Patent ID: 7255220

Claim:
A conveyance system, comprising: a conveyance carriage assembly for carrying a workpiece thereon; and a plurality of conveyance units through which said conveyance carriage assembly is conveyed; wherein said conveyance carriage assembly comprises a plurality of driven members including a foremost driven member; and said conveyance units are separable into individual units; each of said individual units comprising: two substantially parallel rails for selectively and alternately guiding said conveyance carriage assembly in opposite directions, respectively; and two drivers, wherein each of said rails has a respective one of said drivers associated therewith for driving said conveyance carriage assembly through said driven members; and wherein said system is configured so that during use, when the last one of said driven members is separated from a movable range of a driver with which it is associated, at least the foremost one of said driven members is relayed to a driver of an adjacent unit and said conveyance carriage assembly is substantially continuously conveyed.