NHK Spring Assigned Four Patents

Flexure of disk drive suspension and disk drive suspension
NHK Spring Co., Ltd., Kanagawa, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12334124) developed by Yamada; Yukie, Yokohama, Japan, for “flexure of disk drive suspension and disk drive suspension.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A flexure of a disk drive suspension includes a metal base, and a wiring portion provided along the metal base. The wiring portion includes a base insulating layer, a conductor layer overlapping with the base insulating layer, and a cover insulating layer overlapping with the conductor layer, and the metal base includes a pair of first portions having side surfaces opposed to each other and a second portion overlapping with the conductor layer and connected to the pair of first portions. At least one of the base insulating layer and the cover insulating layer is in contact with the side surfaces between the pair of first portions, and a thickness of the second portion is smaller than a thickness of the first portions.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-09-19 (18/370020).

Disc drive suspension including load beam having different cross-sectional shapes at welded and non-welded parts
NHK Spring Co., Ltd., Kanagawa, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12230300) developed by Kurebayashi; Sosuke, Mitsumori; Yohei, and Iwamoto; Naoki, Yokohama, Japan, for a “disc drive suspension including load beam having different cross-sectional shapes at welded and non-welded parts thereof.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A load beam includes a pair of flange bending parts including first bending parts, and a second bending part extending in a width direction. A first cross-section part extends in the width direction of the load beam passing through welding parts. The first cross-section part is warped up toward the flange parts. A second cross-section part extends in the width direction passing through a different position from that of the welding parts. The second cross-section part has a lesser height difference as compared to the first cross-section part. A die is used when bending the second bending part. The die includes a first relief part including a first inclined surface and a second relief part including a second inclined surface in both sides of the supporting surface.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-06-01 (17/335472).

Manufacturing method of disk-drive suspension and manufacturing apparatus of disk-drive suspension
NHK Spring Co., Ltd., Kanagawa, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12176012) developed by Ogaki; Shogo, Yokohama, Japan, for “manufacturing method of disk-drive suspension and manufacturing apparatus of disk-drive suspension.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An adhesive reactive to ultraviolet rays is applied to an actuator mounting portion of a suspension. An electrical conducting material is applied to a conductor and the like of the actuator mounting portion. When the adhesive is irradiated with ultraviolet rays, the viscosity of the adhesive is increased. A piezoelectric element is placed on the adhesive the viscosity of which is increased. Thereafter, the adhesive and the electrical conducting material are heated, whereby the adhesive and the electrical conducting material are cured.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-28 (17/488152).

Base plate of disk drive suspension, disk drive suspension, and disk drive
NHK Spring Co., Ltd., Kanagawa, Japan, has been assigned a patent (12159655) developed by Arai; Mikio, and Daifuku; Hiroshi, Yokohama, Japan, for “base plate of disk drive suspension, disk drive suspension, and disk drive.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A base plate includes a plate body and a connection portion provided at the plate body. The connection portion includes a through hole gassing through the plate body in a thickness direction of the plate body, a plurality of protrusions provided along an edge of the through hole in a circumferential direction about a central axis of the through hole and inserted into an attachment hole provided in the arm, and an inner circumferential surface formed by the plurality of protrusions and the through hole. The inner circumferential surface includes a plurality of recesses formed between the plurality of protrusions.”

The patent application was filed on 2023-01-058 (18/093769).