Future Automation, Inc.

Earl G Baer

Daniel J Gramarossa

An improved transport belt is provided for gripping and carrying parts such as thin and fragile electronic components through production processes including, for example, electroplating steps and the like. The transport belt comprises an elongated upright web carrying a succession of depending gripper units, each including first and second fingers for gripping and carrying the production parts. The first finger is formed generally coplanar with the belt web, whereas the second finger has a generally U-shaped configuration with depending legs on the leading and trailing sides, respectively, of the first finger. The legs are deformed laterally from the plane of the belt web and interconnected at their lower ends by a cross bar which is urged by the legs into spring-loaded contact with the lower end or tip of the first finger. The fingers are separable at a loading station to permit insertion of a thin and/or fragile production part which is gripped, upon closure of the fingers, with directly opposed forces thereby avoiding part distortion as it is carried through production processes.

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Garden Grove, CA, United States of America

Earl G Baer