Patent ID: 7144299

Claim:
A method of supporting a body in a support, comprising: providing at least one fluid in a liquid form on a support structure, the fluid selected from the group consisting of electrorheological fluids and magnetorheological fluids; wherein the support structure includes a textured surface including openings sized to accept a quantity of the at least one fluid therein, and wherein the providing at least one fluid on the support structure includes positioning the at least one fluid on the textured surface of the support structure; bringing a body into contact with the fluid in liquid form on the support structure; wherein the body includes a textured surface, wherein the openings in the support structure textured surface are sized to also accept at least a portion of the body textured surface therein; applying a field to the fluid in liquid form and transforming the fluid from the liquid form to a solid form, wherein the field includes at least one field selected from the group consisting of an electric field and a magnetic field, and wherein the body is held in place by the fluid in the solid form; processing the body while the body is held in place by the fluid in the solid form; removing the field from the fluid in solid form and transforming the fluid from the solid form to liquid form; and separating the body from the fluid in liquid form.