Abstract: A load/unload device to remove the slider from the proximity of the magnetic recording surface of a disk in a disk drive whenever the disk is to be stopped. The load/unload device is a ramp-like wedge which extends generally radially from the center of the magnetic disk and to the magnetic recording surface of the magnetic disk. When the slider is moved toward the center of the disk by an actuator mechanism, the end of the load arm supporting the slider, referred to as a tang, will engage the inclined plane of the wedge and lift the slider from the surface of the magnetic disk as the slider is translated closer to the center of the disk. Once the slider has been removed from close proximity of the disk, the tang may engage a trough-like surface on the structure supporting the wedge and will effectively detent the position of the slider through the forces exerted on the tang by the load beam of the actuator.

Abstract: A disk drive or direct access storage device (DASD) of the type having multiple disks and multiple actuator arms, both the disks and the actuator arms assembled in a stacked manner, advantageously assembled with the locating surface or flange of the actuator disposed on the opposite side of the stacked actuator arms from the side of the disk stack having the locating surface or flange for the disk hub. This opposite flange design results in a substantial reduction in the effects of tolerance buildup and therefore permits the design of the disk drive equal in all other respects to a conventional same side flange arrangement, but permitting additional disks, lower height, less tightly defined tolerances on components or the use of cheaper manufacturing techniques and technologies for recording data.

Abstract: A personal computer when attempting to boot from a diskette (5) searches the boot record of the diskette for com. When found, com and the eight characters preceding com in the boot record are compared with the first two entries of the directory of the diskette. If no match is found, the personal computer responds on the basis of the diskette being a data diskette. Otherwise, the personal computer executes the boot record of the diskette. This minimizes error messages and operator involvement.

Abstract: A resilient and compliant shock rail is provided on the sides of the bottom cover for a PCMCIA standard Direct Access Storage Device. The shock rails, being of a resilient and easily deformable material, lengthen the impact time and attenuates the shock forces exerted on the DASD, thereby bringing the deceleration forces to acceptable levels. The shock rail may be further provided with low friction surfaces by bonding thin metal plates to the top and bottom surfaces of the shock rails to ease insertion and withdrawal of the PCMCIA DASD. The shock rail is provided with reinforcing members to insure that the keying scheme required for proper insertion is effective.

Abstract: A technique for preventing damage to ball bearings in a small form factor device where the drive motor has at least one crash stop ring disposed about the shaft and inside the rotor of the motor. The crash stop ring is dimensioned to permit only a small amount of movement of the rotor relative to the shaft. The permitted movement must be less than the minimum movement which would cause damage to the elements of the ball bearing. In an alternative embodiment, a rotor includes a flange extending in the radial direction from the rotor. A piezoelectric ring is rigidly mounted on both sides of the flange to engage one of the planar surfaces of the flange when the piezoelectric ring is in the relaxed state.

Abstract: A load beam for a direct access storage device is disclosed as having an integral flexure formed of two generally uniform cross section intersecting beams with one of the beams extending between two projecting arms of the load beam. The flexure is spaced from an attached slider by a frustroconical projection formed on the flexure. The pitch and roll of the slider is limited by forming surfaces on the load beam structure that will engage the slider as the slider either pitches or rolls excessively. Overlying the flexure and the slider and adhesively engaged with the flexure is a damping layer of visco-elastic material which will absorb energy and suppress undesirable vibrations. The damping layer is provided with tabs or extensions that are adhered to the projecting arms of the load beam to enhance the vibration damping function of the layer.

Abstract: An assisted character recognition process is described which utilizes the relative position of an amount from a negotiable instrument, such as a check or credit card receipt, in a sequence of such amounts and compares its relative position to the relative position of an identical amount in a sequence of amounts on a second source, such as an adding machine tape, in order to determine the order of the items; the process also establishes matching elements which may be varied in stringency during sequential iterations of the matching process whereby the relaxation of the matching criteria will sequentially result in increased matches to allow the largest possible number of matches between the "courtesy" amounts on the checks and the amounts or entries on the second source or adding machine tape. This process is especially useful for matching handwritten entries to similar entries on a second source list such as an adding machine tape, or other such printout.

Abstract: A secondary actuator for increased positional resolution of a read/write head for a DASD is disposed on the distal end of an actuator arm and acts to pivotally move the load beam about the attachment axis. The actuator is comprised of a ring structure on the end of the load beam with the ring structure attached to a central hub through a plurality of spokes. The central hub is fixedly attached to the distal end of the actuator arm for the DASD. Relative motion between the actuator arm and the load beam is accomplished by causing a deflection in one or more of the spokes. The deflection may be caused by piezo-electric transducer elements which are attached to the sides of at least two spokes. Signals sent to the piezo-electric transducer elements will cause bending of the piezoelectric transducer elements and the attached spoke and thus rotationally displace the junction of the spoke and the ring about the central hub.

Abstract: A combination lock/deadbolt assembly connection technique is disclosed for connecting the bolt of the combination lock to the deadbolt of the deadbolt assembly to provide a lost motion connection while at the same time to retain the ability to position a magnetic anti-attack interlock within the bolt of the combination lock. A connecting shaft is disposed between the bolt and the deadbolt and a spring bias force introduced between the two bolts. The shaft may be attached rigidly at one end to either the lock bolt or deadbolt. The opposite end is loosely attached by retaining rings or retaining rings to accommodate the movement of the loosely attached bolt with respect to the shaft thereby providing a lost motion connection. A compression spring is disposed intermediate to the lock bolt and the deadbolt to provide a separating or extending force.

Abstract: An electronic combination lock is provided with and incorporates the enhanced feature of covert entry detection and notification. Whenever the bolt of an electronic lock provided with this enhancement is retracted to its withdrawn or unlocked position and whenever the lock has not received an authorized combination enabling the movement of the bolt, movement of the bolt is detected and the electronics of the lock is powered for a time sufficient to record an indication of the covert entry in its non-volatile memory. Upon normal operation at a subsequent time, the indication of covert entry is read from the non-volatile memory and a visual indication is displayed to the operator to inform the operator that covert entry has occurred.

Abstract: A combination lock is described where the combination that is used to open the lock is generated on a separate computer system using information that is contained in the lock and a series of steps that combine selected items of the information contained in the lock and alter the results of the results of the combination of the information items. The lock incorporates a computer processor-which performs the identical steps to generate an authorized combination after a combination is entered into the lock. When the two combinations match, the lock is enabled for opening. At least some of the information items used in the generation of the combinations change with each successful opening of the lock, rendering the combination generated by the computer system useable for only a single opening of the lock.

Abstract: A lock is described which has the capability to generate or encrypt a close number which is then displayed to the operator of the lock to be used to verify the locking of the lock. This number must be reported to a central dispatch operation where it is compared with a number similarly generated using identical starting values and an identical encryption algorithm. Comparison of the two numbers, resulting in a compare equal will indicate that the lock has been locked since the lock encryption operation is dependent upon the repowering of the lock. The lock is repowered after it has been opened by rotation of the dial which will extend the bolt and through the rotation of the dial drive a stepper motor/generator to provide electrical power to the lock.

Abstract: A technique for joining a hub and a spindle of a disk drive is disclosed wherein the hub and spindle are joined by an interference fit. The interface between the hub and the spindle is provided with a surface contact pattern having a zone of contact extending about the spindle of the disk drive motor in the form of a circle or a very narrow height cylinder. Extending either unidirectionally or bidirectionally from the continuous zone of contact are zones of surface contact alternating with zones of relief which eliminate contact between the hub and the spindle. The continuous contact zone circumscribing the spindle of the drive motor insures that the hub is anchored relative to the spindle and anchors the hub to prevent tilting or cocking of the hub with respect to the spindle and spin axis of the spindle.

Abstract: An electronic lock is provided with a timer capability to delay the operability of the lock for a preset period of time following the proper and correct entry of a combination into the lock. This delay prevents the lock from opening until both the time has expired and an access code entered following the time delay. If the access code entered after the time delay is incorrect, a further time delay or penalty delay will prevent the operator from an immediate attempt to enter a second access code. If a second access code is entered after the penalty delay and also is incorrect, the entire lock operation resets and the operation of the lock must begin with the re-entry of the correct combination. The entry of a combination to operate the lock which is offset by a predetermined value from the authorized combination will indicate by alarm at a remote monitoring center that the lock is being opened and may be opened under duress to the operator.

Abstract: A bowstring release with a fixed jaw and a single movable jaw is controlled by a trigger mechanism to provide enhanced accuracy, The bowstring release mechanism is adapted to rotate about its longitudinal axis to readily align the jaws with a bowstring, and the bowstring release is further attached to a wrist strap by means of a ring or attachment plate having two relatively straight sides engaged by leather tabs on the wrist strap. The straight sides and the leather tabs control and define the location of the ring thereby removing the positional variances of the point of force transmission between the wrist strap and the bowstring release device and eliminate at least some variations which will affect consistent bowstring draw and release. The use of both a single fixed jaw and a movable jaw improves the accuracy and the smoothness with which the bowstring is released by stabilizing the bowstring during the initial portions of its flight after release.

Abstract: A MIDI/joystick breakout box is described which incorporates a shielded connector, a shielded cable, and a terminal block including a circuit board with an extensive ground plane surrounding the joystick connections and shielding the MIDI circuitry on at least three sides. The terminal block is a housing which acts as a radiation shield. The housing or terminal block may be made of an injected molded plastic material containing electrically conductive strands of metal or the housing may be plated or painted on its interior surfaces with an electrically conductive material to form a shielding layer which may then be further connected to the ground plane of the electronic circuit board contained within the terminal block housing. The terminal block provides connectors for MIDI-In, MIDI-Out MIDI-Thru and a pair of joystick interface connectors which allows the capability to connect both MIDI devices and two joysticks to the audio adapter card simultaneously.

Abstract: A resonant clocking system is described which utilizes a feedback clock signal from the master clock node on a clocked chip and wherein the feedback clock signal is detected with a phase detector to determine the relevant phasing of the transmitted and the feedback received clock signals. An electronically controllable delay element is disposed within the transmission path of the clock signal on both the transmission leg and the return leg so that equal amounts of delay time may be added to the flight time in each direction. The delay may be electronically controlled to bring a "Transmitted Clock" pulse and a "Received Clock" pulse into phase. By insuring that the delay time for the entire transmission of the circuit by a particular clock pulse is an even number of cycle times, the master clock node on the clocked chip also may be controlled to be in phase with the "Transmitted Clock" pulse signal.

Abstract: A hybrid base plate and electronic circuit board is disclosed for use in the low profile disk drives as used in computers. The hybrid base plate/circuit board is fabricated of a rigid metal insert serving as the base plate and an electronic circuit board, provided with an aperture configured to mate with the perimeter of the metal base plate. The metal base plate is electrically connected to the circuit board to provide grounding; and the circuit board provides support to the base plate, thus permitting the elimination of one thickness of the base plate and the separate circuit board as previously used in disk drives.

Abstract: A monitoring and control system is disclosed which samples a plurality of output ports and lines from the microprocessor and the system electronics of an electronic lock to determine whether the bolt is extended, retracted, or the enabling stepper motor has been activated. The presence of a change key may be monitored and the efficacy of a change key controlled to only permit the changing of the combination of the lock when the central monitoring station approves such a change.