A destacking conveyor and a roller transfer device. The destacking conveyor includes an infeed conveyor feeding articles to a roller transfer device at a first elevation. A discharge conveyor at a lower elevation receives articles dropped from the roller transfer device. The roller transfer device comprises an array of closely spaced rollers whose axial lengths decrease with distance from the infeed conveyor to form an oblique drop-off edge over which articles drop and unstack.

A separating device for profiles (6) comprises transfer means (8) between supporting surfaces (13) of successive transverse conveyors (1, 2, 3) that have receptacles (11) for a plurality of profiles (6). The receptacles are displaceable in rotary steps of a shaft (9) between a pick-up position and a handover position and form a driver surface (12) that, in the pick-up position, engages under only one profile (6). Stop cams (14) for the profiles (6) are associated with the receptacles (11), and stop points (16) determining the contour (15) of the stop cams (14) define an angle of rotation (a) of the stop cams (14) and a distance (h) from the bearing surface (13) of the transverse conveyor (1, 2, 3). The rear boundary edge (18) of the bearing surface (17), which is determined by the stop points (16) as a function of the cross-sectional shape and size of the profiles (6), is at least at the same distance from the shaft (9) as the outer end (19) of the driver surface (12). The transverse conveyors (1, 2, 3) can be controlled as a function of the stop of the profiles (6) at a stop cam (14) rotated into the rotational position for the cross-sectional shape and size of the profiles (6) to be separated.

A dispensing apparatus for dispensing articles includes a housing and a drive system. The housing defines a hopper chamber to hold the articles, a dispensing outlet, and a dispensing path between the hopper chamber and the dispensing outlet. The drive system includes a belt and a belt actuator operable to drive the belt. The dispensing apparatus is configured such that articles disposed in the hopper chamber are directed onto the belt and the belt, when driven by the belt actuator, conveys the articles received from the hopper chamber in a dispensing direction along the dispensing path toward the dispensing outlet to be dispensed.

A device and a process for feeding articles to be packaged with a packaging apparatus are presented. The articles are transported on a first conveying line and can be arranged according to a desired pattern, which is repeated on a second conveying line from which the articles will be picked up in a subsequent station. For this purpose, at least one transfer device is provided for transferring the articles from the first conveying line to the second conveying line, with a self-moving transfer arm and a respective gripping device to pick up the articles. The gripping device has a plurality of gripping elements which are movable between a first configuration, in which the gripping elements are aligned with each other to grip the articles from the first conveying line, and a second configuration, in which at least two of the gripping elements are staggered with respect to each other, to lay the articles according to a predetermined pattern.

A rail tie plate singulating machine comprises a lift conveyor sloping upward and adjacent to a singulating conveyor. The lift conveyor extends below the singulating conveyor from a lift conveyor inlet end to a y-axis intercept between the conveyors and above the singulating conveyor past the y-axis intercept. A transfer guide extending above the lift conveyor redirects rail tie plates laterally off the lift conveyor onto the singulating conveyor past the y-axis intercept. A singulating guide extending in spaced relation above the singulating conveyor redirects tie plates thereon toward an edge adjacent the lift conveyor in a spacing that allows rail tie plates oriented longitudinally to advance therealong. A driven roller supported over the reduced width section engages a rail tie plate supported on top of another rail tie plate to advance the engaged rail tie plate laterally onto the lift conveyor.

A condiment dispensing device is provided, which comprises a hollow housing removably mounted to a vertical mounting surface (e.g., of a food vending machine) and comprising a bottom opening. The housing accommodates a drive assembly and a dispensing belt. The drive assembly comprises two (upper and lower) gear sub-assemblies each comprising a shaft and a drive gear mounted thereon. The drive gear of the upper gear sub-assembly rotates via a timing belt driven by the gear motor. The dispensing belt is tensioned around the drive gears, and its outer surface has cleats, wherein each two adjacent cleats, together with the belt outer surface and the housing inner surface, a slot for a condiment packet. The drive gear of the lower gear sub-assembly is formed by tooth and star gears configured to jointly stop the dispensing belt each time at a position in which the opening is aligned with the slot.

A radiation detector unit includes a read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) including a plurality of core circuit blocks located on a continuous uninterrupted substrate adjacent to one another along a first direction, and a plurality of radiation sensors bonded to a front side surface of the ROIC, where each radiation sensor of the plurality of radiation sensors is bonded to a respective core circuit block of the plurality of core circuit blocks of the ROIC. Additional embodiments include detector modules and detector arrays formed by assembling the detector units, and methods of operating and manufacturing the same.

Pick-up device (10) configured to selectively pick up and extract at least one bar (B) from a plurality of bars (B) disposed on a feed plane (111) and to position it on a delivery plane (12), said pick-up device (10) comprising a support arm (11) terminally provided with a pick-up head (12). The present invention also concerns an apparatus (100) for feeding bars (B) comprising the device (10) as above and a corresponding method for picking up bars (B).

An end effector is disclosed. The end effector includes a first set of one or more suction cups of a first size having a first diameter, and a second set of one or more suction cups of a second size having a second diameter that is smaller than the first diameter. The end effector further includes a first actuation mechanism configured to apply suction to at least a subset of the first set of suction cups independently of actuation of the second set of suction cups and a second actuation mechanism configured to apply suction to at least a subset of the second set of suction cups independently of actuation of the first set of suction cups.

A device and conveyance system are provided for packaging elongated items such as firewood pieces. The device includes: an elevated structure having an upper platform for receiving the elongated items from a separate conveyor; a paddlewheel diverter located on or above the platform for changing the direction of movement of the elongated items; and one or more elevator shafts having open bottoms. The elevator shafts are located adjacent to the platform and configured for receiving the elongated items after contact with the diverter and for holding the elongated items on support structures while a stack of elongated items is formed. The release of the stack of elongated items from the elevator shafts occurs via the open bottoms of the elevator shafts. The system includes one or more conveyors having features inducing alignment of the elongated items prior to conveyance to the device.