A vacuum lifting device with a contractible and extensible suction tube and a suction cup, which device is provided with a valve house having an interior that is communicating with the interior of the suction tube. The valve house has an aperture for inlet of air and a valve device for regulating the air inlet by a valve body that is actuated by a rotary cam disc which is rotatable together with a rotary hand grip, which cam disc has a periphery designed to continuously displace the valve body an adjustable distance essentially perpendicular to the turning axis of the cam disc in dependence on the turning angle of the hand grip. A steep increase of the cam disc radius makes possible at need a stepwise displacement of the valve body in addition to the regulated distance.