Appeal No. 2000-0356 Page 2
Application No. 08/825,424
write or read the desired data. Typically, the transducer is
positioned on an air bearing slider that flies above the
surface of the disk as the latter rotates. A suspension
connects the slider to a rotary or linear actuator.
The appellant asserts that, heretofore, each disk drive
manufacturer had to design its own suspension for its own
drives. (Spec. at 2.) The reason given by the appellant for
this is that if the length of the suspension was varied, the
dynamic characteristics of the suspension also changed. (Id.)
This resulted in the need to redesign each suspension for
every change in suspension length. The appellant also asserts
that past designs used a large, thick actuator arm that
projected toward the disk and to which the suspension was
attached. (Id. at 2-3.) To obtain a desirable frequency
response characteristic in the suspension, the actuator arm
was extended as far as possible toward the disk. Because the
large actuator arm contributed to the mass of the actuator, it
slowed the actuator's speed, thereby slowing the storage and
retrieval of data.
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