Chip shuttle track

An air film conveyor and transporting prismatic conductor chips, the chips having a spaced distribution of a plurality of hemispheric solder mounds within an area on a surface facing said air film, said conveyor comprising:

• (a) a base plate, and a pair of upstanding side guide walls extending longitudinally of said base plate, said guide walls being spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the lateral dimension of said chips;
• (b) means providing a motion-controlling laminar air flow, which surrounds the chips and forms an air film supporting said chips and propelling them downstream such that the slight spacing between the chips and the guide walls causes the flow resistance to be higher in the one region defined by such slight spacing than in the region defined by the longitudinal spacing between the ends of individual chips, whereby a continuous and flexible separation action occurs between the chips;
• (c) the volumetric flow rate of air per foot of conveyor being in the range of 0.0005 to 0.015 standard cubic feet per second.