LIFTING APPARATUS FOR SHAPED ARTICLES

APPAREIL DE LEVAGE DE PROFILES LOURDS

English Abstract

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ABSTRACT
The invention provides lifting apparatus for
lifting, transporting and stacking shaped articles, e.g.
I-beams, both quickly and safely, and in such a manner that
the stacked articles occupy minimum space. The apparatus
has a cross beam rotatably supporting pairs of clamping
jaws which extend from the lower surface of the cross beam.
The pairs of clamping jaws are interconnected by alignment
means which ensures that the jaws are all kept parallel to
each other during rotation relative to the cross beam.
Groups of shaped articles can thus be clamped by the jaws
and lifted by the cross beam, so there is no need to stack
the articles with spacer members therebetween, which is
necessary when the articles are lifted by conventional cranes
or forklift trucks. Quick, safe and economical lifting,
transportation and storage can thus be achieved.

Claims

Claims:
1. Apparatus for lifting shaped articles,
particularly profiled beams, comprising a cross beam
having a plurality of pairs of clamping jaws rotatably
depending therefrom, said pairs of jaws being inter-
connected by alignment means for maintaining mutual
alignment of the pairs of jaws upon rotation thereof
relative to the cross beam, and said jaws of each pair
having substantially parallel, mutually confronting
clamping surfaces which are movable towards or away from
each other in directions generally normal to said surfaces.
2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein three
pairs of clamping jaws depend from the cross beam.
3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein
each pair of clamping jaws comprises a first jaw integrally
formed with a movable cylinder, and a second jaw connected
to a fixed piston extending into said cylinder.
4. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein
the alignment means includes a hydraulic piston/cylinder
unit attached to the cross beam for causing the pairs of
clamping jaws to rotate relative to the cross beam.
5. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein
said gripper surfaces are formed by replaceable gripping
inserts locatable in said jaws.
6. A gripper system for industrial transporting
comprising:
a lifting mechanism;
support means attached to the lifting mechanism;
a plurality of gripper support members each rotatable
around an about vertical axis and attached to the bottom
side of the support means;
a gripper element including clamping jaws where
the clamping surfaces are vertical and movable towards or
away from each other in directions generally normal to
said surfaces, and where the jaws are open at the bottom
such as to grip from above and where a gripper element is

rigidly attached to each gripper support member; and
a linkage mechanism connected to the gripper
support members for synchronizing the angular position
of the gripper support members relative to a plurality
of objects.
7. A gripper system for industrial transporting
according to claim 6 wherein the clamping jaws are pro-
vided by a clamping jaw forming together with a movable
cylinder a single piece and by a second clamping jaw
connected to a piston stationary with respect to the
gripper support member.
8. The gripper system for industrial trans-
porting according to claim 7 wherein the clamping jaws
are moved by hydraulic power.
9. The gripper system for industrial trans-
porting according to claim 6 wherein the support means
is provided by a girder.
10. The gripper system for industrial trans-
porting according to claim 6 further comprising axles
attached to the top of the gripper support members.
11. The gripper system for industrial trans-
porting according to claim 10 further comprising a carrier
pin attached to each axle attached to each gripper support
member; and a rod providing the linkage mechanism and
engaging a respective carrier pin.
12. The gripper system for industrial trans-
porting according to claim 6 wherein three gripper support
members and three grippers are employed.
13. A method for transporting pluralities of
elongated industrial objects comprising:
attaching to a lifting mechanism a support means
for a plurality of gripper support members with rigidly
attached grippers including clamping jaws where the
clamping surfaces are vertical and movable towards or away
from each other in directions generally normal to said
surfaces, and where the jaws are open at the bottom such

as to grip from above;
synchronously rotating the gripper support
members to a desired angle position;
lowering the support means such that the grippers
contact the objects to be picked up; gripping the objects
to be picked up; and lifting the gripped objects upward.
14. The method for transporting pluralities of
elongated industrial objects according to claim 13 wherein:
the gripper elements are provided by hydraulically
actuated clamp jaws.

Description

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LIFTING APPARATUS FOR SHAPED ARTICLES
This invention relates to lifting apparatus for
conveying machinery and, more particularly, to lifting
apparatus for lifting shaped articles, particularly support
beams or the like.
Shaped articles, such as I-beams, are presently
picked up and moved by various vehicles or equipment, e.g.
a forklift truck or a crane. If a crane is used, a chain
or rope is passed around the material and secured to a hook
or other attachment device. The disadvantage of this is that,
before and after transportation of the material, someone must
install or remove the chain or rope, and that person is
exposed to significant danger. A further disadvantage,
which is equally true for transportation by forklift trucks,
is that the shaped articles must, when stacked, be provided
with spacers or the like to leave room for the chain or rope,
or for the fork of the forklift truck. This of course
necessitates increased storage space for the material.
An object of the invention is to provide lifting
apparatus that can lift, transport and stack shaped articles
quickly and safely, and in such a way that the stacked
material requires minimal storage space.
According to the invention there is provided appara-
tus for lifting shaped articles, particularly profiled beams,
comprising a cross beam having a plurality of pairs of clamp-
ing jaws rotatably depending therefrom, said pairs of jaws
being interconnected by alignment means for maintaining
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mutual alignment of the pairs of jaws upon rotation
thereof relative to the cross beam, and said jaws of each
pair having substantially parallel, mutually confronting
clamping surfaces which are movable towards or away from
each other in directions generally normal to said surfaces.
The invention makes it possible to lift, move and
unload shaped articles, particularly profiled beams, either
individually or in groups of several at a time, quickly
and without assistance, and to store the shaped articles
in such a way that they occupy minimum space. Thus enabling
the material to be transported economically and safely.
A preferred form of the invention has a cross beam
or transom provided with three pairs of clamping jaws.
Preferably each pair of clamping jaws comprises a
first jaw formed integrally with a movable cylinder and a
second jaw attached to a fixed piston extending into the
cylinder. This results in a particularly compact and there-
fore space-saving construction. In an alternative embodi-
ment, the piston is movable and the cylinder fixed, but
this is less preferred.
A preferred embodiment of the invention is described
in detail in the following with reference to the accompany-
ing drawings, which show a lifting apparatus that can be
attached to a crane (not shown), e.g. a movable trolley
crane, and which operates on double flanged beams (I-beams)
as the material to be transported.
In the drawings:
Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a lifting apparatus
lifting four I-beams;
Fig. 2 is a partial side view of Fig. l; and
Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section of a pair of
clamping jaws and associated equipment.
A cross beam or transom is indicated by reference
numeral 1. The cross beam supports three pairs of clamping

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jaws 2 which are rotatable about vertical axles 3. The
pairs of clamping jaws each consist essentially of a jaw 5
formed as one piece with a movable, hydraulically operable
cylinder 4, and a jaw 7 connected to a fixed piston 6.
Hydraulic fluid under pressure forced into the
cylinder through a passageway (shown in broken lines in
Fig. 3~ extending through the piston shaft, causes the
cylinder to move relative to the piston and thus causes
the jaws to clamp together. Fluid under pressure
introduced into the cylinder on the opposite side of the
piston causes the jaws to open. Each jaw has a replace-
able gripping insert 8. The pairs of clamping jaws are
connected together via mutual alignment means. This consists
essentially of a hydraulically operable piston/cylinder unit
9 connected to the cross beam 1, a connecting rod 10 provided
below the cross member, and engasing pins 11 connected to
the axles 3. The I-beams to be transported are indicated
by reference numeral 12.
Upon rotation of cross beam 1, the piston/cylinder
unit 9 is activated by impulse means (not shown or further
described). The unit 9, via the connecting rod 10 and the
engaging pins 11, align the clamping jaws with the longitud-
inal axes of the material to be transported irrespective of
the angle of inclination of the cross beam 1 to the
longitudinal axes.
By varying the angle between the cross beam and the
longitudinal axis of the material, the spacing of the pairs
of gripping jaws in the direction transverse to longitudinal
axis is also varied. Thus, I-beams of different widths can
be lifted by the apparatus without complex adjustments having
to be made.
The above description relates to a preferred
embodiment of the invention. Other embodiments are also
included within the scope of this invention as defined by
the following claims.
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