detachable arm having a generally planar proximal end and having one of the pair of heads secured to a distal end thereof, and
- a mounting arm for said pair of detachable arms, said mounting arm comprising a pair of resilient clamps for releasably engaging and securing said planar proximal ends between said clamps and said mounting arm.
An assembly for mounting a pair of heads in a disk drive, comprising
- a pair of detachable arms, each arm having a generally planar proximal end and being adapted to carry one of the pair of heads on a distal end thereof, and
- a mounting arm including a pair of resilient clamps for releasably engaging and securing said planar proximal ends between said clamps and said mounting arm.
A method of mounting and replacing a head in a disk drive, the head being attached to a distal end of a supporting arm, comprising the steps of
- resiliently and releasably clamping a planar proximal end of the supporting arm to a mounting arm within a mounting cavity with a clamp that is attached to the mounting arm,
- removing the supporting arm from the mounting arm by withdrawing the planar proximal end of the supporting arm from the mounting cavity while maintaining the clamp attached to the mounting arm, and
- inserting the planar proximal end of a replacement supporting arm, carrying a respective head, into the mounting cavity on said mounting arm so that the clamp resiliently and releasably clamps the planar proximal end of said replacement arm within the mounting cavity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.