Abstract: A system for damping vibrations in the head arm suspension assembly of a magnetic recording disk file comprised of a first and a second laminated suspension member each bonded to a ceramic actuator arm. The arm includes a movable arm tongue which is surrounded on three sides by a channel and includes a first and second cavity. The first suspension member includes a first suspension tongue and the second suspension member includes a second suspension tongue. A first damping element is positioned in the first cavity between the arm tongue and the first suspension tongue. A second damping element is positioned in the second cavity between the arm tongue and the second suspension tongue.

Abstract: A suspension for an air-bearing slider 32 in a data recording disk file is an envelope 30 which expands when pressurized air enters the envelope interior. The envelope 30 includes a pair of flat flexible sheets 50, 52, preferably of polyimide, which are secured at their perimeters 54, and stiffeners 40, 42, 56 bonded to the sheets 50, 52 to provide stiffness between the slider 32 and the arm attached to the disk file actuator. Four parallel strips 60, 62, 63, 64 on the polyimide sheets 50, 52 function as hinges so that the envelope expands in the manner of a four-bar linkage, thus moving the slider 32 toward the disk with the slider's air-bearing surface maintained generally parallel to the data surface of the disk. Electrical conductors 80 for connecting the read/write transducer 33 supported on the slider 32 to the read/write circuitry of the disk file are formed on one of the polyimide sheets 50.