Workpiece feed devices

A feed finger comprising a gripping sleeve, said sleeve including opposed axial end portions, means defining a thin-walled zone of limited axial extent at each axial end portion of the sleeve, an inwardly-projecting thick-walled zone intermediate said thin-walled zones and defining an internal bore in which the workpiece can be frictionally gripped, and means defining a series of angularly-spaced slots which split the sleeve into segments, each said slot extending axially of the sleeve over substantially the entire length of the sleeve, each slot having an open end opening onto one end of the sleeve and a closed end lying within the thin-walled zone at the other end of the sleeve, alternate slots opening into opposite ends of the sleeve, and means co-operating with the gripping sleeve for applying to each end of the sleeve a radially inwardly-directed compressive force which acts to displace the segments radially inwardly against a resilient bias to define a selected cross-sectional bore size within a predetermined range, each said segment when moving inwardly remaining parallel to itself.