Disk gripper for use with a disk polisher

US5000651A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Intelmatic Corporation · US

Inventors

• Minoru Akagawa · Fremont, US
• Ryo Narisawa · Fremont, US
• David Wilkinson · Parramatta, AU

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 29, 1990
• Grant date: Mar 19, 1991
• Expiry date: Jan 29, 2010

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01L21/68707
• WIPO field: Handling
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

A disk gripper has a rotary actuator with a horizontally supported shaft, a swing arm which is attached to and can rotate with this shaft and a finger arm which is connected to the swing arm such that the connected arms together extend radially from the shaft. Gripper fingers on the finger arm have mutually coplanar flat outer surfaces which point downward when the arms are in the horizontally extended position. The gripper fingers are provided with grooves and are movable toward or away from one another while their flat outer surfaces slidingly move over a horizontal support surface such that a disk lying on this surface can be engaged in these grooves or disengaged therefrom. The swing arm and the finger arm are slidable within a limited distance with respect to each other in a direction perpendicular to their extension. A spring applies a biasing force on the finger arm with respect to the swing arm such that, when the arms are in the horizontally extended position, the biasing force of the spring on the finger arm is in the downward direction.