Industrial manipulator for placing articles in close proximity to adjacent ...

United States Patent [19]

Thomson et al.

[ii] 4,273,506 [45] Jun. 16, 1981

[54] INDUSTRIAL MANIPULATOR FOR PLACING ARTICLES IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO ADJACENT ARTICLES

[75] Inventors: Robert P. Thomson, Nottingham;

James R. Robertson, Runcorn, both of England

[73] Assignee: Imperial Chemical Industries Limited, London, England

[21] Appl. No.: 948,790

[22] Filed: Oct. 5, 1978

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data

Oct. 20, 1977 [GB] United Kingdom 43709/77

Dec. 23, 1977 [GB] United Kingdom 53748/77

[51] Int. CI.3 B66C 1/32

[52] U.S. CI." 414/735; 294/88;

294/106; 414/739; 414/744 A

[58] Field of Search 414/732, 735, 738, 739,

414/744 A, 744 B, 744 C, 909, 1; 294/88, 103,

106

[56] References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

2,605,919 8/1952 Shattuck 414/739

3,056,625 10/1962 Timmerman 294/88 X

3,255,893 6/1966 Hainer et al 414/732 X

3,460,329 8/1969 Overstreet, Jr 294/88 X

4,076,131 2/1978 Dahlstrom et al 414/735 X

4,132,318 1/1979 Wang et al 414/739 X

FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
993772 6/1965 United Kingdom 294/88

Primary Examiner—Leslie J. Paperner
Assistant Examiner—Edmond G. Rishell, Jr.
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Cushman, Darby & Cushman

[57] ABSTRACT

A method of placing an article onto a surface in close proximity to an adjacent previously-placed article, comprises gripping the article between a pair of jaws, tilting it away from the previously-placed article about an axis parallel to the surface and thereafter releasing it by opening the jaws, the tilt being sufficient to bring the lowered side of the gripped article close to the surface, with the elevated jaw remaining sufficiently high to clear the previously-placed article as it opens. A manipulator suitable for carrying out this method comprises, a gripper having a pair of jaws, a supporting structure for positioning the gripper and an orientation zone interconnecting the gripper and supporting structure for orientating the gripper, the orientation zone comprising means for tilting the gripper about a first axis and means for rotating the gripper about a second axis wherein the tilting means lie between the gripper and the rotation means and the axis of tilt is perpendicular to the axis of rotation, the orientation zone being connected to the supporting structure by a joint which enables the first axis to be held parallel to the surface when the gripper is tilted.

7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures