Abstract: A retail check stand device has a conveyor and a pair of side walls, each of the side walls further including a side wall section presenting an inner planar surface on a respective side of the conveyor to confine articles. One of the side wall sections has a cavity adjacent the planar surface. A sensing means is provided to sensing objects on the conveyor. An opening is formed in the side wall section to provide access to the cavity. A check stand controller is responsive to the sensing means and is arranged to fit through the opening and be located in the cavity.

Abstract: A tracking system for a sorting apparatus for sorting pieces of material moving through a sorting zone in a wide path random stream has a light scanning device which makes repeated scans across the sorting zone to detect light reflected from the pieces of material, and downstream of the scanning device a plurality of deflection devices extending across the sorting zone. An electronic control generates timing signals which, in effect, represent a plurality of overlapping analyzing channels extending in the direction of movement of the pieces of material and overlapping one another across the sorting zone. An electrical circuit arrangement for each analyzing channel receives signals from the scanning device and accumulates information relating to pieces of material in that channel and provides a decision signal based on the accumulated information.