Abstract: A pile-unloading device for moulded articles such as bricks, with pickers for each time grasping a layer of articles from the pile and depositing them onto a surface of e.g. a conveyor. Sets of pickers side by side move simultaneously, but are operable selectively individually or in groups to pick up articles from a depositing surface selectively. The articles not thus picked up are conveyed away, may be transferred to a faster conveyor to create distances between the articles and may be rotated in groups about a vertical axis. It is thus possible to grade or sort the articles according to quality, e.g. apparent from color differences.