Abstract:
Exemplary embodiments provide a grasping and lifting device for moving a plurality of different-sized containers. The dimensions of the grasping device do not have to be adjusted prior to engaging a container which allows an operator to move a variety of different-sized containers in a short period of time. A hoisting device with a counter weight provides lift and motion assistance to the operator so that the risk of repetitive motion injury is reduced.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a non-provisional patent application and does not claim priority to any applications. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     Exemplary embodiments relate generally to a device for grasping and lifting various containers. 
     BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
     In large assembly plants, the movement of materials and subassemblies around the plant can be a critically important task to the overall function of the plant. Each station on the assembly line must have an adequate supply of materials so that the line is not stopped in order to re-stock any individual stations. If the line must be stopped, the plant is losing efficiency, and with a loss of efficiency ultimately comes a loss of money. 
     However, a large volume of parts cannot be stored at each station for a number of reasons. First, there may be a lack of space within the assembly area of the plant to store any parts. Secondly, purchasing and storing a large back-stock of assembly materials may be a waste of precious capital, especially when parts may sit in storage for several weeks before actually being assembled. The demands of the modern assembly plant have created several streamlined material distribution methods. One method of note is ‘just in time’ (JIT) manufacturing. When practicing this type of distribution method, parts must move quickly from the supplier&#39;s factory to the final assembly line with little time and space wasted in between. In a large assembly plant which produces a high volume of outgoing products, moving thousands of parts around to hundreds of different workstations can be a daunting task. 
     In order to accomplish this, new ways of packaging parts to be assembled must be developed and corresponding methods for quickly sorting and moving these packaged parts must also be realized. Several problems exist however with current distribution systems. First, the size of assembly parts may vary widely, thus necessitating a different size and shaped container for each group of parts. For example, a day&#39;s supply of 3 mm nuts for attaching a small component may be much smaller than a day&#39;s supply of motor subassemblies. Thus, any distribution and sorting system must be able to accommodate a variety of different-sized containers. Secondly, when a plurality of different-sized containers move along a guided rail or roller system, the spacing between the containers may vary widely. Gaps between the containers may vary between several feet and several inches, and some containers may abut against one another leaving no gap whatsoever. 
     Modern assembly plants also pay close attention to the stress and strain that is put on the plant workforce. Most notably, injury from repetitive motions must be reduced or eliminated to ensure that a trained workforce may continue to work and not be forced to miss work due to a repetitive motion injury. Therefore, any distribution system must account for these concerns and place the smallest amount of stress on a worker as possible. Lift-assist devices have become popular, allowing a worker to lift and move a heavy object with very little bodily stress or risk of injury. 
     The exemplary embodiments herein allow a worker to grasp a variety of different containers, whether they are immediately next to one another or spaced widely apart. The device allows a plurality of containers to be used, from somewhat small to awkward and large, which allows the suppliers to package their parts in the most appropriate and efficient container for the application. Further, exemplary embodiments allow a worker to quickly grasp, lift, and move large containers with very little stress on their body. 
     The exemplary embodiments herein disclosed are not intended to be exhaustive or to unnecessarily limit the scope of the embodiments. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles so that others skilled in the art may practice the embodiments. Having shown and described exemplary embodiments, those skilled in the art will realize that many variations and modifications may be made to affect the described invention. Many of those variations and modifications will provide the same result and fall within the spirit of the exemplary embodiments. It is the intention, therefore, to limit the embodiments only as indicated by the scope of the claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A better understanding will be obtained from a reading of the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings wherein identical reference characters refer to identical parts and in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of several different-sized containers and the variety of gaps in between them; 
         FIG. 2A  is a side view of containers where they abut against each other; 
         FIG. 2B  is a side view of abutting containers where an exemplary embodiment is being utilized to grasp a central container; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the grasping device; 
         FIG. 4A  is a side view of an exemplary embodiment which has engaged a container; 
         FIG. 4B  is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of  FIG. 4A  showing the interaction between the lifting lugs and the container; and 
         FIG. 4C  is a front view showing the interaction between the lifting lugs and the container. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     In  FIG. 1 , three different sized containers are shown with two different gaps. Containers  9  and  10  are similarly sized and show a very small gap to near abutment  15  between the two containers. Container  11  is deeper than containers  9  and  10  while container  12  is still deeper than container  11 . Gap  16  is larger than gap  15  and may be on the order of 3-6 inches. Much larger gaps are of course possible, and this first Figure is simply showing an example of how various containers may be received through a typical roller or conveyer system. It should be noted that each container may have a similar width dimension, while both the depth of the container and the height of the container may vary widely. 
     In  FIG. 2A , several containers are shown, where containers  20  and  21  have a similar height dimension while container  22  has a larger height dimension. Often, containers may enter a transfer area in an improper order or simply in a situation where there is no order but the worker would like to access a container which is surrounded by other containers. Here, container  21  may be considered this type of container, known herein as a ‘central container.’ Accessing these containers can be difficult as there is no direct access point on either side since containers  20  and  22  abut against opposing sides of the central container  21 . 
       FIG. 2B  shows an exemplary embodiment which takes advantage of gap  25  which is created by the hoisting ledges  26 . Lift lugs  27  can pass through gap  25  as the lift plate  28  separates the containers and passes between the hoisting ledges  26 . The lift plate  28  should be relatively thin so that it can separate and pass between containers. Optionally, the edge of the lift plate  28  may have a chamfer and/or edge so that the plate can more easily separate containers. The embodiment shown has not engaged the container yet (i.e. the lift lugs are not contacting the hoisting ledges  26  and lifting the container). An embodiment where the container is engaged is shown in  FIGS. 4A-4C . 
       FIG. 3  shows an exemplary embodiment of the grasping device. Lift lugs  27  are attached at the base of lift plate  28 . A skid pad  29  is shown adjacent to the lift plate  28 . A skid pad is an optional device that can facilitate the grasping device&#39;s ability to slide over a container and into the appropriate lifting position. Preferably, a skid pad would be comprised of materials that would not damage the containers or the skid pad itself when slid over the container edge surfaces. A skid pad may also be comprised of materials that would provide a low coefficient of friction between the container surfaces and the skid pad. Thus, in an exemplary embodiment a skid pad may be made of delrin or another type of durable, low friction plastic. 
     An exemplary embodiment may have three operator handles. A first handle, known as the actuator handle  30 , may contain the actuators for the hoisting device  100 . Two additional handles may also be used and may be known as blank handles  31 , i.e. they do not contain actuators. The blank handles  31  are used for positioning the device at the proper lifting position, balancing the container and grasping device once hoisted into the air, relocating the container, and removing the device from the container once in the final desired location. The actuator handle  30  can also serve any of these functions, but also contains actuators for a hoisting device  100 . The actuator handle  30  and the corresponding controls for a hoisting device  100  are commercially available from Corbel, Inc. in Fishers, N.Y. www.gorbel.com. 
     Each of the handles may have an angular adjustment  32  and a plurality of different locking collars  33 , so that the positioning of the handles can be adjusted for the operator&#39;s size, container size, and specific relocation movements. A counter weight  34  may be used to help balance the container once it has been lifted and provide some leverage for the operator to position the grasping device under a desired container. An electrical collector  35  may be used to electrically connect the actuator assembly with the hoisting device  100 . The electrical collector  35  may also provide a physical attachment of the hoisting device  100  to the grasping device. 
     Embodiments can contain any number of different types and styles of hoisting devices, including but not limited to bridge cranes, jib cranes, and intelligent lifting devices. An exemplary embodiment might utilize an I-beam jib crane. Exemplary hoisting devices  100  are commercially available from Corbel, Inc. in Fishers, N.Y. www.gorbel.com. 
       FIG. 4A  shows an exemplary embodiment with a container  40  engaged. The lift lugs  27  are adjacent to the hoisting ledges  26 . The lift plate  28  should have a relatively close fit against the hoisting ledges  26  so that the lift plate  28  can slide between adjacent containers and/or force adjacent containers apart. 
       FIG. 4B  shows the cross-sectional view of cross section B-B which is shown in  FIG. 4A . The hoisting ledge  26  may comprise at least two types of features, a lifting feature  41  and a stabilizing feature  42 . The lifting feature  41  may be a ledge which engages with the lift lugs  27  to provide an upward force to lift the container. The stabilizing feature  42  may be surrounded by the lift lugs  27  to prevent the container from sliding off or rotating so as to dump its contents. The clearance between the lift lugs  27  and the stabilizing feature  42  should be chosen so that it is loose enough to allow the lift lugs  27  to easily slip over the stabilizing feature  42  but tight enough so that the container is adequately secured. In an exemplary embodiment, a clearance of 0.20-0.30 inches on each side of the stabilizing feature  42  may be used. 
       FIG. 4C  shows the side view and the interaction between the stabilizing feature  42  and the lift lugs  27 . Also, attention should be paid to clearance  50  (shown in  FIG. 4A ), which is the distance between the top surface of the container  40  and the skid pad  29 . As shown in  FIG. 4C  there may be several stabilizing features  42  on the side of the container but only the center feature may be used to lift the container (to reduce the risk of tipping and dropping the container). However, the other stabilizing features  42  may still be used by the operator to move the container around, especially for sliding and aligning a container once it has been placed or prior to lifting it. The size of clearance  50  should be selected to ensure that the lifting lugs can pass underneath stabilizing features  42  which are not desired by the operator. 
     It should be recognized that containers are only constrained in the width dimension. For example, containers may be virtually any depth and any height and may still be compatible with the exemplary embodiments. This flexibility in container size allows suppliers to package and ship parts in the most appropriate containers for both the supplier and the end assembly plant. Further, an operator can select any container and slide, lift and relocate it, without having to take containers in the order that they come through the conveyor or roller system. Only a small amount of stress would be place on the operator&#39;s body, as the lifting is assisted by a hoisting device and any translational movements are assisted by a translating mechanism. This translating mechanism could be any type of rotating arm or boom and possibly in combination with any type of sliding movement on wheels or bearings. No time must be taken to re-size the dimensions of the grasping mechanism for any specific container, which allows the operator to move a variety of different-sized containers in a short amount of time. 
     Having shown and described preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will realize that many variations and modifications may be made to affect the described embodiments and still be within the scope of the claims. Thus, many of the elements indicated above may be altered or replaced by different elements which will provide the same result and fall within the spirit of the claimed embodiments. It is the intention, therefore, to limit the invention only as indicated by the scope of the claims.