Patent ID: 7900803

Claim:
An apparatus for intermittently supplying a semi-finished material in the form of a band or a wire to a press, the apparatus comprising: a pair of displacement grippers, running forwards and backwards during operation, for advancing the semi-finished material in an advancing phase, a stationary pair of clamping grippers for holding the semi-finished material in a fixed manner in a non-advancing phase, and a control rocker with a rocker drive coupled to one control end of the control rocker, wherein the pair of displacement grippers and the pair of clamping grippers are coupled mechanically to the control rocker such that during operation, the two pairs of grippers open and close in an alternating manner by reciprocating the control end of the control rocker with the rocker drive to alternately advance and hold the semi-finished material in a fixed manner, wherein the control rocker and the two pairs of grippers are arranged and coupled to one another such that in the absence of a force exerted by the rocker drive upon the control end of the control rocker the two pairs of grippers are maintained in a closed position.