Patent ID: 7665950

Claim:
A transfer apparatus comprising: a stationary base; a swivel supported by the stationary base to be rotatable around a vertical rotation axis; a linear movement mechanism supported by the swivel; a hand supported by the linear movement mechanism for transferring a work along a horizontal straight movement path by operation of the linear movement mechanism; a driving power source arranged in the stationary base; and a transmission shaft arranged along the rotation axis for transmitting driving force from the driving power source to the linear movement mechanism; wherein the linear movement mechanism includes a driving mechanism and a guide rail for movably supporting the hand, the driving mechanism comprising a plurality of pulleys including a driving pulley supported rotatably around a horizontal axis and further comprising an output belt wound around the plurality of pulleys to be contained in a vertical plane for reciprocal movement within a predetermined section extending parallel to the movement path, wherein the hand is connected to the output belt via a connection member.