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.
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7349295 | Optical head device A lens holder (101) holds an objective lens (4) and a support shaft (103) is inserted in a bearing hole (101a) in the lens holder (101). Light that is emitted from a light source and reflected by an information recording med... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7242123 | Actuator, light quantity adjusting apparatus, and stepping motor An actuator maintains high efficiency, can react to an increase in pole, has a high part fit, and can be manufactured at low cost while it is thinned. The actuator includes a magnet which is formed in a ring shape, in which at least one surface perpendicular to a ce... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7119464 | Spindle motor The invention relates to a spindle motor, particularly for the purpose of driving the platters in hard disk drives having a baseplate, a stator arrangement that is stationary with respect to the baseplate, a shaft and a bearing system to rotatably support a rotary d... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7015611 | Spindle motor and recording disk driving apparatus having the spindle motor In a spindle motor, in an upper portion of a stator bearing surrounding wall 32a of a bearing housing 32, a flange 32c projecting outward in the radial direction from the stator bearing surrounding wall 32a is provide... | 03/21/2006 |
| 6951025 | Gas dynamic pressure bearing, spindle motor comprising a gas dynamic pressure bearing, and recording disk drive device and polygon scanner comprising a spindle motor A gas dynamic pressure bearing is disclosed in which dynamic pressure generating grooves in a radial bearing pump out gas toward a thrust bearing, and dynamic pressure generating grooves in the thrust bearing pump in gas toward the radial bearings. This structure ge... | 09/27/2005 |
| 6939048 | Hydrodynamic thrust bearing A hydrodynamic thrust bearing, forming a part of a bearing system for a rotary bearing of spindle motors utilized to power hard disk drives, which includes at least one annular thrust plate and a counter bearing corresponding to the thrust plate. The thrust plate is... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6914358 | Spindle motor and disk drive furnished therewith In a spindle motor utilizing dynamic-pressure bearings having a full-fill structure, a bearing configuration that balances and sustains at or above atmospheric pressure the internal pressure of the bearing oil. Thrust and radial bearing sections are configured withi... | 07/05/2005 |
| 6888278 | Spindle motor and disk drive utilizing the spindle motor Low-profile spindle motor whose entire shaft length is utilized to configure, along an encompassing sleeve, a radial dynamic-pressure bearing section. One end of the shaft is unitary with the rotor, and a cover member closes the other end. Between the sleeve upper-e... | 05/03/2005 |
| 6865744 | Disk drive with compensation of disk eccentricity A device for rotating inside of a disk player and/or recorder a disk shaped data carrier which takes into account that the rotating disk may be eccentered from an imposed rotation axis. A side moving apparatus allows the rotating disk and a fixing device to which th... | 03/08/2005 |
| 6815850 | Flux leakage barrier in fluid bearing for disk drive A spindle design for a hard disk drive assembly constructed in accordance with the present invention includes a significantly large gap between the rotating, ferromagnetic hub with its permanent magnet rotor and the rotating sleeve of the fluid bearing journal membe... | 11/09/2004 |
| 6738340 | Device for reducing the radial and axial play of a motor shaft in a deck for playing information discs The invention relates to a device in a deck for playing information discs (2), which preferably have been provided or can be provided with digital information, the information disc (2) being rotated, in the operating condition, about its center by a dr... | 05/18/2004 |
| 6704272 | Spindle rotation driving device with aligning member and air bearings for rotating information storage disks A shaft which alternately stacks and holds disks and spacers is rotated by a motor having a rotor and stator. To prevent axial run-out during rotation, when the disks and spacers are fitted on the shaft, clean air is injected from an air pad to prevent ec... | 03/09/2004 |
| 6683843 | Turntable driving device for a disc player A turntable driving device has a spindle motor 5, a bearing 7, and a wire spring 9. The spindle motor 5 has a rotation shaft 11 which is to be coupled to the turntable 3. The bearing 7 is placed on the lateral side of the rotation shaft 11, and has a pair... | 01/27/2004 |
| 6574186 | Assembly method of motor using magnetic lubrication fluid A conventional plain bearing, in which dynamic pressure is generated by means of lubricating oil, has been assembled in such a way that the whole bearing device is assembled and then the lubricating oil is poured in the interior. As a result, residual air... | 06/03/2003 |
| 6556536 | Vacuum apparatus A vacuum apparatus particularly suitable for disk recording systems has a rotatable shaft mounted on a support body by an air bearing, the air bearing being provided within a vacuum chamber. A second rotatable shaft extends through the wall of the vacuum ... | 04/29/2003 |
| 6552456 | Hydraulic dynamic pressure bearing motor A hydraulic dynamic pressure bearing motor has a rotational shaft mounted to undergo rotation about a rotational axis and having a shaft section and a flange section. A sleeve has a cavity for receiving the rotational shaft. A cover member is disposed ove... | 04/22/2003 |
| 6438094 | Device for reading from or writing to recording media in disc form exhibiting unbalance The present invention relates to a device for reading from or writing to recording media in disc form which has an unbalance compensation means. The object of the invention is to propose a device of this type which has the smallest possible unbalance even... | 08/20/2002 |
| 6366552 | Disk drive with compensation of disk eccentricity A device for rotating inside of a disk player and/or recorder a disk shaped data carrier which takes into account that the rotating disk may be eccentered from an imposed rotation axis. Side moving means allow the rotating disk and the fixing means to whi... | 04/02/2002 |
| 6219328 | Disc rotating apparatus A disc rotating apparatus includes a turntable for placing thereon a disc such as CD, DVD. The disc is clamped by the turntable and the disc holding frame. The holding frame is formed, at its main body, with an annular groove. The annular groove is circum... | 04/17/2001 |
| 6175547 | Positive and negative rotation gas dynamic pressure bearing, spindle motor having dynamic pressure bearing, and rotator device having spindle motor as driving source A positive and negative rotation gas dynamic pressure bearing comprises a stationary bearing member, a movable bearing member mounted for rotation relative to the stationary bearing member, dynamic pressure generating grooves having first and second ends ... | 01/16/2001 |
| 5947607 | Fluid bearing apparatus having a thrust bearing mounted at both ends of the rotary shaft A fluid bearing in which a thrust bearing is mounted at both ends of a rotary shaft to minimize movement and oscillation of the rotary shaft regardless of a thrust load. The fluid bearing apparatus includes a pair of sleeves respectively mounted into one ... | 09/07/1999 |
| 5945751 | Disk storage device having a spindle driving motor The invention relates to a spindle driving motor, in particular an external rotor motor, the main components of which are accommodated in the interior of a driving hub (4) or the back iron (5). According to the invention, in order to minimize the number o... | 08/31/1999 |
| 5796548 | Disk storage device having spindle assembly with ring enclosure A disk storage drive is provided with a brushless drive motor having a stator with a winding. An external rotor housing including a permanent magnet coaxially surrounds the stator and is spaced therefrom by a substantially cylindrical air gap. A hub is pr... | 08/18/1998 |
| 5796707 | Optical recording and reproducing apparatus having means for correcting installation angle of spindle motor According to the present invention, an optical recording and reproducing apparatus includes a deck, a spindle motor installed on the deck, a turn table attached to the shaft of the spindle motor, and a method for correcting the installation angle of the s... | 08/18/1998 |
| 5594606 | Disk storage drive for maintaining precision during thermal variations A disk storage drive is provided with a brushless drive motor having a stator (34) with a winding. An external rotor housing (32) including a permanent magnet (33) coaxially surrounds the stator and is spaced therefrom by a substantially cylindrical air g... | 01/14/1997 |
| 5394284 | Direct access storage device having a stable ball bearing cage design The instability of a cage in a precision ball bearing at high speeds may be eliminated by controlling the position of the cage. The control of a position of a cage is accomplished by forming three ball pockets or holes in the cage for the balls of the bal... | 02/28/1995 |
| 5357500 | Miniaturized disc player A pickup feeding apparatus is comprised of a first rack provided on a pickup supporting member supported so as to become movable along a guide shaft, a second rack provided slidably relative to the first rack, a drive force transmitting gear for transmitt... | 10/18/1994 |
| 5331483 | Axially compact direct drive for storage disk hub An axial compact direct drive for a storage disk comprises a stator, a rotor carrying a hub for receiving storage disks and a bearing arrangement. The bearing arrangement is disposed at a radially external edge of the hub to rotatably support the hub agai... | 07/19/1994 |
| 5300849 | Device for eliminating the axial and radial play of an axle A device for eliminating the radial and axial play of a shaft having a circular ferromagnetic plate mounted thereon and which passes through a ferromagnetic stationary fitting. The device also includes a permanent magnet for establishing attractive forces... | 04/05/1994 |
| 5202797 | Disk drive device having a single motor for rotating a plurality of disks A disk drive device is disclosed including a supporting mechanism for supporting a plurality of magnetic disks, a single motor, and a transmitting mechanism. The supporting mechanism comprises a plurality of bearing mechanisms, each of which rotatably sup... | 04/13/1993 |
| 5101399 | Deck base locking device for recording playback unit Deck bases of conventional disk memory reproduction devices are fastened at four points by side lock pins protruding from the front and rear of the deck base and the side lock plates located opposite the side lock pins. This invention reduces the parts co... | 03/31/1992 |
| 5045738 | Spindle motor A spindle motor having a shaft member secured to a fitting member, a rotary member which is rotatable relatively to the shaft member, a rotor magnet fitted to the rotary member in such a manner that the rotor magnet confronts the rotor magnet and a stator... | 09/03/1991 |
| 5001700 | Disk clamp and centering apparatus for a beam addressable disk drive system Apparatus for centering and clamping a disk on a spindle-drive is disclosed. A bistable magnetic clamp normally held in an axially offset position from the plane of the disk is preferentially drawn to a coupler washer on the spindle-drive when the spindle... | 03/19/1991 |
| 4792938 | Low-noise bearing for phonograph turntables and the like A low-noise (low "rumble") segmented bearing for high-fidelity phonograph turntables and the like. In a preferred belt-driven form, the bearing consists of four small, spaced polyurethane pads disposed so that the tension of the belt keeps the shaft in co... | 12/20/1988 |
| 4509160 | Disc drive assembly A disc drive assembly in which an air bearing supports the drive spindle in a manner centering the drive spindle to provide extremely close track spacing and a transducer assembly characterized by an air bearing therebeneath and a suction serving to draw ... | 04/02/1985 |
| 4444069 | Play-free precision drive apparatus A play-free precision drive apparatus is disclosed which comprises a rotatable drive element (2, 20) for driving a driven element (8, 21), a biasing element (12, 26) for urging the driven element (8, 21) into engagement with the drive element (2, 20), and... | 04/24/1984 |
| 4442516 | Drive mechanism for disc player with bearing supported slider A reading device drive mechanism for a video disk player including a chassis, a pair of guide rails mounted parallel to one another on the chassis, a slider contacting corresponding sides of the guide rails through bearings, and a retainer for restricting... | 04/10/1984 |
| 4439851 | Turntable lifting apparatus of a video disc player According to the present invention, a turntable lifting apparatus of a video disc player comprises: (1) a turntable for supporting a video disc; (2) a chassis attached to said player in parallel with and under said turntable; (3) a bearing attached to sai... | 03/27/1984 |
| 4432086 | Turntable apparatus for video disc player A turntable secured to a bearing member is freely rotatable about a support post. The bearing member has radial slots through which the fingers of a segmented spindle protrude. The spindle is axially slidable on the post. A spring is disposed about the po... | 02/14/1984 |
| 4371220 | Self-lubricating plain bearing A self-lubricating plain bearing for a shaft has a bore in which a bearing sleeve is disposed for rotatably supporting the shaft. Disposed in the bore in a portion thereof which is further inward than the sleeve is a lubricant-impregnated porous member. T... | 02/01/1983 |
