Flat surface air bearing assembly
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsDouglas E Brackley, David Lee Drum, Paul J McCarthy
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An air bearing assembly includes: an upper portion having a plurality of air supply and vacuum holes therethrough; a lower portion; and a plurality of spacers disposed between and maintaining the upper and lower portions in spaced relation, wherein a density of the air supply and vacuum holes is high enough to provide an air bearing for a substrate, but low enough such that at least one of: (i) a sufficient number of the spacers are employed, and (ii) the spacers are located in close enough proximity, to maintain a substantially uniform flatness of the upper portion relative to the lower portion.
Claims16
An air bearing assembly, comprising:
- an upper portion having a plurality of air supply and vacuum holes therethrough;
- a lower portion;
- and
- a plurality of spacers disposed between and maintaining the upper and lower portions in spaced relation,
- wherein a density of the air supply and vacuum holes is of a magnitude to provide an air bearing for a substrate and to maintain proximity and number of the spacers such that a substantially uniform flatness of the upper portion relative to the lower portion is ensured.
An apparatus, comprising:
- an upper portion formed from granite an including a plurality of air supply and vacuum holes therethrough operable to produce an air bearing for a substrate;
- a lower portion formed from granite;
- and
- a plurality of spacers, situated between and maintaining the upper portion and the lower portion in a spaced relation such that the upper portion is substantially flat.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.