Abstract: A molding apparatus includes a cavity half and a core half mounted in stacked relation between a press plate and a movable platen. A plurality of core members are slidably mounted in the cavity half and each is connected to an actuator attached to the cavity half. The actuators project outwardly. Each actuator includes at least two sensing switch units for monitoring the limits of the core position. Each sensing unit is a compact relay switch unit having a rugged housing of a length not to exceed two inches to positively prevent interference with the associated components of the molding apparatus. The relay switch unit includes a pair of fixed contacts mounted within the housing and a movable contact located therebetween. A magnetic unit including a high strength target magnet connected to the movable contact and a weak bias magnet mounted within the housing to control the initial position of the target magnet and the movable contact.

Abstract: A threaded actuator is disclosed for positioning a core in a molding apparatus. The threaded actuator includes a hydraulic cylinder unit having a piston rod connected to the core for positioning thereof. The core is subjected to intense force during the molding process and this force is transmitted onto the piston rod and hydraulic cylinder unit and its support. The hydraulic cylinder has a threaded nose which is secured within a threaded opening in a support. A rotatable threaded connecting member is threaded between the threaded nose and the threaded opening of the support structure. The outer and inner threaded connections of the rotatable threaded connecting member are of different thread configurations to form a differential thread assembly. The configurations may differ either in pitch and/or in the handedness of the threads. The differential threaded assembly provides for relative positioning of the hydraulic cylinder unit and core relative to the mold.

Abstract: A skinned, foam core E-block assembly for a disk system for supporting a plurality of head arrays to write data to and/or retrieve data from tracks of a media disk. The E-block assembly is formed of a foam core material with a non-porous stressed skin that matches or exceeds the performance of currently used materials, at a lower cost. The foam may be ceramic, metallic, or polymeric. The skin is non-porous and may also be ceramic, metallic, or polymeric.