Patent 7373648 was granted and assigned to Sony on May, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A recording and/or reproducing apparatus has a disk transfer mechanism, a mechanical chassis lifting/lowering mechanism, and a gear switching mechanism. The disk transfer mechanism transfers a disk onto a disk table with a motor. The disk transfer mechanism has a rotation transmitting assembly having a gear train including a swing gear and another gear. The mechanical chassis lifting/lowering mechanism lifts and lowers a mechanical chassis with respect to the disk, which is transferred onto the disk table by the disk transfer mechanism. The gear switching mechanism brings the swing gear out of mesh with the other gear of the gear train after the disk is transferred onto the disk table by the disk transfer mechanism, thereby preventing the disk transfer mechanism from being actuated by the motor, and actuating the mechanical chassis lifting/lowering mechanism with the motor. After the disk is transferred onto the disk table by the disk transfer mechanism, the motor having actuated the disk transfer mechanism actuates the mechanical chassis lifting/lowering mechanism.