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:
Dec. 31, 1996
Filed:
Jul. 18, 1994
James R Panyard, Westland, MI (US);
Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
A gripper is provided for mounting to a distal end of a robotic arm for gripping a workpiece having a pair of spaced apart longitudinally extending contoured faces and at least two extending cylindrical bores, each cylindrical bore having an inner surface, the gripper including a base, a pair of spaced apart longitudinally extending stabilizing members each affixed to the base, each of the stabilizing members having an engagement surface adapted to abutting engage a respective contoured face of the workpiece, at least one pair of opposing clamping arms, each clamping arms being pivotal from a first position wherein the clamping arm is disposed adjacent a respective cylindrical bore to a second position wherein the clamping arm abuttingly engages the inner surface of a cylindrical bores, a pair of biasing cylinders means connected to one of said pair of clamping arms for moving said one clamping arm from said first position to said second position, a pair of spaced apart compliant devices affixed to the base for releasably connecting the base to the distal end of the robotic arm and a control system for selectively controlling the actuation of the biasing cylinders.