A vacuum plate lifting system for lifting sheet material articles comprises a vacuum lifter apparatus for lifting sheet material articles, a lifter actuation system configured to lift and/or move the vacuum lifter apparatus during use and a control system, the control system being configured to control the lifter actuation system during said movement. The vacuum lifter apparatus comprises: a substantially horizontal suction plate comprising a perforated suction lifting surface, said surface being downwardly oriented for making contact with an upper surface of said articles to be lifted, an airflow suction system for conveying vacuum air pressure to said perforated suction lifting surface; and at least one mount for connection of the suction plate to at least one actuator of the lifter actuation system for lifting and/or moving the suction plate during use. There is at least one suction lifter proximate an edge of the suction plate, said suction lifter comprising a downwardly oriented suction cup, said cup being movably mounted in a substantially vertical direction relative to the suction plate and being connected to a source of air pressure for providing air suction to said cup for plucking upwards a local area of said of articles to be lifted. A suction cup actuation system is configured to drive said movement of the suction cup between a raised orientation in which the suction cup is raised relative to a level of said suction lifting surface and a lowered orientation in which the suction cup is substantially at or below the level of said suction lifting surface whereby, in use, said air suction is directed substantially downwardly towards a sheet material article to be lifted when said suction cup is in the lowered orientation. The control system is operable to control the operation of the lifter actuation system and the operation of the suction cup actuation system to initially pluck said local area of said article to be lifted prior to applying said vacuum air pressure to said perforated suction lifting surface to lift the remainder of said article.

The invention relates to an insert-sheet pick-up device (13) for an insert-sheet loading device (10) of a station for receiving copy (500). The pick-up device (13) includes a suction element (20) configured to pick up an insert sheet. The pick-up device (13) includes a pivoting axis (30) and at least one telescopic arm (33) including a proximal arm (33a), one end of which is fixed to the pivoting axis (30), and a distal arm (33b), able to move with respect to the proximal arm (33a), and one end of which is pivot-articulated to the suction element (20) to move the suction element (20) between a raised position and a lowered position according to a vertical movement of the suction element (20). Also, the invention also relates to an insert-sheet loading device, a copy-receiving station and a machine for processing elements in sheet form including the insert-sheet pick-up device.

Methods and apparatus for forming containers from container blanks are provided. An apparatus comprises a blank holding apparatus operable to releasably hold a plurality of carton blanks in a first configuration. The apparatus also has a rotary apparatus operable to rotate an engagement device along a rotational path from a first retrieval location where the engagement device is operable to engage with and retrieve a blank from the plurality of blanks held in the blank holding apparatus, to a second operational location. The apparatus also has a movement apparatus inter-connected to the rotary apparatus. The movement apparatus is operable to move the rotary apparatus and the engagement device with the engaged blank away from the blank holding apparatus, which may be translational movement away from the blank holding apparatus.

The present invention relates to a vacuum plate (10) which may be used in a vacuum plate sheet material handling system (1) in which sheet material articles (4) are handled by the vacuum plate, for example by being lifted, held down, moved or deposited by the vacuum plate. The vacuum plate (10) comprises a first wall (22), a plurality of bores (24) in the first wall extending between opposite first and second sides (18, 57) of the first wall, and at least one air outlet (25) for connection to a source of vacuum pressure (16) for applying a vacuum pressure to the bores from the second side (57) of the first wall. The first wall (22) provides, in use, a vacuum lifting surface (20) for pulling and holding the sheet material article (4) to the vacuum surface when vacuum pressure is applied to the bores. Each bore comprises a flared opening (91) terminating at the vacuum surface (20) for admitting air (100) pulled through the bore by the applied vacuum pressure, and opposite this opening, an exit (99) for said air pulled through the bore, this exit being surrounded by a rim (96) that extends above a surrounding surface of the second side of the first wall.

A substrate transferring apparatus for applying suction to and transferring the substrate includes a suction pad including a flat suction surface including poly oxy methylene (POM) and a plurality of suction holes, a duct for applying suction to withdraw air through the suction holes of the suction pad, and a controller configured to move the suction pad and to control suction of the air.

This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for unstacking preformed products (2), for example packaging units, stacked in a stack, these products comprising for example planar parts (4) and projecting parts (3) which are all stacked onto and into each other in line, wherein the method comprises, placing a gripper with at least a single suction cup unit (51) of flexible material, more particularly a suction mouth thereof, on a planar product part (4) of such a product, suction-engaging such a product, conveying the product to a delivery location, andreleasing the product, wherein upon suction the planar product part (4) is pulled against a plate (55) which is part of the apparatus. It has been found that in this way in a suitable manner stacks of flexible and thin-walled packaging units can be unstacked, without the stack being disturbed or the packaging unit taken off being damaged or being picked up in the wrong position.

Methods and apparatus for forming containers from container blanks are provided. An apparatus comprises a blank holding apparatus operable to releasably hold a plurality of carton blanks in a first configuration. The apparatus also has a rotary apparatus operable to rotate an engagement device along a rotational path from a first retrieval location where the engagement device is operable to engage with and retrieve a blank from the plurality of blanks held in the blank holding apparatus, to a second operational location. The apparatus also has a movement apparatus inter-connected to the rotary apparatus. The movement apparatus is operable to move the rotary apparatus and the engagement device with the engaged blank away from the blank holding apparatus, which may be translational movement away from the blank holding apparatus.

Sheet feeder (4) for a machine (1) for the processing of sheet material such as paper or films, having a drive shaft (10), which extends substantially perpendicular to a sheet feeding direction and is provided with at least one suction gripper (12), which is rotated above the sheet material, when the drive shaft (10) is driven, wherein the suction gripper (12) is repositionable between an inactive position, in which it does not cooperate with the sheet material, and an active position, in which it can grip on the top side of the sheet material and carry this along.

A device for feeding sheet products into a thick sheet feeding machine including an insertion gantry, a feed carriage sliding on rails. The device includes an insertion head configured as a gantry. The insertion head includes a crosspiece and support legs positioned on the rails and a system of suction cups located in the crosspiece through a forward movement mechanism allowing the system to move. The device includes an insertion module moving vertically on guides of the insertion gantry, a base for placing the sheets, and an alignment control device for aligning the sheets with respect to the insertion module. The sheets are suctioned by the suction cups, which are moved by the forward movement mechanism in the direction of the insertion gantry.

A station for feeding closing seals for containers includes, at least one fixed magazine of seals which is provided with an outlet from which the seals can be taken individually. The station further includes a carousel for feeding seals which can rotate with respect to a first central rotation axis and is provided with pickers which are radially spaced apart from the first rotation axis. The pickers are individually rotatable about a second rotation axis which is not parallel to the first axis of the carousel. During rotation of the carousel, at least one picker is configured to rotate about the second axis from a position for taking the seal from the magazine to a position for releasing the seal.