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.

An article induction system for preparing a stream of articles, such as mail parcels, for processing employs a series of conveyors operating under control of a controller for feeding articles to an operator at a cull belt at an optimal paced rate. The article induction system includes a destacking section, a separation and alignment section, a buffer section and a culling section manned by an operator. A controller controls the speed of each component based on measurements provided by sensors so as to feed articles to the operator at a desired paced rate.

A device for separating and aligning pin-shaped piece goods exhibiting a head and a shank includes a funnel-shaped receptacle for receiving the piece goods. The receptacle has two wall sections which delimit the receptacle in a front area, and a rear wall, which are arranged in sections opposite one another and in each case inclined outwards at an angle to the central transversal plane of the receptacle. An endlessly circulating conveying means is arranged underneath a recess which spaces apart the two wall sections and which is arranged at a same angle () as the wall sections inclined relative to the central transversal plane and conveys the piece goods from a receiving plane to a higher discharge plane. The conveying means has a conveying plane provided with drivers. The recess is delimited by parallel front edges of the wall sections which are arranged in a V-shape tapering towards the conveying means and terminate above the conveying means or in a plane with the conveying means. The drivers are in the form of cylindrical pins which are arranged at a distance from one another in the direction of circulation of the conveying means and extend essentially perpendicular to the conveying plane of the conveying means.

A typing off-loading and article sorting system to automatically separate different parcel types includes an feed conveyor, receiving conveyor, sorting conveyor, cameras and photoelectric eye. The overhead cameras detect the item size and whether it is cubic in nature and type and size of its footprint. An in-line slide sorter having alternating conveyor rollers and pop-up belts pass through to, or divert articles from, a downstream conveyor. The vison based system may also be used to detect space between articles and insert articles in the unoccupied space.

A device for separating and aligning pin-shaped piece goods exhibiting a head and a shank includes a funnel-shaped receptacle for receiving the piece goods. The receptacle has two wall sections which delimit the receptacle in a front area, and a rear wall, which are arranged in sections opposite one another and in each case inclined outwards at an angle to the central transversal plane of the receptacle. An endlessly circulating conveying means is arranged underneath a recess which spaces apart the two wall sections and which is arranged at a same angle () as the wall sections inclined relative to the central transversal plane and conveys the piece goods from a receiving plane to a higher discharge plane. The conveying means has a conveying plane provided with drivers. The recess is delimited by parallel front edges of the wall sections which are arranged in a V-shape tapering towards the conveying means and terminate above the conveying means or in a plane with the conveying means. The drivers are in the form of cylindrical pins which are arranged at a distance from one another in the direction of circulation of the conveying means and extend essentially perpendicular to the conveying plane of the conveying means.

Parcel processing systems and methods. A method for singulating parcels includes receiving an input stream of a plurality of parcels (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) including at least a leading parcel (1) and a lagging parcel (2) in a singulator system (10). The method includes updating position information of the leading parcel (1) and the lagging parcel (2) on a list (1650). The method includes determining a leading speed of the leading parcel (1). The method includes determining an actual gap between the leading parcel (1) and the lagging parcel (2). The method includes determining a speed factor between the leading parcel (1) and the lagging parcel (2). The method includes setting a lagging speed of the lagging parcel (2) according to the leading speed and the speed factor. The method includes controlling conveyors (20) to transport the leading parcel (1) at the leading speed and to transport the lagging parcel (2) at the lagging speed.

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.

The problem of singulating oblong articles that are unloaded in an arbitrary orientation onto a conveyor has been solved in that the conveying trough is divided into a central, lower part and surrounding upwards-and-outwards extending parts, whereby the central part vibrates with a longitudinal amplitude that is higher than that of the upwards-and-outwards extending parts at the same frequency.

A destacking conveyor and a method for destacking stacked articles, such as parcels and envelopes. The destacking conveyor comprises an inclined array of rollers that are arranged to rotate on axes perpendicular to a conveying direction. The conveyor is divided along its length into continuous roller-activation zones and selectively activated zones. In the continuous zones, the rollers always rotate in the conveying direction. In the selectively activated zones, the rollers are activated to rotate in the conveying direction and deactivated to be freely rotatable and allow articles to slide backward by gravity. The conveyor also includes a lift to change its inclination angle. By regulating the inclination angle and the activation and deactivation of the rollers in the selectively activated zones, piggy-backed articles slide off bottom articles.

An article induction system for preparing a stream of articles, such as mail parcels, for processing employs a series of conveyors operating under control of a controller for feeding articles to an operator at a cull belt at an optimal paced rate. The article induction system includes a destacking section, a separation and alignment section, a buffer section and a culling section manned by an operator. A controller controls the speed of each component based on measurements provided by sensors so as to feed articles to the operator at a desired paced rate.