Abstract: A method for transferring articles from a conveyor to a rack or magazine. The articles are gripped one at a time by a gripping device and are moved from the conveyor while being brought to a correct position of alignment in relation to the rack, whereafter the article is placed in the rack. In accordance with the invention the article transfer is effected in at least two transfer stations which work in parallel and which are arranged one after the other along the conveyor path, each transfer station including an industrial robot. A plurality of racks are moved sequentially along a path which extends through all transfer stations. Only a given part of each rack is filled in each transfer station, such that the rack will be completely filled subsequent to passing through all the transfer stations.

Abstract: A conveyor comprising at least one endless conveyor element, and a plurality of pushers (7, 8, 9) which are carried by the conveyor element and which are adapted to push objects on the conveyor. The pushers (7, 8, 9) have at least two different cross sectional shapes that vary from pusher to pusher lengthwise of the conveyor, for pushing different types of solid objects along the conveyor. These different shapes of pushers (7, 8, 9) are arranged in predetermined fixed positions and in sequential order along the conveyor element (2, 3, 4), and the distance along the conveyor element (2, 3, 4) between a pusher (7, 8, 9) and the next pusher of the same cross sectional shape is the same for all types of pushers (7, 8, 9).