Information recording disk cartridge protective structure

Claim 1

An information recording disk protective cartridge assembly, said cartridge assembly comprising; a cartridge housing, said housing having a rectangular shape and having a rectangular opening on one side thereof, said cartridge housing further having a stand-off disposed on an inner surface thereof, and, also having a tapered protruding lip on the opening thereof; a cartridge insert tray, said cartridge insert tray being slidably disposed in the opening in the cartridge housing, said cartridge insert tray having a circular shoulder which supports a disk in the tray along the outer edge of the disk, said cartridge insert tray having a recess into which sealably mates the protruding cartridge housing lip to fully enclose the disk in the cartridge housing; a spacer attached to the disk, said spacer cooperating with the stand-off to prevent the disk from contacting the interior surface of the cartridge housing; means for preventing said cartridge insert tray from being completely removed from said cartridge housing; and means for locking said cartridge insert tray into said cartridge housing when said cartridge insert tray is in a closed position; wherein the spacer is attached to the edge of a center opening in the disk, said opening for the attachment of a flexible, disk centering assembly, said disk centering assembly in turn securely attached to the spacer, wherein the spacer is comprised of a raised ring shaped spacer which is completely attached to the edge of the disk opening, and wherein the stand-off is comprised of a pair of smooth, semi-circular shaped protrusions having a diameter substantially the same as the ring shaped spacer and extending away from the inner cartridge surface a distance such that when the disk is fully inserted into the cartridge, the stand-off protrusions cooperate with the ring shaped spacer to prevent the disk recording surface from contacting the inner surface of the cartridge housing.