Device for conveying and feeding containers for machines for processing containers

A device for conveying and feeding containers, particularly contoured containers with substantially flat faces and a substantially polygonal transverse cross-section, for machines for processing containers, which comprises a conveyor, which is adapted to move said containers along an advancement direction, and separation means, which are adapted to mutually space apart said containers along said advancement direction, wherein said separation means comprise a screw feeder, which is arranged substantially parallel to said advancement direction and can be actuated to rotate about an axis thereof, and at least one abutment wall, which is arranged so as to face a lateral surface of said screw feeder, said screw feeder having, along a longitudinal extension thereof, proceeding from one of ends thereof to another end in a same direction as said advancement direction, at least three regions configured to be engaged in sequence by said containers, respectively at least one access region, which is adapted to pass, as a consequence of a rotation of said screw feeder about the axis thereof, between at least one open condition, in which said access region allows said containers to proceed in their advancement on said conveyor, and at least one closed condition, in which said access region is adapted to prevent, in cooperation with a contrast region defined on said abutment wall, an advancement of the containers arriving at said screw feeder on said conveyor, with clamping of at least one container between said access region and said contrast region, at least one accommodation region, which is adapted to receive, from said access region in the open condition, one container at a time temporarily without allowing further advancement thereof, and an acceleration region which is adapted to produce, upon the rotation of said screw feeder about the axis thereof, a translation of the containers in a same direction as said advancement direction at a higher speed than that imposed on said containers by said conveyor.