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:
Sep. 18, 2001
Filed:
Jul. 01, 1999
John P. Sherwin, Wauwatosa, WI (US);
ABB Flexible Automation, Inc., New Berlin, WI (US);
Abstract
An end effector for handling stacks of plastic cups, dishes, and similar items. The end effector includes a bracket of similar mechanism for coupling the end effector to the end of a robot arm. A gripping assembly is coupled to the bracket. The gripping assembly includes a main plate with a plurality of pairs of spring blades mounted on the bottom of the main plate. Each spring blade has a plurality of teeth and the pairs of spring blades are positioned such that the teeth from each spring blade are interweaved with one another. Two end blades are also mounted on the bottom of the main plate. The spring blades and end blades form a plurality of parallel bays. Each bay is formed by two spring blades or one spring blade and one end blade. When the end effector is coupled to the robot arm and moved down over the stacks of items to be picked up, the spring blades flex allowing the items to pushed into each bay. The teeth in each spring blade are bent in such a way that as the cups move up into the bay, the teeth move back toward their original position, thereby holding the items in place. To release the items from the bays, a release assembly is driven by an actuator to eject the items from the bays.