Patents by Inventor Robert E. Lloyd, Jr.

Robert E. Lloyd, Jr. has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8307537
    Abstract: A method of using a tooling mandrel for assembling a disk drive is described. The method includes providing a head stack assembly including a shaft with an engagement feature, and providing the tooling mandrel including two tooling fingers, one of which is movable. The movable tooling finger is moved between a first configuration in which respective distal tips of the tooling fingers are insertable into and removable from the engagement feature and a second configuration in which the distal tips engage the engagement feature. The tooling mandrel further includes a tooling finger spreader coupled to the movable tooling finger to selectively move the movable tooling finger between the first and second configurations. The method further includes locating the distal tips at least partially within the engagement feature with the tooling fingers in the first configuration, and moving the movable tooling finger to the second configuration to engage the shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2012
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew S. Klassen, Robert E. Lloyd, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7057852
    Abstract: An aspect of the invention can be regarded as a disk drive that includes a disk drive base, a disk including disk surface, and a spindle motor including a spindle motor hub including a clamping surface with disk clamp holes. The disk drive includes a disk clamp disposed upon the disk surface. The disk clamp includes a screw head interface surface and screw openings. The disk drive includes disk clamp screws each including a shaft sized and configured to respectively engage the threaded disk clamp holes respectively through the screw openings. The screws each further include a screw head having a screw head clamping surface disposed against the screw head interface surface. The screws each further include a surface coating disposed upon the screw head clamping surface. The surface coating has a static coefficient of friction less than a static coefficient of friction of the screw head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2006
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Walter W. Butler, Yao-Hsin Huang, Robert E. Lloyd, Jr.