Abstract: A vacuum lift is formed with an upper housing cover shaped portion having a central opening in which travels a vertically movable piston rod which has a piston disk at its lower end adapted to be selectively positioned to open or close an aperture in a suction disk having an encircling gasket. An enlarged evacuated volume is provided within the housing cover by expanding a plurality of diaphragm sheets into a bellows. The lowermost diaphragm sheet is connected directly to the suction disk and the uppermost diaphragm sheet is connected to and lifted by the piston rod to expand the bellows. The piston disk is formed with an air valve which is positioned by an automatic switching device operable with vertical movement of a draw bar positioned within the hollow piston.

Abstract: A vacuum lifting device for lifting articles having curved surfaces comprises at least one suction cup having a vacuum chamber subdivided into a plurality of segments which are displaceable relative to one another to conform to the surface of the article and means to automatically lock the segments at this position. More specifically, as a vacuum is formed in a vacuum chamber on the upper side of the segments and lifting force is applied to the vacuum cup, the segments are automatically locked into position at the predetermined configuration corresponding to the curvature of the article being lifted. Upon release of the lifting force, a biasing means returns the segments from their locked configuration to a released position.