Disk file apparatus

Claim 1

A disk file apparatus comprising: (a) an accommodating shelf having a multiplicity of accommodating spaces provided therein in a row in the vertical direction; (b) a multiplicity of cartridges disposed in said accommodating spaces, respectively, each having a disk received therein and further having a forward extending groove formed in the rear portion thereof; (c) a coder which writes or reads information in relation to either a side A or B of the disk received in each of said cartridges; (d) a transfer member disposed at the upper side of said accommodating shelf, said transfer member having lever means which is arranged such that, when a cartridge having the same dimensions as that of other cartridges is inserted into said transfer member, said lever means detects whether or not there is a groove which is formed in the rear portion of said cartridge; (e) a carrier arranged such as to move vertically along the respective front surfaces of said transfer member and said accommodating shelf, draw out a cartridge from said transfer member, insert said cartridge into an empty accommodating space in said accommodating shelf, draw out a designated one from the multiplicity of cartridges accommodated in said accommodating shelf, and load said cartridge into said coder; and (f) a controller arranged such that, when said lever means detects the groove formed in the rear portion of the cartridge inserted in said transfer member, said controller activates said carrier to turn said cartridge through 180 degrees while said cartridge is being moved from said transfer member to an empty accommodating space in said accommodating shelf, and when the downward side of the disk received in the selected cartridge is not coincident with the side which is to be subjected to writing or reading of information in said coder, said controller activates said carrier to turn said selected cartridge through 180 degrees before it is loaded into said coder.