Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for delivering items to a plurality of storage locations is provided. The system includes a plurality of storage locations. The storage locations may be positioned to provide an aisle and a plurality of delivery vehicles may be operable within the aisle to deliver items to the storage locations. The system may include a track that the guides the vehicles to the storage locations. A reorientation assembly may be provided for re-orienting the vehicles relative to the track to reduce misalignment between the vehicles and the track.

Abstract: A processing system for processing objects using a programmable motion device is disclosed. The processing system a perception unit for perceiving identifying indicia representative of an identity of an object associated with an input conveyance system, and an acquisition system for acquiring the object from a plurality of objects at an input area using an end effector of the programmable motion device, wherein the programmable motion device is adapted for assisting in the delivery of the object to an identified processing location. The identified processing location being associated with the identifying indicia and said identified processing location being provided as one of a plurality of processing locations. The processing system also includes a delivery system for receiving the object in a carrier and for delivering the object toward the identified processing location.

Abstract: A system includes an article supply location, wherein the article supply location includes a plurality of articles to be sorted, first and second transport vehicles, each having a first position in which an article is stowed about the vehicle and a second position in which the article is deposited into a proximal container. And a control system. The control system is configured to receive an order for a plurality of disparate articles, determine one destination container of a plurality of destination containers to direct the transport vehicle to deposit a selected article, direct the first transport vehicle to transport a selected article to the destination container and deposit the article by manipulation of the first transport vehicle from the first position to the second position for deposit of the selected article in the destination container.

Abstract: A storage, retrieval and processing system for processing objects is disclosed. The storage, retrieval and processing system includes a plurality of storage bins providing storage of a plurality of objects, where the plurality of storage bins is in communication with a retrieval conveyance system, a programmable motion device in communication with the retrieval conveyance system for receiving the storage bins from the plurality of bins, where the programmable motion device includes an end effector for grasping and moving a selected object out of a selected storage bin, and a movable carriage for receiving the selected object from the end effector of the programmable motion device, and for carrying the selected object to one of a plurality of destination bins.

Abstract: A system includes an article supply location, wherein the article supply location includes a plurality of articles to be sorted, first and second transport vehicles, each having a first position in which an article is stowed about the vehicle and a second position in which the article is deposited into a proximal container. And a control system. The control system is configured to receive an order for a plurality of disparate articles, determine one destination container of a plurality of destination containers to direct the transport vehicle to deposit a selected article, direct the first transport vehicle to transport a selected article to the destination container and deposit the article by manipulation of the first transport vehicle from the first position to the second position for deposit of the selected article in the destination container.

Abstract: A processing system for processing objects using a programmable motion device is disclosed. The processing system a perception unit for perceiving identifying indicia representative of an identity of an object associated with an input conveyance system, and an acquisition system for acquiring the object from a plurality of objects at an input area using an end effector of the programmable motion device, wherein the programmable motion device is adapted for assisting in the delivery of the object to an identified processing location. The identified processing location being associated with the identifying indicia and said identified processing location being provided as one of a plurality of processing locations. The processing system also includes a delivery system for receiving the object in a carrier and for delivering the object toward the identified processing location.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for delivering items to a plurality of storage locations is provided. The system includes a plurality of storage locations. The storage locations may be positioned to provide an aisle and a plurality of delivery vehicles may be operable within the aisle to deliver items to the storage locations. The system may include a track that the guides the vehicles to the storage locations. A reorientation assembly may be provided for re-orienting the vehicles relative to the track to reduce misalignment between the vehicles and the track.

Abstract: A system includes an article supply location, wherein the article supply location includes a plurality of articles to be sorted, first and second transport vehicles, each having a first position in which an article is stowed about the vehicle and a second position in which the article is deposited into a proximal container. And a control system. The control system is configured to receive an order for a plurality of disparate articles, determine one destination container of a plurality of destination containers to direct the transport vehicle to deposit a selected article, direct the first transport vehicle to transport a selected article to the destination container and deposit the article by manipulation of the first transport vehicle from the first position to the second position for deposit of the selected article in the destination container.

Abstract: A system includes an article supply location, wherein the article supply location includes a plurality of articles to be sorted, first and second transport vehicles, each having a first position in which an article is stowed about the vehicle and a second position in which the article is deposited into a proximal container. And a control system. The control system is configured to receive an order for a plurality of disparate articles, determine one destination container of a plurality of destination containers to direct the transport vehicle to deposit a selected article, direct the first transport vehicle to transport a selected article to the destination container and deposit the article by manipulation of the first transport vehicle from the first position to the second position for deposit of the selected article in the destination container.

Abstract: A system and method are disclosed relating to an automated store or system including an automated fulfillment section having a storage structure for storing fungible and/or non-fungible goods. The fungible and/or non-fungible goods may be retrieved from storage in response to a customer order. The system and method of the present technology allows retrieved fungible and/or non-fungible goods to be sorted and packed in accordance with stored customer preferences.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for delivering items to a plurality of storage locations is provided. The system includes a plurality of storage locations. The storage locations may be positioned to provide an aisle and a plurality of delivery vehicles may be operable within the aisle to deliver items to the storage locations. The system may include a track that the guides the vehicles to the storage locations. A reorientation assembly may be provided for re-orienting the vehicles relative to the track to reduce misalignment between the vehicles and the track.

Abstract: A storage, retrieval and processing system for processing objects is disclosed. The storage, retrieval and processing system includes a plurality of storage bins providing storage of a plurality of objects, where the plurality of storage bins is in communication with a retrieval conveyance system, a programmable motion device in communication with the retrieval conveyance system for receiving the storage bins from the plurality of bins, where the programmable motion device includes an end effector for grasping and moving a selected object out of a selected storage bin, and a movable carriage for receiving the selected object from the end effector of the programmable motion device, and for carrying the selected object to one of a plurality of destination bins.

Abstract: A container-handling installation and a method for conveying functional elements in a container-handling installation for handling containers is provided. The container-handling installation comprises at least two conveying elements, which each have at least one functional element provided for handling containers. A conveyance path is provided for conveying the at least two conveying elements one after the other, and independently of one another, along the conveyance path and by conveyance-path magnetic-force units, which are arranged along the conveyance path and at least some of which can be activated separately in order to interact with at least one magnetic-force unit of the respective conveying element A bearing unit is provided for each conveying element for bearing the conveying element such that the at least two conveying elements are mounted on a common shaft.

Abstract: A carrying device for receiving goods, which comprises a carrying wall, having a front wall and a rear wall, and a closing device, having at least one closing structure for releasably connecting the front wall to the rear wall in a closed state. The carrying wall is here arrangeable between the closed state and an open state, wherein in the closed state, it delimits a carrying volume for receiving the goods at least partially to the front, bottom and rear, and wherein in the open state, it opens up the carrying volume in the downward direction. The at least one closing structure is arrangeable, in the open state, at a spacing from the carrying wall.

Abstract: A system is provided with a segmented solid feed pump having a plurality of pump segments disposed along a closed-loop path. The plurality of pump segments are coupled together in series along the closed-loop path, and the plurality of pump segments move along the closed-loop path. Furthermore, each pump segment includes a holding receptacle.

Abstract: This invention is about water carrying lift that enables water to be used in watering fields (agricultural fields), energy production, etc by increasing the level of water in places like rivers, streams, creeks etc.

Abstract: In a method for depositing a flat object dropping freely into a lower compartment, a wall of the compartment at an angle in relation to a vertical is used as a flat deposit point for a flat side of the flat object. During passage of the flat object into the lower compartment an angular momentum is imparted to the flat object such that an angle of incidence between the wall and the flat side of the flat object is minimized.

Abstract: An apparatus includes a frame with a guide for at least one displaceable transport container, a drive element for carrying the container in an endless track, a resetting device for placing a container in a starting position and a discharge station for selectively relieving a container of a load. The containers are provided with a movable carrying panel for receiving the load, including at least two tilt trays which extend between tilt axes located on both sides. The trays can be selectively titled between a transporting position and a discharge position, and are provided with a locking mechanism for locking the trays in the transport position. The resetting device is adapted to co-act with a passing opened container to place the trays thereof in the transport position, and the discharge station is able to selectively unlock the locking mechanism of a passing transport container to thus release the trays.

Abstract: The device for sorting flat objects comprises at least one first conveyor consisting of buckets moving along a closed loop first path and a second conveyor, mechanically independent of the first conveyor, also consisting of buckets moving in a closed loop path and vertically superposed over the first path. Movement of both conveyors are synchronized by an electric shaft. Flat objects are transferred between conveyors by gravity.

Abstract: The invention relates to a mail-item container of a sorting device for the controlled transfer of a flat mail item into stationary sorting containers, the container having a stationary wall part and a movable wall part that is disposed at the front in the transport direction, and is inclined counter to the transport direction and has a slide part. In accordance with the invention, the slide part is embodied to swing, completely or partially, such that the front portions of the mail items are given momentum as they slide out, due to a swinging movement of the slide part that is initiated by the opening of the movable wall part, the momentum preventing short mail items from overturning due to the torque generated by gravity; the swinging duration is at least long enough that the respective short mail item has already exited the slide part at the time of the next swinging movement directed at the mail items.

Abstract: A bucket conveyor for conveying loose grain in different directions, comprising a bucket having: an opening leading to the interior of the bucket; and a dead space constituting part of the interior at the rear, the space not filled with loose grain when grain is loaded from above to or beyond the level of the opening, its volume being larger than the filled volume immediately below the opening. The conveyor does not spill the loose grain even when the angle of the bucket is changed.

Abstract: An integrated order selection and distribution system is provided for selecting and delivering a plurality of articles associated with a preselected customer order. The system includes discrete article receptacles, a conveyor, and a plurality of pack stations. The receptacles releasably retain articles associated with a preselected customer order. Each receptacle is transported to predetermined locations within the system by the conveyor. The pack stations are arranged along the direction of movement of the conveyor to receive the articles to be discharged from the receptacles. A system controller tracks the location of the receptacles in the system and generates a signal that causes each receptacle to discharge its articles at a predetermined location, relative to the pack stations. In the preferred embodiment, the system controller assigns each receptacle to at least one of the pack stations in round-robin fashion based upon the type of articles to be discharged.

Abstract: The device for sorting objects, for example mail items, includes a conveyor (1) that directs the objects to be sorted to sorting output receptacles (7) associated with corresponding sorting outputs and in which the sorted objects are stored. A buffer receptacle (11) is provided at each sorting output. Each buffer receptacle (11) has a retractable bottom (12) and temporarily stores sorted objects before they are transferred into a sorting output receptacle and/or while that sorting output receptacle is replaced by an empty receptacle. Because of these buffer receptacles, the throughput of the sorting device may remain constant while sorting output receptacles are replaced.

Abstract: An arrangement for feeding sheets from a sheet store to either one of a plurality of stations includes a movable carriage which receives sheets fed from the store and which has driving cogwheels for coaction with a fixed cog railway outside the carriage.The fixed cog railway includes a path selection slide that includes cog segments that can fit into the cog railway. The selector slide can be switched to either one of two possible positions by means of a processor-controlled, motor-driven arm.

Abstract: A sorting apparatus is disclosed which includes a plurality of carriers which circulate from an upper section of a conveying device to a lower section of the conveying device. The carriers are secured to circulating carriages that are driven by an endless cable that circulates in the two planes, or between the upper and lower sections of the conveying device. The upper and lower sections are connected by a vertically running deflection device which includes one wheel that connects a rear side of the upper section of the conveying device to a front side of the lower section of the conveying device as the cable proceeds from the upper section to the lower section. The vertically running deflection device also includes a second wheel which connects a rear side of the lower section of the conveying device to a front side of the upper section of the conveying device as the cable returns from the lower section to the upper section of the conveying device.

Abstract: A device and method for sorting flat mailed pieces. The mailed pieces are individually transferred to conveying cells which can be conveyed one behind the other along a conveying path and are delivered to receptacles which are arranged along the conveying path. The mailed pieces are transferred by a transfer device to the conveying cells. The main planes of the mailed pieces (14) are oriented essentially vertically. The receptacles for the mailed pieces conveyed by the conveying cells are determined on the basis of a preset sequence of all possible mailing addresses, the mailing addresses of all mailed piece transferred to the conveying cells, and the association data representing the association between the individual mailed pieces and the conveying cells.

Abstract: A system for sorting articles, the system having a track which defines a route starting at at least one loading point, the route continuing on to a plurality of destination points and arriving back at the loading point. The system also has at least one tray for conveying an article from the loading point to a selected one of the destination points. The track includes a first segment for momentarily tilting a leading end of the tray upward relative to a trailing end of the tray and possibly downward again, and a second segment for laterally tilting the tray at an angle. The first and second segments selectively maneuver an article loaded in the tray to a bottom corner thereof prior to the tray reaching the selected destination point in order to substantially reduce the jarring of the article during the discharge thereof at the selected destination point. A scanner is provided for scanning an identification-code disposed on the article.

Abstract: A component carrier assembly includes component holders each for holding a component therein and connected to one another in a form of a tape carrier. Each holder is provided with a cavity to accommodate the component, a closure for shutting an opening of the cavity, and a device for securing the lid structure in a closed position. An apparatus for feeding the component carrier includes a device for transferring the component carrier, a device for forcibly opening a closure of a component holder transferred to a predetermined position, and a device for forcibly closing the closure of the component holder after a component is removed from the cavity.

Abstract: Apparatus for transferring at least partially finished packets containing cigarettes or other rod-shaped smokers' products from a lower level, where the packets are advanced along a horizontal path toward a stationary transfer station, into the receptacles of a rotary indexible conveyor at a higher level, has an elevator with two superimposed components which clamp a packet during lifting from the lower level to the conveyor. A packet which is in the process of advancing to or has reached the upper level is engaged by one of several holders which are associated with the receptacles and hold the adjacent packets against undesirable displacement, at least during the initial stage of indexing of such packets from the transfer station.

Abstract: Device for sorting goods, comprising a stationary frame which is provided with guide means forming an endless path for a number of carriages supported by the guide means and movable along said path. Each carriage is provided with at least one tiltable goods carrier. The frame is provided with a closing guide rail which is placed along the path of the carriages and, viewed in the direction of movement of the carriages, is at a decreasing distance from the path of the tilting shafts of the passing carriages. The goods carrier is provided with a control element which comes into contact with the closing guide rail, for the purpose of tilting the goods carrier upwards out of the second position into the first position.

Abstract: Disclosed is an automatically openable and closable hopper set for a fruit weighing and sorting machine, wherein a hopper having two lower scale plates and a pivotally connected door is used to carry a fruit to be sorted by weight. The door is normally retained to a closed position by means of a hook portion of an arm member disposed at one side of the hopper. When the carried fruit is heavier than a set value of a weighing device passed by the hopper set, the scale plates of the hopper depress a scale rod of the weighing device, causing the hopper to descend and tilt, which further causes the arm member to shift and the hook portion to release the door from the hopper, permitting the fruit to immediately fall out of the hopper and into a collection box.

Abstract: A conveyor apparatus for further transporting individually conveyed, flat products includes a rotatingly driven pulling element and spaced receiving apparatuses that can be loaded and emptied secured to the pulling element for being moved in a conveying direction. The receiving apparatuses each included two side walls which are respectively spaced in the conveying direction and form a receiving chamber having an opening for the products. A mechanism is provided for widening the opening in the receiving chamber of the respective apparatuses for loading product into the chamber and a further mechanism is provided for moving the receiving apparatuses into a hanging position with a predetermined inclination in which the openings are downwardly-oriented so that the product can be ejected through the opening.

Abstract: A system and a method for sorting are provided for distributing articles, such as mail pieces or other flats, to predetermined destinations. At the destination, the particular article is raked by a raking assembly from a carrier for placement into a container. The container, when full, is gravity fed onto a discharge conveyor and automatically replaced with a new empty container. The carrier operates on two levels for delivery of articles to containers on two levels while maintaining the carriers in a horizontal position throughout the sorting process. A sloped front end of the carrier allows the articles to be transported at a rapid speed and in a continuous fashion.

Abstract: A multi-station textile machine, especially a double twisting machine or cabling machine, has spool containers arranged adjacent to one another in rows for receiving feed spools. A guide rail of a continuously or intermittently driven endless conveyor extends about the periphery of the machine frame in close contact therewith and has spool holders for conveying the feed spools. The lowermost position of the feed spools conveyed by the spool holders defines a horizontal plane which is substantially at the same level as the plane defined by the upper side of the spool containers. The spool holders are spaced apart from one another by a distance which is three to eight times the distance between neighboring spool containers.

Abstract: In a mail sorting system, a transport/stacker module comprises a plurality of mailpiece carriers included in a conveyor moving in an endless serpentine path through a plurality of distributed sorting sites. Each carrier is provided with a door at each of the longitudinally carrier ends, which are opened to permit the raking of mailpieces from laterally arranged compartments of the carrier into underlying bins at the sorting sites by selectively actuating separate rakes of a rake mechanism stationed at each sorting site. The carrier doors are constructed to provide longitudinal extensions of the carrier floor, thereby minimizing the spacing between the carriers in the conveyor while preserving a requisite interior longitudinal dimension of the carrier when the doors are closed.

Abstract: A pasta cooking apparatus includes a generally rectangular cabinet including an upright cooking tank and a sauce heating chamber with a common wall, with an opening permitting water flow therebetween. The cooking water temperature and the sauce heating water are separately temperature controlled for heating thereof. A sauce chamber abuts the heating chamber and includes various sauce containers. Transfer hoses extend from the containers, through the heating chamber into nozzles located above the cooking tank. A self-contained conveyor unit within the cooking tank has an endless chain with equi-spaced pasta baskets. The cover has a top run above the tank. The baskets are pivotally mounted. The baskets are inverted in the upper run and then reset. A dish table rotates beneath the horizontal run and successive baskets drop the pasta into an aligned dish which then rotates beneath the nozzles. The unit has a 34 inch width to allow it to move through conventional doorways in small fast food restaurants.

Abstract: An overhead track construction is provided including clam-type buckets supported from the track for guided movement therealong. The track extends past predetermined feeding stations into which material contained within the buckets is to be released and each of the buckets includes latch structure for releasably retaining the bucket halves thereof in closed positions. Each of the feeding locations includes track mounted latch release structure inoperative to release the latches of the buckets moving therepast in one direction but operative to engage and release the latches of the buckets moving therepast in the opposite direction.

Abstract: A transport/stacker module provides for a vertical stacking of mail bins. Carriers traveling in a transport path have openable and closable doors at both ends, and a frame of the transport/stacker module is provided with cam actuators to open the doors after the carriers pass turnaround areas and close the doors before the carriers enter the turnaround areas. A rake mechanism disposed above each bin is provided with a snubber which engages a mail piece prior to rake tines of the rake mechanism.

Abstract: A pasta cooking apparatus includes a generally rectangular cabinet including an upright cooking tank and a sauce heating chamber with a common wall, with an opening permitting water flow therebetween. The cooking water temperature and the sauce heating water are separately temperature controlled for heating thereof. A sauce chamber abuts the heating chamber and includes various sauce containers. Transfer hoses extend from the containers, through the heating chamber into nozzles located above the cooking tank. A self-contained conveyor unit within the cooking tank has an endless chain with equi-spaced pasta baskets. The cover has a top run above the tank. The baskets are pivotally mounted. The baskets are inverted in the upper run and then reset. A dish table rotates beneath the horizontal run and successive baskets drop the pasta into an aligned dish which then rotates beneath the nozzles. The unit has a 34 inch width to allow it to move through conventional doorways in small fast food restaurants.

Abstract: A food product carrier for use in an automatic food cooking machine having opposed integral retaining wire arch members for accepting retractable pins thereby locking a pivotal wire lid to a wire basket in a closed position which is mounted to the cooking machine and further including an external latch for securing the lid in a closed position while removed from the cooking machine.

Abstract: A basket for a basket conveyor comprising a plurality of bottom-opening baskets is disclosed. The basket is characterized in that side plates thereof spread upwardly so as to enlarge the article receiving opening sidewardly. The internal walls of the basket may be provided with projections so as to enable smooth discharging of the articles when the bottom cover is opened. Moreover, complimentary projections and channels may be provided to the edge of the article discharging port and the upper surface of the bottom cover respectively in the direction of opening and closing of the bottom cover to prevent jamming of the sorted articles.

Abstract: A freight transportation system is provided and comprises a loading station, an unloading station and a vehicle moveable therebetween to transport freight. The vehicle includes a lower platform for carrying freight and a pair of doors moveable between open and closed positions. In the closed position, the doors constitute side walls to prevent removal of the freight from the vehicle. In the open position, the doors are located to facilitate removal of the freight from the vehicle. The unloading station includes a door moving mechanism for moving the doors of the vehicle to the open position upon its arrival at the station. A freight removal device moves the freight off of one side of the platform when the doors are moved to the open position.

Abstract: Articles to be sorted are loaded into carriers which move along a predetermined path that has groups of receptacles under and adjacent to it. Each carrier has gates or doors which are normally "closed" to define a bottom that can hold an article within that carrier, but which can be "opened" to release that article for direct transfer into a selected one of the receptacles, all of which are positioned below the level of that carrier. The gates or doors of the carriers are arranged so they can selectively and directly transfer articles into the centermost of a group of transversely-positioned receptacles, into the receptacle that is disposed outwardly of that centermost receptacle, or into the receptacle that is disposed inwardly of that centermost receptacle. As a result, the direct transfer sorting system of the present invention obviates the bulky and expensive chutes and guides which have been required by prior sorting systems.

Abstract: In order to improve the accuracy of spacing, direction and velocity, a feeder for feeding discrete objects one by one has a belt which circulates at a controlled speed. The belt carries a series of buckets formed by four flaps which are normally closed but can be opened by a cam adjacent the path of the buckets. The objects are inserted one by one in the buckets adjacent the top of their vertical descent, and are discharged when the flaps are opened. In this way, the buckets define the spacing and velocity of the objects.

Abstract: Articles to be sorted are loaded into carriers which move along a predetermined path that has groups of receptacles under and adjacent to it. Each carrier has gates or doors which are normally "closed" to define a bottom that can hold an article within that carrier, but which can be "opened" to release that article for direct transfer into a selected one of the receptacles, all of which are positioned below the level of that carrier. The gates or doors of the carriers are arranged so they can selectively and directly transfer articles into the centermost of a group of transversely-positioned receptacles, into the receptacle that is disposed outwardly of that centermost receptacle, or into the receptacle that is disposed inwardly of that centermost receptacle. As a result, the direct transfer sorting system of the present invention obviates the bulky and expensive chutes and guides which have been required by prior sorting systems.

Abstract: A trough has side walls tiltable around a shaft, which is horizontal and disposed radially relative to a rotational axis for a plurality of troughs arranged in a circle. The shaft is supported as a cantilever. Linkage mechanisms connect the tiltable side walls to a vertically displaceable member. When the displaceable member moves upwardly, the side walls swing outwardly to discharge the contents of the trough. When the displaceable member moves to its lower position, the side walls come together to close off the bottom of the trough. When the trough is closed, the linkage mechanism is in an overcenter locked condition, whereby the weight of produce in the trough resting on the side walls cannot displace the side walls to the open position.

Abstract: A food product cooker having a main frame with a cooking oil pan and a plurality of food product carriages driven about the frame to and from the pan, with each of the carriages including a food product holder having upper and lower sections for receiving and transporting the food product. Each of the carriages includes a holder having pivoted sections for receiving, retaining and molding the food product therebetween. Cam tracks and cam followers provide automatic control of the holder sections. The main drive chain moves the carriages from the unloading position to the loading position, and a separate carriage pusher chain moves the carriages through the cooking vat.

Abstract: A sorting apparatus is provided for sorting articles such as film envelopes. The envelopes are loaded into carriers, on an endless conveyor, which convey them past a plurality of drop chutes. The carriers hold the envelopes so the long axes thereof, in end view, are parallel to the path of movement of the conveyor. At the proper positions, the carriers are opened to release the envelopes into selected ones of the chutes. Each envelope is directed into a preselected one of a plurality of bins, that are displaced transversely of the path of movement of the conveyor. The apparatus operates under control of a data processor which causes the conveyor and carriers to deliver the envelopes to the proper bins based on information contained in a bar code on the envelopes.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for pasteurizing appropriately sized discrete fresh food pieces are disclosed in which a finite portion of the food pieces is retained in an essentially immobile condition within a confined treatment zone while heating and cooling fluids are sequentially passed in direct contact through the food pieces for providing rapid heating thereof to a pasteurization temperature and similarly rapid cooling to a near ambient temperature so as not to significantly degrade the organoleptic quality of the fresh food pieces.

Abstract: A sorting system for generally flat articles includes a number of receptacles (2) mounted on a conveyor (1) each of which is disposed to receive and convey an article to be carried lying with its surface of maximum size perpendicular to the conveyor line of travel and which are each angularly displaceable about an axis extending lengthwise of the conveyor between two positions in which a controllable discharge outlet (9) of the receptacle is positioned on opposite sides respectively of the conveyor.