Handling: hand and hoist-line implements – Hook – hoistline – or grab type – Locking device
Patent
1995-07-06
1997-06-24
Kramer, Dean
Handling: hand and hoist-line implements
Hook, hoistline, or grab type
Locking device
294104, 294116, B66C 142
Patent
active
056411901
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a gripping device comprising two fingers or jaws, the first jaw being rigid and the second jaw acting like a lever being rotatable on a shaft provided in the first jaw. The gripping device has a work cylinder for moving the second jaw, the piston rod of the work cylinder being adapted to exert a power in a direction which is substantially the longitudinal direction of the jaws, and a mechanism for transferring the power of the piston rod to the second jaw at a point which is located between the shaft and the free end or nose of the jaws, said mechanism consisting of a roller, which is secured to the outer end of the piston rod and is adapted to roll in a link or roller path of the second jaw, and an additional link or roller path, which is rectilinear and parallel with the axis of the work cylinder.
A gripping device of the above described type is particularly but not exclusively designed for mounting and dismounting hose clamps consisting of spring wire, which can clamp a hose end firmly and tightly around a connecting branch or similar object due to its elastic force, the spring wire being formed as a loop extending at least one complete revolution around the end of the hose for the formation of a ring having a diameter which is slightly smaller than that of the end of the hose in the mounted position of the hose clamp, and wherein the two ends of the spring wire extend radially a short distance outwards from the loop. The spring wire may have a circular or a rectangular section.
Hose clamps of the above type are mounted or dismounted by forcing the two ends of the spring wire being clamped together, whereby the diameter of the loop is increased to such a degree that the hose clamp can be brought in and around the end of the hose or taken away from it. For hose clamps of thick spring wire, the power needed for clamping together the two spring ends is so considerable as to require use of a power-operated gripping device.
A power-operated gripping device can either be manually held by an operator and released in a manual operation of the gripping device, or the gripping device can be mounted on a robot arm.
A gripping device of the described type is for example known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,013,835. In this known gripping device the movement of the piston rod is transferred to the first jaw by means of a roller, which slides in a groove of the said first jaw, while the end of the piston rod is controlled by a slide bar, which is movable in a longitudinal guide of the second jaw.
A similar arrangement is known from DE Printed Specification no. 38 08 822.
The drawbacks of the known gripping devices are that concurrently with the closing of the jaws, a steadily increasing power is required on the part of the work cylinder since there is a comparatively high friction between the individual parts of the gripping devices due to the geometry of the constructions, as a result of which a large amount of energy is consumed in the operation of the gripping devices.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide such construction of a gripping device that the work cylinder exerts the least possible power during the pressing together of the jaws to the effect that energy can be saved during operation, the construction being designed to reduce the friction between the individual parts of the gripping device.
This object is achieved by means of a gripping device of the type described in the introduction, which is characteristic in that the first roller is secured to a roller head, which has an additional roller, which cooperates with the mentioned additional link or roller path in the first jaw, and that means have been provided for opening of the jaws.
The power of the piston rod of the cylinder is thus transferred via a link guide and rollers to the arm of the movable arm of the jaw between the jaw and its axis of rotation, whereby the power exerted on the jaw will increase with the degree of closure without increasing the power exerted by the work cylinder, the friction between the
REFERENCES:
patent: 976052 (1910-11-01), Devine
patent: 1900194 (1933-03-01), Niemi
patent: 2527922 (1950-10-01), Falkner
patent: 3013835 (1961-12-01), Blatt
patent: 5033785 (1991-07-01), Woolley, Jr.
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