摘要 |
A workpiece transfer apparatus with a shuttle underlying workpieces received on workstations which is raised and lowered by a lifting mechanism disposed above the workpieces. The shuttle has a support rail and an indexing rail operably connected to a drive for advancing and retracting the indexing rail relative to the workstations. To transfer one or more workpieces from their current workstations to respective subsequent workstations, the shuttle is raised by the overhead lifting mechanism to engage the workpieces from underneath and raise the workpieces from their current workstations. The indexing rail is advanced to position the workpieces above respective subsequent workstations and the shuttle is lowered to place the workpieces on these subsequent workstations. Subsequently, the indexing rail is retracted to its starting position so that the apparatus is ready for the next transfer cycle. |