Method to move containers in a line for processing said containers, and corresponding processing line

Line to process containers comprising a station for storing and picking up said containers and a station at least for filling said containers, said storage and pick-up station being provided with a container-holding tray on which a plurality of containers are able to be pre-positioned, according to a pattern defined by a positioning matrix and with the side of the mouth facing toward a bottom wall of said container-holding tray, and an upending tray configured to upend at least part of said containers disposed in said container-holding tray, keeping them supported at the bottom by said upending tray according to said pattern defined by said positioning matrix, said processing line being characterized in that it comprises an extractor configured reciprocally mobile with respect to said upending tray in a pick-up direction that lies on a substantially horizontal plane, wherein said extractor is conformed to pick up, from said upending tray, at least two containers disposed on two parallel and consecutive rows of said positioning matrix, of which a first container of said at least two containers is positioned in a first row and a second container of said at least two containers is positioned in a second row, wherein said first row is upstream of said second row, with respect to a movement toward the container-holding tray in said pick-up direction, and to move said at least two containers toward said filling station after they have been picked up by said extractor;

• wherein said filling station is a filling and weighing station which includes a scale which supports a weighing plate provided with a plurality of housing seatings each configured to receive and support a corresponding container.

Method to move containers in a processing line that comprises a station for storing and picking up said containers and a station at least for filling said containers, said method providing, in said storage and pick-up station, to:

• supply a container-holding tray containing a plurality of said containers disposed resting in an orderly manner, according to a pattern defined by a positioning matrix, on said container-holding tray with their mouth facing toward a bottom wall of said container-holding tray,
• upend said containers disposed in said container-holding tray with an upending tray configured to couple with said container-holding tray so as to engage, according to said pattern defined by said positioning matrix, at least one part of said containers, said upended containers being supported at the bottom by said upending tray,
• said method being characterized in that it also provides to move, with respect to said upending tray, an extractor to pick up, from said upending tray, at least two containers disposed in two parallel and consecutive rows of said positioning matrix, of which a first container said at least two containers is positioned in a first row (I) and a second container of said at least two containers is positioned in a second row (II), wherein said extractor is moved in a pick-up direction on a substantially horizontal plane, so that the extractor first encounters the first container to be picked up and then the second container to be picked up, which is therefore further downstream, when said extractor moves toward the container-holding tray in the pick-up direction, and subsequently to move said at least two containers picked up with said extractor toward said filling station;
• wherein said extractor comprises an extraction gripper provided with a plurality of inter-spaced arms, parallel to each other and defining gripping inlets, each of said arms comprising an array of holding seatings shaped to support respective containers, each holding seating comprising respective support portions, facing each other from opposite sides of a same gripping inlet, and being made hollow on respective arms to receive, resting on them, a respective container in correspondence with a neck portion of said container.