Glass Gripper Innovation | Custom Automation Equipment

Tong head type grippers are commonly used in the glass container manufacturing industry. This automated manufacturing process involves picking up extremely hot glass containers from a forming machine and placing them onto a conveyor.

The OEM design of the tong head gripper is a simple toggle mechanism that does not cycle smoothly and is not precise; this can cause damage to the neck of the hot glass bottles at the pickup point, which in turn increases unnecessary scrap and reduces the productivity of the glass production line. Additionally, the mechanism is exposed to dust and particles that exist in the manufacturing environment. Over time this will cause failure of the gripper, requiring replacement and creating machine downtime.

Our Custom Products team developed a tong head gripper design utilizing a locking ramp that locks in place when jaws are fully opened; this eliminates the exposure of the jaws and tooling to additional moments of inertia during gob/bottle transfer onto the conveyor. Our team’s tong head gripper also features a smooth closing with cushioning through the cam slot, reducing risk of defects in the container mouth rim.

Results

Benefits of our Customized Tong Head Gripper

Other benefits of PHD’s customized tong head gripper over the OEM alternative include the below:

Versions with an adjustment screw sets or changes the opening angle
More grip force ensuring part placement accuracy
Cam slot design eliminates the potential for pin breaks or jaw play
Drop-in replacement on most glass bottle forming machines
Designed for more than 10 million cycles providing for less downtime
Easily field repairable with spare parts available upon request

All in all, our customized glass tong head grippers drive yearly cost savings as a result of machine uptime and increased life cycle. At the same time, they reduce the risk of failure, along with unnecessary scrap.