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:
Dec. 24, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 07, 2000
Travis S. Nice, Battle Ground, WA (US);
SEH America, Inc., Vancouver, WA (US);
Abstract
An improved chuck for supporting elongated work pieces having conical end portions, such as single crystal ingots used to fabricate semiconductor wafers, while such. The chuck is typically used in a lathe for positioning and allowing rotation of the work piece during a grinding procedure that results in optimal work piece diameter. The chuck comprises a ring-shaped base, or socket, having a cavity defining a central axis therethrough and a series of fastener holes for securing the base to a headstock or tailstock of a lathe. The base receives within the cavity a portion of a chuck insert. The chuck insert defines a work piece support surface that is coaxial with the central axis when the chuck insert is disposed in a nominal position within the cavity of the base. The work piece support surface will typically define a continuous, arcuate, convex surface capable of supporting work pieces having conical end portions of varying diameters. The chuck also includes a retainer that is adapted to surround and support at least a portion of the chuck insert. The retainer allows the chuck insert to pivot from the nominal position to a predetermined angle relative to the central axis when the conical end of the work piece is loaded into the chuck so as to align the work piece within the lathe. The pivoting nature of the chuck of the present invention allows for proper alignment of the work piece in the lathe by overcoming the frictional forces that exist between the work piece and the support surface.