Apparatus for laser texturing disks
US5658475A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 11, 1996 |
| Grant date | Aug 19, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 11, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG11B5/6011
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A disk texturing tool is used, for example, to provide textured spots in an annular portion of both sides of a hardfile disk. Disks are moved into and out of the texturing process in cassettes, through two disk-handling stations. In each disk-handling station, a lifter raises each individual disk from the cassette. The individual disk is then transferred to a pick-and-place mechanism, which moves it to a spindle. The spindle spins and translates the disk, so that both sides of the disk are exposed to beams derived from a pulsed laser. The pick-and-place mechanism then returns the disk to the lifter, which lowers it into the cassette pocket from which it was taken. The pick-and-place mechanism simultaneously moves one disk from the lifter to the spindle and another from the spindle to the lifter. While disks are moved by the pick-and-place mechanism of one disk-handling station, a disk in the spindle of the other disk-handling station is exposed to the laser beams.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.