A system for dispensing vessels to an analyzer is disclosed. The system comprises a disc rotatable about an axis and comprising a groove, a drum arranged above and coupled to the disc to rotatable together about the axis, the drum comprising slots arranged along and around the axis, each slot comprising an input interface for stacking vessels in the slot and an output interface for dispensing the vessels, the output interface comprising a retainer, a crank translatable in a linear forwards and backwards direction orthogonal to the axis between a first, second, and third position. The crank comprises a pin for rotating the disc and bringing a slot into a dispensing position upon translation between the first and second position, the crank comprising an actuator pin for actuating the retainer in the dispensing position upon translation of the crank between the second and third position to dispense the vessels.

A packing device for consumable materials comprising an outer sleeve, an inner sleeve, and springs. The outer sleeve and inner sleeve may matingly and telescopically engage with each other and the inner sleeve may be slideably moveable between a resting position and a compressed position. The inner sleeve may have (a) an interior chamber that is configured to engage with a cone and (b) a consumable material loading chamber. The springs may be configured to create a tension when the inner sleeve is slideably moved from the resting position to the compressed position by a user, such that the inner sleeve is slideably biased into the resting position when the inner sleeve is released by the user, such that when a consumable material is loaded into the consumable material loading chamber, the consumable material is packed into the cone.

An apparatus that denests a stack of containers and methods of separating a stack of containers and making the apparatus are disclosed. The apparatus includes a denester and a counting device. The denester is configured to separate a first stack of at least 2 containers into a plurality of second stacks of containers. Each of the second stacks includes an exact number of containers, the exact number being a positive integer less than m. The counting device is configured to count the exact number of containers in the first stack. The method of separating containers includes counting an exact number of containers in a first stack of m containers using the counting device, and separating the exact number of containers from the first stack using the denester.

A system for dispensing vessels to an analyzer is disclosed. The system comprises a disc rotatable about an axis and comprising a groove, a drum arranged above and coupled to the disc to rotatable together about the axis, the drum comprising slots arranged along and around the axis, each slot comprising an input interface for stacking vessels in the slot and an output interface for dispensing the vessels, the output interface comprising a retainer, a crank translatable in a linear forwards and backwards direction orthogonal to the axis between a first, second, and third position. The crank comprises a pin for rotating the disc and bringing a slot into a dispensing position upon translation between the first and second position, the crank comprising an actuator pin for actuating the retainer in the dispensing position upon translation of the crank between the second and third position to dispense the vessels.

Provided is a food container supply device in which a gripping device includes a pair of claws and a pair of shutters which move in each horizontal direction between a forward movement position of contacting a food container and a backward movement position of non-contacting the food container respectively and a control device selects one of gripping operation patterns including an operation of respectively moving the claw and the shutter to the forward movement position at the same time, an operation of moving one of the claw and the shutter to the forward movement position and then moving the other to the forward movement position, and an operation of moving only one of the claw and the shutter to the forward movement position during each operation of extracting the food container in response to a shape of the food container.

A packing device for consumable materials comprising an outer sleeve, an inner sleeve, and springs. The outer sleeve and inner sleeve may matingly and telescopically engage with each other and the inner sleeve may be slideably moveable between a resting position and a compressed position. The inner sleeve may have (a) an interior chamber that is configured to engage with a cone and (b) a consumable material loading chamber. The springs may be configured to create a tension when the inner sleeve is slideably moved from the resting position to the compressed position by a user, such that the inner sleeve is slideably biased into the resting position when the inner sleeve is released by the user, such that when a consumable material is loaded into the consumable material loading chamber, the consumable material is packed into the cone.

A destacker for automatically destacking a plurality of vertically stacked articles that is particularly useful in destacking magnetic molds used in the chocolate manufacturing industry. Each article comprises at least one slanted notch. The destacker includes at least one hammer having a blade that moves from a retracted position to an extracted position, wherein at the extracted position the blade engages a gap formed by the slanted notch between the bottommost article and the article located above the bottommost article to release the bottommost article from the plurality of stacked articles. The bottommost article then drops onto a conveyor to be transported to the production line. The destacker further includes oppositely disposed pair of mold carriers and oppositely disposed pair of mold lockers that assist the destacker to feed the stack of molds in a downward direction.

Provided is a food container supply device in which a gripping device includes a pair of claws and a pair of shutters which move in each horizontal direction between a forward movement position of contacting a food container and a backward movement position of non-contacting the food container respectively and a control device selects one of gripping operation patterns including an operation of respectively moving the claw and the shutter to the forward movement position at the same time, an operation of moving one of the claw and the shutter to the forward movement position and then moving the other to the forward movement position, and an operation of moving only one of the claw and the shutter to the forward movement position during each operation of extracting the food container in response to a shape of the food container.

A method and apparatus for separating a stack of trays, each tray being comprised of a plurality of spaced apart containers arranged in rows and columns and interconnected by webs located at their upper, open ends, the containers of each tray in the stack being nested within the containers of an adjacent tray, the space between the tops of adjacent containers in a row or column and the space between adjacent webs forming linear pathways through the stack. The apparatus includes a magazine for holding a stack of the trays. The magazine includes a plurality of first and second support fingers located at the first and second ends of the stack. First and second support linear actuators cause the support fingers to be extended to a stack support location during a non-separation mode of operation, and cause the support fingers to retract to a non-stack support location during the separation mode of operation. A plurality of separator fingers are positioned in alignment with opposing linear pathways formed between the lowermost tray in the stack and the tray adjacent thereto. A separator linear actuator cause the separator fingers to retract to a location out of contact with the stack during a non-separation mode of operation, and to cause the separator fingers to be substantially fully inserted into the linear pathways during a separation mode of operation. The separator fingers are configured to expand the distance between adjacent webs during insertion to cause the lowermost tray to detach from the tray adjacent thereto.

A system for destacking consumables, lids, or consumables with lids comprising at least one stack of consumables, lids, or consumables with lids; a storage for the at least one stack of consumables, lids, or consumables with lids comprising a retaining mechanism configured that only the lowest and second lowest consumable of the at least one stack of consumables extend over a lower end of the storage; a movable separator comprising an upper part with separator ramps configured to separate the lowest consumable from the stack of consumables by moving its upper part between the lowest and second lowest consumable of the at least one stack of consumables; and a movable consumable holder which is arranged below the stack of consumables, together with a method of use.