To hang and grip an article case at a cantilever attitude in a state of few possibilities of deformation and damage of the article case by providing a locking member locking one side wall part of the article case upward from the outside and an inside abutting member which is abutted on the inside of the upper edge of the one side wall part.

An article gripping device A is lowered and moved, each of inside abutting members 4 is made to get into the upper edge inside of the corresponding one side wall part C1 and each of pressing members 5 is pressed on the upper edge of the corresponding one side wall part C1. When the article clamping device A is raised and moved, the pressing member 5 is moved to the side of locking members 3, each of the locking members 3 is locked on the lower surface side of an intermediate collar C6 of the corresponding container Ca in a state that each of the one side wall parts C1 is held by the locking members 3 and the pressing member, and the containers Ca and hanged and gripped at a cantilever attitude.