Patent ID: 6039529
Filing Date: 2000-03-21
Classification: B65G

Abstract:
An apparatus for lifting and moving articles, comprising at least one arrangement with a cavity, said cavity comprising a vacuum chamber, connected to an arrangement which is capable of producing negative pressure in said vacuum chamber, an underside of a lower plate having an elastic airtight bottom and also having a plurality of first through-passages to said vacuum chamber, wherein each first passage is of cylindrical design with a diameter reduction in a part which is connected to the vacuum chamber, forming a shoulder in each of the first passages, in that each of the first passages contains a body arranged movably in said first passage, in that said body, in planes which are at right angles to the center line of the first passage, has a greatest diameter which is only slightly smaller than the diameter of said first passage, and in that said first passage is provided with a second passage with a considerably smaller diameter than said first passage, said body being capable of essentially blocking said first passage when a negative pressure is obtained in the vacuum chamber with the exception of a given air flow in said second passage.