Importance

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Abstract

Products, accumulated on a supply conveyor having low-friction belts, are transferred to a flight conveyor with an intervening single level infeed conveyor system which includes a high-friction belt squeezer conveyor that accepts products at its inlet end from the supply conveyor and releases them for synchronous arrival in the flight conveyor. Means are provided for keeping the squeezer conveyor filled with a column of abutting products at all times during a production run so there is no speed change and, hence, no abrasion of products as they advance from the low-friction supply conveyor to the squeezer conveyor inlet. Means are provided for: starting the squeezer conveyor to release the first product at a time when synchronous arrival at the flight conveyor is assured; for stopping the squeezer conveyor while still full of products in response to the supply being temporarily exhausted; and, for increasing or decreasing the speed of the squeezer conveyor in accordance with whether the product in transit is developing a position error which would, respectively, make it too late or too early for synchronous arrival. Products released from the squeezer are transported by a speedup conveyor and for applications where products are grouped, a cyclically variable speed transition conveyor is interposed between the squeezer and speedup conveyors. Coordinated dual lane infeed conveyor systems are also disclosed.

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First Claim