Patent ID: 8382421

Claim:
A transport apparatus, comprising first and second rotary shafts rotatable around a same driving rotary axis, first and second drive links having base portions fixed to the first and second rotary shafts and being rotated by the first and second rotary shafts, respectively, first and second main rotary axes arranged at tip portions of the first and second drive links, first and second driven links having base portions fitted rotatably to the first and second drive links around the first and second main rotary axes, first and second auxiliary rotary axes arranged at tip portions of the first and second driven links, the first and second auxiliary rotary axes being spaced apart from each other, a hand portion rotatably fitted to the tip portions of the first and second driven links around the first and second auxiliary rotary axes, and a posture control unit connected between the first and second auxiliary rotary axes and the hand portion for making angles of the first and second driven links equal with respect to a line segment connecting the first and second auxiliary rotary axes and constituting an interaxial distance, wherein the hand portion moves with its identical portion being directed toward a side of the first and second shafts by the posture control unit, the distance from the first main rotary axis to the second main rotary axis through the driving rotary axis being equal to the distance from the first main rotary axis to the second main rotary axis through the first auxiliary rotary axis and the second auxiliary rotary axis in this order, and wherein the driving rotary axis, the first and second main rotary axes and the first and second auxiliary rotary axes are arranged in parallel, the transport apparatus, further comprising a dead center escaping mechanism for moving the hand portion, in a state in which the hand portion is positioned at a dead center where both an angle between the first and second drive links and an angle between the first and second driven links are 180 degrees, from a position of the dead center to a predetermined direction, wherein the dead center escaping mechanism includes a first engaging member to be rotated by the first rotary shaft, a second engaging member mounted to one of the drive links and which engages with the first engaging member when the hand portion is located at the dead center and is rotated by a rotative force of the first engaging member, and a transmission mechanism for transmitting a rotative force of the second engaging member to the second driven link connected to the same drive link as the second engaging member and rotating the second driven link in a direction identical with a rotating direction of the first drive link, wherein the first and second engaging members engage solely in a range of at least −16 degrees to at most +16 degrees from the dead center position, and transmission of the rotative force of the first engaging member to the second driven link is released by releasing engagement between the first and second engaging members.