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:
Oct. 05, 1993
Filed:
Aug. 23, 1991
John A Grosso, Staatsburg, NY (US);
Reena G Malangone, Charlotte, NC (US);
John J Masten, Jr, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
Richard M Schroedl, Wappingers Falls, NY (US);
Robert Stokrocki, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
Donald G Will, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
An apparatus is provided for positioning a workpiece with high accuracy and repeatably positioning the workpiece with similar accuracy while avoiding further manual alignment operations. Tapered pins, movable axially against a spring, are used to support a registration frame above the workpiece and allow attachment of the registration frame to the workpiece with high accuracy after initial manual positioning of the workpiece. After attachment of the registration frame to the workpiece, the use of similar, spring-loaded, tapered pins assures accuracy of positioning without further manual alignment. The axial motion of the pins is particularly advantageous during alignment of a plurality of workpieces in stacks and for processes requiring two-sided registration. During the alignment operation, a vacuum block is relatively movable on a base block and a workpiece immobilized on the vacuum block by a vacuum selectively applied to a portion thereof. When correct alignment has been achieved, the vacuum block is immobilized while the registration frame is attached by selective application of a vacuum to another portion of the vacuum block.