Handling: hand and hoist-line implements – Grapple – Pivoted jaws
Patent
1991-12-06
1993-10-19
Mitchell, David M.
Handling: hand and hoist-line implements
Grapple
Pivoted jaws
294115, B66C 142
Patent
active
052539105
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a gripper clamp, particularly for gripping fragile objects such as bottles, said clamp being intended to form part of a treatment machine for such objects.
The present invention also relates to a machine of this kind.
For the purpose of gripping an object in a machine with the aid of a clamp, the prior art teaches the application to said object, by means of the clamp, of a clamping force sufficient to avoid the risk that the weight of this object and any other forces to which it may be subjected because of the handling operation and which may be added to the weight, will open out the jaws of the clamp and cause the object to fall. If it is desired to accelerate the handling operations in the machine, that is to say to increase the working rate of the machine, the inertia forces of which each object is the seat will increase and it is therefore necessary to increase the clamping force of the clamps. However, a substantial clamping force endangers the objects if they are fragile, for example when they are bottles.
The aim of the invention is thus to propose a clamp and a bottle treatment machine which make it possible to handle fragile objects, which may be bottles, rapidly and very safely.
According to the invention, the gripper clamp, particularly for fragile objects, and more particularly for bottles, which is intended to form part of an automatic treatment machine, comprising at least two jaws movable relative to one another between a gripping position and a release position, at least one of the jaws being movable and connected for that purpose to actuating means, transmission means being functionally interposed between the actuating means and the movable jaw in order to transmit to the movable jaw its movements between the release position and the gripping position, is characterized in that said transmission means is irreversible at least in respect of the return of the movable jaw to its release position from the gripping position.
Thus, even if the clamping force applied to the object by the actuating means is weak, the object cannot be freed from the clamp because the transmission means between the actuating means and the jaws is irreversible, that is to say the jaws cannot transmit any significant displacement to the actuating means.
According to the second object of the invention, the machine for treating objects, particularly bottles, comprising at least one clamp for individually gripping each object, is distinguished in that the clamp is made in accordance with the first object.
Other features and advantages of the invention will also emerge from the following description of a nonlimitative example.
In the accompanying drawings:
FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of a rotary roundabout treatment machine according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic view in axial section of the machine on the line II--II in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a view in elevation, partly in section, of a treatment device of the machine shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the bottle being in the upright position;
FIG. 4 is a similar view to FIG. 3, but showing the bottle subjected to an injection in the inverted position;
FIG. 5 is a front view of the device with parts in section and parts broken away;
FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the clamp, with the arms and tenons in section, and in two different positions;
FIG. 7 is a view of the clamp in lateral elevation, in two different positions, with parts in section and parts broken away, and
FIGS. 8 and 9 are top plan views of the front part of the device, without a bottle being present and with a bottle in the inverted position respectively.
The machine shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is intended to be inserted in a bottle treatment chain. It comprises an inlet conveyor 1 receiving the bottles 2 coming from the upstream part of the chain, and an outlet conveyor 3 which passes the bottles 2 to the downstream part of the chain.
Along the inlet conveyor 1 is disposed a spacer screw 4 of known type, which gives the successive bottles 2 a spacing and a speed of passage which are p
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Kramer Dean J.
Mitchell David M.
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