3d Systems, Inc.

Nathan D Eversole

William D Macy

Ryan Luke Alejo

A clamping device is disclosed having a rigid frame and a concavity for accepting items to be clamped together, a clamping action upon items entering into the concavity being facilitated by a contacting member in conjunction with a force-maintaining member and a displacement-limiting element to readily accommodate a range of clamped item dimensions without requiring separate opening or tightening adjustments to be performed by a user while applying the clamping device.

Low profile clamping device

Applied within an automated robotic manufacturing system that includes additive manufacturing capabilities, methods and enabling devices are disclosed for achieving precise multi-dimension positional alignment among a plurality of diverse took that are involved in collaboratively constructing a solid object. The enabling devices according to various embodiments include an automatically deployed contact sensing probe and a tool center point sensor that detects contact with tools in multiple axes. At least one disclosed method advantageously utilizes both sensing devices in complement.

Growing community of inventors

Colorado Springs, CO, United States of America

Nathan D Eversole