Patent ID: 8777540

Claim:
An apparatus for storing contamination-sensitive flat articles, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of box-like compartments each having an open front side and enclosed side, top and bottom sides, the compartments being stationary arranged in rows and columns side by side and one above the other on a fixed mounting rack, and the compartments each having a plurality of slotted stationary holders for receiving a plurality of flat articles so that the articles are stationary arranged within the compartments, a first handling unit for automatically inserting and removing a flat article into and out of the slotted holders, and a closed housing forming a clean room where both the compartments and the first handling unit are arranged, wherein the articles arranged within any one compartment are separated by said enclosed sides from the articles arranged within adjacent compartments so that a contaminated article in an adjacent compartment arranged above, below, or alongside said one compartment will not contaminate the articles in said one compartment, and further wherein the plurality of compartments surround the first handling unit on at least two sides and are arranged in the mounting rack so that the open front side of each compartment is accessible to the first handling unit enabling the first handling unit to selectively insert a flat article into or remove a flat article from any one of said plurality of slotted holders in any one of said plurality of compartments without removing the compartments from the mounting rack.