Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are disclosed for systems and methods for item singulation in a conveyor belt system. The singulation system may include one or more conveyor belts, one or more piston arrays disposed below the one or more conveyor belts, one or more cameras for generating image data of the conveyor belt, and a computing device for processing the image data and controlling the piston array. The singulation system may selectively actuate pistons of the piston array to achieve singulation of the items (e.g., packages) on the conveyor belt to ensure such items are separated by a certain distance. Multiple conveyor belts in series and with increasing velocities may be employed to increase separation between items.

Abstract: A vial hopper and feeder assembly is used in conjunction with automated prescription filling devices and systems, wherein the vial hopper and feeder assembly is configured to allow an operator to dump a large number of vials into a hopper in a random orientation, and the hopper/feeder assembly has the capability of selecting individual vials, orienting them in the proper direction, and delivering them individually in assembly line fashion, and in proper orientation, to the next step of the prescription filling process. A rotatable singulator receives the vials, feeds each vial individually to a pocket within a rotating turnstile. Sensors detect the presence and orientation of the vial, upright or upside down, and the turnstile rotates either clockwise or counterclockwise, based on the orientation of the vial within the pocket, to release each vial in one single direction.

Abstract: A system for packaging unit doses of medication. One pill packaging system comprises a feeding assembly, a pill packaging assembly, and a pill guide. The pill guide may be positioned between the feeding assembly and packaging assembly and comprise a body having inlet and outlet apertures, whereby a pill traveling through the pill guide exits the outlet aperture oriented such that a leading edge of the pill points toward one side of the pill package and the trailing edge of the pill is inclined toward an opposite side of the pill package. Another pill packaging system comprises a pill feeding assembly comprising a pill disk with circumferentially positioned pill slots, a pill packaging assembly, and a sensor, such as a camera, to determine whether more than one pill is positioned in a pill slot on the pill disk.

Abstract: A system for repositioning row bars includes a base support including a top surface, and a support arm positioned on the top surface and configured to rotate from a first position to a second position, a tray assembly coupled to the support arm, the tray assembly including a first tray including a plurality of first channels, each configured to retain one of the row bars in an initial position, a transfer substrate including a plurality of transfer channels, each configured to receive one of the row bars from the first tray as the support arm moves from the first position to the second position, and a second tray including a plurality of second channels, each configured to retain the one of the row bars in a final position, where the row bars in the final position are rotated by a preselected number of degrees from the initial position.

Abstract: A flow track system comprising a plurality of flow track members, each flow track member comprised of generally parallel, spaced apart support members having a plurality of axles transversely disposed therebetween, the axles having mounted thereon a plurality of free turning rollers, the support members having an impact feed plate mounted at a first end and a discharge stop plate mounted at a second end, the feed plate and discharge plates having a sleeve formed therein for slidable, rotatable engagement with a securing bolt and having formed on each end thereof a plurality of engagement stops to selectively set the distance that the in feed plate and the discharge plate extend beyond the ends of the parallel, spaced apart support members allowing for the adjustment of fit between the pallet beams. The weight of the track locks the in feed plate and the discharge plate position.

Abstract: Apparatus for transporting profiles of different size and cross section, such as flats, angles, I sections, U sections, T sections and bulb sections, in longitudinal direction, includes a plurality of support elements for transporting the sections along a transport path, a stop mechanism arranged laterally of the support elements along the transport path, and a clamping device movable in the direction of the transport path, wherein each support element is formed by two rollers, with at least one of the rollers being movable with respect to the other one of the rollers.

Abstract: A system for ensuring correct orientation of a threaded insert being inserted into a threaded bore of an aluminum workpiece such as an engine block. The system comprises a threaded insert supply, a feeder for transporting inserts dispensed from the insert supply, and an orient subassembly for dispensing the insert supplied from the feeder into a workpiece bore. The orient subassembly dispenses the insert into the workpiece bore in a tang-down orientation if the insert is supplied to the orient subassembly in a tang-down position. The orient subassembly reorients the insert if the insert is supplied to the orient subassembly in a tang-up position before the insert is dispensed into the workpiece bore.

Abstract: An apparatus for bundling truss plates comprises a mechanism for forming a plurality of truss plates and a mechanism for forming these truss plates into a unitized bundle that is easily shipped, stored, and handled. The apparatus can include a mechanism for orienting each of the plurality of truss plates so that the backing members are substantially parallel to a predetermined plane, an aligning mechanism for aligning the oriented truss plates so that the peripheries of their backing members are substantially aligned, a stacking mechanism for stacking the oriented and aligned truss plates, and an interconnecting mechanism for interconnecting the stacked truss plates into a unitized bundle.

Abstract: An automatic bottle-turning machine is described in which filled water bottles are conveyed through an automatic turning apparatus that rotates them from an upright position onto their sides, and discharges them. Bottles enter a turning station which is laterally rotatable about a longitudinal axis, and is blocked at its distal end by an exit stop. Bottles are counted as they enter. When a predetermined count number is reached, bottle entry is stopped and the station rotates 90 degrees from its initial position to a second position. The exit stop is then deactuated and the turned bottles discharge. Bottles are counted as they exit. When the predetermined count number is reached, the station rerotates from the second position to the initial position, and the exit stop is reactuated.

Abstract: An apparatus for aligning electronic component chips includes an aligning passage for guiding a plurality of electronic component chips which are in an aligned state along a prescribed direction, and a chamber communicated with the aligning passage for storing the plurality of electronic component chips. A blowing passage is provided near an inlet of the aligning passage for introducing compressed air from the outside. An upper wall surface defining the space is provided by a displaceable movable block, the displacement of the movable block upward is driven by the compressed air introduced from the blowing passage, and displacement downward is driven by natural gravity. Therefore, by the intermittent introduction of the compressed air, the movable block reciprocates up and down so that a space between the upper and lower wall surfaces of the space is widened and narrowed.

Abstract: Apparatus for holding integrated circuit parts for inspection for cracks, holes, or other defects. The apparatus permits inspection of the top, bottom and both sides without need for the inspector to change position. The parts are slidably retained within the apparatus between upper and lower tracks. The upper and lower tracks pivot relative to one another, and relative to a base member, about a common pivot point.

Abstract: An electromechanical manipulation system for reorienting the position of sensed conveyed articles such as rail tie plates upon an inclined conveyor surface includes first and second transverse openings in the inclined conveyor surface, the second opening being located closer to the upper conveyor end than the first opening, a stop member located in the first opening and adapted for reciprocal vertical movement therein to obstruct the descent of improperly oriented individual plates down the conveyor surface. Once the descent of the plate has been stopped, a reciprocal flipper member located in the second and opening of the conveyor is adapted to impart an impulse to an end of the immobilized plate to cause the plate to be inverted and thus properly oriented upon the conveying surface. Once inverted, the flipper member and the stop member quickly retract to permit the properly oriented plate to continue its descent and also to prepare for the descent of the next plate.

Abstract: An improved chute for a bale loader which enables a quarter-turn rotation of faulty positioned bales prior to loading of the bales. A wheel rotatably mounted on the forward most end of one of a pair of converging arms on the chute is operable to engage the side of a bale of hay, straw, or the like. The wheel, being rearwardly and inwardly inclined toward the bale-receiving channel defined by the conveying arm members of the chute causes one quarter rotation of the bale. The wheel is of proper size to allow the operator of the loader to selectively engage only those bales requiring rotation. The wheel may be spring mounted to minimize repairs and may be driven by an external power source.

Abstract: An apparatus for handling empty two-piece capsules includes a vertically reciprocating feeder which extracts capsules from a hopper and forms randomly ordered linear arrays. A horizontal row of capsules are fed by the feeder to key-shaped slots in a block below the feeder. A blade reciprocally positioned adjacent the wider portion of the key-shaped slots moves into the slot at about the middle of the capsule to turn the capsules so as to be partly positioned within the narrower portion of the key-shaped slot. Each capsule is then ejected by projectable pins into a channel where the capsules are pneumatically accelerated into a pair of mated receiving rings which separates the two halves of the capsule.

Abstract: A mechanism for rotating about a vertical axis generally flat-bottomed objects which are moving along the working surface of a conveyor system, the mechanism including at least three rollers which are rotatable about horizontal axes and which are oriented so as to be tangent to the circumference of a circle which is concentric with the vertical axis, a support frame for moving the rollers into an active positioning above the working surface of the conveyor system and downwardly to an inactive positioning therebelow, and a belt drive system for rotating all of the rollers in the same direction with respect to the circumference of the circle.

Abstract: A positioning and alignment loader for a gear cutting machine adapted to receive cold formed toothed blanks, preferably of conical gear form, having differently conformed front and rear surfaces requiring positioning of the blank with a selected side up. The blanks are advanced along a chute and the position of the blank in the chute is sensed and if the blank is reversed, it is rotated 180.degree. before further advance. Thereafter the properly positioned blank with its proper selected side up is advanced horizontally and its teeth are located in proper angular position by engagement with a toothed orientor rack located at one side of the path of advance. The properly positioned blank with its teeth in substantially precise angular location is now engaged by a pick-up device which transfers the blank into a gear finishing machine in proper stock dividing position so that the machine may remove small, substantially equal amounts of stock from opposite sides of the teeth.

Abstract: Method for dividing a row of identical solid products brought in on an input conveyor along the axis of symmetry of the latter, from an upstream delivery apparatus to two output conveyors connected respectively to two downstream receiving apparatuses, said products emerging from the delivery apparatus resting flat on their largest surface on said input conveyor, said method including the steps of disposing tipping means comprising an entry dihedral with two tipping surfaces so that the ridge of said dihedral is aligned with said axis of symmetry of the input conveyor; bringing the products coming from the input conveyor to pass successively over the ridge of said dihedral; conferring a minimum rectilinear speed on said input conveyor, so that said products are placed successively in equilibrium on said ridge; causing each of said products to tilt onto a selected tipping surface of the dihedral by applying selectively to the upper surface of the products in equilibrium, a compressed air jet oriented towards th

Abstract: The invention provides an apparatus for effecting the orientation of shallow disc-shaped articles such as closures, lids and caps so that all such articles are moving at high speed in side by side relationship with each article having its recessed side in the same orientation as all other articles. Such orientation is accomplished by the employment of a single rotating wheel, the elastomeric peripheral surface of which projects through one wall of a feed chute through which the successive articles are moving at high speed in side by side relationship, and co-operates with an aperture in the opposite side wall of the chute to effect the selective direction of the successive articles into either one of two transfer chutes disposed in Y-shaped, tangential relationship to the end of the first mentioned chute according to whether the recessed face of the article is facing toward or away from the wheel periphery.

Abstract: An improved quarter-turn hay bale chute which prevents skewing and bounce of the bale as it hits the ground. An adjustable flap is set to narrow the lowest portion of the bale "drop window" so that the fully turned bale is restricted in its lateral movement and prevented from dropping out of line with the direction of motion of the hay baler. The restriction formed between the adjustable flap and the deflector also serves as a brake to slow the free fall of the bale and thus decreases bouncing which is a further cause of misalignment.

Abstract: A device for the non-reversed setting up of rod shaped bodies having ends of different thicknesses and particularly for orienting conical tubes for yarn spinning and twisting machines comprises a feed chute along which the bodies are fed with their sides adjacent and with their ends generally aligned. The feed chute includes an opening in which there are disposed two spaced apart supports oriented adjacent the respective ends of the tubes which are fed one after the other into the opening. Two pressing fingers are mounted so that they move through a path overlying the respective ends of the tubes simultaneously in a manner such that one of them only will contact the thicker end of the tube to begin moving it downwardly over the associated support.

Abstract: A machine for orienting generally tapered objects such as ears of corn and lining them up on a moving conveyor with their smaller ends uniformly forward, made up of a vertically reciprocating plate with a vertical face, a pressure plate with an opposed face biased toward the face of said vertically reciprocating plate and held in parallel relation thereto, a feed roller with a downward turning generally cylindrical face which feeds tapered objects between said vertically opposed faces, means to supply tapered objects one by one onto said downward turning face, and a conveyor below said pressure plate and vertically reciprocating plate to carry away oriented tapered objects while maintaining their orientation.