Other

Blatt; John A.

David C Tomlin

John A Blatt

A gripper assembly for gripping a workpiece having removable and replaceable mountings. A gripper assembly is substantially square-shaped and has a corresponding square-shaped mounting spacer. The mounting spacer may be positioned about any side of the gripper assembly. This allows an operator to locate the assembly in any orientation to a workpiece assembly unit. The mounting is also removable and replaceable with other mounting configurations as desired. Several mounting couplings may be provided on the gripper to restrict or enlarge movement of the gripper about a workpiece holder assembly.

Gripper assembly

A work holder support apparatus includes an elongate support member having an undercut longitudinal slot. A base plate at one side of the support member carries a spherical ball and a clamp bolt seated in a recessed bore in the ball passes through the base plate and slot to be threadably received in a first clamp plate at the opposite side of the support member. An elongate work holder mounting member and a second clamp plate cooperatively define a ball receiving socket at one end of the mounting member enabling the mounting member to be clamped at any of a wide range of rotative adjustments relative to the ball. An opening into the socket affords access to the recessed clamping bolt head.

Work holder support apparatus

Various forms of mounting devices for mounting workpiece gripper carrying spreader bars upon a boom of a transfer device are disclosed. The boom is formed within an undercut T slot which extends the length of the boom and slidably receives a retainer member. A base spans the slot and is clamped to the side of the boom by clamping screws threadably received in the retainer member so that the base and retainer can be fixedly clamped to the boom at any selected location longitudinally of the boom. A recessed clamp member cooperatively defines within a recess in the base the socket of a ball and socket joint. In one form of the device, the same clamping screws which clamp the base to the boom simultaneously clamp a spherical coupling member fixed to a spreader bar and received in the socket in a selected fixed angularly adjusted position between the clamp member and base. In another form of device one set of clamping screws clamps the base and retainer to the boom and a second set of clamping screws are engaged between the clamp member and base. The coupling member may take the form of an annular split ring resiliently clamped to the spreader bar or may take the form of a spherical enlargement formed on the spreader bar.

Spreader arm mounting device

A transfer boom adapted for suspension from a reciprocal shuttle carriage comprises a boom arm having a plurality of interior passages extending the length of the boom arm. These passages define air passages, thereby eliminating the need for exterior hoses. A T-shaped cavity is provided within the exterior walls of the boom arm. A boom mount, having Venturi cups or grippers is detachably mounted to the boom arm within the T-shaped cavity by a T-bolt. This enables the boom mount to be mounted anywhere along the length of the boom arm. The T-bolt provides for easy removability of the boom mount from the boom arm.

Transfer boom

A workpiece holder includes first and second workpiece engaging members, one of which is rotatable with respect to the other. A rotary actuator drives the rotatable workpiece engaging member between two positions relative to the other workpiece engaging member. The rotatable actuator includes opposed, radially extending vanes mounted on a rotatable shaft extending through a hollow, closed body. The rotatable workpiece engaging member is fixedly connected to and rotatable with the rotatable shaft. The vanes are disposed in the hollow body and respectively create a pair of chambers between themselves and circumferentially spaced legs formed in the body and extending radially inward into the interior cavity of the body toward the rotatable shaft. Pressurized fluid is alternately supplied to and exhausted from each pair of chambers to exert force on and rotate the vanes, the rotatable shaft and the rotatable workpiece engaging member between the two positions. A mounting plate or arm is connected to the body for mounting the workpiece holder to a support surface.

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Mt. Clemens, MI, United States of America

David C Tomlin