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 |
| 7350217 | Method for loading and unloading disk-shaped recording medium and disk drive device A disk drive device is arranged so as to swing a traversing mechanism which has an optical pickup and a spindle motor mounted thereon. In a shift mechanism of the optical pickup, its outer end in the radial direction of the optical disk is provided to extend beyond ... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7333403 | Carousel changer including a turntable having a plurality of trays A turntable provided in the carousel changer has a plurality of trays provided around its rotating shaft. The turntable is provided with an annular rib including a plurality of recessed portions and a plurality of raised portions. A sensor is provided to have the ri... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7231648 | Disk holding apparatus, and disk apparatus To provide a disk supporting apparatus, a disk holding apparatus and a disk apparatus whose planar dimension is minimized, and which can be manufactured simply and inexpensively. A plurality of supporting portions 44 inclines with respect to a top port... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7168079 | Disk apparatus with improved driving mechanism A disk apparatus includes a tray that moves with respect to a chassis fixed to an apparatus body to carry a disk, a drive unit that moves in a direction substantially orthogonal to the carrying direction of the tray with respect to the chassis to mount or dismount t... | 01/23/2007 |
| 7096476 | Disk table rotation supporting structure A disk table rotation supporting structure includes a tray having an inner wall surface that stands upward, a bottom surface provided on an inside, a central axis portion that stands upward on a center portion of the bottom surface, and a receiving portion disposed ... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7069565 | Disk identifying device In a disk identifying device, when a slanting reflecting face is irradiated with light emitted from a light emitting element while a rotary tray is rotating, most of the light reflected from the slanting reflecting face is not incident on a light receiving element, ... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7055158 | CD drive magazine locking apparatus An improved locking apparatus for a CD drive magazine having its locking alley designed to have a free top and an entrance to admit a locking rod; a wider gradation being disposed at the cross section of the locking alley; a flange being provided at the top of the l... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7017166 | Disk player using a single motor in common for driving its tray and optical pickup Disclosed is a disk player using a single motor in common for driving a disk tray and optical pickup. A controlled reciprocation of the disk tray and the data-reproducing operation subsequent to withdrawal of the disk tray into the housing can be performed by an “... | 03/21/2006 |
| 7017164 | Disk device A disk device has a slide tray, rotary tray and chucking mechanism. A motive gear attached to the slide tray has an engaging pin. On the rotary tray, a Geneva gear operating in cooperation with the engaging pin is provided. In a motive gear, a cam groove and a cam m... | 03/21/2006 |
| 6993775 | Tray locking apparatus of disc drive A tray locking apparatus of a disc drive to lock a tray on which a disc is placed and which is inserted into a main body of a disc drive. The tray locking apparatus includes a locking boss provided at the main body, a locking plate installed at the tray to slide and... | 01/31/2006 |
| 6941563 | Disk player using a single switch in common for driving its tray and drive motor Disclosed is a disk player using a single motor in common for driving a disk tray and optical pickup. Controlled reciprocation of the disk tray and the data-reproducing operation subsequent to withdrawal of the disk tray into the housing can be performed by the “L... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6934959 | Disk recording and/or reproducing device A disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus includes a mechanical deck having a disk receiver with a disk carrying unit for carrying a disk, a disk recording and/or reproducing section for recording and/or reproducing the disk received in the disk receiver, and an... | 08/23/2005 |
| 6779189 | Optical disk changer An optical disc changer includes a main body, a tray installed in the main body to be capable of sliding, a roulette rotatably installed at the tray and where a plurality of optical discs are accommodated, an optical pickup device to selectively reproduce one of the... | 08/17/2004 |
| 6633518 | Disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus having a movable tray A disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus recording and/or reproducing information on and/or from anyone of a plurality of disk-like recording mediums. Freedom in design is improved by effectively utilizing spaces in which respective portions and mech... | 10/14/2003 |
| 6584063 | Apparatus for recording and/or reproducing disc-shaped recording medium including switching mechanism for selectively supplying driving force An apparatus for recording and/or reproducing a medium includes an elevating mechanism elevating a housing unit in which members are stacked and stored. A carrying mechanism carries at least one of the members between a position where the member is housed... | 06/24/2003 |
| 6563778 | Disc ejecting apparatus The present invention relates to a disc ejecting apparatus for quickly ejecting a disc by utilizing a pick-up drive motor. A slip mechanism is provided in a first route leading from the pick-up drive motor to a pick-up, and a switching mechanism is provid... | 05/13/2003 |
| 6151279 | Single motor disc player with a Geneva mechanism There is provided a disc player which comprises a base section, a loading section linearly movably mounted on the base section, a rotary tray rotatably mounted on the loading section for receiving a plurality of discs, a driving motor provided in the load... | 11/21/2000 |
| 5742571 | Disk recording and/or reproducing apparatus A tray supported by the apparatus body housing the disk rotating mechanism so as to be able to be moved between the position projected from the apparatus body and the housing position in the apparatus body through the opening portion provided through the ... | 04/21/1998 |
| 5687145 | Disc loading apparatus for disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus having arrangement which lowers disc onto disc setting surface as it is extracted from array A disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus for selectively taking and loading plural discs housed within a housing section on a recording/reproducing section for information recording and/or reproduction is to be reduced in size. The recording and/or r... | 11/11/1997 |
| 5636198 | Multi-compact disk player A multi-compact disk player adapted to be mounted on vehicles is provided, in which locking, clamping and tray loading can be performed in parallel by a pickup motor for loading a pickup. This multi-compact disk player comprises a locking portion for prev... | 06/03/1997 |
| 5563857 | Disc changer having a single driving motor for both a tray and a roulette A disc changer includes a driving force providing unit, a shaft gear fixedly mounted to the driving force providing unit; a timing belt for transmitting the driving force from the shaft gear; a wheel gear being rotated by the driving force transmitted thr... | 10/08/1996 |
| 5528442 | Disk player with magazine switched drive source A disk player has a magazine for storing disks and a disk transport mechanism transporting a selected disk between four positions including an eject position, a load position, a playback position, and a store position which lie in a single plane. The sele... | 06/18/1996 |
| 5386403 | Single motor disk loading device with lock gear This disk loading device is capable of reproducing a plurality of disks. A power transmission to drive gears is switched by tooth omission gears of a control gear so that angular movement of a disk playing portion, as well as movement of a tray base in a ... | 01/31/1995 |
