US 5,813,817 AGranted

Carrying device and carrying method

AssigneeFuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.

InventorsTakeshi Matsumiya, Hiroshi Takabayashi

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Abstract

There are provided carrying device and method capable of high-speed pick-up and travelling operation of a carrier. The carrier is provided with a holder bracket movable back and forth, in which claw members for grasping a material are held, and a driver mechanism for stroking g the holder bracket and a driver mechanism for opening and closing the claw members are attached to the carrier body. A movable portion in the carrier can be made lighter in weight. An electric wiring cord to be connected to the movable portion can be eliminated or made thin and light enough. This allows the carrier to move at a high speed. The carrier is held at the intersection of a pair of crossing moving bars and moved to a target position by moving both the moving bars. No motor needs to be provided in the carrier for driving the carrier, so that the movable portion moving together with the carrier can be made lighter in weight, thereby speeding up the movement of the carrier. The exchange of control signals between the carrier and carrying controller is made by serial communication, preferably, wireless or optical communication. Also provided is a control method for stopping the carrying operation by detecting a material which projects from the shelves.

Claims5

Dependent claims

A carrying device having a carrier which pulls out and carries a target material from one of shelves to a target position, the shelves storing a plurality of materials, and which carries back the target material from the target position to the shelf, said carrier comprising:

(a) a guide rod fixed to a casing of said carrier in parallel to a direction to slide said target material in and out;
(b) pick-up means including,
(1) a holder bracket slidably held by said guide rod,
(2) a gripper having claw members for grasping the target material by opening and closing the claw members, said gripper means being held by said holder bracket, and
(3) a push member one end of which is held by said holder bracket, said push member being movable to push said gripper so that said claw members can be opened to engage the target material or closed to remove the target material;
(c) a rail member provided in the casing of said carrier in parallel to said guide rod and horizontally movable in a direction nonparallel to that of said guide rod, on which one end of said push member is slid and pushed to open or close said claw members as the rail member moves;
(d) stroke driving means attached to the casing of said carrier for moving said holder bracket over said guide rod;
and
(e) claw opening/closing drive means attached to the casing of said carrier for moving said rail member horizontally in a direction nonparallel to that of said guide rod to open or close said claw members.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.