Patent ID: 7219792

Claim:
An article carrying apparatus for carrying, in a carrying direction, an article placed on a carry face of a carry section making use of a vibration, comprising: said carry section provided with said carry face of which said carrying direction is linearly restricted; and a vibration applying mechanism that applies said vibration to said carry section, said vibration applying mechanism including: a first cam mechanism for converting a motion that has been input from a predetermined drive source into a reciprocating linear motion in a first direction that has at least a component in said carrying direction, and for transmitting said reciprocating linear motion to said carry section, said first cam mechanism comprises a first cam formed integrally with said input shaft, and a first cam-following element that is provided on said output section and engages with said first cam to allow relative movement in said second direction with respect to said first cam but restrict relative movement in said first direction; a second cam mechanism for converting a motion that has been input from a predetermined drive source into a reciprocating linear motion in a second direction that has at least a component in a normal direction of said carry face, and for transmitting said reciprocating linear motion to said carry section, said second cam mechanism has a second cam formed integrally with said input shaft, and a second cam-following element that is provided on said output section and engages with said second cam to allow relative movement in said first direction with respect to said second cam but restrict relative movement in said second direction, an output section for transmitting the reciprocating linear motions to said carry section while supporting said carry section; a housing that guides said output section such that said output section moves within a plane defined by said first direction and said second direction; and a single input shaft that is rotatably supported on said housing for inputting the motion from said drive source as a rotational motion, wherein the reciprocating linear motion in said first direction has only the component in said carrying direction; and wherein the reciprocating linear motion in said second direction has only the component in said normal direction.