A container supplying apparatus includes a supply conveyer conveying containers and a screw engaging with the containers on the supply conveyer and conveying the containers to a downstream side. The screw is divided into an upstream screw and a downstream screw rotationally driven by different servomotors. In a case where no container is supplied to a specific bottle table of a weighing and filling apparatus, the upstream screw is decelerated and is then accelerated relative to the downstream screw. As a result, an interval of the successive containers is expanded, and a large interval is maintained therebetween. This supplies no container to the specific bottle table of the weighing and filling apparatus.

An apparatus includes a processing station with a container conveyor, a discharge apparatus including a discharge star with a carrier for transporting the containers, a discharge device arranged around the discharge star and defining a discharge curve for guiding the containers, a container inlet arranged at an end of the discharge device for receiving the containers, and a container outlet arranged at a second end of the discharge device for discharging the containers. The discharge device includes a discharge edge at the first end arranged in a region of the container conveyor such that, in the operating state, the container is received by the discharge edge into the container inlet, and the discharge star is rotatable such that the container is transported by the carrier on a guideway delimited by the discharge curve and the discharge star from the container inlet to the container outlet.

Disclosed is a container treatment device with a transport device for transporting containers along a predetermined transport path, wherein the transport device has at least one transport device for transporting the containers and at least one container treatment device for treating the containers in a predetermined manner, wherein this transport device includes a preferably rotatable carrier, on which a plurality of holding devices for holding at least one container are arranged, these holding devices being movable relative to the carrier in such a way that a distance between two containers immediately following one another on the transport path can be varied, wherein the container-handling device is arranged in such a way that it can handle the containers transported by the transport device.

A conveyor system to convey objects is described, in which a conveyor belt moves while having a controlled speed to advance the objects, arranged in a row one after the other at a distance one from the other, toward a first rotating disc that rotates at a controlled speed in an independent manner from the speed of the conveyor belt and that has, on a perimeter thereof, a plurality of first cavities arranged mutually spaced apart angularly to receive the objects from the conveyor belt, a second rotating disc being arranged to receive the objects from the first rotating disc.

A method for processing containers in a container-processing machine includes identifying a first container behind an adjacent second container in a container flow, the first container being positioned within the container flow such that the first container will, absent intervention, occupy a first processing position that has been designated as not to be occupied by any container, holding the first container back, thereby causing the first container to move with a second velocity, that is less than the first velocity, forming a gap between the first and second containers, and releasing the first container. As a result of having been held back, will now occupy a second processing position instead of the first processing position.

A device for forming tips of a rod-like article, characterized in that it comprises: a drum conveyor (26) having at least one flute (28) for transferring the rod-like article (1, 5, 10, 15) transversally to an axis (k) of the rod-like article (1, 5, 10, 15), wherein the flute (28) for transferring the rod-like article (1, 5, 10, 15) is configured to move along a first circular path (s); a first pressing element (32, 51) configured to move along a second circular path (r) and a second pressing element (33, 45, 53) configured to move along a third circular path (t), wherein the third circular path (t) is located opposite to the second circular path (s) with respect to the first circular path (r), wherein the first pressing element (32, 51) and the second pressing element (33, 45, 53) form a pair (34, 47, 50) of the pressing elements located opposite to each other, wherein at least one pressing element (32, 33, 51, 53) of the pair (34, 47, 50) of the pressing elements (32, 33, 45, 51, 53) has a concave forming surface (35, 36, 52, 54), wherein the pressing elements (32, 33, 45, 51, 53) are configured to move linearly along an axis (Y) of the flute (28) that is transverse to the first circular path (s) towards and away from each other, wherein the first circular path (s), the second circular path (r) and the third circular path (t) are arranged coaxially.

A movement unit for articles includes a first carousel device having a first transporter member and first gripping heads mounted thereon and provided to move the articles into a single-row configuration. The movement unit further includes a second carousel device to receive the articles from the first carousel device, having a second transporter member and second gripping heads mounted thereon. Each second gripping head is configured to receive the articles from a respective first gripping head and to move the articles into a multi-row configuration.

The invention relates inter alia to a turn-bolt device for a transporting star wheel, preferably a sorting star, for transporting containers. The turn-bolt device has a bearing body and a rotary member having an actuating region for actuating the rotary member, a bolt region for holding a container and a shaft region which integrally interconnects the actuating region and the bolt region and is rotatably mounted in the bearing body. The bearing body and the rotary member are formed from a plurality of adjoining material layers which are preferably manufactured additively.

The invention relates to a method and a device for producing and packing individual strip-type objects, especially strips of chewing gum, comprising the following method steps and features: provision of rectangular sheets from which the strips are to be formed, the length of the shorter sides of the sheets corresponding to the length of a strip to be formed; formation of individual strips from the sheets provided; packing of the formed individual strips using a first packaging material; formation of a group of the individual packed strips; and packing of the formed group of strips using a second packaging material. The step of providing the sheets comprises the following additional method steps and features: creation of grooves in the sheets, said grooves extending parallel to the shorter sides of the sheets; and controlled supply of the individual sheets successively in the longitudinal direction thereof to the following step of forming the individual strips, in such a way that each sheet adjoins the respective previous sheet in a precise position, without gaps and without back pressure. The step of forming the individual strips comprises the following additional method steps and features: respective separation of an individual strip from the sheet on the front end thereof in the direction of transport by tearing along the respectively frontmost produced groove such that the supplied sheet and the separated strip are in the same plane; and acceleration of the separated strip in the direction of transport in order to create a gap between the individual successive strips.

The present invention is directed to a system and method for transferring specimen containers between detection instruments. The method may include transporting a specimen container in a locator well to a container transfer station in a first automated detection apparatus; sensing the specimen container at the container transfer station using a first sensor; transferring the specimen container from the container transfer station of the first automated microbial detection apparatus to an automated loading mechanism of a second automated microbial detection apparatus; detecting that the specimen container is positioned over the automated loading mechanism of the second automated microbial detection apparatus using a second sensor; and releasing the specimen container onto the automated loading mechanism of the second automated microbial detection apparatus.