Abstract:
A device for grabbing bottles comprises a frame, a first set of gripping heads, shoulder pads, extendable arms, a second set of gripping heads. The frame has a first and a second parallel elongated support structure. The first set of gripping heads is mounted on the first elongated support structure. Each shoulder pad is mounted on the first elongated support structure adjacent to the first set of gripping heads. The extendable arms are mounted on the second elongated support structure. The second set of gripping heads is mounted on an end of the extendable arms.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to a gripping device. More particularly, the present invention relates to an automated gripping device intended for lifting and carrying large water bottles to and from support structures. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Polycarbonate containers are commonly used to store and distribute water. Many bottles having necks, but no handles, are difficult to lift or remove from a support structure. This is especially true for large water bottles, such as the 5-gallon variety delivered to home and office. 
   Due to their weight and awkward size of such bottles, gripping devices are used to load and unload large water bottles to and from crates. Such bottle gripping devices may, for example, be incorporated in machines for lifting returned bottles from crates arriving at a bottling site, and for placing filled bottles into crates to be distributed from the bottling site. Normally, several bottle-gripping devices, corresponding in number to the number of bottles in a crate, are mutually coupled to form the tool at the end of a robot arm. The crate comprises several cells in which bottles are placed horizontally. This horizontal position facilitates movement and storage of the bottles. 
   Prior art attempts to provide an automated system using a robot arm for loading and unloading bottles in a trip. For example,  FIG. 1  illustrates a first robot  102  unloading bottles from cells of a bottle rack  104 . The first robot  102  receives an empty bottle  105  from a cell of the bottle rack  104 . After the first robot  102  unloads the empty bottle  105 , it is ready to receive another empty bottle  106  located inside the bottle rack  104 . A second robot  108  is positioned behind rack  104 . The second robot  108  extends an arm  110  pushing empty bottle  106  out of rack  104  so that first robot  102  is able to receive empty bottle  106 . 
   However, both robots  102  and  108  must be synchronized in order to efficiently load and unload bottles from the rack  104 . Furthermore, when the second robot  108  pushes empty bottle  106  out of the crate  104  towards the first robot  102 , the empty bottle  106  may get jammed in the cells causing damages and delay to the operation. 
   A definite need exists for an automated gripping device. Specifically, a need exists for an automated gripping device for lifting and carrying water bottles to and from support structures. A primary purpose of the present invention is to solve these needs and provide further, related advantages. 
   BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   A device for grabbing bottles comprises a frame, a first set of gripping heads, shoulder pads, extendable arms, a second set of gripping heads. The frame has a first and a second parallel elongated support structure. The first set of gripping heads is mounted on the first elongated support structure. Each shoulder pad is mounted on the first elongated support structure adjacent to the first set of gripping heads. The extendable arms are mounted on the second elongated support structure. The second set of gripping heads is mounted on an end of the extendable arms. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the present invention and, together with the detailed description, serve to explain the principles and implementations of the invention. 
     In the drawings: 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a prior art bottling robot arm. 
       FIG. 2A  is a top view of a gripping device for a robot arm according to specific aspects of the present invention. 
       FIG. 2B  is a side view of a gripping for a robot arm according to specific aspects of the present invention. 
       FIG. 2C  is a front perspective view of a gripping device for a robot arm according to specific aspects of the present invention. 
       FIG. 2D  is a rear perspective view of a gripping device for a robot arm according to specific aspects of the present invention. 
       FIG. 3  is a side view of an example of a system having a gripping device on a robot arm used in a bottling operation according to specific aspects of the present invention; and 
       FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of an operation of a gripping device for a robot arm according to specific aspects of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Embodiments of the present invention are described herein in the context of a bottling tool for a robot arm. Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following detailed description of the present invention is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other embodiments of the present invention will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons having the benefit of this disclosure. Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of the present invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same reference indicators will be used throughout the drawings and the following detailed description to refer to the same or like parts. 
   In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the implementations described herein are shown and described. It will, of course, be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developer&#39;s specific goals, such as compliance with application- and business-related constraints, and that these specific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. 
   With respect to  FIGS. 2A ,  2 B,  2 C,  2 D, a frame  202  comprises beams  204  coupled with one another, the end of each beam connecting with the end of another beam with plates  206 . A handle  208  is mounted to frame  202 . The axis of the handle  208  is normal to the plane of the frame  202 . Two support beams  210  flanked on either sides of handle  208  provide additional support to handle  208 . Both support beams  210  are mounted on the frame  202  and are connected to the handle  208 . A set of rods  212  normal to the plane of frame  202  is centrally positioned between support beams  210 . Set of rods  212  allows a slider  214  to slide on set of rods  212 . A beam  216  is mounted transversely on slider  214  so that the direction of beam  216  is parallel to the plane of frame  202 . Several evenly spaced rods  218  are mounted perpendicularly on beam  216  so that the direction of rods  218  is normal to the plane of frame  204 . In particular, each rod  218  is coupled to the beam  216  at one end of each rod  218 . The number of rods  218  corresponds to the maximum capacity of the tool. Each rod  218  may be capable of supporting one empty bottle. 
   Rods  218  slide through guides  220  which are mounted on frame  204  to provide support and direction to rods  218 . The end of each rod  218  opposite to beam  216  is attached to a drive  222  coupled to a claw  224 . The drive  222  may be powered with any conventional manner: electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic. Claw  224  comprises of three complementary circular pieces accommodated to receive the neck of a bottle. Drive  222  allows claw  224  to tighten and secure the neck of the bottle. A pressure sensor  225  coupled to claw  224  may sense the amount of force or pressure applied to the claw  224 . A bottle full of water or fluids may overload and stress rods  218  when the bottle is grabbed by the neck with claw  224 . Claws  224  are mainly designed for grabbing and holding empty bottles. 
   A second series of drives  226  each coupled to claws  228  is mounted on frame  204  each adjacent to claw  224 . Both series of claws  228  and  224  form two rows within frame  204 . A shoulder pad  230  comprising two semi-circles surrounds each claws  228 . Shoulder pad  230  is mounted on frame  204  with a support  232 . Shoulder pads  230  are positioned to receive the “shoulder” of a conventional large water bottle. Shoulder pads  230  also provide support to filled bottles. 
     FIG. 3  is a side view of an example of a tool on a robot arm used in a bottling operation according to specific aspects of the present invention. Tool  302  is mounted on a robot arm  304 . Empty bottles  306  are located in a rack  307  on a first platform  308 . Full bottles  310  are located on a second platform  312 . First platform  308  is higher than second platform  312 . The robot arm uses tool  302  to unload empty bottles  306  on support  312  while simultaneously loading full bottles  310  in the rack on support  308 . For each trip the robot arm makes from platform  308  to  310  or  310  to  308 , full bottles  310  are loaded in the rack and empty bottles  306  are unloaded on platform  312 . 
   When tool  302  is positioned towards rack  307 , the second series of claws with shoulder pad supporting full bottles unloads the full bottles into an empty row of rack  307 . While tool  302  positions its second series of claws with full bottles towards rack  307 , the first series of claws each connected to a rod and adjacent to the second series of claws, reaches in rack  307  to grab empty bottles. 
   Tool  302  then returns to platform  312  to unload the empty bottles by releasing the first series of claws. While tool  302  is unloading empty bottles, the second series of claws grab full bottles by tightening its claws. 
   Rack  307  may typically has two rows and five cells in each row. Each cell can accommodate up to two bottles. The total amount of bottles rack  307  can carry is 20 bottles. However, the tool  302  may be modified to accommodate other types of crates that may comprise of other numbers of cells and rows. 
   When tool  302  needs to reach rear bottles located in the rear of rack  307 , slider  214  of  FIG. 2D  moves along rods  212  towards rack  307  allowing rods to penetrate each cell. Claws ending the rods comes into contact with rear bottles allowing tool  302  to grab and unload empty bottles off rack  307 . 
     FIG. 4  is a flow chart of how a tool for a robot arm used in a bottling operation operates according to specific aspects of the present invention. This operation is illustrative only, the tool can either start loading empty bottles at a rack location or loading full bottles at a loading location. Also, the tool can be used to either load full or empty bottles into the rack. In  FIG. 4 , the rack location means the location of a rack containing empty bottles as illustrated by rack  307  of  FIG. 3 . The loading location is illustrated by platform  312  of  FIG. 3 . 
   In a first block  402 , the tool reaches the rack location. Once in front of the rack, the tool loads empty bottles from the rack in block  404 . The process of loading the empty bottles onto the tool is explained and illustrated in  FIG. 2 . Because of the starting process, no full bottles are loaded into the rack since the tool has not yet picked up the full bottles. In block  406 , the tool is brought to the loading location carrying the empty bottles. In block  408 , the tool unloads the empty bottles onto loading location while loading full bottles from the loading location. It is noted that the tool loads the full bottles using claws having shoulder pads surrounding the claws as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . Once the full bottles are loaded in block  408 , the tool is then brought back to the rack location in block  410 . The full bottles are then unloaded into the rack, while empty bottles are loaded onto the tool in block  412 . These empty bottles are brought back to the loading location in block  414 . Block  416  is similar to block  408  where the tool unloads empty bottles while full bottles are loaded into the rack. The tool is then brought back again to rack location in block  418 . 
   Block  420  is similar to block  412  however it is noted that when the carried full bottles are loaded into the rack, the tool actually loads the full bottles into the rack by pushing the previously loaded bottles in the rack since each cell can accommodate two bottles. The tool has to use its arm extension as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , to reach the back end of the cells of the rack and grab the empty bottles. The tool then retracts its extension arm to its default position (retracted) so that tool can then repeat the process and unload the empty bottles while loading the full bottles at the loading location. In block  422 , the robot arm repeats the process with a new rack full of empty bottles. 
   While embodiments and applications of this invention have been shown and described, it would be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that many more modifications than mentioned above are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims.