Abstract: A suspension is provided with a load beam which has a forward end portion which has a curved edge. Low profile wires from a slider of a head gimbal assembly (HGA) of the suspension extend across a top surface of the load beam in contact or in close proximity to the curved edge. When the slider pitches and rolls over the surface of a rotating magnetic disk, when the head element is accessed to read and write information from tracks on the disk, and when there are air flow forces, the wires move across the curved edge without any damage due to fretting. The forward end portion of the load beam is bent downwardly toward the HGA to provide the desired curved edge. When the slider pitches and rolls a flexure to which it is attached requires space for flexing, the space being located between the flexure and the load beam.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to prevention of breakdown caused by electrostatic discharge in an MR element.An MR element constitutes a read element. A head support device 2 supports a magnetic head 1. A lead wire 3 is constituted with at least a pair of lead wires 31 and 32 and each of the pair of lead wires 31 and 32 is connected to the read element at one end. A terminal board 5 is provided with at least one pair of terminal conductors 52 and 53 on top of a hard substrate 51. The pair of terminal conductors 52 and 53 are provided with connecting areas 54 and 55 respectively on the same side, to which one end of which are connected the other ends of the lead wires 31 and 32 respectively. The pair of terminal conductors 52 and 53 are electrically shorted from each other by a shorting portion 56 at a rearward position which is away from the connecting areas 54 and 55 over a distance.

Abstract: A tape loading mechanism can reduce a load imposed upon a tape by removing conventional inclined guides and reduce the number of assemblies necessary for forming a tape transport system. The tape transport system of the tape loading mechanism is composed of four guide members of a tension regulator guide (9) for supporting a tape unreeled from a supply reel (1), a guide post (12) having a shuttle for guiding the tape into the entrance side of a rotary drum (14), a guide post (13) having a shuttle for guiding the tape into the exit side of the rotary drum (14), and an exit guide (21) for guiding the tape into a take-up reel (3). The tension regulator guide (9) and the exit guide (21) are formed as inclined guides having flanges in order to twist the tape supported by the respective guides so that a tape transport direction and a tape height direction can be varied. Thus, the inclined guide member with the shuttle can be removed.

Abstract: An electronic apparatus is provided with a flexible cable connected between a table and cabinet where the flexible cable is folded in many parts in the longitudinal direction. A construction for a slider is also provided to lock and unlock the table from the cabinet. The arrangement and placement of the flexible cable and slider permit construction of a cabinet with minimal thickness. Also, a compensating member is provided on the interior of the cabinet, opposite the table surface, to contact the upper portion of a disc on the table, correct the attitude of the disc, and prevent dislodgement of the disc from a chuck.

Abstract: A two and one half inch form factor disk drive has a metallic base and a metallic cover to enhance the rigidity of these components with respect to plastic components. The sealing of a controlled environment established between the base and cover is enhanced by the increased rigidity of the base and by providing a gasket groove in the base and a gasket having a tongue which mates with the groove. In addition, the metal base and cover provide isolation from the noisy environment of a computer. The two and one half inch form factor is established by providing the disk drive with a length equal to the width of a 31/2 inch disk drive and a width equal to half of the length of a 31/2 inch disk drive. The disk drive includes a disk having a diameter of approximately 2.6 inches (65 mm) and weighs approximately 6 ounces. A closed-loop, embedded servo tracking system provides a large storage capacity relative to the area of storage media available.

Abstract: A latching mechanism for a disc drive actuator that makes use of a constant force to hold the latch in an unlatched position while the disc drive is in operational mode. The latching mechanism uses the power of the actuator to move the latching mechanism into a latched position under program control or upon the detection of a power loss. While in the latched position, the configuration of the latching mechanism components combined with the frictional contact between heads and discs serves to overcome the constant force and maintain the actuator in its park position, even in the presence of applied mechanical shock, until power is restored to the disc drive. Unlatching of the latching mechanism is accomplished by bringing the spindle motor up to a speed at which the heads begin to fly, eliminating the friction between the heads and discs and allowing the constant force to move the latching mechanism to it unlocked position.

Abstract: The pole pieces of a thin film head are formed by two thin film layers of the magnetic metal NiFe, each NiFe layer being about 20,000 angstroms thick. These two NiFe layers are separated by an electrically insulating layer of alumina (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3), ceramic or NiFe oxide that is about 100 angstroms thick. In one embodiment, a hard-baked photoresist layer is formed only around the edges of the first NiFe layer, the electrically insulating layer is deposited over the top surface of the first NiFe layer and over the hard-baked photoresist layer, and the second NiFe layer is then deposited, thus providing a three-layer metal/insulator/metal pole piece wherein the hard baked photoresist blocks edge short circuiting between the two thin film NiFe layers.

Abstract: An overcoat for sufficiently preventing mechanical wear of a magnetic head slider caused by contact with a magnetic record medium is provided in a thin film head of a magnetic disk device.The magnetic head slider is provided with the overcoat constituted by a film including two layers of a silicon layer that is an adhesive layer and a diamond-like carbon layer that is a protective layer and the silicon layer includes nitrogen component. Further, nitrogen concentration of the silicon layer 2 ranges from 1 through 57%.The thickness of the silicon layer ranges from 5 through 300 angstroms and the thickness of the carbon layer ranges from 10 through 500 angstroms.

Abstract: A cartridge disk that includes a door assembly mounted in a combination base and cover shell. The door assembly mounted in a combination base and cover shell. The door assembly has a single lever that opens both doors at once to allow for mounting of the cartridge disk to a drive. The cartridge disk includes a plastic hub and an aluminum disk.

Abstract: In a magnetic write head, the top pole piece reduces in width and cross-sectional area in a number of steps by providing a first wide tapered zone whose width progressively decreases at a first rate that is determined by side surfaces that are inclined at an angle of about 45 to 55-degrees, and providing a second narrow tapered zone whose width progressively decreases at a second lower rate that is determined by side surfaces that are inclined at an angle of about 5-degrees. This second narrow tapered zone may comprise the serial arrangement of three individual zones, a first of which whose width decreases at a rate that is determined by side that are inclined at about 4.7-degrees, a second of which whose width decreases at a rate that is determined by side that are inclined at about 5.7-degrees, and third of which whose width decreases at a rate that is determined by sides that are inclined at about 6.8-degrees. The pole piece's tapered zone terminates in a narrow and constant width pole tip.

Abstract: A disk drive has a head stack assembly with head arms which extend between adjacent magnetic disks. Each head arm includes head gimbal assemblies. The head arm is capable of pivoting about a first axis of rotation for providing the head gimbal assembly with a macro-actuation movement relative to a selected track on a disk, and for positioning the head gimbal assembly in an initial position relative to the selected track. A micro-actuator is connected to the head gimbal assembly so that the head gimbal assembly is pivotally secured to the head arm about a second axis independently of the pivotal movement of the head arm. This provides the head gimbal assembly with a micro-actuation movement relative to the selected track, such that if there is skew between the head gimbal assembly and the track, a micro-actuator provides correction to minimize the skew angle. Also the micro-actuator provides cancellation of transient and harmonic vibrations.

Abstract: This invention has a principal object to eliminate, in a magnetic head and a method of manufacturing the same, the necessity of filling glass, etc. onto a magnetic film to thereby improve reliability of the magnetic head.This invention resides in a method of manufacturing a magnetic head including a pair of magnetic core half bodies opposite to each other, each of the magnetic core half bodies being such that a magnetic film is formed on a base, in which a thin film coil is formed at least at one surface of butting plane surfaces between these magnetic core half bodies, characterized in that, in forming the magnetic film on the base, recessed portions are formed in advance by ion milling, etc. at the base to form the magnetic film at the recessed portions.

Abstract: A diverging rail edge geometry for an air bearing slider. The air bearing slider provides reduced sensitivity to skew and roll static attitude without contributing to significant increases in cost and complexity. A support structure is formed with an air bearing surface having at least one air bearing rail, pad or other structure disposes thereon. The air bearing pad or rail is formed having at least one edge diverging from the side edges of the support structure. The edges of the rails may also be curved.

Abstract: In a disk drive apparatus for driving a CD or CD-ROM having a disk tray with a recess, the recess is provided with a plurality of pawls that keep the disk stable when it is loaded in the recess and the apparatus is vertical. In this way, unexpected contact of the outer circumference of the disk with the outer circumference of the recess is avoided. The recess is moreover provided with insulators that fully allow deformation or displacement of a base unit in one direction, but minimize it in other directions. External vibrations acting on the apparatus when it is vertical are therefore effectively damped, and rotation of the disk in the apparatus is steady.

Abstract: A method for fabricating an air bearing slider for a data storage system including a deflection apparatus disposed on the air bearing surface of the slider. The air bearing surface of the slider is fabricated to include a transducer element mounting location biased toward a trailing edge of the slider, and a deflection apparatus disposed proximate the transducer element mounting location and biased toward a leading edge of the slider. Contact between the deflection apparatus and an asperity or disk obstruction prevents damage to a transducer element mounted at the transducer element mounting location. In accordance with one embodiment, the deflection protrusion is fabricated to include a sloping leading edge or, alternatively, comprises a plurality of deflection ridges that generally define a sloping leading edge.

Abstract: A process for producing a thin film magnetic head comprises a first step of forming a magnetic layer 20 on the surface of a gap spacer layer 9, a second step of forming on the surface of the magnetic layer 20 a lower resist layer 21 shaped to have a smaller width than an upper core layer 11 when seen from above and forming on the resist layer 21 an upper resist layer 22 projecting outward beyond opposite side faces of the resist layer 21 and shaped in conformity with the shape of the upper core layer 11 when seen from above, a third step of shaping the magnetic layer 20 into the upper core layer 11 by ion beam-etching the magnetic layer 20, and a fourth step of removing the lower resist layer 21 and the upper resist layer 22.

Abstract: In a magnetoresistive head, in which a longitudinal bias magnetic field application permanent magnet film 5 and an electrode 6 are disposed on each side of an MR element 4, the MR element 4, permanent magnet film 5 and electrode 6 are formed on a conductive under layer 3.

Abstract: A hub lock releasing device of a tape recorder is provided. The hub lock releasing device includes a slide member slidingly installed on a deck and having a releasing pin, a spring for elastically biasing the slide member, an interlocking member interlocked with the slide member, and a cam gear having an interlocking pin being selectively in contact with the interlocking member to rotate the interlocking member. When the cam gear rotates the interlocking pin is detached from the interlocking member, thus the interlocking member rotates and the slide member is moved by the elastic force of the spring and the releasing pin pushes the hub locking member to release the locking of the hub.

Abstract: A compact read/write head is provided having a biased GMR element. Biasing of the GMR element provides distinguishable response to the rising and falling edges of a recorded pulse on an adjacent medium. It also improves the linearity of the response and helps to reduce noise.

Abstract: A head actuator in a magnetic disk drive, including an actuator arm rotatably mounted on a base of the magnetic disk drive, a first driving mechanism for rotating the actuator arm, and a load beam for supporting at a front end portion thereof a slider carrying a head. The head actuator further includes a second driving mechanism composed of a leaf spring for elastically connecting a front end portion of the actuator arm and a base end portion of the load beam, and an electromagnetic motor for swinging the load beam with respect to the actuator arm.