Importance

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Abstract

A cartridge housing for a recording disc has a thin, flat, substantially circular shape and includes a cover and a bottom at least one of which has an aperture allowing access by a reading or recording head of a reading/recording unit to a recording surface of a contained disc. A flat shutter is pivotally mounted around a shaft inside the cartridge housing for movement between aperture-closed and aperture-open positions responsive to limited relative rotational movement of the cover and bottom. An actuating leg extending from the shutter adjacent an edge diametrically opposite the shaft location cooperates with a arcuate chamber in the adjacent peripheral edge of the cover to move the shutter between the aperture-closed and aperture-open positions. The cover has a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the bottom to show a user how to properly orient the cartridge housing when loading it into a reading/recording unit, and conceals and protects the actuating leg for the shutter by making it inaccessible from outside the housing. One of the cover and bottom parts has a discontinuity which is engagable when a cartridge housing is placed within a drawer or guide member of a reading/recording unit to hold the one of the parts against movement and enable relative rotation of the parts to operate the shutter. A retainer on the shutter engages the disc to restrain it against movement when the shutter is in an aperture-closed position.

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First Claim