The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 22, 1994
Filed:
Aug. 28, 1992
Thong H Vo, Webster, NY (US);
William A Hammond, Rochester, NY (US);
Xerox Corporation, Stamford, CT (US);
Abstract
An end effector for a robotic assembly for acquiring and manipulating articles having a substantially cylindrical aperture therein. The end effector has a cylindrical gripping portion having radially expandable fingers and a collar portion adapted to bear on the article. When the fingers are inserted into the aperture in the article and expanded the object is gripped over a large portion of the circumference of the aperture. The article is then translated from a vertical to horizontal position. The gripping portion is provided with a flat portion to allow the article to be contacted against a stop for easy withdrawal of the fingers. The entire cylindrical gripping portion is flexibly mounted to the robotic assembly to allow acquisition of an article presented to the gripping portion of the end effector in an off vertical alignment.