Patent ID: 8757401

Claim:
An article transport device, comprising: a moving body configured so as to move along a guide rail on a ceiling; an article-retaining unit provided to the moving body, configured so as to be raised and lowered to a raised position located close to the moving body and to a lowered position downward from the raised position, and configured so as to retain an article; a housing space for housing an article retained by the article-retaining unit located at the raised position being formed in the moving body, and an aperture for allowing the article-retaining unit to be raised and lowered between the raised position and the lowered position being formed in a bottom part region of the housing space; purified air ventilation means for ventilating purified air into the housing space through an air purification filter; an opening/closing element configured to change positions to an open position for opening the aperture and a closed position for completely closing the aperture by pivoting around a horizontal axis such that the housing space is substantially enclosed in all directions when the opening/closing element is in the closed position; and an opening and closing control unit for positioning the opening/closing element at the open position in a case in which the article-retaining unit is to be raised and lowered between the raised position and the lowered position, and changing the position of the opening/closing element from the open position to the closed position when the raising and lowering of the article-retaining unit between the raised position and the lowered position is completed.