GB709421A - Improvements in and relating to apparatus for lifting bottles - Google Patents

Abstract

709,421. Gripping devices for handling bottles ; manifold arrangements. EXPRESS DAIRY CO. (LONDON), Ltd., and GEORGE, F. G. Sept. 3, 1951 [Nov. 30, 1950], No. 29344/50. Class 78 (4) Rods 21, Fig. 4 are caused to move inwardly to grip the necks of a row of bottles by relative vertical movement between end plates 13 and sling members 20 formed respectively with horizontal slots 13b and inclined slots 20c through which the rods pass. The slots 20c are defined by strip members 20a secured by screws 20b to the sling members and terminate at their lower ends in vertical portions which permit a greater lifting force to he applied. The sling members 20 are suspended from rods 19 guided by slots 13a in the end plates and supported by unions 18, Fig. 2, secured to transverse rods 17 supported in turn by unions 15 which are joined by a longitudinal rod 16. The unions 15 have flanges by which they are releasably suspended from brackets 10d, Fig. 1, at the lower ends of the columns 10c depending from a bridge member 10 engaged at 10a by suitable lifting gear. The end plates 13 are joined by side plates 14 to form a lower frame member provided with flanges which are secured within guide flanges 12a, Fig. 1, on an upper frame member 11 by captive pins 12b. The upper frame member is suspended from the bridge member 10 by a pneumatic cylinder and piston 11a, 10b by whicli the movement for operating the gripping rods 21 is imparted to the side plates 13. The detachable connections between the lower frame 13, 14 and the upper frame 11 and between the unions 15 and the brackets 10d enable the gripping mechanism forming the lower part of the apparatus to be replaced by mechanism adapted to engage bottles disposed in a different arrangement. The gripping rods 21 are curved at their ends as shown in Fig. 2 to prevent bottles escaping. Flanges 14a, Figs. 1 and 4, at the lower ends of the end plates 14 guide the apparatus into engagement with a set of bottles in a crate. According to the Provisional Specification a hydraulic piston and cylinder may be used in place of the pneumatic piston and cylinder 10b, 11a; this subject-matter does not appear in the Complete Specification.