Magnetic head assembly with angled slots

Claim 1

A magnetic head assembly configured to be spaced from a recording surface of a rotating flexible magnetic recording disk by an intervening air bearing which influences minimum spacing and the area of minimum spacing, said head assembly comprising: means for supporting said transducer in a manner forming a head structure including a spherically contoured face having said gap thereon and being configured to be shaped from the recording surface by an air bearing developed in response to disk rotation, said gap being located at the apex of said face on a longitudinally extending line along said face which is substantially parallel to the direction of movement of the recording surface past said gap, said face also having a pair of slots formed therein which are symmetrically disposed and angled with respect to said line, so as to diverge when viewed from the upstream side of said face toward the downstream side, for modifying air bearing pressure at the face/recording surface interface whereby minimum spacing is reduced and area of minimum spacing is expanded; said face having a radius of 2.3 inches, said slots having a width of 0.010 inches, and a depth of 0.005 inches at said apex whereby said head is operable in the penetration mode at a flying height of 2 microinches or lower.