Apparatus for sorting preforms

An installation for sorting piece goods, comprising an apparatus for sorting piece goods, including

• a receiving surface which can rotate about a predefined rotation axis and is designed to receive the piece goods;
• a first guide rail for guiding the piece goods, the first guide rail being spaced from the receiving surface so as to form a gap therebetween, the gap being sized and arranged such that one region of each of the piece goods is permitted to pass through said gap while another region of the piece goods is prevented from passing through said gap and is held by the first guide and the receiving surface;
• a turning device which pivots at least some of the piece goods in a longitudinal plane of the piece goods;
• and
• at least one separating device which separates out some of the piece goods, the turning device being upstream of the separating device in the movement direction of the piece goods;
• and
• a synchronisation star wheel arranged downstream with respect to the movement direction of the piece goods, said star wheel being configured to pick up the piece goods from the apparatus wherein the distance between the center of the synchronization star wheel and the apparatus is less than 2000 mm.

Method for sorting piece goods, comprising:

• placing the piece goods on a rotatable receiving surface;
• passing the piece goods to a first guide rail, the first guide rail being spaced from the receiving surface so as to form a gap sized and arranged such that one region of each of the piece goods is permitted to pass through said gap while another region of each of the piece goods is prevented from passing through said gap and is held by the first guide rail and the receiving surface;
• pivoting at least some of the piece goods in their longitudinal plane by means of a turning device;
• and
• separating out at least some of the piece goods that have passed the turning device, wherein the apparatus further comprises a feed device for feeding the piece goods to the receiving surface, an end section of the feed device being spaced apart from the receiving surface by less than 300 mm.