Patent ID: 9741009
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: B65G,G06Q

Claim:
1. A material-handling system, comprising: a first processing station having a first article input and a first article output; a transfer system between at least said first article input and said first article output, said transfer system comprising a track, a plurality of transfer units travelling along said track and a propulsion system driving said transfer units reciprocatingly along said track in a regular motion between opposite ends of said track past said input and output, each of said transfer units having a bidirectional conveying surface that is oriented perpendicular to said track thereby providing an article support surface that is configured to support articles and to transfer articles to and from that article support surface transversely of said track; and a control, said control controlling said bidirectional conveying surfaces of said transfer units and said first article input and said first article output to selectively receive an article from said first article output to one of said bidirectional conveying surfaces as that conveying surface travels past said first article output and to discharge an article from one of said bidirectional conveying surfaces to said first article input as that transfer unit travels past said first article input in order to sequence articles between said first article input and said first article output.