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 diverter assembly (25) is provided for guiding articles from a single lane (54) to one of a plurality of lanes (13, 14). The assembly (25) has a pair of spaced apart guides (30) defining a guide channel (49) therebetween. The guides (30) are connected to a rotatably mounted support (24). A first actuator (22, 23) is provided operable to rotate the support (24) to pivot the guides (30), and thereby cause articles to be guided to a selected one of the plurality of lanes.

The invention relates to a transport device (1) and a method for distributing a plurality of similarly shaped and dimensioned articles (10). The transport device (1) comprises an infeed (2) for conveying articles (10) in a mass flow, and a distribution section (3) downstream of the infeed (2), where the distribution section (3) leads into a row transport (4), where the articles (10) are conveyed in at least two separate parallel rows (5). The transport device (1) also comprises at least one sensor device (6, 8, 11) signal-coupled to a motor-driven actuator (14) assigned to the distribution section (3) In the event of detected gaps, interruptions, or in the event of a detected termination of the mass flow within the infeed (2) or within the distribution section (3) or within the rows (5), the actuator (14) moves a movable steering device (16) adjoining the mass flow.

An object is to provide a conveyor that enables the number of information read-out devices to be largely reduced and that can be easily constructed. An object identifying device (45) is installed in the first zone. The object identifying device (45) is a bar code reader. Information read by the bar code reader is transmitted to a host control device (46). The host control device (46) identifies an object from information described in a bar code, makes an inquiry about a conveyance destination of an object, transmits the address of the target place to a zone controller (10) of the second zone, and inputs the address to a conveyance destination storage unit of the zone controller (10) of the second zone. The conveyance destination information input to the conveyance destination storage unit is passed on to the downstream zone controller (10) with the conveyance of the object.

An assembly and method thereof creates a stack of objects. The assembly has a diverted to move objects having a desired size from a first conveyor to a second conveyor. The diverted utilizes diversion plates. The second conveyor transfers the objects to an accumulator. The objects that are accumulate are squared and then moved to a raised position. A lift assembly then lifts the accumulated objects that were square and translates the objects to a queuing assembly. The process repeats to construct a stack of objects with multiple layers of objects. The created stack of objects may then be transferred to a subsequent destination for further use or processing.

The present invention provides a conveyor device and a conveyor sensor capable of detecting various types of information on the object with an inexpensive and simple structure. A conveyor device that conveys the object to a predetermined conveyance place includes a conveyor sensor that detects the information of the object. The conveyor sensor includes a plurality of sensor members, and the plurality of sensor members can individually detect the presence of the object and is arranged side by side in a direction intersecting the conveying direction of the object.

A method of processing objects using a programmable motion device is disclosed. The method includes the steps of providing an input conveyance system by which input bins of objects may be provided to a processing station that includes the programmable motion device that includes an end effector, perceiving at the processing station identifying indicia representative of an identity of a plurality of objects at an input area of the input conveyance system, grasping the an acquired object using the end effector, moving the acquired object toward an identified processing container using the programmable motion device, the identified processing container being associated with the identifying indicia and said identified processing container being provided as one of a plurality of processing containers at the processing station, and providing an output conveyance system in communication with the processing station, by which processing containers that contain processed objects may be provided.

An electric turnout unit (1) serves for determining and changing the conveying path of object holders being moved by and together with a conveying means (28) of a conveying apparatus (29). The electric turnout unit (1) includes a pivot angle definition element (15) being rotatably supported and one sensor (6) or a plurality of sensors (6) for determining a first pivot position (35) and a second pivot position (36) of the pivot angle definition element (15). The first pivot position (35) and the second pivot position (36) differ by a first pivot angle difference (37) being greater than zero. The pivot angle definition element (15) includes a first detection point (17) being associated with the first pivot position (35) and a second detection point (17) being associated with the second pivot position (36).

The present invention relates to a conveying apparatus for items in the fish and meat processing industry, comprising a conveyor belt for conveying the items in a conveying direction, at least one mounting base extending at least along a partial section of the conveyor belt and at least one functional unit configured for interaction with the items, wherein each of the functional units is arranged on a holding means and is characterized in that the holding means are designed and adapted in such a manner that each of the functional units is separably connected to the mounting base by means of the holding means and is arranged so as to be adjustable at least in the conveying direction.

A transfer mechanism for use in a continuous cooking system includes a non-metallic counter-balance having a contact bar located toward its uppermost end and a load located toward its lowermost end. The contact bar is sized to span a useable width of the belt and the load is sized to urge the contact bar into continued contact with a portion of the belt as the belt travels around the end roller. Means such as a rotational joint is provided for pivoting the counter-balance toward and away from belt, the joint being arranged to provide a predetermined amount of travel relative to the belt. Means such as a slot is provided for adjusting a position of the counter-balance relative to the belt. The uppermost product-contact surface of the bar can be round, flat, or angled and can include grooves to reduce the amount of contact area.