Disc-chucking mechanism having contractable/expandable O-ring for fixing disc
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorKenji Hisamoto
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A chucking mechanism which reliably attaches and detaches a disc with high precision. The chucking mechanism includes a shaft for supporting the disc and having a tapered recess, a tapered cone adapted to fit in the tapered recess, and a piston for moving a rod, attached to the tapered cone, through a hole formed in the shaft. The mechanism also includes an O-ring having a variable diameter and being disposed between the tapered cone and the tapered recess. As the piston moves the tapered cone in a first direction, the tapered cone gradually expands the diameter of the O-ring to press and fix the disc. As the piston moves the tapered cone in a second direction, the diameter of the O-ring gradually contracts to move out of contact with the disc so as to release the disc.
Claims9
A disc-chucking mechanism for fixing a ring-shaped disc, the disc-chucking mechanism comprising:
- a center shaft having a tapered recess, a hollow section, and a hole extending from the tapered recess to the hollow section, wherein the center shaft is adapted to support the disc;
- a piston provided in the hollow section;
- a rod attached to the piston, wherein the piston is operable to move the rod through the hole;
- a tapered cone having a tapered portion sized and shaped to fit in the tapered recess of the center shaft,
- wherein the rod extends through the hole and is attached to the tapered cone so that the piston can move the tapered cone;
- and
- an elastic O-ring having a variable diameter,
- wherein the O-ring is disposed between the tapered portion and the tapered recess,
- wherein, as the piston moves the tapered portion in a first direction, the tapered portion expands the diameter of the O-ring so that the O-ring presses the disc and fixes the disc, and
- wherein, as the piston moves the tapered portion in a second direction, the tapered portion moves relative to the O-ring such that the diameter of the O-ring contracts to move out of contact with the disc and releases the disc.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.