During manufacturing processes, it is often necessary to group, orient, arrange, and/or sort items for packaging or for other downstream operations. Such operations can be cumbersome if the items do not have flat sides, do not fit together in an orderly fashion, and/or if the items are hard to control (e.g., the products do not remain stationary on a flat conveyor), for example. Currently technologies use guide rails, stacking apparatuses, grouping apparatuses, and/or layering devices, for example, to handle the items. These technologies usually engage outer surfaces of the items during handling. Such current technologies have drawbacks, such as complexity. Further, current technologies usually do not provide great process flexibility and may be a limiting factor in production rates. In some instances, manufacturing equipment can be designed to be quite complex and perform a great number of functions or can be designed to be simpler and only perform limited number of functions. It would be beneficial to provide methods and mechanisms for transferring items that improve the state of the art, do not damage the outer surface of the items, do not limit the production rate of a manufacturing line, and provide for great flexibility in a manufacturing process.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds