Patent ID: 7651310

Claim:
A system for singling and transferring objects comprising: a support frame having an inlet area where objects enter into said system and an outlet area where objects exit from said system, said support frame defining first and second axes which are transversely oriented relative to one another; a container handling arrangement disposed on said support frame and defining a plurality of housing areas for loading respective object containers, each said object container being configured for containing therein a plurality of objects to be singled and transferred, each object being located in a position within a said object container defined by a first pair of coordinates respectively defined along the first and second axes; an object transfer arrangement disposed on said support frame and supporting a plurality of containment members for movement along a continuous path, each said containment member being movable into a position within said support frame defined by a second pair of coordinates respectively defined along the first and second axes and different from said first pair of coordinates, said handling arrangement comprising a handling device actuable to move a said object container relative to the respective said housing area in different and opposed directions, anchorage means connected to said handling device and disposed to engage with said object container, said housing areas each comprising a surface for slidably receiving a said object container, said handling device being arranged to be selectively lowered to disappear beneath said surface, said surface comprising a perimetric base surface and two walls disposed on opposite sides of said base surface and projecting upwardly beyond said base surface for slidably receiving said object container; and a retrieval and singling device mounted on said support frame adjacent said inlet area, said retrieval and singling device comprising an arm mounted for sliding movement relative to said support frame along both of the first and second axes, said arm being movable along both of the first and second axes and configured for picking up one object at the first pair of coordinates from a said object container and transferring the one object into one of said containment members at the second pair of coordinates, each said containment member being configured for containing therein a predetermined plurality of objects picked up by said arm and transferred from said inlet area to said outlet area.