Rack

Abstract

Glass disc turnover racks for simplifying the insertion of glass discs into a Laser Beam Recorder cartridge are described. The discs are first inserted into the turnover rack and subsequently transferred into the cartridge. The construction of the turnover rack makes it easier to insert the discs in the cartridge. Turnover racks according to the invention comprise a plurality of slots wherein one of the slots has a length that is less than the diameter of the glass disc. Methods of inserting glass discs into the cartridge and use of a glass disc turnover rack to insert glass discs into the cartridge are described.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to a glass disc turnover rack, a method of inserting glass discs into a storage barrel, and use of a glass disc turnover rack to insert glass discs into a storage barrel. [0002] Optical storage discs, such as compact disc (CD) and digital versatile (or video) disc (DVD) are normally produced by stamping a transparent disc from molten polycarbonate. A metal “stamper” imprints the digital information onto the surface of the polycarbonate disc in the form of pits and lands. The information side of the disc is coated with a thin layer of metal, usually aluminum, before being coated with a protective lacquer. [0003] The metal stamper is produced using well-known glass mastering and electroforming processes. The “glass mastering” process uses a glass disc as a substrate to hold the optical disc master while it is created and subsequently processed. The glass disc used has a greater diameter than the optical disc that will ul...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a glass disc turnover rack into which glass discs can be easily inserted by hand, and from which the discs can easily be transferred to a storage semi-cylinder. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of inserting glass discs into a storage barrel using a turnover rack. The present invention also provides use of a glass disc turnover rack for inserting glass discs into a storage semi-cylinder.

Problems solved by technology

Any imperfections in the quality of the working surface, for example dust or scratches, will affect the quality of the optical disc master, and the resulting optical discs produced from such a master would be of poor quality.

The problem with conventional storage barrels is that because of the way they are designed, it is difficult to insert the glass discs into the semi-cylinder without scratching the working face of the disc being inserted, or any of the other discs already in the semi-cylinder.

Inserting the glass discs into the storage semi-cylinder is made especially difficult because it is usually carried out by hand in a darkened environment.

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