Gripper for moving piece goods and methods for moving piece goods using the gripper

A method for moving piece goods onto a gripper, the method comprising:

• moving the gripper toward a storage surface associated with a piece good to be retrieved;
• moving a first gripping assembly in a first horizontal direction toward the storage surface so that the piece good is arranged next to the first gripping assembly;
• moving a first unilaterally flexible chain by a first associated chain drive in such a way that a first end of the first unilaterally flexible chain is extended by a first deflection device remote from a gripping assembly guide arrangement at an angle of between 70°−110° to a first horizontal direction, wherein adjacent chain links of the first unilaterally flexible chain downstream of the first deflection device remote from the gripping assembly guide arrangement are brought into a mutually non-pivoted, stretched alignment so that a stretched portion of the first unilaterally flexible chain is moved behind the piece good in such a way that the piece good is arranged between the stretched portion of the first unilaterally flexible chain and a deposit table;
• moving the first gripping assembly in the first horizontal direction toward the storage surface, with the stretched portion of the first unilaterally flexible chain pushing the piece good onto the deposit table;
• moving a second gripping assembly in the first horizontal direction toward the storage surface so that the piece good is arranged between the first and second gripping assemblies;
• connecting the first end of the first unilaterally flexible chain to a receiving device of the second gripping assembly in such a way that pushing forces are transmitted to the piece good when the first and second gripping assemblies are moved in the first horizontal direction toward the storage and retrieval end face;
• and
• moving the first and second gripping assemblies in the first horizontal direction toward the deposit table so that the piece good is pushed onto the deposit table of the gripper.

A gripper for moving piece goods, comprising:

• a deposit surface having a storage and retrieval end face;
• a gripping assembly guide arrangement arranged above the deposit surface and movable along a first movement direction relative to the deposit surface;
• a gripping assembly coupled to the gripping assembly guide arrangement, the gripping assembly comprising:
• a deflection device;
• a first guide portion extending in the first movement direction;
• a second guide portion;
• and
• a flexible chain configured to interact with the deflection device, the flexible chain comprising:
• a plurality of chain links each having a chain link length;
• a bending limitation device configured to limit pivoting of the plurality of chain links relative to one another in a first articulation direction and to allow pivoting of the plurality of chain links relative to one another in a second articulation direction;
• a first end remote from the gripping assembly guide arrangement;
• a second end close to the gripping assembly guide arrangement;
• and
• an alignment device configured to hold two or more of the plurality of chain links in a mutually non-pivoted, stretched alignment and secured against pivoting in the second articulation direction,
• wherein the flexible chain is movable by a drive and configured to be deflected by the deflection device in the second articulation direction at an angle of between 70°-110° to the first movement direction,
• wherein when the gripping assembly is moved in the first movement direction, the flexible chain is configured to move a piece good onto the deposit surface.