Patent ID: 7748317

Claim:
An automatic handling and transportation device for printer housings comprising: a support, for support of the housings able to be positioned in alignment with a housing-bearing assembly and in proximity with it, and a grasping/holding device adapted to be displaced between i) a transferal position in which said grasping/holding device interacts with said housing installed on said housing-bearing assembly to grasp or free it and ii) a transportation position in which the housing held by the grasping/holding device is on the support; a basic mobile unit associated with a first means of displacement arranged to displace said basic mobile unit on a first route; and at least one handling unit mounted on said basic mobile unit, said handling unit including said support, which is held in a jutting position on a second route, transverse to said first route and parallel to said housing-bearing assembly mounted in a jutting position on a printing machine, and a second means of displacement arranged to displace said grasping/holding device on said second route in relation to the support, wherein the basic mobile unit moves along guide means which extend on said first horizontal route along a stretch which includes a first transfer area in which said handling unit mounted on the basic mobile unit operates to exchange housings with said printing machine, and at least a second transfer area in which the support on the handling unit mounted on the basic mobile unit is able to be positioned in alignment with a housing support installed on a transportation unit or in a place of storage, said handling unit operating to exchange housings with said transportation unit or with said place; wherein a single handling unit is mounted on the basic mobile unit, and fitted with third means of displacement to move the handling unit in relation to the basic mobile unit on a third, vertical route, transverse to the first and second routes.