In a transporting system, a first conveyor includes a transport surface to transport different size tires in a first direction. A first positioner positions an end of a tire transported by the first conveyor, at a first predetermined position in the first direction. A second positioner positions an end of the tire at a second predetermined position in a second direction horizontally perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the first direction. The first and second clamping portion portions are at or adjacent to a clamping position, and pass through between a tire first portion at or adjacent to an end of the tire positioned by the first positioner and a tire second portion at or adjacent to an end of the tire positioned by the second positioner to clamp side surfaces of the tire.

The present invention provides pallets for use in gravity pallet flow racks and pallet push back racks which resist becoming misaligned and jammed in such racks. This accordingly provides better reliability (reduces down time) and reduces the manual labor which is required to clear jammed pallets from such rack systems. The use of these pallets in gravity pallet flow racks and pallet push back racks does not compromise any of the inherent advantages of such systems. In other words, systems which utilize the pallets of this invention offer highly efficient use of warehouse space and require low maintenance. They are also compatible for use in conjunction with machinery designed for automatically placing, positioning, and/or stacking the pallets in an organized manner in the system and retrieving the pallets which are stored in the system.

A conveyor for transporting and elevating articles and a method and system for conveying articles up inclines is provided. The conveyor has a conveyor belt and a plurality of support elements extending outward from the article-conveying surface of the conveyor belt advancing upward along the incline. The support elements prevent conveyed articles from sliding down the conveyor belt on the incline. The article-conveying surface of the conveyor belt may provide a low-friction retention surface to articles leaning away from the conveyor belt on the incline.

An automatic tire loader/unloader for stacking/unstacking tires in a trailer is disclosed. In one embodiment, a mobile base structure provides a support framework for a drive subassembly, conveyance subassembly, an industrial robot, a distance measurement subassembly, and a control subassembly. Under the operation of the control subassembly, tires advance through a powered transportation path to an industrial robot which places the tires within the trailer in a vertical stacking pattern or a rick-stacking pattern, for example. The control subassembly coordinates the selective articulated movement of the industrial robot and the activation of the drive subassembly based upon the distance measurement subassembly detecting objects, including tires, within a detection space, dimensions of the trailer provided to the control subassembly, and dimensions of the tires provided to the control subassembly.

A conveyor for transporting and elevating articles and a method and system for conveying articles up inclines is provided. The conveyor has a conveyor belt and a plurality of support elements extending outward from the article-conveying surface of the conveyor belt advancing upward along the incline. The conveyor may be positioned at an inclined angle relative to the horizontal ground, i.e., between about 5 and 85 or the conveyor can be substantially vertical, i.e., about 90 relative to the horizontal ground. The support elements prevent conveyed articles from sliding down the conveyor belt on the inclined conveyor and carry and hold articles on substantially vertical conveyors. The article-conveying surface of the conveyor belt may provide a low-friction retention surface to articles leaning away from the conveyor belt on the incline.

Method and plant for producing tyres for vehicle wheels in which: each vulcanizer (30) of a plurality of vulcanizers (30) is associated with a respective pick-up logic of green tyres from at least one storage area (20) of green tyres; upon each request to vulcanize a green tyre in a vulcanizer (30) of the plurality of vulcanizers (30), the pick-up logic associated with said vulcanizer (30) is applied to select and pick up a green tyre from the storage area (20); the respective pick-up logic associated with each vulcanizer (30) comprises a first pick-up rule of green tyres from the storage area (20) and, for at least one of the plurality of vulcanizers (30), the first pick-up rule is changed into at least one second pick-up rule at least once during the production in the plant (1) of at least one lot of tyres.

An automatic tire loader/unloader for stacking/unstacking tires in a trailer is disclosed. In one embodiment, a mobile base structure provides a support framework for a drive subassembly, conveyance subassembly, an industrial robot, a distance measurement subassembly, and a control subassembly. Under the operation of the control subassembly, tires advance through a powered transportation path to an industrial robot which places the tires within the trailer in a vertical stacking pattern or a rick-stacking pattern, for example. The control subassembly coordinates the selective articulated movement of the industrial robot and the activation of the drive subassembly based upon the distance measurement subassembly detecting objects, including tires, within a detection space, dimensions of the trailer provided to the control subassembly, and dimensions of the tires provided to the control subassembly.

The invention relates to an arrangement for picking and sorting products in a warehouse, which arrangement comprises a main body (400) arranged to move in at least one direction, at least a first load handling unit (401) and a second load handling unit (402), arranged adjacent to each other in the main body for positioning the products to a storage position (201, 202; 203; 204) and removing the products from a storage position, means for producing location information of the products in the storage position, and a control unit for controlling the movements of the main body and the load handling units, based on the location information, for sorting the products to storage positions by type of products. The invention also relates to method for picking and sorting products in a warehouse.

Provided is a conveyor for conveying a tire component, in particular a tread for retreading, wherein the conveyor includes a support surface that extends in a direction of conveyance to support the tire component during conveyance in the direction of conveyance, wherein the support surface is provided with a surface structure that is arranged to contact seventy-five percent or less than seventy-five percent of the downwardly facing surface area of the tire component, wherein the support surface is arranged to be held stationary during conveyance of the tire component and wherein the conveyor is provided with one or more manipulators to manipulate the position of the tire component on the stationary support surface by sliding the tire component over the stationary support surface.

An automatic tire loader/unloader for stacking/unstacking tires in a trailer is disclosed. In one embodiment, a mobile base structure provides a support framework for a drive subassembly, conveyance subassembly, an industrial robot, a distance measurement subassembly, and a control subassembly. Under the operation of the control subassembly, tires advance through a powered transportation path to an industrial robot which places the tires within the trailer in a vertical stacking pattern or a rick-stacking pattern, for example. The control subassembly coordinates the selective articulated movement of the industrial robot and the activation of the drive subassembly based upon the distance measurement subassembly detecting objects, including tires, within a detection space, dimensions of the trailer provided to the control subassembly, and dimensions of the tires provided to the control subassembly.