| United States Patent | 6,423,929 |
| Muller , et al. | July 23, 2002 |
A workpiece, designed as a printed circuit board for example, can be moved by means of a transport device under a laser unit in such a way that a region to be machined of the workpiece passes into the deflecting region of the laser beam. The workpiece is set between clamping jaws to a vertical position in which the laser beam is focused exactly on that surface of the workpiece which is to be machined. As a result, the machining accuracy can be considerably increased.
| Inventors: | Muller; Lothar (Heidelberg, DE); Metz; Daniel (Kandel, DE); Dietrich; Stefan (Karlsruhe, DE) |
| Assignee: | Siemens Aktiengesellschaft (Munich, DE) |
| Appl. No.: | 743890 |
| Filed: | January 16, 2001 |
| PCT Filed: | July 1, 1999 |
| PCT NO: | PCT/DE99/01932 |
| 371 Date: | January 16, 2001 |
| 102(e) Date: | January 16, 2001 |
| PCT PUB.NO.: | WO00/03830 |
| PCT PUB. Date: | January 27, 2000 |
| Jul 14, 1998[DE] | 198 31 558 |
| Current U.S. Class: | 219/121.67; 219/121.61 |
| Intern'l Class: | B23K 026/00; H05K 013/00; 121.82; 161 |
| Field of Search: | 219/121.63,121.64,121.65,121.66,121.67,121.68,121.69,121.7,121.71,121.72 269/257 |
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