Case Study: Mechanical Lifter for Woven or Burlap Sacks

Application: Handling of salt, coffee and sugar woven burlap sacks made of bast fibers (such as jute, sisal, etc.) or plastic.

Problem: The customer was handling bags of coffee by hand. Due to the high volume of bags handled daily, the operators were at risk of injury. This is a similar problem with fiber and plastic sacks that are to porous to pick up with a vacuum.

Requirement: Pick up customer's sacks on a pallet and load onto a conveyor.

Solution: Integrated mechanical gripper with two stainless steel hooks to pierce the sacks and transport from a pallet to a conveyor. The tooling was hung underneath a vacuum tube lifter with an ergonomic handle, allowing for high speed movement of the depalletizing process.

Result: The bag lifting device provided increased security during the handling process. Simple ergonomic sack lifting and handling that prevents operator injury.