A method and apparatus of removing articles from a package wherein the articles are arranged in a plurality of side by side rows and sealed in a film of thermoplastic material wherein the package is positioned with the rows of articles supported on a horizontal base, and then the package is severed into two sections along a plane passing between two adjacent rows of articles, the two severed package sections are then withdrawn from the assembly of articles by drawing each section in a direction ...

A method and apparatus of removing articles from a package wherein the articles are arranged in a plurality of side by side rows and sealed in a film of thermoplastic material wherein the package is positioned with the rows of articles supported on a horizontal base, and then two longitudinal and two transverse tear lines or splits are formed in the upper surface extending substantially the full length and width of the package, a force is then applied to the portion of the thermoplastic material...

A coded image data decoding system is designed to depack and variable-length decode image data packed by an image compressing/decompressing format wherein the sum of the length of components other than variable-length code components in one block and the length of an end code is not shorter than a bit length obtained by subtracting 1 bit from the number of bits of the maximum length of variable-length code words. This decoding system comprises: a main memory for storing code strings for one vide...

An apparatus and method for continuously transferring articles from a pickup station to a release station using a circular, continuously rotating turret is disclosed which includes a plurality of transfer arms carried in a circular motion wherein pickup heads carried by the transfer arms are converted from the circular motion to a straight-line motion during pick up of the articles to provide a case packing machine having high speed and reliable operation. In accordance with the general aspects ...

An apparatus and method for continuously transferring articles from a pickup station to a release station using a circular, continuously rotating turret is disclosed which includes a plurality of transfer arms carried in a circular motion wherein pickup heads carried by the transfer arms are converted from the circular motion to a straight-line motion during pick up of the articles to provide a case packing machine having high speed and reliable operation. In accordance with the general aspects ...