The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 19, 1980
Filed:
Sep. 15, 1978
Johann Tam, Santa Clara, CA (US);
The Silicon Valley Group, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A conveyor system for conveying a relatively fragile work piece, such as a silicon wafer, to and from a work station where one or more processing operations are performed on the work piece comprises two parallel conveyor belts. Each conveyor belt is mounted on a separate carriage, and the carriages are moveable laterally toward and away from each other during different periods of operation of the conveyor system and also to enable different size work pieces to be carried by the conveyor belts. The conveyor belts are driven by a drive belt system which comprises a fixed length, closed loop drive belt and a pulley arrangement operatively associated with the drive belt for accommodating lateral motion of the carriages while permitting drive of the conveyor belts at all lateral positions of the carriages and without any change in the length of the drive belt. The conveyor system also provides positive handling of the work piece during all conveying and processing operations to minimize breakage of the work piece. The conveyor system incorporates a vertically moveable spindle and chuck at the work station for lowering the work piece to a processing position below the conveyor belt. Centering and sensing apparatus are located at the work station to center the work piece above the chuck and to coordinate the vertical movement of the chuck with the lateral movement of the carriages and to provide the positive handling of the work piece at each stage of transport and processing of the work piece.