Apparatus for handling articles

A system (100) comprising:

• an apparatus (01) comprising at least one group (04;
• 05;
• 06;
• 07;
• 08) including of a carriage pair (40;
• 50;
• 60;
• 70;
• 80) of two carriages (41, 42;
• 51, 52;
• 61, 62;
• 71, 72;
• 81, 82) that are driven movable independently of one another along a closed circulating guide track (03), wherein the carriages (41, 42;
• 51, 52;
• 61, 62;
• 71, 72;
• 81, 82) are interconnected by a linkage (43;
• 53;
• 63;
• 73) with a central coupling element (44;
• 54;
• 64;
• 74) and by two linkage elements (45;
• 55;
• 65;
• 75) that are each articulately connected to the coupling element (44;
• 54;
• 64;
• 74) and to one of the carriages (41, 42;
• 51, 52;
• 61, 62;
• 71, 72;
• 81, 82);
• a first transport device (09) which provides an arriving article stream of articles (02) that are being transported along a first transport track (91) at a first transport speed (T9) following one another immediately and/or uniformly spaced apart and/or variably spaced apart;
• and
• a second transport device (10), which provides an arriving outer package stream of empty outer packages (20) that are being transported along a second transport track (11) at a second transport speed (T10) following one another immediately and/or uniformly spaced apart and/or variably spaced apart, and which transport device (10) continues to transport the outer packages without interruption of the transport movement;
• wherein the apparatus (01) provides a handling of articles (02) comprising at least a transfer of the articles (02) arriving with the article stream into the outer packages (20) arriving with the outer package stream.

A method of handling articles comprising:

• transferring articles (02) arriving from an article stream into outer packages (20) arriving from an outer package stream, wherein the transferring step comprises:
• transferring articles (02) with at least one group (04;
• 05;
• 06;
• 07;
• 08) including of a carriage pair (40;
• 50;
• 60;
• 70;
• 80) of two carriages (41, 42;
• 51, 52;
• 61, 62;
• 71, 72;
• 81, 82) that are driven movable independently of one another along a closed circulating guide track (03), wherein the carriages (41, 42;
• 51, 52;
• 61, 62;
• 71, 72;
• 81, 82) are interconnected by a linkage (43;
• 53;
• 63;
• 73) with a central coupling element (44;
• 54;
• 64;
• 74) and by two linkage elements (45;
• 55;
• 65;
• 75) that are each articulately connected to the coupling element (44;
• 54;
• 64;
• 74) and to one of the carriages (41, 42;
• 51, 52;
• 61, 62;
• 71, 72;
• 81, 82), wherein the coupling element (44;
• 54;
• 64;
• 74) comprises a manipulator (46;
• 56;
• 66;
• 76) or a manipulator (46;
• 56;
• 66;
• 76) is disposed on the coupling element (44;
• 54;
• 64;
• 74).