Material pick-up mechanism

摘要

An improved material pick-up device to allow sheets of material of varying texture and resiliency to be picked up and moved without piercing and without damage thereto. A pair of support members having saw-tooth shaped projections thereon are guided and supported to be relatively reciprocated along side by side paths to move the projections together and apart. The reciprocation is carefully controlled and adjusted by an adjusting device cooperably with the device powering the reciprocation so that the spacing of the respective pairs of teeth in the support members may be carefully controlled to define a gripping position and a release position. Thus, the gripping position may be varied in accordance with the texture and resiliency of the material to be gripped such that the surface of the material is pinched without piercing and can be moved without damage thereto. In one embodiment, a pair of coaxial cylindrical supports are nested together and one rotates relative to the other. In another embodiment, a pair of linear blades having saw-tooth projections thereon are held for side by side reciprocation.