Handling: hand and hoist-line implements – Grapple – Multiple grapples for multiple objects
Patent
1982-09-22
1984-12-04
Cherry, Johnny D.
Handling: hand and hoist-line implements
Grapple
Multiple grapples for multiple objects
294 99R, B66C 146
Patent
active
044860455
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a bottle-gripping device for bottle-handling machines, said device comprising an outer housing part and a muff of elastic material arranged in said housing part, said muff being encircled by an outer support sleeve and arranged to deform, when air under pressure is introduced between the support sleeve and said muff, into gripping engagement with the head of a bottle inserted in the muff.
Such bottle-gripping devices may, for example, be incorporated in machines for lifting return bottles from crates arriving at a brewery, and for placing filled bottles into crates to be distributed from a brewery. Normally, a plurality of bottle-gripping devices, corresponding in number to the number of bottles in a crate, are coupled together to form a co-acting unit.
Such bottle-gripping devices, in which the part co-acting with the bottle comprises an elastic muff, suitably a rubber muff, afford considerable advantages over the more generally used bottle-gripping devices in which the bottle is gripped by means of balls or like elements which are urged into engagement with the bottle head. Among other things, the use of balls or other mechanical elements arranged to be pressed out through openings in an otherwise smooth cylinder wall creates a risk of operational disturbances as a result of scrap material, for example foil residues from return bottles, being pressed into the openings through which the balls are intended to emerge, preventing radial movement of said balls. Moreover, when bottles encapsulated with foil are gripped and lifted by such devices there is a serious risk of the foil being torn.
One of the disadvantages with present day lifting devices using rubber muffs is that the muffs have the form of hoods with the upper end surfaces closed, see for example the Swedish Patent Specification No. 332 385 and the British Patent Specification No. 710.775. Bottles are often returned with loosely fitted caps, lock rings or like elements, which readily fasten in the aforementioned hoods and block the same, making it difficult to remove said hoods. Further, the efficiency of such gripping devices is greatly dependent on a unitary bottle length, such that, for example, when a crate contains a bottle which is longer than the others the longer bottle can prevent the remaining bottles from being gripped. Consequently precise height adjustments must be made when passing from one bottle length to another.
Moreover, the rubber muffs of gripping devices of this known kind, see for example the aforementioned patent specifications, are not satisfactorily anchored in the hoods, since the muffs are simply pressed between two surfaces which press against each other. After using such a device for a short period of time, or when applying a strong pressure impulse, the rubber tends to creep out from between said surfaces with such an attachment arrangement.
In accordance with the present invention, the first mentioned disadvantage is eliminated by arranging the muff and the support sleeve in a through-passing channel in the housing part. Consequently, if, for example, a bottle cap or like element fastens in the lifting device, the cap or like element will be displaced by the next bottle over which the lifting device is lowered. Thus, the lifting device is automatically freed of any object fastening therein. In addition, if, in spite of everything, the device is blocked by some foreign element, said element can be readily removed manually through the channel.
In order to eliminate the risk of the rubber muff loosening during operation, the ends of the support sleeve in the lifting device according to the invention are provided with radially, outwardly extended flanges, and the muff is provided with end parts arranged to be drawn over said flanges and to be locked between the flanges and the inner wall of the through-passing channel. Because of a gap of limited width obtained between said flange and the inner wall of the channel, the rubber material which is gathered in this way on the rear side of sai
REFERENCES:
patent: 2929653 (1960-03-01), Hund et al.
patent: 3178217 (1965-04-01), Bargel
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