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This is a record of a document published elsewhere, first published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, as US-5727832-A, on 17 March 1998. OpenTechnical did not first disclose it. The identifier, hashes and timestamps below record what this library served and when, not when the material became public. View the original.

OT-2026-000003228

End effector for transferring articles

Published
Permanent URL
Classification
Robotics & Automation › Robot Architectures
Inventors
HOLTER CARL F
Assignee
ABB FLEXIBLE AUTOMATION INC
Original source
US-5727832-A, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, 17 March 1998
Document SHA-256
4e571a35159f23750dffb76706a9b51afbd7b75c538af83fb8817f5a344b59d9

An end effector for use with an industrial robot and capable of holding a stack of substantially flat, folded articles. The end effector includes a body which defines a vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber has a port which may be coupled to a vacuum source and an opening or vacuum face which is positioned in spaced relation relative to the port. Sealing material is mounted on a portion of the peripheral edge of the vacuum face, and a first blade is mounted on the peripheral edge of the vacuum face adjacent to the strip of sealing material. A second blade is mounted on a third portion of the peripheral edge of the vacuum face in axial opposition to the first blade so that the two blades face one another. A second strip of sealing material is mounted on a fourth portion of the peripheral edge of the vacuum face. The first and second blades and sealing material ensure a proper vacuum seal between the end effector and the articles of interest. Preferably, both of the blades are grooved and at least one of the blades is movable by means of a linear slide.

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Abstract

An end effector for use with an industrial robot and capable of holding a stack of substantially flat, folded articles. The end effector includes a body which defines a vacuum chamber. The vacuum chamber has a port which may be coupled to a vacuum source and an opening or vacuum face which is positioned in spaced relation relative to the port. Sealing material is mounted on a portion of the peripheral edge of the vacuum face, and a first blade is mounted on the peripheral edge of the vacuum face adjacent to the strip of sealing material. A second blade is mounted on a third portion of the peripheral edge of the vacuum face in axial opposition to the first blade so that the two blades face one another. A second strip of sealing material is mounted on a fourth portion of the peripheral edge of the vacuum face. The first and second blades and sealing material ensure a proper vacuum seal between the end effector and the articles of interest. Preferably, both of the blades are grooved and at least one of the blades is movable by means of a linear slide.

1. Drawings

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Publication information

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Citation

OpenTechnical Publication OT-2026-000003228, “End effector for transferring articles,” published September 15, 2026 at 19:52:42 UTC, https://opentechnical.org/p/OT-2026-000003228.

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This record reproduces a document published elsewhere and is provided for reference and study. Rights in the original remain with its owner. See the publication policy.