Patent ID: 8220223

Claim:
A method of operating a beverage bottling plant, which beverage bottling plant is configured to fill, close, and package beverage bottles, said method comprising the steps of: filling beverage bottles with liquid beverage material in a beverage bottle filling machine; closing filled beverage bottles in a beverage bottle closing machine; packaging closed, filled beverage bottles in a beverage bottle packaging machine; transporting a stack of dollies on a pallet to an unloading area, in which unloading area the dollies are unstacked; gripping a first dolly with a gripper arm, which first dolly is disposed on top of said stack of dollies on a pallet in said unloading area; lifting said first dolly with said gripper arm and unstacking said first dolly from said stack of dollies; sensing the orientation and position of said first dolly with at least a first camera; sensing the orientation of the wheels on said first dolly with at least a second camera; sending information regarding the sensed orientation and position of said first dolly, from said at least a first camera, to a control arrangement; sending information regarding the sense orientation of the wheels on said first dolly, from said at a second camera, to said control arrangement; comparing said sent information to desired orientations and positions stored in said control arrangement; determining the orientation and position of said first dolly and the orientation of said wheels on said first dolly with said control arrangement through said comparison of said sent information to said desired orientations and positions stored in said control arrangement; tilting said first dolly at an angle with respect to the surface of a conveyor to permit a set of steerable wheels to be oriented by gravity; swiveling said first dolly around an axis of rotation and orienting said first dolly in a predetermined orientation, in which predetermined orientation a set of fixed wheels precedes said set of steerable wheels in a direction of transport; transporting said oriented first dolly to a conveyor in said predetermined orientation, with said set of fixed wheels preceding said set of steerable wheels in said direction of transport; loading said first dolly with packages of closed, filled beverage bottles; and loading said loaded first dolly on a pallet.