Patent ID: 7887278

Claim:
An overhead travelling carriage system, comprising: a fixed running rail comprising a first intra-bay route, a second intra-bay route and an inter-bay route, a plurality of processing devices disposed below said fixed running rail, each processing device having at least one load port, an overhead travelling carriage running on said fixed running rail, and a plurality of overhead buffers, each corresponding to one of said plurality of processing devices, provided on one side of said fixed running rail and disposed above a corresponding one of said at least one load port, wherein said overhead travelling carriage includes a delivery means for delivering an article between said overhead travelling carriage and one of said overhead buffers, between said overhead travelling carriage and one of said load ports, or between one of said overhead buffers and one of said load ports, wherein delivery between one of said overhead buffers and one of said load ports does not include a change in a gripping of said article, wherein each of said plurality of overhead buffers is disposed on an opposite side of said fixed running rail, relative to said corresponding one of said plurality of processing devices, wherein said overhead buffer is supported by at least one of said processing devices and a ceiling of a room, and wherein each of the overhead buffers is placed at almost the same position as that of the corresponding load port in a running direction of the fixed running rail.