Abstract: An article handling system especially adapted for transporting thin, fragile articles such as silicon wafers into and out of a sealed environment such as a vacuum chamber comprises a vibratory track for transporting articles to be processed, an article handler associated with the track for removing articles from the track for processing and returning them to the track thereafter, and a pair of loader/unloaders at opposite ends of the track for intermittently supplying articles to be processed to the track and removing them therefrom after processing.