A system for aligning items, which includes a packaging box transfer device to transfer a packaging box accommodating items therein, a fixing device to fix, at a withdrawal position where the items are taken out of the packaging box, the packaging box transferred by the packaging box transfer device with its top open, a withdrawal device to move to a space in which the items are accommodated in the packaging box so as to suck and take out the items, an item transfer device to transfer the items taken out by the withdrawal device with the items placed on the item transfer device, a sensor mounted on the withdrawal device to detect directions of the items taken out by the withdrawal device, and a rotating device to rotate the items taken out by the withdrawal device with the items placed on the rotating device.

A system for taking out items wrapped in a packaging film and accommodated in a packaging box with an open top. The system includes a first conveyor configured to transfer a packaging box accommodating items therein, a fixing device for fixing, at a withdrawal position where the items are taken out of the packaging box, the packaging box transferred by the first conveyor with its top open, a withdrawal device for moving to a space in which the items are accommodated in the packaging box so as to suck the same using vacuum suction and take out the same, an item transfer device for transferring the items taken out by the withdrawal device with the items placed on the item transfer device, and a box transfer device for transferring an empty packaging box from which the items are taken out.

A system for taking out items wrapped in a packaging film and accommodated in a packaging box with an open top. The system includes a first conveyor configured to transfer a packaging box accommodating items therein, a fixing device for fixing, at a withdrawal position where the items are taken out of the packaging box, the packaging box transferred by the first conveyor with its top open, a withdrawal device for moving to a space in which the items are accommodated in the packaging box so as to suck the same using vacuum suction and take out the same, an item transfer device for transferring the items taken out by the withdrawal device with the items placed on the item transfer device, and a box transfer device for transferring an empty packaging box from which the items are taken out.

A system may include an article stream. Variable-appearance articles within the stream may have various orientation states. In some cases, to support later processing, articles may be transitioned from anomalous orientations into one or more nominal orientations which are later processing ready. In some cases, determining the current orientation of the variable-appearance articles may be performed using an adaptive classification routine.

The invention relates to a device for feeding products in sheets into an insertion device before a digital printer, including a lifting system for a stack of laminar elements, which in turn includes an extraction mechanism for the last board, an insertion system with an advance mechanism, a rotation system for the stack(s), a positioning stop, connected to an advance and reverse mechanism, a squaring and scaling station, able to create a loading and accumulating hopper, and a telescopically-adjustable transportation system, with the capacity to move the previously-scaled sheets until the insertion device is fed.

The invention relates to a device for feeding products in sheets into an insertion device before a digital printer, including a lifting system for a stack of laminar elements, which in turn includes an extraction mechanism for the last board, an insertion system with an advance mechanism, a rotation system for the stack(s), a positioning stop, connected to an advance and reverse mechanism, a squaring and scaling station, able to create a loading and accumulating hopper, and a telescopically-adjustable transportation system, with the capacity to move the previously-scaled sheets until the insertion device is fed.

An embodiment of the disclosure is a rack adapted to engage a rack handler. The rack includes a rack body. The rack body has a bottom, a top opposite the bottom, and a receptacle that extends from the top toward the bottom. The receptacle is sized to receive the sample collection unit. The rack body has a first interior surface that extends from the bottom toward the top, and a second interior surface that extends from the bottom toward the top. The second interior surface is opposite to the first interior surface so as to at least partially define a slot along the bottom. The rack body also includes an interference groove in the slot along at least one of the first interior surface and the second interior surface. The slot and the interference groove are sized to engage a portion of the rack handler.

A sorting device for sorting book blocks is described, the sorting device having a filling station for sorting one or more book blocks into receptacles, a first input conveyor configured to feed book blocks to the filling station, a second input conveyor configured to feed empty receptacles to the filling station, a first output conveyor configured to transfer full receptacles away from the filling station, the filling station comprising a plurality of inserting devices configured to insert the one or more book blocks into the receptacles, wherein the sorting device further includes a control device configured to receive sorting information of the one or more book blocks and to control the inserting devices to sort the one or more book blocks into the receptacles using the sorting information.

Some manufacturing processes include forming stacks of manufactured objects for handling and/or processing. While some such manufactured objects are consistent in thickness, other are more irregular. Some manufactured objects are generally flat, but are also generally thicker along one edge. When objects having these characteristics are stacked, the cumulative effect of such inconsistent thickness results in an unbalanced stack. The disclosed apparatus and method utilize a novel rotating stacker that rotates the stack of manufactured objects as each new object is added to the stack, thereby distributing the thickness inconsistency of individual objects throughout the stack, producing a more uniform stack without manual intervention.

Present embodiments relate to a tie plate orientation device. More specifically, but without limitation present embodiments relate to a tie plate orientation device that orients tie plates in a desired orientation for subsequent feeding, including an optional handheld magnetic device for manual assisted manipulation of the tie plates.