Patent US 4,447,715

A sorting machine for sorting covers comprises a transport device for moving the covers along a path through the sorting machine. A feed mechanism holds the covers and advances them towards the transport device. A vacuum feed has a first position for gripping a cover in the feed mechanism and a second position for feeding the gripped cover into the transport device. Additionally, the covers are passed in front of a recognition device which is operatively connected to a computer. The computer recognizes the covers to be sorted and instructs the sorting machine accordingly.