Clamp apparatus
AssigneeSMC Corporation
InventorAtsushi Tamai
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A lock mechanism includes a casing that is fixed to a side surface of a body, a handle disposed rotatably on the outside of the casing, and a transmission section, which is capable of transmitting a drive force applied by the handle. An end of a guide rod making up the transmission section is connected in a body surrounding groove of a piston rod disposed inside the body. In addition, by rotating the handle, the guide rod of the transmission section is displaced vertically (upward and downward), such that an arm is rotationally displaced through a toggle link mechanism by displacement of the piston rod along the axial direction.
Claims8
A clamp apparatus, in which linear motion of a cylinder is converted to rotary motion by a toggle link mechanism and a workpiece is clamped by a clamp arm, comprising:
- a main body;
- a cylinder connected to said main body and having a piston that is displaced in an axial direction under a pressing action of a pressure fluid;
- a switching mechanism, which is disposed detachably with respect to said main body, having an operating element operable by an operator, and a transmission section for transmitting a driving force applied by said operating element to said cylinder, said switching mechanism displacing said piston in the axial direction by operation of said operating element through said transmission section to switch between clamped and unclamped states of said workpiece,
- wherein said transmission section comprises a first linkage connected to said operating element, which is rotationally displaceable together with said operating element, a second linkage axially supported rotatably with respect to said first linkage, and
- a connecting member retained on an end of said second linkage and being displaced substantially in parallel with a displacement direction of said piston.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.