US 5,862,119 AGranted

Disc inclining/disc inverting mechanism in a disc storage/playback apparatus

AssigneeHitachi, Ltd.

InventorsTatsumi Nishijima, Kyuichiro Nagai, Tomomi Okamoto, Ikuo Nishida, Kouhei Takita

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Abstract

In an auto-exchanger disc apparatus, both a disc cartridge for stocking plural discs and a pickup cartridge having a pickup are provided with common recesses, and a cartridge stocking unit is formed with a projection which is engaged with the recesses, whereby the cartridges can be exchanged for each other and mounted on the disc apparatus. Therefore, the extension and maintenance of the cartridges can be facilitated. When a double-side reproducing operation is performed, the pickup cartridge is turned upside down and then mounted on the disc apparatus, whereby the double-side reproduction can be surely performed by the disc inverting mechanism. Further, disc inclining means is provided to prevent a disc being returned from the disc feeder to the disc cartridge from abutting against the disc cartridge. The disc inclining mechanism and the disc inverting means may be integrally constructed by the same member to reduce the cost. Still further, a cleaning member is provided to some or all of the rollers for feeding the disc to perform a disc cleaning operation as well as a disc feeding operation, thereby preventing dust from being attached to the disc.

Claims2

Dependent claims

A disc apparatus including:

a disc stocking unit in which a number of discs are stocked;
a disc feeding unit for pulling out a disc from said disc stocking unit and feeding the disc;
a first pickup unit for recording/reproducing a first surface of the disc fed by said disc feeding unit;
and
a second pickup unit for recording/reproducing a second surface of the disc fed by said disc feeding unit;
a combined disc inverting/disc inclining means, within said disc feeding unit, for inverting the disc so that said first pickup unit records/reproduces information on/from the second surface of the disc and said second pickup unit records/reproduces information on/from the first surface of the disc and for correcting a difference in inclination between at least one disc in said disc stocking unit and a disc being fed by said disc feeding unit into said disc stocking unit, and a difference in inclination between a disc being fed by said disc feeding unit into one of said first and second pickup units and a mounting position of said one of said first and second pickup units, wherein the combined disc inverting/disc inclining means includes a mounting device on which a disc received by the disc feeding unit is mounted and means for either inverting or inclining the mounting device on which the disc is mounted.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.