Patent ID: 7059036

Claim:
An apparatus for holding a component, comprising: a shaft having a nozzle at one end of said shaft, said shaft being movable in an axial direction of said shaft and rotatable about an axis of said shaft; a voice coil motor extending in said axial direction of said shaft, said voice coil motor including (i) a casing through which said shaft extends, (ii) one of a magnet and a coil fixed to a circumferential face of said shaft, and (iii) the other of said magnet and said coil positioned within said casing and surrounding said one of said magnet and said coil, with said shaft being movable in said axial direction via action of said magnet and said coil, and with said shaft having an air passage connecting said nozzle with an interior of said casing; a suction device connected to said voice coil motor and communicating with said air passage and said nozzle such that when said suction device is activated air is sucked from the interior of said casing and said air passage so as to cause said nozzle to suck and hold a component; a first blow device connected to said voice coil motor such that when said first blow device is activated air is supplied into the interior of said casing and into said air passage for returning the interior of said casing and said air passage to an atmospheric state so as to release the component from said nozzle; a second blow device connected to said voice coil motor such that when said second blow device is activated air is supplied into the interior of said casing and into said air passage for returning the interior of said casing and said air passage to an atmospheric state, faster than said first blow device is to return the interior of said casing and said air passage to an atmospheric state, so as to release the component from said nozzle; and a sealing member including a first packing, at a part of said casing where said shaft passes through said casing, for preventing passage of air into the interior of said casing while said suction device is activated, said first packing having (i) a sectional shape that is the same as a sectional shape of said shaft, and (ii) a hole through which said shaft extends.