Holding mechanism

A holding mechanism, comprising:

• a pair of holding claws that are disposed to be opposed to each other on both sides of a workpiece in a horizontal direction, a holding face of one of the holding claws being formed into a flat face, a holding face of another holding claw being formed into a V-shaped groove;
• a driving unit that moves an output shaft forward and backward in a vertical direction;
• and
• a link mechanism that converts a forward/backward motion of the output shaft into an opening/closing motion in the horizontal direction and transmits the opening/closing motion to the pair of holding claws,
• wherein, when the pair of holding claws are moved to be opened/closed in the horizontal direction, the holding claw having the V-shaped groove is moved more than the holding claw having the flat face,
• wherein the link mechanism comprises:
• a pair of tilting links extending in opposite directions to each other, first ends of the tilting links being rotatably connect d to each other, and second ends of the tilting links respectively being connected to the pair of holding claws;
• and
• a connection pin connecting the first ends of the tilting links, and
• wherein, when the holding claws are moved in a closing direction, the connection pin moves in an inclination direction inclined from the vertical direction.