The invention relates to a supply installation (22) for a site (10) for producing rubber products from rubber blocks of rubber mixtures of predetermined weight and volume, characterized in that the supply installation includes: an input station where the supply installation performs a process of entry of empty bins (B.sub.V) for receiving, during a picking process, rubber blocks identified to satisfy a rubber product production campaign; a discharge station where the supply installation performs a process of discharging full bins (B.sub.P) containing the picked rubber blocks; a supply means that manages the transport of the empty bins and the full bins to the supply installation; and a picking station that performs a process of picking the rubber blocks grouped in a container according to the status of the current rubber product production campaign.

The invention employs a folding arm conveyor that rotates horizontally. The folding arm conveyor is mainly composed of an undercarriage mounted on the ground of a stockyard, a tower body mounted on the undercarriage, a balance arm, a conveying arm, a tower top, and other main components, wherein the balance arm, the conveying arm, and the tower top are mounted on the tower body. The conveying arm is provided with two portal frames (I) and (II) and an unloading trolley. The tower body is provided with a gyration apparatus and a hopper. The balance arm is provided with a balance trolley. The folding arm conveyor can rotate horizontally, and the conveying arm can be folded and retraced by controlling the wind rope by the windlass, so that the folding arm conveyor can be prevented from colliding with other devices or buildings during the rotation.

A system that can be assembled at a well drilling or other site for storing bulk material such as sand includes a plurality of storage bins configured as trailers, a skid that includes a lower conveyor, a bucket elevator and a top conveyor system. At the site, the bins and the elevator are vertically oriented and stood on the skid, resulting in discharge outlets on the bins becoming positioned over the lower conveyor. The top conveyor is installed on top of the bins. In operation, the elevator lifts the material and discharges it onto the top conveyor system. The top conveyor system discharges the material into the bins for storage. The stored material is controllably discharged from the discharge outlets of the bins onto the lower conveyor from which the material is conveyed to one end of the skid for transport to a new location or directly into a blender.

The invention relates to a device (100) for loading/unloading stackable cargo units (101) such as boxes (101) from a cargo space, such as a sea container (102). Such a device (100) comprises a movable arm (104) with a head (110), comprising an array with downwardly directed gripping bodies (e.g. suction cups (211)). According to the invention there is a second grip section (220) with which the cargo units (101) can be gripped at the sides thereof. Hereby also cargo units (101) of a top row can be unloaded quickly. The invention also relates to a method for the loading/unloading of a cargo space.

A raising/lowering conveyance apparatus has at least two sets of container holders operable to be raised/lowered in conjunction with each other, and to be freely movable closer to or away from containers in the back-and-forth horizontal direction. A sensor operable to detect the upper end height of the transferred containers which have been transferred and raised is attached to a position near the lower end of each container holder, to determine abnormality in posture of the transferred containers through a comparison operation between the value of the upper end height of the transferred containers detected by the sensor and the normal value of the upper end height of the transferred containers calculated on the basis of the height of the container being handled.

An intermodal terminal control system determines characteristics of cargo containers scheduled for receipt into and/or travel out of an intermodal terminal connected with both rail routes and automobile routes, determines characteristics of cargo handling equipment within the intermodal terminal, determines characteristics of rail vehicles scheduled for one or more of entry into or travel out of the intermodal terminal, and determines characteristics of automobile vehicles scheduled for entry into or travel out of the intermodal terminal. The system also determines constraints on cargo handling operations and a plan for the cargo handling equipment to transfer the cargo containers between the different modes of transportation within the intermodal terminal. The plan designates a sequence of operations to be performed in moving the cargo containers with the cargo handling equipment. The plan is based on the characteristics of the cargo containers, the cargo handling equipment, the rail vehicles, and the automobile vehicles.

In a method for conveying laden or unladen load carriers, the load carriers are conveyed by a first conveying system and a second conveying system which differ from one another in conveying terms. At least one load carrier is picked up and conveyed, at least temporarily, by in each case one conveying device of the first conveying system independently of the second conveying system. The second conveying system at least temporarily conveys a conveying device or an assembly which is formed by a conveying device and at least one load carrier brought together with the latter. A unit for this purpose is also specified.

Shuttle robots (107) are used that are suitable for moving trolleys (106, 106′) under the control of a monitoring and control unit (190) for handling objects so as to move them from a collection point (110) to a palletizing station (151) remote from the collection point, the shuttle robots being autonomously movable and being suitable for hitching to and unhitching from the trolleys, the monitoring and control unit controls the shuttle robots so that they move the objects on trolleys from the collection point to a buffer storage zone (141) where the articles on the trolleys are grouped together into batches of articles for palletizing, and the monitoring and control unit controls the shuttle robots so that they take the objects on trolleys grouped together in batches from the buffer storage zone and move them in sequence to the palletizing station.

A system includes one or more processors that determine: a characteristic of a cargo container scheduled for receipt into or travel out of a terminal; a characteristic of cargo handling equipment associated with the terminal and selected from cranes, lifts, conveyors, and elevators; a characteristic of a first transportation vehicle scheduled for entry into or travel out of the terminal; a characteristic of a different, second transportation vehicle scheduled for entry into or travel out of the terminal; a constraint associated with cargo handling operations involving transferring the cargo container via the cargo handling equipment; and a plan for the cargo handling equipment to transfer the cargo container within the terminal based on the characteristics and the constraint. The one or more processors initiate the cargo handling equipment to move the cargo container from the first transportation vehicle to the second transportation vehicle according to the plan.

A system, method, and apparatus for palletizing cargo on a rack for shipment are provided. The system generally includes a tiered rack having a base tier, a support framework extending from the base tier, and a second tier adjustably attached to the support framework. The system may further include a plurality of lower frame support members positioned longitudinally across the bottom of the base tier, and a plurality of pneumatically actuated rollers spaced to cooperatively engage the plurality of lower frame support members, the rollers being selectively extendable from a plurality of raised tracks positioned longitudinally along a floor of the railcar, where the rollers are configured to pneumatically extend past an upper surface of the track when actuated and allow for linear motion thereover.