The invention includes a method (100) and an apparatus to handle irregularly conveyed and/or irregularly aligned and/or non-upright articles of an article stream under prevention of disturbances. The method (100) comprises the following steps: identifying at least one non-upright article in an article stream as an error; performing a correction step to resolve the error, the correction step comprising removal from the article stream of the at least one irregularly aligned article, or transfer to an upright orientation of the at least one irregularly aligned article, with a defined action being exerted temporally before and/or in temporal overlap with the correction step upon the at least one irregularly aligned article or upon regularly conveyed articles of the article stream.

A holding device for holding a container, for example for holding a container in a transport device of a beverage filling plant is described. The holding device includes a fastening part and two gripping arms, which are pivotably connected to the fastening part and can be brought into a closed position in order to hold the container and can be brought into an open position in order to insert and remove the container. A preloaded elastic bow is disposed between the gripping arms, and the elastic bow can be brought into a first position, in which the gripping arms are in the open position, and into a second position, in which the gripping arms are in the closed position. The preload of the elastic bow in the first position holds the gripping arms in the open position and the preload of the elastic bow in the second position holds the gripping arms in the closed position.

The present utility model refers to a device coupled to a robot or another moving system, exerting elastic pressure on the upper part over can containers, allowing to keep the products to be moved as fixed, displacing and turning them, defining their positions and organizing them for later palletization, enhanced with the introduction of locking pins, side wings, a lower metal plate covered by an elastic polymer with an innovative checkerboard design and a compression spring system, in the field of application intended to the industry and distribution centres for beverage and food, in the area of preparation of product container layers, ready before palletization.

According to one embodiment, a gripping tool includes a gripper and a suction pad. The gripper is flexible. A granular material is provided in an interior of the gripper. The suction pad includes a pad portion and a pipe-shaped member and is surrounded with the gripper. The pad portion suctions a workpiece. The pipe-shaped member is connected to the pad portion. The suction pad is movable with respect to the gripper in a first direction. The first direction is from the pad portion toward the pipe-shaped member.

A holding device for foods is configured to hold the foods that are self-standable and have a front surface and a rear surface parallel to the front surface. The device includes a first holding part configured to hold the foods lined up in a first direction in a standing state where the front surfaces face in the first direction. The first holding part includes a first support member configured to support the foods at one of the front surface of the food located at a front end when seen in the first direction and the rear surface of the food 40 located at a tail end when seen in the first direction, and a pair of holding members configured to pinch the foods from both sides in the first direction.

An article handling device is provided. In one embodiment, a system for article handling is provided. The system has first and second article handling devices that each have one or more gripping assemblies arranged around their periphery. The gripping assemblies are selectably movable between an open position and a closed position based on the relative position of the first and second article handling devices.

A container clamping and holding arrangement for moving containers, such as bottles, cans, and similar containers, for holding products, such as beverages. The abstract of the disclosure is submitted herewith as required by 37 C.F.R. 1.72(b). As stated in C.F.R. 1.72(b): A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification must commence on a separate sheet, preferably following the claims, under the heading Abstract of the Disclosure. The purpose of the abstract is to enable the Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. The abstract shall not be used for interpreting the scope of the claims. Therefore, any statements made relating to the abstract are not intended to limit the claims in any manner and should not be interpreted as limiting the claims in any manner.

A case packing apparatus for loading articles into a case that includes two or more airbags adapted to be positioned above the case; a vacuum reservoir positioned in fluid communication with the airbags; and a supply of compressed gas positioned in fluid communication with the airbags.

An apparatus for processing horticultural products, pushed along a tank of a respective processing line by a fluid current, on which the horticultural products can float freely. The apparatus includes at least one floating alignment matrix, provided with a base platform, which in turn can be submerged at a predefined section of the tank, and with a plurality of mutually parallel partitions extended at right angles from the upper face of the platform and, when the platform is submerged in the predefined section, at least rise above the free surface of the predefined section. Each pair of adjacent partitions can be arranged along the movement direction of the fluid current, thus defines a respective channel for automatic forced alignment for the horticultural products, pushed toward the predefined section by the fluid current.

Robotic grippers have been employed to grasp and manipulate target objects. One task posing relatively unique problems is the handling of meat products, which can be difficult to grasp with a conventional gripper due to the surface texture and malleability of the meat, among other factors. Exemplary embodiments described herein provide robotic grippers having one or more fingers and a plate, the plate optionally providing suction capabilities. The actuators apply a small force to the edges of the grasping target. In suctioned embodiments, an array of suction holes within the plate support the center of the grasping target by applying a light vacuum force at many points along the surface thereof In non-suctioned embodiments, the actuators grip the edges of the grasping target and the plate makes conformal contact with the grasping target to prevent it from folding or otherwise deforming or disintegrating from the gripping force of the actuators.