Loading assembly for oblong, in particular metallic, elements

A loading assembly for oblong elements, in particular metal elements, such as for example bars, comprising a feeding plane, on which said elements are arranged, in operation, oriented according to a longitudinal direction, a movable selector member, a chute associated with said selector member and cooperating with a transfer seat to collect a number of elements loaded on said chute by means of said selector member, said selector member being movable with a lifting motion relative to said chute between a lowered position under said feeding plane and a raised position up to said chute, to intercept and transfer said number of said elements from said feeding surface to said chute, said loading assembly also comprising a transfer device for said elements, movable with a transfer motion between an engagement configuration, approached to said transfer seat, to engage said number of elements inserted in said transfer seat, and a transport configuration, spaced therefrom, to transfer said number of elements, and alignment means for subjecting said number of elements to respective alignment operations, said alignment means being aligned with said transfer seat and/or with an intermediate seat interposed between said feeding surface and said transfer seat,

• wherein said selector member forms an arm comprising a loading portion and an output portion, and said chute comprises an abutment section cooperating with said loading portion for separating said number of elements from said feeding plane and an output section for receiving said number of elements coming from said output portion, in said raised position an upper surface of said output portion of said selector member being at least approached to an upper surface of said output section of said chute, so as to define a sliding and/or rolling plane for said number of elements, and
• wherein said abutment section is arranged backward with respect to at least a part of said loading portion of said selector member, which therefore protrudes relative thereto, so that a selected number of elements may be intercepted between said loading portion and said abutment section and transported by said selector member,
• remaining in abutment with said abutment section during said lifting motion of said selector member.