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AssigneeVmi Holland B.V.
InventorsKeimpe Theunis Bijl, Antonius Willibrordus Joseph Stout
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Disclosed is a spacer gripper, a bead-apex storage system and a method for lifting one or more of the spacers from a stack of bead-apexes, wherein each spacer has a central aperture, wherein the central apertures of the spacers in the stack of bead-apexes are aligned in a stacking direction to form a central space, wherein the spacer gripper has a gripper head and a plurality of spacer engagement members protruding from said gripper head for reaching into the central space of the respective stack at least up to a second spacer of the respective stack from the top of the respective stack, wherein the plurality of spacer engagement members are movable into an engagement position for engaging said second spacer to lift said second spacer from the respective stack simultaneously with a first spacer at the top of the respective stack.
A spacer gripper for lifting one or more of spacers from a stack of bead-apexes, wherein each spacer has a central aperture, wherein the central apertures of the spacers in the stack of bead-apexes are aligned in a stacking direction to form a central space, wherein the spacer gripper comprises a gripper head and a plurality of spacer engagement members protruding from said gripper head for reaching into the central space of the stack at least up to a second spacer of the stack from a top of the stack, wherein the plurality of spacer engagement members are movable into an engagement position for engaging said second spacer to lift said second spacer from the stack simultaneously with a first spacer at the top of the stack.
A method for handling a plurality of stacks with bead-apexes and spacers with a spacer gripper, wherein each spacer has a central aperture, wherein the central apertures of the spacers in the stack of bead-apexes are aligned in a stacking direction to form a central space, wherein the spacer gripper comprises a gripper head and a plurality of spacer engagement members protruding from said gripper head for reaching into the central space of the respective-stack at least up to a second spacer of the stack from a top of the stack, wherein the plurality of spacer engagement members are movable into an engagement position for engaging said second spacer to lift said second spacer from the stack simultaneously with a first spacer at the top of the stack, wherein the method comprises a step in which the spacer gripper simultaneously lifts two of the spacers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.