Device for inserting a hot, heavy blank in a die

A device for inserting a hot, heavy blank into a die in a drop hammer or the like, comprising a car mounted for movement toward and away from the die, an upstanding supporting member on said car extending upwardly from said car in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of said car, an elongated unit mounted on said supporting member above said car for movement with said car, said elongated unit extending in a direction parallel to the direction of movement of said car and having a portion which projects as a cantilever from said supporting member forwardly of the front end of said car whereby movement of said car toward the die is adapted to move the forwardly projecting portion of said elongated unit into at least partially overlying relation to the die, said elongated unit including a pair of elongated shafts mounted for rotation about their respective axes of elongation, said shafts being disposed in spaced relation to one another and extending in the direction of movement of said car, a first plurality of elongated coplanar slide elements attached at one end to one of said rotatable shafts and extending in spaced relation to one another in directions transverse to the direction of elongation of said one shaft partially across the space between said shafts toward the other of said shafts, a second plurality of elongated coplanar slide elements attached at one end to said other rotatable shaft and extending in spaced relation to one another in directions transverse to the direction of elongation of said other shaft partially across the space between said shafts toward said one shaft, the free end of each of said first plurality of slide elements being disposed adjacent to and spaced from the free end of one of said second plurality of slide elements in the space between said shafts, said blank being adapted to be supported on said slide elements adjacent their respective free ends, spacer means extending between the forward ends of said shafts relative to said die for preventing said forward ends of said shafts from spreading apart from one another due to the weight of said blank, and positioning means on said car coupled to said elongated unit for rotating each of said elongated shafts through selected angles to vary the orientation of said coplanar pluralities of slide elements, transmission means interconnecting said shafts adjacent said forward ends of said shafts for causing the rotation of one shaft through a given angle in a given direction to effect synchronized rotation of the other shaft through said given angle in the opposite direction, said positioning means cooperating with said transmission means to selectively effect a first relative position of the slide elements in the forwardly projecting portion of said elongated unit wherein said first and second pluralities of slide elements in said forwardly projecting portion are disposed in substantially coplanar relation to one another, being operative to selectively effect a second relative position of the slide elements in said forwardly projecting portion of said elongated unit wherein said first plurality of coplanar slide elements are disposed in a plane inclined downwardly from said one shaft and said second plurality of coplanar slide elements are disposed in a plane oppositely inclined downwardly from said other shaft with the free ends of said first and second pluralities of slide elements being spaced from one another between said shafts by a distance less than the width of said blank to define a substantially V-shaped cradle for supporting the blank on said forwardly projecting portion at a position overlying the die forwardly of said car and below the plane defined by said pair of shafts, and being operative to effect a third relative position of the slide elements in said forwardly projecting portion similar to said second relative position of said slide elements but wherein the planes of said pluralities of slide elements in said forwardly projecting portion of said elongated unit are further inclined to space the free ends of said first and second slide elements from one another between said pair of shafts by a distance greater than the width of said blank to drop the blank from said V-shaped cradle into the die.