The Marconi Company Limited

The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in Her Britannic Majesty's

William M Nimmo

Alexander J King

Richard Jarrett

Disclosed is a device for lifting a single layer of fabric or fiber reinfed plastic sheets from a stack of such sheets with minimal damage to the structure of the fabric. A frame and a flexible base plate are provided with a plurality of individual needle gripper devices located at opposite ends of the base plate. Each needle gripper device includes a needle of arcuate form rotatably mounted about an axis of its arc so that when the needle rotates, the tip of the needle will penetrate a fabric sheet upon which the apparatus is placed and then roll the sheet relative to the frame so that the sheet is peeled away from its original position without stretching or deformation of the fabric.

Fabric lifting apparatus and method

A load moving device consists of a base member which supports the load to be moved and slides over a surface over which the load is to be moved. A lubricant such as grease is introduced between the base member and the surface and in order to prevent a trail of grease being left when the load is moved a skirt is arranged to surround the base member. A seal is operative between the skirt member and said surface to prevent the passage of grease beyond the skirt and the surplus grease within the skirt is scavenged for re-use.

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East Kilbride, United Kingdom

William M Nimmo