Did You Know...
...that the Eveready Battery began as an invention called the "electric flowerpot," which was a tube with a battery and light bulb inside? The idea was to fasten this gizmo to the side of a flowerpot so it would illuminate the flowers from the bottom. The idea died on the vine and the businessman who licensed the flower pot, Conrad Huber, was left with a pile of useless tubes -- until he found a way to market them as batteries to light the world!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7660078 | Slider with a constant flying height The present invention relates to a slider having a constant flying height for an optical drive which is operated at a constant angular velocity. It is an object of the invention to propose a simple and cost-effective solution to allow the flying height of the slider... | 02/09/2010 |
| 7353525 | Reliable disk drive and method A durable, reliable high performance drive and method for digitizing, storing and retrieving data from a disk. In a first embodiment, at least one disk and components for spinning the disk, and digitizing, writing and reading data from the disk are covered with a 0.... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7113373 | Low-profile flexible disk drive simple in structure A flexible disk drive comprises a main frame, a magnetic head, a head assembly supporting the magnetic head so as to move the magnetic head in a tracking direction, and a guide rod fixedly attached onto the main frame by a metal fitting to guide the head assembly in... | 09/26/2006 |
| 6922314 | Disk recording or reproducing device with pickup inclination adjusting mechanism Brackets 9, 9 for supporting respective opposite ends of a guide rod 4 are provided with respective cam faces 95, 95 approximately symmetric about an approximate longitudinal midportion C of the guide rod 4, and at least one of the bracke... | 07/26/2005 |
| 6650508 | Positioning mechanism for information storage apparatus and carriage There is disclosed an information storage apparatus in which movement of a carriage is smooth, and precision of a recording reproduction position is high. Both a gravity center G of a carriage 120, and an application point H at which a slider 126 receives... | 11/18/2003 |
| 6285530 | Guided driving device for a moving head A drive section is disposed on only one side of a moving member. In the drive section, a coil is disposed sideways of a support portion so as to be in a vertically long state, and a guide portion is provided on an upper surface of the coil so as to extend... | 09/04/2001 |
| 6252747 | Disk apparatus having an improved head carriage structure A disk apparatus includes a read/write head which reads information from or writes information to a recording disk. A movable head carriage supports the head thereon. The head carriage is movably supported on a guide shaft, and the guide shaft guides a mo... | 06/26/2001 |
| 6219204 | Recording-medium recording and reproducing device A head carriage supports a head which performs recording and reproducing on a recording medium. A guide shaft guides a movement of the head carriage. A guide-shaft holding member holds an end portion of the guide shaft at a predetermined position of a fra... | 04/17/2001 |
| 6137651 | Flexured mounting system for friction reduction and friction linearization in linear actuator for disk drive Disclosed is a disk drive having a linear actuator for carrying read/write heads into engagement with a recording medium. The heads are mounted on a carriage assembly along with a voice coil motor for driving the carriage assembly into and out of engageme... | 10/24/2000 |
| 6067210 | Movable carriage assembly supporting glad/write heads for a disk drive A carriage assembly for a computer disk drive is provided. The carriage assembly comprises a movable carriage for supporting read/write heads for movement relative to one or more magnetic disks, the movable carriage having one or more slots. A guiding str... | 05/23/2000 |
| 5982588 | Elongated rear bearing for linear actuator A linear actuator carries read/write heads into engagement with a removable cartridge having a recording disk. The magnetic heads are mounted on a carriage which moves linearly on a central guide track. The carriage moves linearly on front and rear bearin... | 11/09/1999 |
| 5969908 | In-rigger of a carriage assembly that prevents rotation of the carriage assembly A carriage assembly for carrying read/write heads into engagement with a recording medium is provided. The carriage assembly includes a carriage body that defines a sidewall having a first opening and a second opening with a passage extending therebetween... | 10/19/1999 |
| 5920445 | Flexured mounting system for friction reduction and friction linearization in linear actuator for disk drive There is disclosed a disk drive having a linear actuator for carrying read/write heads into engagement with a recording medium. The heads are mounted on a carriage assembly along with a voice coil motor for driving the carriage assembly into and out of en... | 07/06/1999 |
| 5850322 | Magnetic recording/reproducing device having head carriage with shock absorber A flexible disk drive includes a carriage spaced from a main frame and holding a magnetic head, a pair of guide bars for guiding the carriage, rubber dampers fixed on each of the guide bars at both axial end portions thereof, and a linear motor for moving... | 12/15/1998 |
| 5504636 | Magnetic disk apparatus having improved support for head assembly A magnetic disk apparatus has a rail support which supports guide rails for guiding a carriage on which heads are mounted. The rail support is positioned outside a magnet of a voice coil motor and mounted on a frame. The guide rails are disposed so as to ... | 04/02/1996 |
| 5325251 | Planar actuators using low pressure air bearings and rolling flexure bearings A low pressure air bearing and rolling flexure bearing support for relative movement of carriage actuators in a disk drive system. Air generated by the disk rotation or by a simple blower mounted on the spindle is directed through conduits in the carriage... | 06/28/1994 |
| 5148340 | Bifurcated air bearing actuator assembly for a disk drive system An actuator comprises a slotted stator which is mounted in a stator frame. The stator is connected to the frame by an attachment which allows the stator to move rotationally, axially and laterally relative to the frame without distorting the dimensions of... | 09/15/1992 |
| 5138605 | Low-profile radial access mechanism for disk recording/playback apparatus, with optical head mounted on a carriage A low-profile radial access mechanism for controlling the radial position of a read/write head relative to a rotating data storage disk (e.g. optical, magneto-optical and magnetic disks). Such mechanism has a carriage (10) which supports a plurality of be... | 08/11/1992 |
| 5136446 | Apparatus for movably supporting and positioning a transducer A transducer driving apparatus symmetrically supports a transducer with soft members each being elastically deformed into circular-arc shape about an axis in a direction perpendicular to the transferring direction of the transducer. The rigidity of each o... | 08/04/1992 |
| 5130972 | Optical recording and reproducing apparatus An optical recording and reproducing apparatus includes a movable portion carrying a movable optical system, a sliding member slidable on a guide shaft, and a rotation limiting device engaged with an auxiliary guide shaft so as to limit the rotation of th... | 07/14/1992 |
| 5126905 | Head positioning apparatus In a data writing and/or reading device in which data is written and/or read out from a rotating recording medium, a head carriage upon which one or more heads are mounted is guided by first and second guide rods to move in a predetermined direction with ... | 06/30/1992 |
| 5111088 | Guide rail mounting structure A guide rail mounting structure using a motor comprises a motor, a chassis to which the motor is fixed, and a guide rail positioned in contact with the stator portion of the motor.... | 05/05/1992 |
| 5008876 | Carriage lock apparatus A carriage on which a head is mounted has a rack which can be engaged with gear teeth located on a specific position. The gear teeth can be moved so as to engage with and disengage from the rack. The rack has a first pitch different from a second pitch of... | 04/16/1991 |
| 4891724 | Disk drive read/write head rack flexible rail mount apparatus The disk drive read/write head actuator track apparatus consists of a rail having a rail mount at either end to secure the rail to the frame of the disk drive system. The rail is oriented in a radial direction so that, as the read/write head actuator mech... | 01/02/1990 |
| 4868696 | Linear actuator using a compound parallel bendable element suspension system An apparatus for the linear translation of read/write heads in a data recording system is disclosed herein. The apparatus comprises a compound parallel bending element suspension with a driver connected thereto. The compound parallel suspension comprises ... | 09/19/1989 |
| 4823336 | Optical disk drive An optical disk drive includes an optical disk, a pair of guide shafts, a carriage having an optical pick-up movable in the radial direction of the disk as guided by the guide shafts. A plurality of rollers are rotatably mounted on the carriage so that a ... | 04/18/1989 |
| 4819109 | Slidable carriage mount for disc memory apparatus A transducer carriage 1 is slidably mounted on and between parallel guide rails 2a, 2b by two spaced pairs of inclined bearing rollers 3a, 4a, 3b, 4b, on one side and a single intermediate pair of such rollers 3c, 4c on the other side. The lower intermedi... | 04/04/1989 |
| 4812934 | Actuator for memory storage device In a magnetic disc device, it is necessary that a magnetic head be positioned above an object data track at a high speed and with a high accuracy. This positioning operation is carried out by an actuator. In order to carry out a magnetic head-positioning ... | 03/14/1989 |
| 4752849 | Carriage support structure A carriage in a position control mechanism using an access mechanism of a magnetic disk device or a linear motor is supported linearly movable in parallel to a positioning reference plane on a stationary side by means of a carriage support mechanism. The ... | 06/21/1988 |
| 4745503 | Linear actuator for moving a recording/reading head in an access direction relative to a recording disc A linear actuator has a flat box-like carriage movable along an access direction of a disk as a recording medium, a motor coil housed and fixed in the carriage, and a permanent magnet arrangement housed and fixed in the carriage to apply a magnetic field ... | 05/17/1988 |
| 4743987 | Linear actuator for a memory storage apparatus A dual motor linear actuator is disclosed for use in a magnetic disc drive device. It includes a carriage reciprocatably guided between a pair of guide rails, with the accessing transducers being mounted to its inner end. Separate rectangular drive coils ... | 05/10/1988 |
| 4730226 | Actuator carriage with "splayed-bearing" array Disclosed are reciprocating carriages carried on roll bearings engaged on guide rails, where some of the bearings are made flexible to be compliantly engaged against a rail surface.... | 03/08/1988 |
| 4730227 | Disk file actuator with combined carriage rail and isolator mount for drive magnet An apparatus is disclosed for actuating the read-write heads of a disk file in which a plurality of support rails having resilient bushings at either end support on their central portions a carriage for the read-write heads and on their resilient bushings... | 03/08/1988 |
| 4720756 | Apparatus for the positioning of objects having a low mass and a method of assembly thereof A positioning apparatus has a guidance system including first and second bearing means in which a pressure on one side of a guide plate and a height adjustment on its other side to be positioned are sufficient to provide an unambiguous controlled guidance... | 01/19/1988 |
| 4672491 | Apparatus for positioning objects of low mass, in particular magnetic heads In a memory processing unit, a magnetic-head positioning device having a longitudinally actuated carriage with a guide plate carrying the head, or heads, which plate has longitudinal edges and an upper and lower face, one of these faces being in engagemen... | 06/09/1987 |
| 4660120 | Disk drive unit comprising a head positioning device and electromagnetic releasing/arresting means therefor A disk drive unit is provided with an electromagnetic releasing/arresting device for the head support, in order to prevent the head and the disk record from being damaged when the drive unit is shipped, handled or switched off. The novel electromagnet has... | 04/21/1987 |
| 4654737 | Magnetic disk memory head carriage assembly employing backlash-free rack and pinion drive mechanism A carriage supporting at least one read/write head is displaceable by a rack and pinion drive toward and away from the axis of rotation of a magnetic disk. The carriage has a pair of rollers--one at the inner end of the carriage, the other at the outer en... | 03/31/1987 |
| 4646182 | Carriage assembly for a magnetic disc memory apparatus A magnetic head of a magnetic disc memory apparatus must accurately translate radially and must be accurately positioned on a desired track of the magnetic disc. The carriage supporting the magnetic head translates along two parallel guide rods through a ... | 02/24/1987 |
| 4622609 | Read/write head positioning apparatus An apparatus for positioning the sets of read/write heads of an information storage disk that is a completely sealed unit with its own connecting cable and mounting apparatus. The apparatus includes a carrier connected through a slot in the sidewall of a ... | 11/11/1986 |
| 4613962 | Tracking device with linear motor A device for tracking a movable body along a linear path parallel to a plane includes a linear motor for driving the body along the linear path. The body is mounted, as by rollers, for movement along a guide, such as a pair of parallel guide rails, suppor... | 09/23/1986 |
