Patent ID: 7543868

Claim:
A vacuum-assisted lifting apparatus, for lifting a load when a lifting force is applied to the lifting apparatus on a load lifting stroke of the lifting force, and for automatically releasing the load at the end of the load lifting stroke when the load is lowered onto a support, to thereby allow the lifting apparatus to be lifted off of the load by application of the lifting force during a successive non-lifting stroke of the lifting force, the apparatus comprising: a self-contained, load-bearing, lift structure having relatively movable elements thereof operatively connected to one another in a manner selectively generating or not generating a vacuum for respectively gripping or not-gripping the load as the lifting force is applied to the lift structure; and a non-load bearing control valve attached to the lift structure by a non-load bearing valve support housing, and operatively connected to be actuated by movement of at least one of the relatively movable elements of the lift structure on successive applications of the lifting force to the lift structure, in a manner causing the lift structure to generate vacuum on the load lifting stroke and to not generate vacuum on the successive non-lifting stroke.