Patent ID: 6877430

Claim:
A gripper device in a sheet-processing machine, the gripper device comprising: a gripper pad having a first clamping face; a gripper having a second clamping face and being associated with said gripper pad for cooperatively engaging with said gripper pad to produce a clamping force for holding sheets being processed; a first drive for moving said gripper out of an opened position thereof into a closed position thereof; and a second drive separately operable from said first drive during a production printing operation of the sheet-processing machine; said first and second drives being operable to position at least one of said gripper and said gripper pad for moving at least one of said first and second clamping faces with said second drive perpendicularly to the other of said first and second clamping faces; said gripper, in said closed position thereof, being positioned locally in a fixed position with respect to said gripper pad by said first drive, and said gripper pad being movable relative to said gripper by said second drive for clamping the sheets with said gripper closed; said gripper being movable by said first drive with respect to said gripper pad out of said opened position and into said closed position in a plane extending at least approximately parallel to a transport plane of the sheets.