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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-5261265-A, on 16 November 1993. 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-2026-000003361

Compliance apparatus and methods for gripping and transporting workpiece sheets such as appliance door blanks to be formed to and from a properly aligned forming position at a work station

Published
Permanent URL
Classification
Manufacturing & Assembly Equipment › Machining Systems
Assignee
RWC INC
Original source
US-5261265-A, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, 16 November 1993
Document SHA-256
55f2f41bfb3224baa75c36fa18ae2a1955c4b04d694f2aad00c8c8509a31a5fc

Compliance apparatus, for gripping and transporting workpiece sheets such as appliance door blanks to be formed to and from a work station having precision locator sheet stop surfaces, is mounted on a carrier for travel in a generally horizontal path toward the work station. The compliance apparatus includes a plurality of generally horizontally spaced apart, workpiece-aligned suction grippers for collectively gripping the top surface of a workpiece sheet. Resilient mechanism connecting each of the grippers to the carrier provides for relative individual lateral movement of the sheet carrying grippers from neutral positions to positions displaced therefrom in any required direction, as dictated by the sheet engaging one of the locator sheet stop surfaces and being forced to a correctly aligned position in engagement with the other locator sheet stop surface as the carrier moves in its said path of travel. The resilient mechanism restores each gripper to original neutral position when the workpiece leaves the work station and normally maintains it in neutral position.

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Abstract

Compliance apparatus, for gripping and transporting workpiece sheets such as appliance door blanks to be formed to and from a work station having precision locator sheet stop surfaces, is mounted on a carrier for travel in a generally horizontal path toward the work station. The compliance apparatus includes a plurality of generally horizontally spaced apart, workpiece-aligned suction grippers for collectively gripping the top surface of a workpiece sheet. Resilient mechanism connecting each of the grippers to the carrier provides for relative individual lateral movement of the sheet carrying grippers from neutral positions to positions displaced therefrom in any required direction, as dictated by the sheet engaging one of the locator sheet stop surfaces and being forced to a correctly aligned position in engagement with the other locator sheet stop surface as the carrier moves in its said path of travel. The resilient mechanism restores each gripper to original neutral position when the workpiece leaves the work station and normally maintains it in neutral position.

1. Drawings

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Publication information

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Citation

OpenTechnical Publication OT-2026-000003361, “Compliance apparatus and methods for gripping and transporting workpiece sheets such as appliance door blanks to be formed to and from a properly aligned forming position at a work station,” published September 15, 2026 at 20:16:03 UTC, https://opentechnical.org/p/OT-2026-000003361.

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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.