An unjamming system is used in connection with mass-produced parts fed through a process by a rotating bowl feeder. The bowl feeder has a bowl with an axis of rotation and an outer wall. The parts are disposed against the outer wall by centrifugal force. The unjamming system includes a jamming region adjacent the bowl, wherein unjamming is carried out. A sensor adjacent the jamming region detects a jam. A pneumatic cylinder actuator and an air blow jet adjacent the jamming region removes the parts from the jam. The parts are returned to the bowl by the air blow jet.

A tablet inspection apparatus includes a supply unit including a rotary plate inclinedly disposed, and a transfer plate having a downwardly inclined surface, inclined outwardly on the same level as top dead center of the rotary plate while rotating with the rotary plate around the rotary plate, a first rotary unit inclinedly disposed with respect to the supply unit, and formed such that suction force is applied in a certain section in a circumferential direction, and a second rotary unit installed on one side of the first rotary unit, and formed such that suction force is applied in a certain section in a circumferential direction.

An article supply device includes a storage unit in which a plurality of articles are stored, a supply path, a partition/passing-through member that forms a predetermined gap between a surface of the supply path and the partition/passing-through member, a driving unit that allows the supply path and the partition/passing-through member to relatively move each other, and a gas injection unit that injects gas to the articles on the supply path in at least one of the upstream and the downstream of the partition/passing-through member.

An article supply device includes a plurality of storage units in which a plurality of types of articles are respectively stored, a plurality of supply paths, a plurality of open/close stoppers that control the supply amounts of articles for each supply path, a plurality of partition/passing-through members that form gaps depending on the types of the articles, between the surfaces of the supply paths and the plurality of partition/passing-through members, and a driving unit that allows the supply paths and the partition/passing-through members to relatively move each other.

The invention relates inter alia to an apparatus for conveying and apportioning articles, preferably containers. The apparatus has a single-track conveyor region and a dual-track conveyor region, the latter being arranged directly downstream from the single-track conveyor region and having a first conveyor track and a second conveyor track. The apparatus has a distribution device which is configured to apportion articles, conveyed from the single-track conveyor region, to the first conveyor track and the second conveyor track. The dual-track conveyor region has a height-offset conveyor portion in which the first conveyor track is arranged higher than the second conveyor track. Advantageously, in the height-offset conveyor portion, articles still undistributed can be excited to move to the first conveyor track or the second conveyor track.

A system for feeding preforms to a container blow-molding machine includes a sorting and alignment device fed with randomly arranged preforms and parallel alignment rollers that rotate about their respective axes and arrange the preforms in conveyance tracks inclined with respect to the horizontal. The system includes elements for removing the incorrectly positioned preforms, which are individually laid flat and arrive from the alignment rollers on the conveyance tracks and are oriented parallel to the longitudinal advancement direction. The removal components include an upper guide having a flow control portion arranged at least in one active blocking position thereof, above the end of the alignment rollers proximate to the conveyance tracks distanced from the alignment rollers to allow passage below the flow control portion of the correctly oriented preforms and block the longitudinal end.

A device and a method for infeeding products (10), wherein the device comprises at least one infeed (12) which infeeds products (10) to a transportation system (20), and comprises at least one sensor (28) for identifying products (10) which are backed up, wherein at least one ejection means (14, 16) for removing at least one product (10) which is located and backed up on the infeed (12) is provided.

A rotating disk-type preform alignment apparatus 1 including a disk 10, which is rotationally driven about a rotation axis tilted from a vertical direction, and a partition wall 28 erected outwardly of the disk, the apparatus being adapted to align preforms 100, which have been supplied onto the disk, at the peripheral edge of the disk and discharge the aligned preforms from a discharge section, the apparatus comprising: pockets 30 arranged side by side in a circumferential direction at the peripheral edge of the disk, each pocket having an opening portion into which the preform is dropped, and each pocket having a holding portion provided on the inner peripheral surface of the opening portion for holding the preform in an upright state; and a gas jetting unit 40, provided outwardly of the disk between a region where the preforms are supplied onto the disk and the discharge section, for jetting a gas from outside the pocket and from below the pocket, wherein the inner peripheral surface of the opening portion of the pocket has a tapered shape imitating the trunk shape of the preform.

A system for feeding preforms to a container blow-molding machine includes at least one sorting and alignment device fed with randomly arranged preforms and at least two substantially parallel alignment rollers that can rotate about the respective axes, and arrange the preforms in conveyance tracks inclined with respect to the horizontal. The system further includes elements for removing the incorrectly positioned preforms, which are individually laid flat and arrive from the alignment rollers on the conveyance tracks and are oriented parallel to the longitudinal advancement direction. The removal component includes an upper guide having at least one flow control portion arranged at least in one active blocking position thereof, above the end of the alignment rollers which is proximate to the conveyance tracks distanced from the alignment rollers to allow the passage below the flow control portion of the correctly oriented preforms and block the longitudinal end, which is arranged upstream with respect to the longitudinal advancement direction of the incorrectly oriented preforms when the incorrectly oriented preforms straddle the alignment rollers and the conveyance tracks.

A rotating disk-type preform alignment apparatus 1 including a disk 10, which is rotationally driven about a rotation axis tilted from a vertical direction, and a partition wall 28 erected outwardly of the disk, the apparatus being adapted to align preforms 100, which have been supplied onto the disk, at the peripheral edge of the disk and discharge the aligned preforms from a discharge section, the apparatus comprising: pockets 30 arranged side by side in a circumferential direction at the peripheral edge of the disk, each pocket having an opening portion into which the preform is dropped, and each pocket having a holding portion provided on the inner peripheral surface of the opening portion for holding the preform in an upright state; and a gas jetting unit 40, provided outwardly of the disk between a region where the preforms are supplied onto the disk and the discharge section, for jetting a gas from outside the pocket and from below the pocket, wherein the inner peripheral surface of the opening portion of the pocket has a tapered shape imitating the trunk shape of the preform.