Patent ID: 7225722

Claim:
A linear drive comprising a drive housing with longitudinal axis, a transverse axis and an upright axis in a Cartesian coordinate arrangement, such drive housing defining a longitudinally extending drive space arranged off center in the direction of the transverse axis and in which drive means are located able to be driven to perform a linear movement, such drive means being drivingly coupled with a carriage or slide adapted for linear movement externally on the drive housing and guided by way of a guide means, the guide means having two guide units which are parallel and arranged with a distance between them in a guide plane perpendicular to the upright axis, said guide units respectively including a guide track on the housing side, wherein the carriage is flanked externally by the two guide units on the longitudinal side and the guide plane in the direction of the upright axis is arranged offset in relation to the drive space, one of the guide tracks on the housing side being over the drive space so that the drive space is straddled in the direction of the transverse axis for at least some distance by a longitudinal edge section of the carriage.