A conveyor tunnel oven incorporating a baking case opened by longitudinal and oppositely longitudinal food passage ports; a first conveyor extending through the at least baking case, the first conveyor being adapted for carrying the food item therethrough, a second conveyor supported at the oppositely longitudinal end of the baking case, the second conveyor being adapted for carrying the food item longitudinally toward or away from the food passage port; a third conveyor carried by the second conveyor, the third conveyor being adapted for carrying the food item laterally toward or away from the food passage port; a fourth conveyor carried by the third conveyor, the fourth conveyor being adapted for orbiting the food item; and a fifth conveyor carried by the fourth conveyor, the fifth conveyor having food item engaging arms and being adapted for moving the food item upwardly or downwardly.

A conveyor tunnel oven incorporating a baking case opened by longitudinal and oppositely longitudinal food passage ports; a first conveyor extending through the at least baking case, the first conveyor being adapted for carrying the food item therethrough, a second conveyor supported at the oppositely longitudinal end of the baking case, the second conveyor being adapted for carrying the food item longitudinally toward or away from the food passage port; a third conveyor carried by the second conveyor, the third conveyor being adapted for carrying the food item laterally toward or away from the food passage port; a fourth conveyor carried by the third conveyor, the fourth conveyor being adapted for orbiting the food item; and a fifth conveyor carried by the fourth conveyor, the fifth conveyor having food item engaging arms and being adapted for moving the food item upwardly or downwardly.

An article sorting facility includes a plurality of storage members each configured to store one or more articles, a plurality of article transport vehicles each capable of traveling in at least a portion of a preset travel lane with one or more support members on board, each support member being configured to support one or more articles; a plurality of work areas each configured to allow work to be performed to transfer articles between one or more storage members and at least one of the one or more support members on board an article transport vehicle in the travel lane, wherein each of the work areas is located adjacent to one or more storage members and to the travel lane, wherein the plurality of work areas are arranged one adjacent to another along the travel lane, and wherein two or more article transport vehicles are in the travel lane simultaneously to travel in a line.

An article sorting facility includes a plurality of storage members each configured to store one or more articles, a plurality of article transport vehicles each capable of traveling in at least a portion of a preset travel lane with one or more support members on board, each support member being configured to support one or more articles; a plurality of work areas each configured to allow work to be performed to transfer articles between one or more storage members and at least one of the one or more support members on board an article transport vehicle in the travel lane, wherein each of the work areas is located adjacent to one or more storage members and to the travel lane, wherein the plurality of work areas are arranged one adjacent to another along the travel lane, and wherein two or more article transport vehicles are in the travel lane simultaneously to travel in a line.

A sorting device with a transport medium pivotable between two pivot positions and placed around two shafts. The pivot axis about which the transport medium is pivotable is spaced apart from the shaft axes and an upper run formed by the transport medium is straight in both pivot positions.

A traverser includes a base unit including a rail member, a moving unit configured to reciprocally move on the rail member between a first position and a second position, and a conveyance unit mounted on the moving unit and configured to convey a conveyance target object. The moving unit include a first travel roller that is a drive roller, and a drive mechanism configured to give a rotation driving force to the first travel roller. The drive mechanism includes a travel motor configured to supply the rotation driving force, and a friction transmission mechanism configured to transmit the rotation driving force of the travel motor to the first travel roller by a friction force.

A method and device for feeding laundry pieces to a laundry treatment installation. Laundry pieces are fed to ironers by infeed machines. In practice, a front transverse periphery of a laundry piece is folded back on itself. In order to prevent this, infeed machines have stretching installations that have belt conveyors that lie on top of one another, one of which is briefly decelerated so as to unravel a front transverse periphery of the laundry piece that is folded back on itself. This deceleration decreases the infeed performance. One belt conveyor of the present stretching installation is at least temporarily driven at a faster speed to unravel a transverse periphery of the laundry piece that has potentially folded back on itself before the laundry piece runs into the ironer, increasing the infeed performance as it is no longer necessary for either of the belt conveyors to be decelerated.

A conveyor conveys a tray along a transportation path including a linear path and a curved path connected to the linear path. The conveyor includes an orientation assist member configured to assist a change of the conveyance orientation of the tray when the tray is conveyed from the linear path to the curved path. The orientation assist member is provided on the linear path on the upstream side of conveyance from a starting position S of the curved path on the transportation path.

A conveyor conveys a tray along a transportation path including a linear path and a curved path connected to the linear path. The conveyor includes an orientation assist member configured to assist a change of the conveyance orientation of the tray when the tray is conveyed from the linear path to the curved path. The orientation assist member is provided on the linear path on the upstream side of conveyance from a starting position S of the curved path on the transportation path.

Methods and apparatuses for performing article singulation are provided. An article singulator can include an intake conveyor, an out-take conveyor, and multiple intermediate conveyors. The intake conveyor can receive multiple articles and convey the articles to the multiple intermediate conveyors. Further, the out-take conveyor may convey singulated articles from amongst the multiple articles (e.g. to an outfeed). Further, the multiple intermediate conveyors may include successive conveyors to convey the articles and provide the singulated articles to the out-take conveyor. In some examples, each successive conveyor of the multiple intermediate conveyors may be positioned at a lower level than a preceding conveyor. Further, each successive conveyor can convey the articles in a different direction and at a different speed than a preceding conveyor such that the articles are singulated upon conveyance by the article singulator.