Gripping head of apparatus for handling objects such as lipsticks and the like

A gripping head of a handling apparatus grips objects, such as lipsticks or the like by means of the inflated surface of the tube thereof. A fluid inlet is formed on top of the hard body, and a fluid path is formed in the hard body. The outer cylinder open at the lower end thereof is so fixed on the hard body as to contain the latter, and the above-mentioned tube open at both ends thereof is fixed at both the ends to the lower outside end of the outer cylinder and the hard body or to the upper and lower outer ends of the hard body. The object is caught by the catching head when the tube is inflated inwardly as the fluid such as air is supplied into the space between the tube and outer cylinder or into the inside space of the tube through the fluid path from the fluid inlet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a gripping head of a handling apparatus, 
of which the inflated tubular surface is to grip objects such as lipsticks 
and the like. 
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a typical conventional gripping head. As seen, gripping 
head comprises a hard cylindrical body 100 open at both ends thereof, a 
tube 101 covering the inner wall of the body 100 and open at both ends 
thereof, and a fluid path 102 formed in the hard body 100. When a fluid 
such as air is supplied from the fluid path 102, the tube 101 is inflated 
inwardly and the inflated surface of the tube 101 grips on object. Both 
ends of the tube 101 are folded back from inside to outside of the hard 
body 100 and secured to the hard body 100 with calking rings 103 and 104. 
The hard body 100 has an outwardly protruding flange-shaped portion 100A. 
The fluid path 102 is formed in this flange portion 100A, and also taps 
105 are formed on the flange portion 100A for installing the gripping head 
in the handling apparatus. The flange portion 100A has to protrude at 
least 10 mm from the hard body 100. The gripping head of the 
above-mentioned structure is moved up and down after being installed in 
the handling apparatus by means of the taps 105. 
However, an attempt to grip a plurality of objects 200 such as lipsticks as 
shown in FIG. 18 all at once with the gripping heads shown in FIGS. 1 and 
2 disposed side by side in a line will be unsuccessful unless the 
lipsticks are placed with sufficiently wide spacings for the gripping 
heads to exactly face the correesponding lipsticks without interfering 
with each other. The outside diameter R of the individual gripping heads 
is so large that when a plurality of the gripping heads is placed 
correspondly to a plurality of the lipsticks disposed with narrow 
spacings, in a line, they will theoretically overlap each other as shown 
by hatching in FIG. 3. Also in the conventional gripping head, the flange 
portion 100A has to be formed and the fluid path 102 has to be formed in 
the flange portion 100A. So, even when it is attempted to grip and rotate 
the lipsticks 201 to put them into their cases by the gripping heads as 
shown in FIG. 4, the rotation is not possible because it is blocked by the 
joint 106 fixed to the fluid path 102 (see FIG. 5). 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a gripping 
head for use with objects such as lipsticks or the like, by which objects 
placed in a line with narrow spacings can be gripped all at once by a 
plurality of the gripping heads disposed side by side and the objects thus 
caught can be rotated when necessary. 
The above objects can be accomplished by providing a gripping head 
comprising, according to the present invention, a hard body, a fluid inlet 
formed on top of the hard body and a fluid path formed in the body, an 
outer cylinder so fixed on the body as to contain the latter and open at 
the lower end thereof, and a tube fixed to the lower outer end of the 
outer cylinder and the hard body or to the upper and lower outer ends of 
the hard body and open at both ends thereof, the tube being inflated 
inwardly, and gripping an object, when a fluid such as air is supplied 
into the space between the tube and outer cylinder an into the space 
inside the tube through the fluid path from the fluid inlet. 
According to the present invention, if the inside diameter P of the tube of 
the conventional gripping head (FIG. 1) is similar to that of the tube of 
a gripping head of the invention and the outside diameter Q not including 
the flange portion 100A of the conventional gripping head is the same as 
that of the outer cylinder, cylinder of a gripping head of the invention, 
the inter-work spacing can be reduced by a space which the flange portion 
100A, which is not provided in the present invention, would occupy in the 
conventional gripping head. Also, since the fluid inlet is formed on top 
of the hard body, the catching head can be freely rotated. 
Further, according to the present invention, the flange portion of the 
conventional gripping head is dispensed with and so even in case a 
plurality of such gripping heads according to the present invention are 
disposed side by side in a line for gripping objects all at once, the 
interwork spacing can be made narrower than in the conventional gripping 
head. Also, since the fluid inlet can be formed on top of the head body, 
the gripping head can be rotated. Moreover, since the tube is protected by 
the outer cylinder, the tube will not easily be broken. 
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be 
better understood from the ensuing description made, by way of example, of 
the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the drawings.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring now to FIG. 6 and subsequent drawings, the preferred embodiments 
of the present invention will be described herebelow. 
As shown in FIG. 6, the gripping head according to the present invention 
comprises a hard body 1, a fluid inlet 2 formed in a top center of the 
hard body 1 and to which there is fixed a joint 3 which is connected to an 
air compressor (not shown) by means of hose or the like, and a fluid path 
4 formed in the hard body 1 and communicating with the fluid inlet 2. The 
outside diameter of a lower end of the hard body 1 is designed small and a 
tube 5 is secured at an upper end thereof to the lower end of the hard 
body 1 with a calking ring 6. An outer cylinder 7 open at the lower end 
thereof is so fixed to the upper portion of the hard body 1 as to contain 
the latter. An O-ring 8 for sealing is interposed at the location where 
the outer cylinder 7 is secured to the hard body 1. The lower end of the 
tube 5 is turned back outwardly from the lower end of the outer cylinder 
7, and this tube end is fastened by a calking ring 9. There is defined 
between the tube 5 and outer cylinder 7 a space 10 with which the fluid 
path 4 communicates and into which a fluid such as air is supplied. FIG. 7 
shows the space 10 supplied with the fluid through the fluid path 4 from 
the fluid inlet 2. When fluid is supplied into the space 10, the tube 5 is 
inflated inwardly to grip an object by the inflated surface thereof. 
According to the second embodiment shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, an inner pipe 
11, of which the outside diameter is small, is connected to the lower end 
of the hard body. The rest of the structure of the gripping head of the 
second embodiment is like that of the first embodiment, and so will not be 
described any further. The inner pipe 11 is provided to prevent the tube 5 
from being in contact with the lipstick body when the gripping head 
catches a lipstick 201. FIG. 9 shows the inward inflation of the tube 5 
when the fluid is supplied into the space 10a through the fluid path 4. 
Because of the inner pipe 11, an object or the part of an objects inserted 
into the inner pipe 11 will not contact the tube 5. 
FIGS. 10 and 11 show the third embodiment of the present invention. 
According to this embodiment, the upper and bottom ends of the tube 5b are 
secured to the upper and lower outer ends, respectively, of the hard body 
1b, the tube 5b being fixed at one end thereof to the lower outer portion 
of the hard body 1b with the calking ring 9b, while the tube 5b thus 
suspended is turned back and fixed at the other end thereof to the upper 
outer portion of the hard body 1b with a calking ring 6b. In this 
embodiment, the space 10b is defined inside this turned-back tube 5b. 
Also, in this embodiment the outer cylinder 7a is of somewhat different 
configuration from that of the first and second embodiments. 
FIGS. 12 and 13 show the fourth embodiment of the present invention, in 
which an inner pipe 11a as in the second embodiment is secured to the 
lower portion of the hard body 1a as in the third embodiment and a space 
10c is defined inside the turned-back tube 5b; Since the rest of the 
structure of the gripping head according to the fourth embodiment is like 
that of the third embodiment, it will not be described any further. 
In an embodiment shown in FIG. 14, five of the gripping heads according the 
first embodiment are so arranged side by side in a line as to grip all at 
once the objects 200 placed with closer spacings than when they would be 
gripped by the conventional gripping head. 
According to another embodiment shown in FIG. 15, the gripping head is so 
constructed as to be rotatable. A rotary joint 12 is provided at the joint 
3, and a rotatable cylinder 13 is provided on top of the hard body 1. The 
rotation of a motor 14 is transmitted to the top end of this rotatable 
cylinder 13 by means of a belt or chain 15. The referance numeral 16 
indicates a V-grooved wheel or sprocket, and 17 indicates a bearing. As 
seen in FIG. 15, when the entire gripping head is rotated with the 
rotation from the motor 14 while the lipstick 201 is fixed at the base end 
thereof and gripped at the case thereof by the inflated surface of the 
tube 5, the lipstick body in the inner pipe 11 can be put into the case. 
According to the fifth embodiment shown in FIG. 16, the upper end of the 
outer cylinder to secure the tube 5b to the hard body 1c. 7b functions 
like a calking ring. FIG. 17 shows the tube 5b supplied with the fluid in 
the inside space 10b thereof.