Abstract: A disk drive includes an anti-static plate held against a plastic jacket of a cartridge assembly for neutralizing the effect of a static electrical charge accumulated on the plastic jacket. The plate is particularly effective in connection with a magnetic interface in which aerodynamic forces must maintain a magnetic disk within the jacket in contact with a transducer. The plate includes an area that covers a substantial proportion of the jacket surface opposite to the side of the cartridge assembly through which the transducer extends.

Abstract: A pair of oppositely-disposed stabilizer devices support opposed magnetic heads for interfacing with opposite sides of a rotating magnetic disk. Each stabilizer device includes a block with an opening through which the magnetic head protrudes for engagement with a respective side of the disk. A flat, circumferential air bearing surface on each block surrounds the opening adjacent the disk for generating coupling forces that deform the disk out of its nominal plane on opposite sides thereof and into intimate contact with the transducing gaps on the respective heads. The stabilizer devices are positioned in relation to separate radii depending from the center of the drive spindle so that a circumferential offset is established that permits substantially separate interaction of the air bearing surfaces with the disk.

Abstract: A double-sided recording device supports two transducers in fixed relation on opposite sides of a storage medium so that a fixed separation is maintained between the transducers. By making the separation substantially greater than the transducing cross-section of the medium, only one transducer at a time can effectively interface with the medium. Each transducer is mounted in a stabilizing device having an air bearing surface that promotes an effective interface through one-sided contact with the medium. In one embodiment, the medium is supported on a drive spindle that moves axially between two playing positions, one in which the medium is brought into operative relation with the first transducer and the other in which the medium is brought into operative relation with the second transducer. In another embodiment, the transducers are supported in fixed relation on a yoke that moves in relation to a fixed motor spindle.

Abstract: A ceramic stabilizer is shown for minimizing the drag experienced in a magnetic interface between the stabilizer and a rapidly moving pliable magnetic disk. The stabilizer includes a stabilizing block with an opening through which a magnetic head protrudes for engagement with the disk. A flat, circumferential air bearing surface on the ceramic block surrounds the opening adjacent the disk for generating coupling forces that deform the disk out of its nominal plane and into intimate contact with a transducing gap on the head. The air bearing surface possesses an RMS surface roughness of at least 10 Angstroms because of its ceramic composition. The advancing disk interacts with the roughed air bearing surface of the stabilizer to generate a microscopic turbulence therebetween which functions as a "lubricant" to lower drag, and thereby to lower current draw on the motor rotating the disk. A preferred ceramic material is barium titanate.

Abstract: A camera, operable in flash and ambient exposure modes, has adjustable lens apparatus useful for close-up and normal range photography. A photoconductively controlled electromagnet, which is energized in accordance with the intensity of ambient light, controls an apertured blade to adjust an exposure aperture. A mechanism is responsive to adjustment of the lens apparatus for a close-up photograph and overrides the electromagnet. This causes the apertured blade to be moved automatically to its minimum aperture position, independently of the exposure mode, when the camera is set for close-up photography, to enhance depth of field.