A device for transporting articles through a recirculation system for forming or processing the articles. The device includes a top portion configured to contact an article and a drive nut positioned within a first aperture of the top portion. The device includes a hub portion having a second aperture and a plurality of ejection pins extending through a respective one of a plurality of apertures of the top portion. The device includes a paddle wheel rotatably coupled to the hub portion. The paddle wheel has a first and second plurality of prongs extending radially outward and offset in generally opposing directions. The paddle wheel includes a post projecting radially inward and positioned within a third aperture. The device includes a drive screw extending through the first, second, and third apertures and having a head configured to engage the post and a threaded end is configured to engage the drive nut.

A retaining unit (1) for retaining a container (4), comprising a supporting body (7), mountable on a movement unit (5), a gripping element (8) and a resting element (9) mounted on the supporting body (7), The gripping element (8) comprises a first arm (10) and a second arm (11), comprising respective gripping portions delimiting a housing (14) for the container (4), having a vertical main line of extension (15). The first arm (10) is movable between a first returned position and a first opened wide position. The resting element (9) has a resting portion (35), delimiting the housing (14), in part, and configured to make contact with a lateral surface of the container (4), is rotatably mounted on the supporting body (7) according to an axis of oscillation (36) transversal to the main line of extension (15), and can oscillate around this between multiple operating positions at each of which the resting portion (35) is positioned differently and delimits the housing (14) differently.

The apparatus for transporting containers with a movable and in particular rotatable carrier which has a plurality of changeable holding devices for holding the containers during transport, wherein the apparatus has at least one sensor device which detects and/or monitors a position of the holding device, in particular after a change of the holding devices. According to the invention, the apparatus has an assignment device which assigns at least one measured value detected by the at least one sensor device to at least one and preferably to each holding device.

A conveyor system for grouping containers includes a first track including a first plurality of lugs, each lug having a respective gripper coupled thereto configured to drive containers along the first track and a second track configured to move a second plurality of lugs wherein each of the lugs is coupled to a respective gripper configured to receive containers from the first track, and move the containers along the second track wherein the grippers of the second track contact the container while the gripper of the first track contacts the container.

The present invention provides a bottle conveyor for a filling machine, comprising multiple pairs of bottle-gripping members and a circulating chain conveyor mechanism, and a pair of bottle-gripping members is mounted, via an open-close modular mechanism, to a convey chain of the circulating chain conveyor mechanism. The open-close modular mechanism is provided with a rotary support capable of being opened as a V-shape, a synchronization mechanism configured to define the opened V-shape, an elastic mechanism configured to provide a bottle-gripping force to the bottle-gripping member and a self-restoring force for the opened V-shape, and an external force import mechanism. A mechanism configured to open the bottle-gripping members is provided respectively at a bottle entrance location and a bottle exit location of the bottle conveyor, and the mechanism configured to open the bottle-gripping members cooperates with the external force import mechanism to provide an external force. The bottle conveyor can rapidly open or close the bottle-gripping members on the circulating chain conveyor mechanism directly, thus improving the conveyance efficiency and speed, alleviating loading of a motor, and simplifying the structure of a robotic arm and the structure for opening or closing the bottle-gripping members in the filling machine.

A robotic transport device for small components comprising transport mechanism being suspended at two suspension elements, wherein the two suspension elements are distanced from each other in the direction of transport and wherein the two suspension elements are constructed in such a way that each of them is, independently from each other, be shifted in a direction vertical or substantially vertical to the direction of transport.

A transportation method for the intermittent, forward moving transportation of flexible containers suspended in a packaging line, including the use of movable arms on a same plane, between which a container is secured in opposite areas, one of which is a tractor arm and the other a push arm. Between two consecutive stops, the method includes steps of simultaneously moving the tractor arm and push arm forwards at different velocities, in order to deform the container and move the contents to compensate for the forces of inertia. Also disclosed is a device for putting the method into practice, including a number of guides that determine a closed route, upon which at least a first and second adjacent carrying element slide, which may be operated independently or together, in order to be moved along the length of the guides and work together to jointly secure and transport a corresponding container.

A conveyor assembly for packages of containers for pharmaceutical use which include an outer bag. The assembly includes a handling line for gripping elements and a dispensing apparatus for a laminar flow of gas positioned above the top of the line and directed towards the line itself. Each gripping element includes at least one clamping jaw for at least one flap of said bag to hang it so that each of its outer surfaces is invested by the laminar flow of gas during its handling.

A carousel machine for processing containers includes a rotating carousel, provided peripherally with pans for supporting the individual containers to be processed, and a device for loading/unloading the containers from the carousel. The loading/unloading device includes at least one linear motor which has a stationary track with a closed path and handling carriages, which are mounted so that they can move slidingly and in mutual succession along the track and each support at least one respective jaw adapted to cooperate with a jaw supported by a contiguous carriage in order to engage, on mutually opposite sides, a container to be transferred or picked up from the carousel. Control of the linear motor is provided and is adapted to actuate variation of the mutual distance of mutually contiguous carriages in order to allow the release or clamping of a container by the corresponding jaws.

Device for transporting containers in a packaging line, having a number of guides that determine a closed route including a horizontal stretch and upon which a first and second carrying element slide. The guides are directed on a vertical plane and each carrying element has two arms, each one of which extends to one side of the vertical plane, each arm (5a; 6a) of a carrying element is designed to work alongside the arm arranged on a same side of the vertical plane of the other carrying element adjacent to them, to jointly secure and transport a corresponding container, so as to be secured and transported along the length of the horizontal stretch of the route and at least two containers between each two adjacent carrying elements at the same time, one at each side of the vertical plane.