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US 6,788,458 B2Granted
Microscope stage
AssigneeOlympus Optical Co., Ltd.
InventorsMasaaki Nishida, Kenichi Yamagishi, Takashi Nagano
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A microscope stage of this invention includes an upper stage, a handle shaft rotatably supported on the upper stage, a pulley rotatably supported on the upper stage in a position different from the handle shaft, a lower stage directly driven and guided with respect to the upper stage and a transmission member for interlocking the handle shaft, pulley and lower stage.
Claims7
A microscope stage comprising:
- a lower stage,
- an upper stage linearly movably supported in a Y direction with respect to said lower stage;
- an X guide member linearly movably supported in an X direction which is orthogonal to said Y direction with respect to said upper stage;
- a handle rotatably supported on said upper stage and having an X pulley portion and a Y pulley portion that are rotatable about the same rotation axis;
- a Y pulley rotatably supported at a position apart from said handle in a direction different from said Y direction and parallel to an XY plane which includes the X direction and the Y direction;
- a Y direction-driving linear member stretched along the Y direction two points of said Y direction-driving linear member being immovably fixed relative to the lower stage, and wound on said Y pulley and said Y pulley portion of the handle;
- an X pulley rotatably supported at a position on the upper stage that is apart from the handle in the X direction;
- and
- an X direction-driving linear member wound on said X pulley and said X pulley portion of the handle, and fixed on said X guide member.
6 more elements
A method for driving an XY stage for a microscope comprising:
- stretching a Y direction linear member in a Y direction and fixing two points thereof to a lower stage;
- rotatably disposing, a Y pulley on an upper stage movable in the Y direction, and winding the Y direction linear member around the Y pulley;
- connecting an X movement member to an X direction linear member movable relative to said upper stage in an X direction orthogonal to the Y direction;
- operating an X handle, to move the X direction linear member, thereby moving the X movement member in the X direction;
- and
- operating a Y handle disposed at a position apart from the Y pulley in a direction different from the Y direction and parallel to an XY plane, to rotate the Y pulley, thereby moving the Y pulley in the Y direction and moving the upper stage in the Y direction.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.