US1426692A

US1426692A - Apparatus for holding and lifting by means of suckers

Info

Publication number: US1426692A
Application number: US415121A
Authority: US
Inventors: Waldron Frederic Barnes
Original assignee: Pilkington Brothers Ltd
Current assignee: Pilkington Group Ltd
Priority date: 1919-10-17
Filing date: 1920-10-06
Publication date: 1922-08-22
Anticipated expiration: 1939-08-22
Also published as: GB156919A; FR521266A; NL7481C; DE348000C

Description

F. BJWALDRON APPARATUS FOR HOLDING AND LIFTING BY MEANS OF SUCKERS.

APPLICATION NEED OCT. 6,1920.

11 26,692, Patented Aug. 22, 1922.

r! v t? We r ii lei ll s l FEEDERIG BARNES YUAYLDRON, PRESGOT, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO PILKINGTON BROTHERS LIMITED, 0}? ST. HELENS, ENGLAND, A LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY OF EHGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR HOLDING AND LIFTING BY IFEEANS OE STICKERS,

nasaeea.

Application filed. October 6,

T 0 aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, Fnnnnnic BARNES -WALDRON, a subject of the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing at Eco eston Park, Prescot, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented new and useful THIPILOVG- ments in Apparatus for Holding and Lifting by Means of Suckers, of wh1ch the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for holding and lifting by means of suckers, and as it is particularly applicable for holding and lifting plates of glass, the following description deals with 1t only in that connection. The invention has for its object to provide new or improved apparatus whereby large plates of glass may be lifted from a horizontal position by a crane, transported thereby in a vertical or nearly vertical position and placed either on edge on racks or in a horizontal position.

This improved apparatus is more especially designed for lifting plates of glass in the course of their manufacture, in which they are bedded on to the grinding and polishing tables and have to be lifted therefrom. The plates when so bedded, adhere so firmly to the tables that it is impraeticable, unless by the use of very powerful apparatus, to lift them by a direct vertical pull, and, when being lifted by hand, they have to be raised first at one edge and, as it were, peeled off the table the flexibility of the plates permit-ting this peeling action.

The lifting apparatus which forms the subject of this invention, imitates this action of lifting by'hand, and, under the hoisting action of the crane, lifts the plate first at one edge and, by allowing it to bend, peels it off the table.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1, is a front elevation showing the apparatus as when suspended from the crane and holding in a vertical plane, a plate of glass not represented in the figure.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of Figure 1, showing on an enlarged scale, a portion of the apparatus when in a horizontal position, and

Figure 3 is a view of a portion of Fig Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented Au 22, 1922.

1920. Serial 110. 415,121.

ure 2 on an enlarged scale, showing a mod ified form of the apparatus.

In the construction represented in the drawing, which is to be taken merely as a convenient example, the frame of the apparatus is composed of a channel bar 1, to

which are bolted

cross arms

2, 2, by

bolts

15, 15. At each end of each cross arm 2, is supported a sucker 3, and these suckers are connected to pipe junctions 4, 1, by rubber or other flexible connecting pipes 5, 5, while the pipe junctions 4, a, are connected together and to a T-piece 7, by pipes 6, A flexible pipe 8, connected to the T-piece 7, connects the suckers 3, through the, system of pipes to an air-exhausting means. The apparatus is supported from the crane by sling 10, 10, pivoted in

lugs

9, 9, fixed to the channel bar 1.

The crane sling 10, 10, is attached symmetrically to the centre of the apparatus in the direction of the length of the channel bar 1, but, in the other direction, it is attached on a line nearer to one side (that is to say, to the top as seen in Figure 1) of the apparatus. Further, as shown in Figure 2, the common axis of the sling pivots, is as close as practicable to the plane of the faces of the suckers, so that when the apparatus is lifted, as in Figure 1, carrying a plate of glass, it hangs nearly vertically, and is therefore in a convenient position for transport and for placing said plate on edge on racks. I

When the apparatus is placed centrally on the plate of glass and is attached thereto by the suckers 3, the pull of the crane acts most on that edge of the plate to which the

lugs

9, 9, are nearest, and lifts this edge first, and then gradually brings the plate more and more towards the vertical until said plate leaves the table.

In order to secure the peeling oil action above mentioned, the glass plate must be allowed to bend when being lifted and to permit this bending, the suckers 3 are supported loosely on the cross arms 2.

As shown. in Figure 2, a bolt 11 is rigidly attached to the body 12 of the sucker 3, and passes through a hole in the end of the cross arm 2, the hole being larger than the bolt so as to allow play between them. There is also play between the upper surface of the end of the cross arm 2 and a shoulder 13 of the bolt 11. The sucker, therefore, can, within small limits, take up any angular position with reference to. the frame, andall suckers can consequently remain in contact with the plate when this is bent.

In order that the apparatus may be employed to lift both small and large'plates, valves 14:, 14, are provided in

thepipes

6, 6, leading to the two outer pairs of suckers 3,

so that when one or both of these pairsof the

lugs

9, 9, being nearer to one side of the-apparatus than to the other.

To enable the suckers 3 securely to hold rough cast glass or glass that is Warped, it is preferred to make the frame of the apparatus flexible so that any one of the

cross arms

2, 2 can, within small limits, take up any angular position relatively to the plane of the frame. For this purpose the frame would preferably be made flexible by so attaching the

cross arms

2, 2 to the channel barl, as to permit of limited relative motion between these parts. Any convenient mechanical. construction may be adopted to securethis freedom of the cross arms, vfor example, in the construction of frame shown, in Figure 3 it is conveniently obtained by leaving the

bolts

15, 15 slightly slack.

The invention is not confined to the particular design and construction of apparatus shown and described, but it is an essen tial feature of the invention that the suckers should be so attached to the frame of the apparatus, that they can remain incontact with the plate of glass when this latter bends under the action of pulling it off the table.

Having described my invention, I declare that what I cl'aim'and desire to secure by,

Letters Patent is 1. In apparatus for lifting and carrying glass. plates, the combination of a frame, suckers thereon adapted to be attached to glass plates by suction and a carrying sling pivoted to the frame on an axis nearer to one side of the frame than to the other.

2. In apparatus for lifting andcarrying glass plates, the combination of a frame,

suckers thereon adapted to be attached to glass plates by suction, a carrying sling pivoted to the frame on an axis nearer to one side of the frame than to the other and as close as is constructionally practicable to the plane containing the faces of the suckers.

3. In apparatus for lifting and carrying glass plates, the combination of a longitudr nal member and cross members attached to the longitudinal member to form a frame, suckers thereon adapted to be attached to glass plates by suction, and a carrying sling pivoted to the frame on an axis nearer to one side of the frame than to the other.

l. In apparatus for lifting and carrying glass plates, the combination of a longitudinal-member and cross members attached to the longitudinal member to form a frame, suckers thereon adapted to be attached to glass plates by suction, a carrying sling pivoted to the frame on an axis nearer to one side of the frame than to the other and as close as is constructionally practicable to the plane containing the faces of thes'uckers.

5. In apparatus for lifting and carrying glass plates, the combination of a longitudinal member and cross members, means for attaching the cross members to the longitudinal member to form a frame and permit a small movement of the cross members out of their general plane, suckers on the crossmembers adapted to be attached to glass plates by suction and a carrying sling pivoted to the frame on an axis nearer to one side of the frame than to the other.

6. In apparatus for lifting and carrying glass plates, the combination of a longitudinal member and cross members, means for FREDERIO BARNES .VVALDRON.