Provided is a pile preparation unit for changing a pallet support of a pile of sheets with a first end and a second end where the pallet has a support side supporting the pile of sheets at the first end. The pile preparation unit may include a rotation unit configured with an infeed opening for receiving a pallet with a pile of sheets, the rotation unit configured with a rotating structure to rotate a lift unit about a rotational axis. The lift unit is configured with a lift structure fixed to the rotating structure and has a lift plate movable along the lift structure to engage with the second end of the pile of sheets and to move and position the pile of sheets transverse, relative to the rotational axis, providing a portal for changing a pallet.

Provided is a pile preparation unit for changing a pallet support of a pile of sheets with a first end and a second end where the pallet has a support side supporting the pile of sheets at the first end. The pile preparation unit may include a rotation unit configured with an infeed opening for receiving a pallet with a pile of sheets, the rotation unit configured with a rotating structure to rotate a lift unit about a rotational axis. The lift unit is configured with a lift structure fixed to the rotating structure and has a lift plate movable along the lift structure to engage with the second end of the pile of sheets and to move and position the pile of sheets transverse, relative to the rotational axis, providing a portal for changing a pallet.

A card feeding system that feeds cards from a stack to a conveyor system beneath product being carried. A card feed path arranged between a feed conveyor and the outfeed conveyor includes a fixed feed pinch roll and a pivot arm with a pivoting pinch roll and a pair of delivery rolls. A card stack receiving platform is located beneath a picker arm. An elevator is provided for raising the platform with the card stack. The picker arm has suction cups, and is pivotable from a card pick-up position to a feed position in which the card is positioned between the pivoting and fixed pinch rolls. A controller actuates the elevator, the picker arm, the pivot arm, the fixed and delivery pinch rolls to deliver single ones of the cards as product to be placed on the card transitions from the feed conveyor to the outfeed conveyor.

A machine for separating a load (C) made up of several superimposed layers of packages (B) and supported by a pallet (P), includes: a base element (3) connected to a housing element (5) that also includes a base member (7) that meets the face of the pallet opposite to the load; a slide wall member (9) in sliding contact with a face of the load, a side wall member (11), and a compacting plane member (13) slidably operated along the side wall member towards and away from the base member. A tilt actuator (15) interconnected between the base element and the housing element is assigned to rotate the housing element around a pivot pin (14) between a first extreme condition wherein the slide wall member is vertical and a second extreme condition wherein the housing member is rotated by an angle of approximately 90 or greater.

A device for replacing a pallet carrying a load includes first and second store elements (3, 7); an entrance element (11) between the first and second store elements; and a translating element (17) provided with a first seating (19) in the first store element and a second seating (21) in the entrance element for respectively receiving a replacement pallet and an original pallet wherein such translating element (17) is moved parallelly to itself between a first extreme condition (I) in which the first seating (19) and the second seating (21) are respectively placed in correspondence with the base (5) of the first store element (3) and with the base (6) of the entrance element (11) and a second extreme condition (F) in which the first (19) and second (21) seatings are respectively placed over the bases (6, 9) of the entrance element (11) and the second store element (7).