ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 31 -- United States Patent no. 12,509,310, issued on Dec. 30, was assigned to RONCHI MARIO S.P.A. (Gessate, Italy).
"Rotating starwheel device with variable opening/closing grippers" was invented by Cesare Ronchi (Gessate, Italy).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A starwheel device rotationally transports containers and which has a body rotating about a vertical axis of rotation, and a plurality of grippers, projecting radially at regular intervals from the rotating body and rotating together therewith. Each gripper has a pair of jaws movable towards and away from each other in a tangential direction. A follower actuating member is provided for each gripper, which rotates to...