A method and a feeding apparatus for feeding spacers for cigarette packs are disclosed, in which each spacer comprises a substantially rectangular flat body, the spacers being insertable in cartons for cigarette packs to space out packs with dimensions smaller than the standard dimensions; the spacers are stacked on a pallet that is positioned in a withdrawal station; the stacks of spacers are withdrawn from the withdrawal station and transferred to a respective hopper by passing each stack of spacers through an upper opening of the hopper, to then unload the spacers one by one through a lower opening of the hopper.

A method and a feeding apparatus for feeding spacers for cigarette packs are disclosed, in which each spacer comprises a substantially rectangular flat body, the spacers being insertable in cartons for cigarette packs to space out packs with dimensions smaller than the standard dimensions; the spacers are stacked on a pallet that is positioned in a withdrawal station; the stacks of spacers are withdrawn from the withdrawal station and transferred to a respective hopper by passing each stack of spacers through an upper opening of the hopper, to then unload the spacers one by one through a lower opening of the hopper.

A blister collation system includes a blister packager with a blister seal station which seals a blister package with a medicament inside and a blister package stacker connected to the blister packager via a conveyor which moves individual blister packages. The blister package stacker has a nest inlet for reception of the blister packages from the conveyor, a nest assembly for holding one of the blister packages, and a first blister package collection tower for storing a stack of the blister packages. The nest assembly is configured to insert one blister package at a time upward into a bottom of the first collection tower. The stacker further has a tower gate holding the inserted blister packages and a mechanism for pushing the stack of the blister packages from the first collection tower into a storage container.

A blister collation system includes a blister packager with a blister seal station which seals a blister package with a medicament inside and a blister package stacker connected to the blister packager via a conveyor which moves individual blister packages. The blister package stacker has a nest inlet for reception of the blister packages from the conveyor, a nest assembly for holding one of the blister packages, and a first blister package collection tower for storing a stack of the blister packages. The nest assembly is configured to insert one blister package at a time upward into a bottom of the first collection tower. The stacker further has a tower gate holding the inserted blister packages and a mechanism for pushing the stack of the blister packages from the first collection tower into a storage container.

The invention concerns a conveyor system for formatting slice-shaped food products in product stacks. The conveyor system includes an inlet, a lower product conveyor, an upper product conveyor, a vertically swiveling distributor conveyor for distributing the incoming food products selectively to the lower product conveyor or to the upper product conveyor, an output conveyor receiving the food products partially stacked from the lower product conveyor and the upper product conveyor, and an outlet for outputting the stacked food products in product rows. The individual conveying tracks of the distributor conveyor can be swivelled vertically independently of one another in order to forward the incoming food products individually for each conveying track selectively to the lower product conveyor onto the upper product conveyor.

The invention concerns a conveyor system for formatting slice-shaped food products in product stacks. The conveyor system includes an inlet, a lower product conveyor, an upper product conveyor, a vertically swiveling distributor conveyor for distributing the incoming food products selectively to the lower product conveyor or to the upper product conveyor, an output conveyor receiving the food products partially stacked from the lower product conveyor and the upper product conveyor, and an outlet for outputting the stacked food products in product rows. The individual conveying tracks of the distributor conveyor can be swivelled vertically independently of one another in order to forward the incoming food products individually for each conveying track selectively to the lower product conveyor onto the upper product conveyor.

A packing machine for packing articles into a packing box comprises a packing box conveyor for conveying packing boxes with the bottom side supported on the packing box conveyor and an open top side directed upward; and an article conveyor for conveying articles, which is arranged adjacent and alongside the packing box conveyor. A pick-and-place arrangement picks articles from the article conveyor to place the articles in a parallel orientation into a packing box that is conveyed on the packing box conveyor, wherein the parallel orientation is an orientation of an article within the packing box which is parallel to an orientation of an article conveyed on the article conveyor. A transverse packing arrangement of the packing machine comprises a cassette and is configured to present an open side of the cassette sideward for collecting articles from the article conveyor into the cassette in a stacked relationship of the articles in the parallel orientation, and subsequently provides the collected articles in a transverse orientation from the cassette into a packing box, wherein the transverse orientation is an orientation of an article which is transverse to an orientation of an article conveyed on the article conveyor.

A packing machine for packing articles into a packing box comprises a packing box conveyor for conveying packing boxes with the bottom side supported on the packing box conveyor and an open top side directed upward; and an article conveyor for conveying articles, which is arranged adjacent and alongside the packing box conveyor. A pick-and-place arrangement picks articles from the article conveyor to place the articles in a parallel orientation into a packing box that is conveyed on the packing box conveyor, wherein the parallel orientation is an orientation of an article within the packing box which is parallel to an orientation of an article conveyed on the article conveyor. A transverse packing arrangement of the packing machine comprises a cassette and is configured to present an open side of the cassette sideward for collecting articles from the article conveyor into the cassette in a stacked relationship of the articles in the parallel orientation, and subsequently provides the collected articles in a transverse orientation from the cassette into a packing box, wherein the transverse orientation is an orientation of an article which is transverse to an orientation of an article conveyed on the article conveyor.

A method for forming packages of blister packages including sealing a blister package with an item inside; moving the blister packages on a conveyor toward a blister package stacker; receiving the blister packages one at a time in a nest inlet of the blister package stacker and holding the received blister package in a nest assembly; inserting one blister package at a time into a bottom of a blister package collection tower section by upward movement of the blister; retaining the inserted package in the blister package collection tower section; and repeating the receiving, inserting, and retaining to form a stack of the blister packages in the blister package collection tower section.

A method for forming packages of blister packages including sealing a blister package with an item inside; moving the blister packages on a conveyor toward a blister package stacker; receiving the blister packages one at a time in a nest inlet of the blister package stacker and holding the received blister package in a nest assembly; inserting one blister package at a time into a bottom of a blister package collection tower section by upward movement of the blister; retaining the inserted package in the blister package collection tower section; and repeating the receiving, inserting, and retaining to form a stack of the blister packages in the blister package collection tower section.