Patent ID: 7124838

Claim:
A gripping assembly adapted to be mounted on an impact hammer having a longitudinally extending impact axis, the assembly comprising: a pair of opposed, laterally spaced apart, elongate gripping arms, each of which has a gripping portion adjacent one of its ends, mounting mechanism adapted to mount said arms on said impact hammer with said gripping arms spaced to opposite sides of said impact axis and shiftable longitudinally between retracted and extended position, with said gripping portions of said arms spaced apart a selected distance when said arms are retracted and said gripping portions moving toward each other as said gripping arms are shifted toward their extended positions, wherein said mounting mechanism comprises a track to which a gripping arm is coupled, with said track guiding movement of said gripping portion as said gripping arm is shifted between its retracted and extended positions, and operator mechanism coupled to said gripping arms operable to shift said arms between their retracted and extended positions.