Patent ID: 7527169

Claim:
A gripper device for displacing at least one single unit of consumer packages which units are a package for individual products and are provided with a cover and a bottom portion and two opposite longitudinal sides, the gripper device comprising: a housing having a bottom plate with slots; control members that are accommodated in the housing; gripper members, movable in a rotating and translating manner with the aid of the control members, wherein the gripper members are configured to engage the units on the two opposite longitudinal sides thereof, in order for said units, after being closed to be picked up, transferred and subsequently placed in outer packages in a controlled manner, and to be picked up from the outer package in the same manner; clamping members, configured to keep the cover closed during pickup, transfer and discharge of the said closed units; n intermediate plates having a top end and a downward end and two sides, with n≧1, which intermediate plates suspended vertically through the slots in the bottom plate and configured to be placed and clamped between the at least (n+1) units in order to keep these units in their relative positions during pickup, transfer and placement, in cooperation with the gripper members and the clamping members; and at least one spring member that engages a top part of an associated intermediate plate to exert an downwardly directed biasing force on the intermediate plate so that, during transfer, the intermediate plates are each pressed in substantially vertical downward direction by means of the at least one spring member.