Transfer assembly for transferring workpieces from station to station along a press

Claim 1

A transfer assembly for gripping and transferring workpieces from station to station along a press of the type having two longitudinally movable feed bars arranged laterally of the dies to be served and a plurality of finger gripper mechanisms secured to each bar, each finger gripper mechanism comprising a frame, a gripper carrying body movable on guide tracks transversely of the feed bars, actuator means for effecting Displacement of the gripper carrying body relative to the guide tracks in order to draw the gripper fingers toward and away from the workpiece and for effecting opening and closing of the gripper fingers, the improvement comprising slide means mounted in said frame for vertical movement, said guide tracks being mounted on said slide means for movably supporting said gripper carrying body, actuator means mounted in said frame for effecting the vertical displacement of said slide means with respect to the frame in order to lift and lower the gripper fingers relatively to the press dies, said actuator means comprising a crank rotatably supported in said frame and a connecting rod articulated at its ends to said crank and to said vertically movable slide means respectively, said crank comprising a toothed wheel, one face of which is provided with a radial T-shaped slot, and a prismatic head movably mounted in said slot and having a pivot thereon to which said connecting rod is articulated, and drive means for rotating said toothed wheel comprising a splined rotary shaft extending longitudinally above said feed bar and a pinion rotatably mounted in said frame in meshing engagement with said toothed wheel and slidably keyed to said splined shaft.