Disk drive apparatus having movably-positioned vibration-absorbing member

A disk drive apparatus comprising:

• a main apparatus having a frame;
• a disk tray causing a disk to move between a stored position and a drawn-up position relative to the main apparatus, the disk tray comprising one surface on which the disk is placed;
• a disk rotational drive unit rotationally driving the disk;
• an optical pickup unit performing at least one of reading stored information from the disk and writing information onto the disk;
• a movable member supporting the disk rotational drive unit and the optical pickup unit, the movable member being rotatably supported at one end thereof relative to the frame of the main apparatus;
• an elevator drive unit bringing the disk rotational drive unit and the optical pickup unit closer to or farther away from the disk, with the movable member free to rise and fall;
• and
• a vibration-absorbing member provided to the other end of the movable member, said vibration-absorbing member being provided to absorb vibrations transmitted to the disk tray;
• wherein, when the disk is moved toward the stored position, the elevator drive mechanism moves the other end of the movable member toward the disk tray, thereby causing the vibration-absorbing member to come into contact with another surface of the disk tray when the disk tray reaches its stored position, and thereby absorb the vibrations transmitted to the disk tray.

A disk drive apparatus comprising:

• a main apparatus;
• a disk tray, slidably supported by the main apparatus, a disk being placed on one surface of the disk tray, movement of the disk tray causing the disk to move between a stored position and a drawn-up position relative to the main apparatus;
• a disk rotational drive mechanism rotationally driving the disk;
• an optical pickup mechanism performing at least one of reading stored information from the disk and writing information onto the disk;
• a movable member supporting the disk rotational drive mechanism and the optical pickup mechanism, the movable member being rotatably supported at one end thereof relative to the main apparatus;
• an elevator drive mechanism causing another end of the movable member to rise and fall relative to the main apparatus, whereby
• when the disk is at the stored position the movable member is moved to a first position,
• when the disk moves between the stored position and the drawn-up position the movable member is moved to a second position,
• when the movable member is at the first position the other end of the movable member comes into proximity to another surface of the disk tray, the disk rotational drive mechanism coming into contact with the disk, and the optical pickup mechanism coming into proximity to the disk, and
• when the movable member is at the second position the other end of the movable member moves away from the other surface of the disk tray, so that the disk rotational drive mechanism and optical pickup mechanism move away from the disk, thereby enabling movement of the disk tray and the disk;
• and
• a vibration-absorbing member provided to the other end of the movable member, said vibration-absorbing member being provided to absorb vibrations transmitted to the disk tray;
• wherein, when the disk is moved toward the stored position, the elevator drive mechanism moves the other end of the movable member toward the disk tray, thereby causing the vibration-absorbing member to come into contact with another surface of the disk tray when the disk tray reaches its stored position, and thereby absorb the vibrations transmitted to the disk tray.