Jar stabilizer for pick-up assembly

Claim 1

A jar pick-up assembly adaptable for use with case unloading apparatus and operable for gripping and holding upon mouth jars while being lifted from a case and transferred to another location, said assembly including a shell type housing movable vertically relative to a jar to be picked up and having an actuator reciprocally operable therein, a plurality of elongate opposed finger-like members pivotally attached to and depending from said housing, said members being actuable by said actuator to rock the lower portions thereof from a closed abutting position to an open expended position, said lower portions when closed being transportable through the mouth of a jar by the movement of said housing and when expanded within a jar being urged into bearing contact with opposed interior surface areas thereof, and an annular stabilizing member carried by said housing and disposed around the lower extremities of said finger-like members in a horizontal plane to yieldingly engage an external surface area of said jar while said finger-like members are engaging said interior surface thereof, said finger-like members and said stabilizing member coacting to grip said jar there-between and provide stability therefor while being lifted and transferred by said assembly from one location to another, said stabilizing member being supported by a plurality of headed pins slide fitted in said housing and yieldingly extended relative thereto by a spring fitted therebetween.