Cutting-and-transferring system and pellet transferring apparatus

A pellet transferring apparatus comprising:

• a shuttle transferring means for picking up a selected cut workpiece from the cutting unit;
• a tentative storage means in which the cut workpiece is released from the shuttle transferring means;
• a transfer means for transferring the cut workpiece to a pick-up table where the cut workpiece is laid to allow the pellets to be picked up;
• a pellet transferring means for picking up pellets from the pick-up table to a selected carrier tray;
• a disposal means for disposing the holder members from which pellets have been removed by the pellet transferring means;
• an empty-tray storage means for storing empty trays;
• a loaded-tray storage means for storing trays loaded with pellets;
• and a tray transferring table for transferring empty trays from the empty-tray storage means to the pellet transferring means and for transferring pellet-loaded trays to the loaded-tray storage means.