On a conveyor for articles traveling from an upstream to a downstream end, an assembly for turning articles is integrated for changing the orientation of the article so that the article may be proper positioned within a stack of such products on a pallet layer. The turning assembly comprises an arm that is selectively extendible along a track to a plurality of extendable positions into an article path on the conveyor. The arm includes an upstream contact surface that is configured to contact a downstream surface of the article off-axis to a center of gravity of the article so that the article rotates about the upstream contact surface to a turned position and continues downstream on the conveyor in the turned position. A turn assist plate pivots into contact with an upstream portion of the article under computer control as needed to assist with turning boxes that are particularly long.

A device comprising a conveyor such as a sorter comprises a support surface for an object, and a moveable barrier, wherein said barrier comprises a bottom side for contact with the support surface and a top side, and is moveable relative to the support surface with a directional component, which directional component is i) parallel to the support surface and ii) transverse to the direction of movement of the support surface. So as to reduce the risk of an object getting stuck between the barrier and the support surface, the barrier comprises a multitude of independently moveable barrier elements having free distal ends for contact with the support surface and defining the bottom edge of the barrier, wherein the barrier elements are mounted such that the distal ends of the barrier element are moveable with a vertical directional component.

A method of sorting articles with a sorter apparatus and a sorter apparatus having a conveying surface that is adapted to transport articles in a direction of conveyance and a mechanism adapted to displace articles on the conveying surface, the sorter apparatus having an endless web of bodies travelling in an endless loop defining the conveying surface includes a distributed drive system having at least one drive that is adapted to produce to provide force with at least one of the bodies to propel the endless web. A diagnostic device traveling with the web and positioned at one of the bodies of the endless web. The diagnostic device is adapted to monitor operation of the sorter apparatus and includes at least one sensor that is adapted to detect at least one parameter of a proximate drive that is proximate to the at least one sensor, and a controller adapted to receive the at least one parameter from the at least one sensor. A stationary thermal sensor may also monitor the endless loop via another controller including receiving thermal data from the stationary thermal sensor and the another controller correlates the thermal images with a portion of the endless loop.

Systems and methods are provided for conveyor operation and maintenance that employ a smart shoe technology where one or more conveyor shoes incorporate features, such as an RFID tag, allowing selective wireless tracking and identification capability. A conveyor system comprises a shoe management system allowing interactions directly with a reader where interface between this application and the reader can be implemented via a socket interface. An open platform communications (OPC) wrapper can be created around the interface so that a Human Machine Interface (HMI) could interact directly with shoe management system

Method and apparatus for processing poultry parts moving in succession along a path of conveyance. The method provides for an apparatus (1) including at least a conveyor (5) arranged to convey a succession of poultry parts along the path of conveyance downstream of a loading area. The method further includes the step of loading the poultry parts on the conveyor (5) in the loading area, while operating the conveyor to convey the poultry parts in succession. Further the apparatus provided by the method also includes a transfer means (57) in the path of conveyance downstream of the loading area. The transfer means (57) is operated to divide the succession of poultry parts into at least two parallel streams. When coincident with the at least two parallel streams the method performs at least two processing steps in a side-by-side arrangement at a location downstream along the path of conveyance. The processing steps thereby being effective to process each poultry part either identically or differently, while these are divided into the at least two parallel streams of conveyance.

A device comprising a conveyor such as a sorter comprises a support surface for an object, and a moveable barrier, wherein said barrier comprises a bottom side for contact with the support surface and a top side, and is moveable relative to the support surface with a directional component, which directional component is i) parallel to the support surface and ii) transverse to the direction of movement of the support surface. So as to reduce the risk of an object getting stuck between the barrier and the support surface, the barrier comprises a multitude of independently moveable barrier elements having free distal ends for contact with the support surface and defining the bottom edge of the barrier, wherein the barrier elements are mounted such that the distal ends of the barrier element are moveable with a vertical directional component.

A safety switch mechanism for use on a conveyor system includes a lever adapted for pivotal attachment to a non-moving part of the conveyor system. A non-contact safety switch has a first switch part attached the lever and a second switch part fixed relative to the lever. The safety switch has an open position where the first switch part is angularly offset from the second switch part relative to a lever pivot axis and a closed position where the first switch part is aligned with the second switch part. A trigger block is adapted for attachment to a moving part of the conveyor system. The lever is configured as a pendulum and in an equilibrium position of the lever the safety switch is in the open position. The trigger block is configured to contact and pivot the lever moving the safety switch from the open position to the closed position.

A transport mechanism and a method for transporting objects are disclosed. The transport mechanism includes a transport unit, a vacuum belt conveyor unit, and a push-type transport unit. The vacuum belt conveyor unit receives objects from the transport unit and conveys the received objects to the push-type transport unit. The vacuum belt conveyor unit can generate a vacuum force to adhere the plurality of objects thereon. When the vacuum belt conveyor unit stops conveying the objects carried thereon, the objects adhered to the vacuum belt conveyor unit would block the objects being transported by the transport unit, and when the vacuum belt conveyor unit starts to convey the objects carried thereon to the push-type transport unit, the transport unit would immediately transport more objects to the vacuum belt conveyor unit. Thus, with the vacuum belt conveyor unit, the objects are conveyed to the push-type transport unit and the position of objects is also accurately controlled.

A diverting checkweigher comprising a conveyor belt with product-carrying, vertically floating slats that are supported on a weigh scale as the belt passes over it. The floating slats isolate product weight from belt weight. The slats themselves may be laterally stationary or divertible. If divertable, they can divert products based on their weights. If not divertible, the slats can be used with product pushers to divert products for weight-based sorting or rejection. The slats have legs that extend below the bottom of the belt to ride on the scale or be diverted across the belt by a diverter. The pushers are diverted by a diverter.

The invention relates to a device (1), system and method for sorting products, the device comprising a frame, carriers (2) for products, pusher members (20) which are displaceable along a carrier (2), guide means (32) with a guiding member (38) for guiding the pusher member (20) in a conveying direction during transportation of the carriers (2) in order to move it in a length direction of the carrier (2), for the purpose of laterally moving a product off the supporting surface at a discharge location, a presorting switch device (36) with a presorting switch member (50) in order, in an active presorting position, to move or keep the pusher member (20) to or in a second transverse position, a switchable switch device (34) with a switch member (56) in order, in an active position, to move the pusher member (20) in such a way that the guide member (24) is subsequently guided by the guiding member (38).