Did You Know...
...that the video game, Pong, was invented by a guy who graduated at the bottom of his engineering class? Nolan Bushnell spent more time running the games at a local amusement park than he did on his studies at the University of Utah. His dreams of working for Disney's amusement empire were dashed when the company wouldn't hire him. Taking a boring job, Nolan daydreamed about electronic versions of popular games. He invented Pong, the first video game, and went on to found Atari Co.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8120877 | Apparatus minimizing impedance in flex-to-printed circuit board connection through the disk base of a hard disk drive This application discloses a hard disk drive, a head stack assembly, and a printed circuit board configured to include impedance patches on the flex ground plane, the flex power plane, the printed circuit ground plane and/or the printed circuit power plane over or u... | 02/21/2012 |
| 7352533 | Head suspension with polymer stiffener A head suspension assembly including a stainless steel hinge member, an integrated lead flexure and a polymer stiffener member. The stainless steel hinge member includes a proximal mounting region, a beam region having a load point dimple, and a spring region betwee... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7249520 | Self-loaded pendulum for slider flexure stiffness measurements A device is provided by which the stiffness coefficient of a flexure, in either a pitch or roll direction, can be measured while a slider is mounted thereon and while the flexure and slider are in a loaded condition as might be obtained during normal operational con... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7211339 | Highly conductive lead adjoining MR stripe and extending beyond stripe height at junction Magnetoresistive (MR) sensors are disclosed that have leads with reduced resistance, improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the sensors. The leads have broad layers of highly conductive material for connection to MR structures, as opposed to thin wires of highly con... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7196861 | Method of evaluating positioning accuracy of a magnetic head tester A method of evaluating the positioning accuracy of a magnetic head tester can accurately test magnetic heads and so can reliably provide non-defective goods. In a method of evaluating the positioning accuracy of a magnetic head tester that tests the performance of a... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7193812 | Recording head compensation for tape shrinkage and expansion A recording head to simultaneously read or write data to and from a plurality of tracks on magnetic tape, while compensating for shrinkage or expansion caused by moisture, temperature, creep caused by tension in the tape, creep caused by dimensional instability of t... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7095593 | Apparatus with head and head support device having rotation supporting point A head support device is thin and assures excellent flexibility and shock resistance while applying a sufficient load to a head. A disk drive uses the head support device. The head support device comprises a support arm, a head disposed at one end of the support arm... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7089649 | Method of estimating a thermal pole tip protrusion for a head gimbal assembly Thermal pole tip protrusion is caused by materials in and around head slider expanding during write operations till they protrude, leading to contact with the rotating disk surface, altering the flying height and often wearing down part of the disk surface. While we... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7038885 | Balanced and damped suspension for use in a disk drive A suspension for use in a disk drive is disclosed. The suspension has a hinge and load beam which are separately formed and subsequently joined together. The load beam is formed from a material which has improved damping characteristics. The load beam additionally h... | 05/02/2006 |
| 7031103 | Hard disk drive having disk locking apparatus utilizing offset dummy slider/suspension arrangement A hard disk drive having a disk storing data, a spindle motor rotating the disk, an actuator having two arms disposed at both sides of the disk, and a disk locking apparatus locking the disk not to rotate by closely contacting a side surface of the disk when the dis... | 04/18/2006 |
| 6977790 | Design scheme to increase the gain of strain based sensors in hard disk drive actuators An actuator arm assembly has an actuator arm and an actuator for moving the actuator arm whereby the arm assembly experiences vibrations. The actuator has a body with a recess formed therein, and a strain sensor is fitted essentially inside the recess such that the ... | 12/20/2005 |
| 6961209 | Disc stabilization system A disc stabilization system comprises a spinning disc with a disc surface deflectable by shock. The disc surface is in contact with a gas layer adjacent the disc surface. When the suspension system is subjected to a mechanical shock, the disc can deflect. The amplit... | 11/01/2005 |
| 6954375 | Magnetic storage element, recording method using the same, and magnetic storage device A magnetic storage element and a recording method using the same capable of ensuring correct information recording without causing erroneous writing are proposed. A magnetic storage device having the magnetic storage elements incorporated therein, and being capable ... | 10/11/2005 |
| 6941641 | Method for mounting an arm to an actuator A method for mounting removably secured actuator arms that include head suspensions to an actuator assembly spindle. Each arm is mounted to an actuator spindle via a spacer with an annular lip with at least one detent formed into its perimeter edge. Each actuator ar... | 09/13/2005 |
| 6938326 | Method of making at least one suspension load beam for an actuator assembly of a disk drive A suspension load beam for an actuator assembly of a disk drive includes a bend radius portion with a spring rate that is less than 18 Newtons per meter, a first bending mode that is greater than 3,500 Hertz, and a first torsion mode that is greater than 5,300 Hertz... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6924166 | Process for sealing devices incorporating microstructures A process for the fabrication of devices that integrate protected microstructures, comprising the following steps: forming, in a body of semiconductor material, at least one microstructure having at least one first portion and one second portion which are relatively... | 08/02/2005 |
| 6693772 | Head carriage A head carriage device includes a carriage, a head arm, a flat spring extending from the head arm, a fixing member to fix the flat spring to the carriage, a resilient member to resiliently urge the head arm in a direction in which the head arm moves towar... | 02/17/2004 |
| 6673256 | Wiring integrated flexure and method of manufacturing the same The present invention provides a wiring integrated flexure including a stainless-steel substrate for supporting a magnetic head slider thereon, a wiring conductor formed on the stainless-steel substrate, posts made of a flexible resin and interposed betwe... | 01/06/2004 |
| 6586069 | Ultrathin protective overcoats comprising fullerene for magnetic materials An improved magnetic medium has a metal or semiconductor surface in which the surface of the magnetic medium has an approximate monolayer of fullerene molecules bonded to the metal or semiconductor surface. The bond strength between the fullerene molecule... | 07/01/2003 |
| 6533950 | Non-homogeneous laminate material for suspension with flexure motion limiter An integrated lead suspension is formed from a laminate of three materials in a variety of configurations having from three to five layers. The materials are stainless steel, polyimide and copper. Each layer is essentially homogeneous, but may be formed w... | 03/18/2003 |
| 6091575 | Magnetic head support mechanism for a flexible disc drive An upper magnetic head 71 is supported on an upper gimbal plate 66 about an upper pivot 63-1 to allow swing of the upper magnetic head 71. A lower magnetic head 72 is supported on a lower gimbal plate 67 about a lower pivot 64-1 to allow swing of the lowe... | 07/18/2000 |
| 6005751 | Recording head skewed read gap/write gap positioning In a rotary actuator for positioning a dual gap magnetic head relative to a track on a rotating recording medium, a read gap is positioned in a tunnel margin of a write gap. The tunnel margin defines positioning parameters for the read gap regardless of t... | 12/21/1999 |
| 5995327 | Magnetic disk device for restraining vibration of head mounting part A magnetic disk device wherein a member having and suspension thereof a natural frequency similar to that of a head is disposed on an opposite surface of a head arm having one head mounted thereto via a suspension. The outermost shape (profile when the me... | 11/30/1999 |
| 5953180 | Multi-mode suspension populated actuator for a disk drive The invention is several alternative means of differentiating head/gimbal assemblies that share a common arm. The alternative means are for at least one of the assemblies that shares a common arm (1) using a different design; (2) varying the length from t... | 09/14/1999 |
| 5822153 | Hard disk drive having contact write and recessed magnetorestive read head A hard disk drive has a head with a read element adjacent to a write element, with the write element extending closer to the disk than the read element so that the write element is close to the disk for writing sharp patterns and the read element is remov... | 10/13/1998 |
| 5691862 | Recording/reproducing apparatus with an integrated inductive write, magnetoresistive read head In a recording/reproduction apparatus equipped with an integrated head comprising a thin film inductive write element and a MR read element and mounted on a head slider which is arranged to be rotatable about a point so as to be rotationally accessible to... | 11/25/1997 |
| 5596463 | Recording/reproduction apparatus with an integrated inductive write, magnetoresistive read head In a recording/reproduction apparatus equipped with an integrated head comprising a thin film inductive write element and a MR read element and mounted on a head slider which is arranged to be rotatable about a point so as to be rotationally accessible to... | 01/21/1997 |
| 5497282 | Disk drive system having open slot swage connection The disk drive system has rotatably mounted spaced apart magnetic disks, a disk motor for rotating the disks, an actuator hub, a motor for rotating the actuator hub, and a control circuit for controlling the disk motor and the actuator hub motor to permit... | 03/05/1996 |
| 5229901 | Side-by-side read/write heads with rotary positioner A disk drive (10) includes a head positioner (16) on which are mounted separate read and write heads (52 and 54) that are spaced apart in the direction radial of the disk axis. Headers (50) on a disk (12) in the disk drive (10) establish track pitches tha... | 07/20/1993 |
| 4926275 | Magnetic head carriage mechanism for a magnetic disk A carriage mechanism for a magnetic disc includes a head arm rotatable around a rotational center. A slider is supported by the head arm and arranged such that its principal axis forms a specified angle with a straight line passing through the rotational ... | 05/15/1990 |
| 4901430 | Method of mounting a magnetic head A method of mounting a magnetic head to a case employs a jig having a grooved placing unit for placing the head and a support for the case formed at a predetermined height from the slidably contacting surface of the head. The method includes placing the s... | 02/20/1990 |
| 4855852 | Mounting structure for magnetic head A magnetic head has a head core and a slider integrally formed with the head core, and sidewardly projecting flanges formed on a rear side of the magnetic head to be mounted against the back surface of a mounting plate for the magnetic recording/reproduci... | 08/08/1989 |
| 4794482 | Mechanism for retaining a flexible magnetic sheet in position for communication with a magnetic head A magnetic head device comprises a first sheet retainer member which is adapted to be brought into contact with a magnetic recording sheet at a first position on one side of the magnetic recording sheet, a second sheet retainer member having a contact sur... | 12/27/1988 |
| 4731685 | Transducing head mounting on an unsupported length of spring To stabilize the transducing head of a magnetic disc memory apparatus, the head is mounted on a flexible leaf aligned transverse to the disc radius; the upstream leaf end is fixed to the head carriage, and the downstream leaf end is restrained against mot... | 03/15/1988 |
| 4620250 | Transducer-to-medium stabilizing device at negative attack angle with respect to medium In a head-to-disk stabilizing unit of a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, a flat air bearing surface surrounds an elongate opening to a negative pressure cavity. A record and/or playback head is arranged in the cavity with its transducer means (e.g.... | 10/28/1986 |
| 4578727 | Device for stabilizing the movement of a floppy disk over a magnetic head In a head-to-disk stabilizing unit of a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, a flat air bearing surface surrounds an elongate opening to a negative pressure cavity. A record and/or playback head is arranged in the cavity with its transducer means (e.g.... | 03/25/1986 |
| 4450493 | Magnetic head slider and actuator assembly A magnetic head slider and actuator assembly has an air bearing magnetic head slider that is coupled to an electrical coil. Permanent magnets are positioned in a stationary frame to provide a magnetic field adjacent to the coil. When current is supplied t... | 05/22/1984 |
