US 5,963,534 AGranted

Driving device for a recording medium

AssigneeAlps Electric Co., Ltd.

InventorsMasanobu Tanaka, Tatsumaro Yamashita

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Abstract

A driving device in which when a cartridge is inserted with a correct orientation, a retainer protrusion of a drawing-in member engages a retainer recess of the cartridge, so that a sliding shaft of the drawing-in member slides along a guide surface to draw in the cartridge. When the cartridge is inserted with a reversed orientation, the drawing-in member is pushed sideways, so that the sliding shaft slides along a relief guide portion at the exterior side of the guide plate, causing the drawing-in member to be driven in the X1 direction. Since the drawing-in member is driven along the relief guide portion, locking of the mechanism does not occur. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent locking of a mechanism, which occurs when the cartridge is inserted with a wrong orientation, and the drawing-in member, which is not retained by the cartridge, is driven in the drawing-in direction, in a disk device in which a drawing-in member is used to draw in a cartridge of, for example, a mini-disk.

A driving device for a recording medium, comprising:

a holder for inserting therein a recording medium;
a drive portion for driving the recording medium that has been drawn into said holder;
a retainer member for engaging a retainer recess in a side portion of the recording medium inserted into said holder in order to apply a force to the recording medium for drawing in the medium;
a biasing member for biasing said retainer member at an insertion waiting position in a direction in which said retainer member is retained in the retainer recess of the recording medium;
a guide portion for guiding said retainer member in the drawing-in direction of the recording medium, so that said retainer member does not move out from the retainer recess;
a relief guide portion for guiding said retainer member, being pushed sideways by a side of the recording medium inserted with a wrong orientation, in the drawing-in direction, so that said retainer member is not retained by the recording medium;
and
a drive member for moving said retainer member in the drawing-in direction either along said guide portion or said relief guide portion;
a guide plate extending along a side of said holder, an inner surface of said guide plate facing said holder being said guide portion and an outer surface of said guide plate at the opposite side thereof being said relief guide portion, said guide plate further including a cutout being a division between said guide portion and said relief guide portion,
wherein said retainer member includes a sliding portion for sliding along either one of said guide portion and said relief guide portion, said sliding portion being positioned at said cutout during an insertion waiting state, said sliding portion moving from said cutout to said guide portion when said retainer member is retained by said retainer recess, and said sliding portion moving from said cutout to said relief guide portion when said retainer member is pushed by said recording medium inserted with a wrong orientation.

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Abstract

Claims2