Item transport device

Abstract

To provide an article conveying device with which spacing between adjacent items held by grippers can be adjusted.SOLUTION: An article conveying device 5 includes multiple carriers 3 provided with five grippers 4 for gripping syringes 2, and each carrier 3 circulates along a circulating conveying route R. gripper bases 28 on which the grippers 4 are provided are movable in the conveying direction along rails 27 on a base member 18, and each gripper base 28 interacts with a pair of second shuttles 23 via a link mechanism 41 or the like. Each second shuttle 23 has a permanent magnet 23A embedded therein. When the carriers 3 stop at a supply position A of the syringes 2, magnetic force from an electromagnetic coil 17 acts on the pair of second shuttles 23, and they are moved toward each other. As a result, the gap between grippers 4 adjacent to each other via the link mechanism 41 and gripper bases 28 is adjusted to be narrower (FIG. 5(A)).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an item transport device, and more particularly to an item transport device that holds and transports items with a plurality of grippers, and that is capable of adjusting the distance between adjacent items. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, an article transport device is known in which syringes are held and transported by a plurality of grippers provided on a transport means (Patent Document 1). Also known is an article transport device in which containers are transported by a linear transport means while adjusting the interval between adjacent containers (Patent Document 2). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2004-321787 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2014-024665 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Recently, in the production facilities of pharmaceutical companies, the production format in which sterilized syringes and vials are used together is increasing. These sterilized syringes and vials are stored in a nest of storage containers in an upright state with the number of items arranged vertically and horizontally, such as 10 x 16, 10 x 10, 8 x 8, etc., with the pitch varying depending on the type. Here, in the item conveying device of Patent Document 1, when attempting to remove and process items held in such a nest, it is necessary to change (replace) the gripper of the conveying means so that it corresponds to the pitch of each type held in the nest. On the other hand, the item conveying device of Patent Document 2 is configured so that one gripper is provided for one shuttle (movable member) in the linear conveying means, which creates the problem that the layout of various processing devices in the conveying process is restricted in accordance with the external shape of the shuttle. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides an article transport device including a plurality of carriers each provided with a plurality of grippers for holding articles and circulating along an endless circulating transport path, a plurality of electromagnetic coils disposed along the circulating transport path, permanent magnets provided on the carriers, and a control device that supplies current to the electromagnetic coils to cause the plurality of carriers to circulate along the circulating transport path, the carrier includes a base member on which the permanent magnet is provided, a rail provided on the base member along a conveying direction of the article, and a plurality of gripper bases on which the gripper is provided and which are movable along the rail of the base member; Further, the carrier is characterized in that a distance adjustment mechanism is provided for adjusting the distance between adjacent grippers via the plurality of gripper bases. Effect of the Invention

[0006] According to this configuration, by providing a spacing adjustment mechanism, the spacing between adjacent articles held by the grippers of the carrier can be easily adjusted. Therefore, for example, when the present invention is adopted as an article transport device for production facilities of a pharmaceutical company, the spacing between adjacent grippers holding syringes or vials can be easily adjusted according to their sizes. Therefore, a highly versatile article transport device can be provided. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] 1 is an overall plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2]FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the main parts taken along line II-II in FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a left side view of the main part of FIG. 2 . [Figure 4] Plan view of Figure 2. [Diagram 5] 5A and 5B are front views showing the operating state of the gap adjustment mechanism in FIG. 3, where FIG. 5A shows the state in the supply position and FIG. 5B shows the state in the filling position. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] The present invention will now be described with reference to the illustrated embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a filling system for filling a number of syringes 2 with medicinal liquid. This filling system 1 transports the syringes 2 in groups of five using a number of carriers 3, fills them with a predetermined amount of medicinal liquid, and attaches a stopper to the opening of the syringe 2. The filling system 1 includes an item conveying device 5 that conveys syringes 2 by circulating multiple carriers 3, each of which has five grippers 4 that hold a syringe 2, along a circulating conveying path R, a supply robot 6 arranged near a supply position A on the circulating conveying path R of the item conveying device 5, a pin 7 arranged at a filling position B downstream of the supply position A on the circulating conveying path R, a capping device 8 arranged at a capping position C downstream of the filling position B on the circulating conveying path R, a discharge robot (not shown) arranged at a discharge position D downstream of that, and a control device 11 that controls the operation of the item conveying device 5 and the like.

[0009] A large number of empty syringes 2 as the articles to be treated are held in a flat rectangular storage container 12 provided with a nest 12A and are in a standby state in advance at a standby position E. Nest 12A has a total of 25 holding holes, for example, five in each of the vertical and horizontal rows, and each holding hole holds an empty syringe 2 standing vertically with its upper opening facing up. The supply robot 6 is capable of moving between a standby position E and a supply position A, and at the standby position E, it holds a row of five empty syringes 2 held in the nest 12A of the storage container 12 at one time, removes them upward from the nest 12A, and then transports them to the supply position A, where it supplies the syringes 2 to the five grippers 4 of the carrier 3 that is stationary.

[0010] The item conveying device 5 has a plurality of carriers 3 that circulate in a counterclockwise direction along a circular conveying path R, and each carrier 3 has five grippers 4 that hold syringes 2 arranged in a horizontal row along the conveying direction and protruding outward from the circular conveying path R. As will be described in detail later, an opening / closing mechanism 13 for simultaneously opening the five grippers 4 is provided at the supply position A, and when the carrier 3 stops at the supply position A, the opening / closing mechanism 13 opens the five grippers 4 in the carrier 3 in a synchronized manner. In this state, the five syringes 2 held by the supply robot 6 are supplied to the five grippers 4 in the open state. Immediately after this, the open state of the five grippers 4 by the opening / closing mechanism 13 is released and closed, so that the upper outer periphery of the syringe 2 is gripped by the five grippers 4 of the carrier 3 (see FIG. 2). In this way, five syringes 2 are supplied at once by the supply robot 6 to the five grippers 4 of the carrier 3 that are successively stopped at the supply position A (see FIG. 2). At supply position A, carrier 3 with syringe 2 held by five grippers 4 then travels downstream to filling position B, where it is stopped. At filling position B, filling device 7 having five filling nozzles 7A is disposed at equal intervals in the conveying direction (see FIG. 3). As will be described in detail later, when the carrier 3 is stopped at the supply position A, the intervals (pitch in the conveying direction) between the adjacent five grippers 4 are adjusted to be narrower, whereas when the carrier 3 is stopped at a position other than the supply position A, such as the filling position B, the intervals between the adjacent grippers 4 are adjusted to be wider (see FIGS. 5(A) and 5(B)). As a result, at the supply position A, the intervals between the adjacent grippers 4 on the carrier 3 side are adjusted to correspond to the intervals (pitch) between the five syringes 2 in a row held by the supply robot 6. On the other hand, at the filling position B, the intervals between the adjacent grippers 4 are adjusted to correspond to the intervals between the adjacent filling nozzles 7A. At the filling position B, the five filling nozzles 7A synchronously fill a predetermined amount of medicinal liquid into the five syringes 2 of the carrier 3. Note that the configuration of the filling device 7 equipped with the multiple filling nozzles 7A is well known, and therefore a detailed description thereof will be omitted here. Thereafter, the carrier 3 with the five syringes 2 filled with the medicinal liquid travels from filling position B to the capping device C downstream and stops there. At capping position C, a capping device 8 having five capping heads is disposed at equal intervals in the conveying direction. The intervals between adjacent capping heads of the capping device 8 are the same as the intervals between adjacent filling nozzles 7A of the filling device 5, so the five syringes 2 gripped by the gripper 4 of the carrier 3 stop directly below the five capping heads. In this capping device C, cylindrical caps (not shown) are attached to the upper openings of five syringes 2 by five capping heads of the capping device 8 . In this manner, after the syringes 2 held by the five grippers 4 on the carrier 3 are filled with the drug solution, a stopper is attached to the upper opening of the syringe 2. Thereafter, the carrier 3 travels from the stoppering position C to the discharge position D, where it stops. At the discharge position D, the five filled syringes 2 are simultaneously removed from the five grippers 4 of the carrier 3 by a discharge robot (not shown), and then discharged onto a discharge chute 14. Thereafter, the carrier 3 having the five grippers 4 emptied at the discharge position D is transported again to the supply position A and stopped there. Then, as described above, the supply robot 6 supplies five empty syringes 2 to the five grippers 4 opened by the opening / closing mechanism 13. In this manner, in this embodiment, each carrier 3 provided with five grippers 4 is caused to circulate among the positions A to D of the circulating transport route R to transport syringes 2 as articles.

[0011] 2 to 4, the article transport device 5 includes a linear rail 16 arranged along an endless circulating transport path R, and a plurality of carriers 3 that are linearly driven along this linear rail 16, and the control device 11 is capable of individually controlling the position and moving speed of each carrier 3 on the circulating transport path R. Each carrier 3 is circulated along the circulating transport path R in the order of the aforementioned supply position A, filling position B, plugging position C, discharge position D, and then supply position A, and is temporarily stopped at each position. A large number of electromagnetic coils 17 are arranged on the linear rail 16 without any gaps along the entire circulating transport path R, and these electromagnetic coils 17 are individually excited by the control device 11 at the required timing. The carrier 3 comprises a plate-shaped base member 18 supported horizontally, five grippers 4 arranged on the upper surface of the base member 18 perpendicular to the conveying direction, a columnar member 19 connected vertically downward to the center of the lower surface of the base member 18, a first shuttle 21 arranged approximately in the center of the columnar member 19 and having a permanent magnet 21A disposed therein, two sets of rollers 22 arranged above and below the first shuttle 21, a pair of second shuttles 23 arranged at front and rear positions in the conveying direction on either side of the first shuttle 21 and having permanent magnets 23A embedded therein, and a spacing adjustment mechanism 24 that links the operation of expanding and contracting the spacing between the pair of second shuttles 23 with the operation of expanding and contracting the spacing between the five grippers 4.

[0012] The electromagnetic coil 17 is arranged on the linear rail 16 facing the first shuttle 21 and second shuttle 23 of the carrier 3, and annular guide members 26A, 26B are arranged above and below the electromagnetic coil 17 to abut against the rollers 22 at the upper and lower positions of the carrier 3 (see Figure 2). When the rollers 22 at the top and bottom positions of the carrier 3 come into contact with the guide members 26A and 26B, a small gap is formed between the electromagnetic coil 17 and the first shuttle 21 and the second shuttle 23, and in this state, the control device 11 excites the electromagnetic coil 17 at a required position along the circulatory transport path R. As a result, each carrier 3 is linearly driven in relation to the permanent magnets 21A and 23A of the first shuttle 21 and the second shuttle 23 and the magnetic force of the electromagnetic coil 17 arranged along the circulatory transport path R, and the carrier 3 is circulated between each of the positions A to D along the circulatory travel path R and temporarily stopped at a required position. At that time, the position and moving speed of each carrier 3 can be controlled by the control device 11. The configuration of the linear transport means for moving the carrier 3 by linear drive is conventionally known. The columnar member 19 on which the first shuttle 21 is provided constitutes a part of the base member 18.

[0013] The gripper 4 and the interval adjustment mechanism 24 provided on the carrier 3 will be described below. A linear rail 27 aligned along the movement direction (conveyance direction) of the carrier 3 is connected to the upper surface of the base member 18, and engagement grooves 28A on the bottom surfaces of five gripper bases 28 are slidably engaged with this rail 27. A linear guide rail 31 is fixed to the upper surface of each gripper base 28 in the same direction as the rail 27. The gripper 4 is composed of a pair of left and right rectangular column-shaped gripping members 4A, 4B, and an engagement groove 4C formed on the lower surface of the base of each of them slidably engages with the guide rail 31. Engagement recesses for gripping the outer periphery of the syringe 2 are formed at corresponding positions on the tip side of the gripping members 4A, 4B, and the pair of engagement recesses grip the outer periphery of the syringe 2 (see FIG. 4). A pin 32 is attached to the upper surface of the base of each of the gripping members 4A, 4B, and a tension spring 33 is attached across the pins 32. Therefore, the left and right gripping members 4A, 4B are constantly biased in the direction of abutting against each other along the guide rail 31. In other words, the gripper 4 is closed by the tension spring 33. A support pin 34 is erected at a position adjacent to the guide rail 31 on the upper surface of the gripper base 28, and this support pin 34 is inserted into a through hole in the center of the first plate 36 and also into a through hole in the base of the second plate 37. A long hole 36A is formed at the tip side of the first plate 36, and the pin 32 on the gripping member 4B side is inserted into this long hole 36A from below. A long hole 37A is also formed in the second plate 37, and the pin 32 of the gripping member 4A is inserted into this long hole 37A from below. A roller 38 is rotatably attached to the other end of the first plate 36 protruding from above the gripper base 28. The five grippers 4 provided on the carrier 3 are configured as described above, and each gripper base 28 and the gripper 4 provided thereon are movable along the rails 27 in the conveying direction. In order to open and close the five grippers 4 of the carrier 3 simultaneously, an opening / closing mechanism 13 is disposed on the inner side of the circulating transport path R at the supply position A facing outward from the circulating transport path R. The opening / closing mechanism 13 is composed of a straight opening / closing bar 13A parallel to the straight region of the linear rail 16, and an air cylinder 13B for moving the opening / closing bar 13A forward and backward. The opening / closing bar 13A is supported at the same height as the five rollers 38 on the side of the five grippers 4 provided on the carrier 3, and is set to a length that allows it to come into contact with them at once. The operation of the air cylinder 13B is controlled by the control device 11. When the carrier 3 is located in a transport area of ​​the circulatory transport path R other than the supply position A, each gripper 4 of the carrier 3 is closed by the tension spring 33. On the other hand, when the carrier 3 is moved and stopped at the supply position A, the control device 11 operates the air cylinder 13B of the opening and closing mechanism 13 to advance the opening and closing bar 13A by a predetermined amount. As a result, the opening and closing bar 13A contacts the rollers 38 of the five grippers 4 on the carrier 3 side all at once, and further moves them outwardly of the circulatory transport path R by a predetermined amount. As a result, the first plate 36 and the second plate 37 are swung about the support pin 34 as a fulcrum against the tension spring 33, and the gripping members 4A and 4B of the five grippers 4 are released all at once. Then, in this open state of the grippers 4, the five syringes 2 are supplied into the engagement recesses of the gripping members 4A and 4B of the grippers 4 by the above-mentioned supply robot 6. Thereafter, the control device 11 stops the operation of the air cylinder 13B, so that the opening and closing bar 13A retreats to its original position and moves away from the roller 38. This causes the gripping members 4A, 4B of the five grippers 4 to grip the upper outer periphery of the syringe 2 (see FIGS. 2 to 4). Note that by changing the amount of advancement of the opening and closing bar 13A when the control device 11 operates the air cylinder 13B, it is possible to adjust the opening degree of the grippers 4 (gripping members 4A, 4B), so that the grippers 4 can reliably grip the syringe according to differences in size of the syringe 2.

[0014] Next, a description will be given of the interval adjustment mechanism 24 that increases or decreases the interval between adjacent grippers 4 of the carrier 3. The interval adjustment mechanism 24 is composed of a link mechanism 41 that is disposed on the upper side and increases or decreases the interval between adjacent grippers 4 via five gripper bases 28, and an operating mechanism 42 that is disposed on the lower side and operates the link mechanism 41 to increase or decrease the interval. The operating mechanism 42 located on the lower side comprises the pair of second shuttles 23, a pair of swing links 44 whose lower ends are swingably connected to the second shuttles 23 by pins 43, lifting links 45 whose upper ends are swingably connected to both ends of the swing links 44 by pins 43, and a lifting member 46 connected vertically to the longitudinal center of the lifting links 45. A vertical guide member 47 is connected to the vertical guide portion 18A on the front side of the base member 18, and the vertical engagement groove 46A of the lifting member 46 is engaged with this guide member 47 so that it can be raised and lowered. This allows the lifting link 45 to be raised and lowered while maintaining a horizontal state. The lifting link 45 is linked to the pair of second shuttles 23 via a pair of swing links 44, and the control device 11 excites the electromagnetic coils 17 adjacent to the pair of second shuttles 23 when necessary, so that the distance between the pair of second shuttles 23 can be expanded and reduced. When they are expanded and reduced, the lifting member 46 and the lifting link 45 are raised and lowered in conjunction with the swing of the pair of swing links 44, and the link mechanism 41 is expanded and reduced in conjunction with this in the conveying direction. Next, the upper link mechanism 41 includes eight links 48 that are connected in sequence to form a V shape across the lift link 45 and the front faces of the five gripper bases 28 . The upper end of the link 48 at the left end (one end in the conveying direction) in Fig. 3 is swingably attached to the front surface of the gripper base 28 at that position by a pin 43, and the upper end of the link 48 at the right end (the other end in the conveying direction) in Fig. 3 is swingably attached to the front surface of the gripper base 28 at that position by a pin 43. The upper ends of the other links 48 are swingably attached to the front surface of the gripper base 28 at the corresponding positions by the pins 43 with adjacent links overlapping each other. In addition, the lower ends of adjacent links 48 are swingable by the pins 43 with the links overlapping each other, and the pins 43 are movably inserted into elongated holes 45A formed at required positions of the lifting link 45 (see Figs. 5(A) and 5(B)). In this manner, the eight links 48 are swingably attached across the five gripper bases 28 and the lifting link 45. When the lifting link 45 of the operating mechanism 42 is lifted, the intervals between the upper ends of the adjacent links 48 in the eight links 48 become wider (see FIG. 5(B)), whereas when the lifting link 45 is lowered, the intervals between the upper ends of the adjacent links 48 are adjusted to become narrower (FIG. 5(A)). In this manner, the intervals between the adjacent five gripper bases 28 and the grippers 4 provided thereon (intervals in the conveying direction) can be increased or decreased.

[0015] In the above configuration, the multiple carriers 3 equipped to the item conveying device 5 are caused to circulate along the circulating conveying path R to each of the positions A to D in the direction of the arrows in Figure 1 by the control device 11 exciting the electromagnetic coils 17 at required positions on the circulating conveying path R. Here, in areas other than the supply position A, the spacing between adjacent grippers 4 on each carrier 3 is wider to match the spacing between adjacent filling nozzles 7A of the filling device 7 (the spacing between adjacent capping heads of the capping device) (see Figure 5(b)). In this state, the carrier 3 runs from the discharge position D shown in Figure 1 to the supply position A and stops there. With the carrier 3 and the first shuttle 21 of the base member 18 stopped, the control device 11 excites the electromagnetic coil 17 located close to a pair of second shuttles 23, and the magnetic force acts to adjust the distance between the two second shuttles 23 from wide to narrow (see Figure 5(A)). When the spacing between the pair of second shuttles 23 is changed from wide to narrow in this manner, the five gripper bases 28 and the grippers 4 mounted thereon are moved synchronously in the direction approaching each other along the rails 27 via the link mechanism 41 of the spacing adjustment mechanism 24, adjusting the spacing between adjacent grippers to narrower (Figure 5(A)). This makes it possible for the intervals between the five syringes 2 in one row held by the supply robot 6 to match the intervals between adjacent ones of the five grippers 4 on the carrier 3 side. In this state, the opening / closing bar 13A of the opening / closing mechanism 13 is advanced to move the five rollers 38 on the carrier 3 side outward, so that the five grippers 4 on the carrier 3 are synchronously opened. Thereafter, when the five syringes 2 held by the supply robot 6 are supplied to the five grippers 4 in the open state, the five grippers 4 are immediately released from the open state by the opening / closing mechanism 13 and closed, so that the upper outer periphery of the syringe 2 is gripped by the five grippers 4 on the carrier 3 (see FIG. 2). At supply position A, carrier 3 with syringes 2 held by five grippers 4 then travels downstream to filling position B, where it is stopped. Then, controller 11 excites electromagnetic coils 17 located close to a pair of second shuttles 23, and the magnetic force acts to adjust the gap between both second shuttles 23 from narrow to wide (see FIG. 5(B)). When the spacing between the pair of second shuttles 23 is changed from narrow to wide in this manner, the five gripper bases 28 and the grippers 4 mounted thereon are moved synchronously in the direction separating them along the rails 27 via the link mechanism 41 of the spacing adjustment mechanism 24, adjusting the spacing between adjacent grippers to be wider (Figure 5(B)). As a result, the syringes 2 held by the five grippers 4 of the carrier 3 are positioned directly below the five filling nozzles 7A (see FIG. 3). At this filling position B, a predetermined amount of medicinal liquid is filled synchronously into the five syringes 2 of the carrier 3 by the five filling nozzles 7A. Thereafter, the carrier 3, in which the syringes 2 held by the five grippers 4 are filled with the drug solution, travels from the filling position B to the capping device C downstream and stops there. Because the spacing between adjacent capping heads of the capping device 8 is the same as the spacing between adjacent filling nozzles 7A of the filling device 7, the five syringes 2 held by the grippers 4 of the carrier 3 stop directly below the five capping heads. Then, at the capping device C, cylindrical stoppers are attached to the upper openings of the five syringes 2 by the five capping heads. In this manner, the syringes 2 held by the five grippers 4 on the carrier 3 are filled with the drug solution, and then stoppers are attached to the upper openings of the syringes 2. The carrier 3 then travels from stoppering position C to discharge position D, where it stops. Then, at discharge position D, the five syringes 2 are simultaneously removed from the five grippers 4 on the carrier 3 by a discharge robot (not shown), and then discharged onto discharge chute 14. At discharge position D, carrier 3 having five emptied grippers 4 is transported again to supply position A and stopped there. Then, at supply position A, as described above, the intervals between adjacent grippers 4 of carrier 3 are narrowed by interval adjustment mechanism 24 to correspond to the intervals between five empty syringes 2 supplied from supply robot 6 (see FIG. 5(A)).

[0016] As described above, in the article transport device 5 of this embodiment, the carrier 3 is provided with five grippers 4, and the interval between adjacent grippers 4 can be easily adjusted by the interval adjustment mechanism 24. Therefore, even if the size of the syringes 2 or vials to be processed changes, or the interval between a row of syringes 2 held in the nest 12A of the storage container 12 changes, the interval between adjacent grippers 4 on the carrier 3 side can be easily adjusted in response to fluctuations in the size (diameter) of the syringes 2 or vials. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to provide an article transport device 5 with high versatility.

[0017] In the above embodiment, the article is assumed to be a syringe 2, but the article transport device 5 can also be used to fill an empty vial contained in a container with a liquid medicine instead of the syringe 2. Further, in the gap adjustment mechanism 24 of the above embodiment, a pair of the second shuttles 23 and the swing link 44 are used as the operating mechanism 42, but the operating mechanism 42 may be constituted by only one of the second shuttles 23 and the swing link 44. In addition, in the above embodiment, a pair of second shuttles 23 and a swing link 44 are used as the operating mechanism 42, but instead of these, a lifting cylinder that lifts and lowers the lifting member 46 may be provided to expand and contract the link mechanism 41. Furthermore, the above embodiment has been described assuming an article transport device 5 for use in a filling system 1 for a syringe 2, but the present invention can be adopted as an article transport device for transporting articles other than syringes and vials. In addition, in the above embodiment, the spacing between adjacent grippers 4 is adjusted when the carrier 3 is stopped at the supply position A or the like, but it is also possible to adjust the spacing between adjacent grippers 4 while the carrier 3 is moving along the circulatory conveying path R. [Explanation of symbols]

[0018] 2... Syringe (item) 3... Carrier 4... Gripper 5... Item transport device 11...Control device 16...Linear rail 17...electromagnetic coil 18...base member 21...First shuttle 21A...Permanent magnet 24: Spacing adjustment mechanism 41: Link mechanism 42...Operating mechanism R...Ring conveying path

Claims

1. An article transport device comprising: a plurality of carriers each provided with a plurality of grippers for holding an article and circulating along an endless circulating transport path; a plurality of electromagnetic coils disposed along the circulating transport path; permanent magnets provided on the carriers; and a control device that supplies current to the electromagnetic coils to cause the plurality of carriers to circulate along the circulating transport path, the carrier includes a base member on which the permanent magnet is provided, a rail provided on the base member along a conveying direction of the article, and a plurality of gripper bases on which the gripper is provided and which are movable along the rail of the base member; The article transport device further comprises a gap adjustment mechanism provided on the carrier for adjusting the gap between adjacent grippers via the plurality of gripper bases.

2. 2. The item transport device according to claim 1, wherein the spacing adjustment mechanism comprises a link mechanism consisting of a plurality of links connected to the plurality of gripper bases, and an operating mechanism that adjusts the spacing between the adjacent gripper bases by expanding and contracting the links of the link mechanism in the transport direction.

3. The article transport device described in claim 2, characterized in that the operating mechanism has a movable member that is separate from the base member and can move in the transport direction, and that links with the link mechanism via a swing link, and when a magnetic force acts on a permanent magnet embedded in the movable member, the movable member is moved in the transport direction relative to the base member, thereby expanding and contracting the link mechanism.

4. A pair of movable members having permanent magnets embedded therein are disposed on the carrier, sandwiching the base member therebetween, and these movable members can be linked to the link mechanism via a pair of swing links, and the operating mechanism is constituted by these movable members and the pair of swing links, 3. An article transport device as described in claim 2, characterized in that when a magnetic force acts on the magnets of the pair of movable members, the distance between the pair of movable members is adjusted, and in conjunction with this, the distance between adjacent grippers is adjusted via the link mechanism and the gripper base.

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