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US 5,003,420 AGranted
Low profile head-load beam slider arm for disk drive
AssigneeDigital Equipment Corporation
InventorSigmund Hinlein
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An arm for mounting a head in a disk drive, the arm comprising an end region adapted to carry the head on a mounting surface and a pair of side regions angularly disposed with respect to the mounting surface to straddle the head. That is, the side regions and mounting surface form a channel within which the head is disposed. Thus, the profile (i.e., height) of the arm is reduced. This allows disks in a multiple disk drive to be spaced by a reduced amount.
Claims24
An arm for mounting a head in a disk drive, comprising
- a first member comprising a single, elongated piece of material having a distal region for supporting the head on a surface thereof and a proximal region having an end adapted to be mounted on a support in the disk drive, said single piece of material being resilient between said proximal region and said distal region to urge the head against a surface of the disk when the disk is at rest,
- a slider disposed on said surface in said distal region for carrying said head, said slider being adapted to slide on a stream of air when the disk is rotating to lift the head away from the disk surface, and
- a second member for stiffening said first member, said second member being angularly disposed with respect to said surface on the same side of said surface as the head, said second member being disposed alongside at least a portion of said slider and extending along said single piece of material to said proximal region.
An arm for mounting a head in a disk drive, comprising
- a single, elongated piece of material having a distal end region for supporting the head on a mounting surface thereof and a proximal region having an end adapted to be mounted on a support in the disk drive, said single piece of material being resilient between said proximal region and said distal region to urge the head against a surface of the disk when the disk is at rest,
- a slider disposed on said mounting surface for carrying said head, said slider being adapted to slide on a stream of air when the disk is rotating to lift the head away from the disk surface, and
- a pair of side regions angularly disposed with respect to said mounting surface to straddle at least a portion of said slider, said side regions extending longitudinally along said single piece of material proximally of said distal end region.
An arm for mounting a head in a disk drive, comprising
- a single piece of material having a distal end region for supporting the head on a mounting surface thereof and a proximal region having an end adapted to be mounted on a support in the disk drive, said single piece of material being resilient between said proximal region and said distal region to urge the head against a surface of the disk when the disk is at rest,
- a slider disposed on said mounting surface for carrying said head, said slider being adapted to slide on a stream of air when the disk is rotating to lift the head away from the disk surface, and
- a pair of side regions angularly disposed with respect to said mounting surface to form a channel with said mounting surface within which at least a portion of said slider is disposed, said side regions being longitudinally disposed along said single piece of material and extending continuously from said distal end region to said proximal region.
A disk drive comprising
- at least one disk,
- a head for communicating with said disk, and
- an arm for mounting said head in said disk drive, said arm comprising:
- a single piece of material having a distal end region for supporting said head on a mounting surface thereof and a proximal region having an end adapted to be mounted on a support in the disk drive, said single piece of material being resilient between said proximal region and said distal region to urge the head against a surface of the disk when the disk is at rest;
- a slider disposed on said mounting surface for carrying said head, said slider being adapted to slide on a stream of air when the disk is rotating to lift the head away from the disk surface;
- and, a pair of side regions angularly disposed with respect to said mounting surface to form a channel with said mounting surface within which at least a portion of said slider is disposed, said side regions being longitudinally disposed along said single piece of material and extending proximally of said distal end region.
3 more elements
A disk drive comprising
- a pair of disks having spaced, opposing surfaces,
- a pair of heads of the kind for communicating with the spaced, opposing surfaces of said pair of disks, and
- a pair of arms for mounting said pair of heads in said disk drive, each one of said pair of arms comprising:
- (i) a member comprising a single, elongated piece of material having a distal region for supporting one of said heads on a mounting surface thereof and a proximal region having an end adapted to be mounted on a support in the disk drive, said single piece of material being resilient between said proximal region and said distal region to urge the head against one of said opposing surfaces of one of said disks when the disk is at rest, said single piece of material having a second surface opposite to said mounting surface, the second surfaces of said pair of arms opposing each other;
- (ii) a slider disposed on said mounting surface for carrying said head, said slider being adapted to slide on a stream of air when the disk is rotating to lift the head away from the disk surface;
- and
- (iii) a pair of side regions for stiffening said member, said side regions being angularly disposed with respect to said mounting surface to form a channel with said mounting surface within which at least a portion of said slider is disposed, said side regions extending continuously from said mounting surface to said proximal region of said single piece of material,
- whereby said side regions of said pair of arms allow the second surfaces of said pair of arms to become closely disposed with respect to one another without interference from said side regions when said sliders lift said heads.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.