A suction assembly includes a main body, a sealing ring, an air duct, and a suction head. The main body includes a columnar wall, a top cover arranged at one end of the columnar wall and defining a first through hole, and a bottom cover arranged at another end of the columnar wall and defining a second through hole. The first through hole communicates with a negative pressure generating device. The sealing ring is sealed in the main body and movably arranged between the top cover and the bottom cover. The air duct includes a first end and a second end opposite the first end. The first end passes through the second through hole and is fixed in the sealing ring. The suction head is coupled to the second end.

A system is provided comprising a carton conveyor and a bypass carton accumulator adjacent to, and interfaced with, the carton conveyor. The bypass carton accumulator may comprise: a carton pick apparatus comprising a carton pick head; at least one stop device comprising a stopper movable between a first and a second position; and a storage apparatus. When in the first position, the stopper does not interfere with the flow of cartons along the conveyor and when in the second position, the stopper engages with a carton to stop a flow of cartons along the conveyor. The carton pick apparatus may be configured to pick up via the carton pick head a set of cartons from a pick-up zone of the carton conveyor after the stopper has moved to its second position and place the set of cartons in the storage apparatus.

A conveyor includes an operative platform and a crane. The crane includes two lateral frames, a crossbar, a longitudinal bar, two extensible elements, and a vacuum chuck. The lateral frames are supported on the operative platform. The crossbar is supported on the lateral frames. The crossbar is movable between a first position and a second position. The longitudinal bar is connected to the crossbar. The extensible elements are connected to the longitudinal bar. The vacuum chucks are respectively connected to the extensible elements. One of the vacuum chucks is located beyond an end of the operative platform and the other vacuum chuck is located above the operative platform when the crossbar is in the first position. One of the vacuum chucks is located above the operative platform and the other vacuum chuck is located beyond another end of the operative platform when the crossbar is in the second position.

A universal gripper is disclosed for transferring totes and sub-totes, for example in an order fulfillment center. The universal gripper includes adjustable tines and pins capable of being positioned to engage within slots in the different configurations of totes and sub-totes.

Devices for separating piece goods such as pharmaceutical product packages to be stored in a picking device are provided. The device includes a feed device for piece goods, a recording device for recording 3D images of piece goods, a control device for evaluating 3D images and for determining a piece good to be picked, a conveyor for picking a piece good, a deposit surface, and a lateral recording device. The control device is configured so that the orientation of the picked piece good is ascertained and the preferred storage surface is established and that the conveyor is activated in such a way that a picked piece good is situated on a preferred storage surface on the deposit surface. Methods of separating piece goods to be stored in a picking device are also provided.

An electrical connection device for connecting a plug, preferably a HV pin header, to a printed circuit board in a motor vehicle, having the following: at least one first electrical connection-device for contacting at least one assigned plug-connector contact; at least one second electrical connection-device contact for contacting at least one assigned printed-circuit-board contact wherein at least one first connection-device contact at least one second connection-device contact are connected to one another, wherein the electrical connection device is configured in such a manner that at least one printed-circuit-board contact is able to be selectively connected to assigned plug-connector contacts which differ in terms of the relative disposal thereof in relation to the printed-circuit-board contact and/or differ from one another in that said plug-connector contacts are a component part of plug connectors which differ from one another in terms of the configuration of the respective plug-connector contacts thereof.

An apparatus and method for manufacturing glass containers handles the containers individually after a hot forming process and annealing to prevent glass-to-glass contact. By handling the containers individually and preventing glass-to-glass contact damage to the containers in the form of checks and scratches is avoided. To prevent contact of the containers and damage arising from the contact, the equipment including conveyors, pushers, starwheels, shuttles, and transfer heads that move the glass containers through the apparatus maintains the glass containers in uniform spaced relationship at each stage of container processing until the containers are packaged.

A horticultural container dispensing system has a gravity-fed pot supply source having a plurality of linearly spaced pot paths and supports a plurality of pot stacks along the pot paths in a nested configuration. A pot provisioning apparatus has retention members to selectively release an end-most one of the plurality of pots from each pot stack at a release location. A pot engagement apparatus has a plurality of pot gripper devices associated with the pot paths to selectively engage an internal surface of the end-most one of the pots in the respective pot stack at the release location. A carriage apparatus selectively translates the pot gripper devices between the release location and a dispense location. The pot gripper devices selectively disengage the internal surface of the end-most one of the pots, respectively, at the dispense location. Pot grippers and provisioning apparatuses are interchangeable to accommodate differing pot sizes and shapes.

A pallet exchanger and load splitter apparatus and method are provided. The apparatus has a pallet-receiving assembly with a pallet-receiving zone configured to receive, at least in part, a pallet supporting a pallet load; a clamp assembly connected to the pallet-receiving assembly having a clamping zone configured to secure a first side, a second side, and a rear of the pallet load once the clamp assembly is activated by a pneumatic circuit so that the pallet load is supported by the clamp assembly; and the pneumatic circuit is for controlling a clamping pressure of the clamp assembly.

In an article transfer facility, a drive portion includes a first Z-axis drive portion to move a holding portion in a Z direction, a first X-axis drive portion configured to move the holding portion in an X direction, a first Y-axis drive portion configured to move the holding portion in a Y direction, and a second X-axis drive portion configured to move a placement portion in the X direction. A control portion executes first control in which an article at a first position is placed on the placement portion, and second control in which the article placed on the placement portion is arranged at a second position. In the first control, the drive portion is controlled such that the holding portion picks up the article at the first position and moves to a position on an upper side of the placement portion, and thereafter releases the article to place the article on the placement portion.