US 10,872,795 B2 · Substrate cushion brace retainer

Abstract

A substrate retainer (110) is provided which presents a substantially uniform contact face (128) that can accommodate a large variation in the location of substrate registration thereon. The uniform contact face (128) is allowed to deflect and compress in order to eliminates the prospect of substrates (114) being damaged by or becoming inadvertently pinched within the substrate retainer (110) or from being pressed too hard by the uniform contact face (128). With this arrangement, no adhesives or tapes are utilized, so there is no attendant out gassing of volatile organic compounds to contaminate the microenvironment, or complications due to incompatibility of such adhesives and tapes with washing processes.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A substrate retainer for a substrate container, comprising:

a retainer cushion including a body portion having an outer peripheral portion, a central region and a thickness defining a thickness dimension, the body portion being formed of a compliant material that is compressible in the thickness dimension;
and
a mounting structure configured to secure the retainer cushion at the outer peripheral portion and to allow the central region to deflect relative to the mounting structure,
wherein the mounting structure is configured to secure the retainer cushion by compression of an overall dimension of the body portion, the mounting structure exerting a reactive force in response to compression of the overall dimension to retain the retainer cushion within the mounting structure without the use of adhesive, the mounting structure being configured to mount to the substrate container.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Substrate cushion brace retainer

Life of this patent

Substrate cushion brace retainer

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19