Abstract
A pneumatic gripping device is described in this paper. Two sets of bellows which have the same construction are aligned. A nozzle is put on a movable end of each of the sets of bellows and the nozzles counter-face each other at a distance. The insides of the sets of bellows are interconnected and also connected to a supply chamber regulated at a constant pressure through an orifice. Air from the supply chamber flows into the sets of bellows passing through the orifice and flows out to the atmosphere through both of the nozzles.
When an object is inserted in the space between the nozzles, the gaps between the nozzles and their counter-faces decrease and the pressure of the sets of bellows increases. The pressure increase makes the gaps more and more small, due to the elongation of the bellows. Owing to such regenerative action of the bellows to the pneumatic circuit, the nozzles contact their counter-faces and maintain to grip the object with a pressing force proportional to the supply pressure.
