Slide lock mechanism for disk drives

Claim 1

A slide lock mechanism for restraining movement of a head-arm carriage of a disk drive against a stop, said lock mechanism comprising: a rod slideably supported by the disk drive housing and movable between a first rest position and a second rest position; a shaft rotatably supported by said housing and engaged to said rod to rotate between a first rotational position and a second rotational position when said rod is moved between its respective first and second rest positions; a lock pin fastened to said shaft, said lock pin being movable between a lock position and an unlock position when said shaft is moved between its respective first and second rotational positions, said lock pin bearing against said carriage to restrain said carriage against said stop when said lock pin is in its lock position and being free of said carriage when said lock pin is in its unlock position, said first rest position being defined by said lock pin being in its lock position to restrain said carriage against said stop; and spring bias means fastened to said rod and said housing to bias said rod to its respective first and second rest positions, whereby when said lock pin is in its lock position said lock pin continuously bears said carriage against said stop under the bias influence of said spring bias means.