A compact collator for sorting and collating product containers includes a laner, a pattern conveyor, a cross-pusher assembly and a plurality of interchangeable inserts. The laner has a first movable conveyor for conveying product containers through the laner, and defines an infeed area. The pattern conveyor has a second movable conveyor positioned down-stream from the infeed area and off-set 90 degrees from the first moveable conveyor. The cross-pusher assembly includes a cross-pusher arm that the interchangeable inserts are configured to be engaged to. Each insert defines a unique face contour that corresponds to the profile shape of at least one type of product container.

The present invention relates a device (1) for producing batches (2) of products (3) from a plurality of products (3), said batches having a predefined configuration for palletizing in layers carried out downstream, said device comprising an upstream conveyor (4) which extends in a first conveying direction (6) and on which the products (3) are aligned in a row (5), a downstream receiving surface (7) intended to receive said batches, and a moving means (8) intended to transfer the products (3) brought by the upstream conveyor (4) to the downstream receiving surface (7). The moving means (8) comprises a main rail (9) and a plurality of shuttles (10) that are movable independently of one another and travel on said rail (9), each shuttle being intended to receive at least one product (3) on its upper surface. The present invention also relates an installation comprising this device and a corresponding method.

The invention is based on a device for aligning products (14), more particularly products moved by means of a transport device (12), more particularly to form rows and/or groups of the products (14) running transverse to a main transport direction (16) of the transport device (12), having at least one aligning unit (18) having at least one alignment element (20, 22, 24) that can be introduced into a gap that exists, more particularly along the main transport direction (16), between at least two of the products (14) in order to align the products (14), and having at least one straightening drive unit (26), more particularly a linear drive unit, at least to drive the at least one alignment element (20, 22, 24), said straightening drive unit having at least one movement element (28, 30, 32) that can be driven in an individually speed—and/or position-controlled manner, on which movement element the at least one alignment element (20, 22, 24; 20, 22, 24) is arranged. The invention proposes that the at least one alignment unit (20, 22, 24) can be actively moved relative to the at least one movement element (28, 30, 32) by means of an interaction with an activation unit (40) of the alignment unit (18), said activation unit more particularly having a different design from a further movement element (34, 36, 38) of the alignment drive unit (26), or that the alignment unit is arranged in an at least substantially non-movable manner on the at least one movement element (28, 30, 32).

Apparatus to supply bars which includes a work plane on which to position a bundle of said bars and a removal device configured to remove at least one bar from said work plane in order to transfer it to a destination station. The supply apparatus includes a plurality of containing units each configured to house a respective bundle of a determinate type of bar.

A method of using a conveyor device is provided for conveying food products in stacks or interleaved units made of a plurality of slices of cheese or meat products. The method formats the food products in a specific product format on a plurality of parallel conveyor tracks, and fills a product gap on one of the plurality of parallel conveyor tracks incoming on the input side with a food product so that on the output side all parallel conveyor tracks are supplied with the food products.

The present subject matter relates to automated gemstone feeding in a gemstone processing machine. In an implementation, the gemstone processing machine has a feeding conduit unit to receive a rough gemstone affixed to a holder from a user. The feeding conduit unit delivers the holder to a base plate. An actuating arm picks the holder from the base plate and transfers the holder to a pre-defined position in the gemstone processing machine. The automated feeding mechanism is controlled by the computing device and uses low-cost hardware equipment having limited or no manual intervention. Thus, providing an apt tradeoff between the accuracy of transfer of the rough gemstone and the cost associated with the equipment used for the processing of the gemstone.

The present invention relates to a screw transport apparatus for bottles, comprising: —a support structure, which extends longitudinally between a bottle inlet 1a and a bottle outlet 1b of the apparatus, and—a spiral-shaped helical body, which is associated with the support structure and extends axially parallel to the support structure between two own axial ends. The above spiral-shaped helical body can be rotated on itself about its own longitudinal axis to move bottles in cooperation with the support structure. The spiral-shaped helical body comprises at least two spiral-shaped seats, which extend coaxially between the two axial ends. They are angularly offset from each other and differ from each other by the shape and/or dimensions of the relative bottle housing compartment defined by each of them. The two spiral-shaped seats are intended to be used alternatively to the other for the transport of bottles having different shapes and/or dimensions.

An apparatus for grouped take-up and feeding of a container-group of containers to a cyclical processing machine having a cyclical take-up device for taking up the group of containers includes an intake, a feed, and a transfer apparatus arranged in a transfer region between the intake and the take-up device. The intake forms a closed conveyor section that comprises a linear section, a conveyor, and carrying-and-holding elements that convey containers in a continuous container stream along the conveyor section. The feed uses mechanical propulsion to convey suspended containers to individually transfer the suspended containers to the carrying-and-holding elements. The transfer apparatus has rotatable grippers for taking up a container group from the container stream and after having taken up the group of containers, feeding the group of containers to the cyclical take-up device.

A transport device having a plate; an unloading device which pushes a plurality of articles arranged on the plate; a bridge disposed adjacent to the plate; and a conveyor belt which is disposed adjacent to the bridge and which transports a row of articles having been pushed out from the plate. After a predetermined row of articles pushed out from the bridge onto the belt conveyor, the belt conveyor moves in the same direction as the direction in which the unloading device pushes the articles, separating from the bridge.

A system for interfacing between different types of conveyors is disclosed. The conveyor systems comprise a first serial conveyor system using a sequence of object carriers configured to transport a continuous serial stream of objects, and a parallel conveyor system configured to simultaneously transport one or more arrays of objects. A first accumulator unit can be used to accumulate a batch of the object carriers of the first serial conveyor system. Each of the object carriers can carry an object of the continuous serial stream of objects for accumulating a batch of the objects therein. Two or more first movable trays, each configured to receive an array of the objects from the batch of objects accumulated in the first accumulator unit, can be used to transfer the received array of objects to the parallel conveyor system, and load the objects thereby carried onto grippers of the parallel conveyor system.