| 摘要 |
<p>Articles, such as glass or plastic bottles (10), are conveyed in single file to an accumulating area (14), with the containers at the accumulating area being formed into a pattern, preferably in nested relationship. A conveyor system (16) is provided to urge articles from the accumulating area (14) to, and partially through, a sweep area (18), and a movable retainer unit (20) having retractable plungers (46) is provided to control the movement of articles from the accumulating area (14) by groups to the sweep area (18) with the sweep area having a positioner unit (22) thereat that includes a plurality of movable sweep arms (60,62,64,66,68) adjacent ones of which are utilized to engage the first and last rows of each group of articles to capture each group therebetween and thereafter conduct each group of articles through the sweep area to a pallet loading area (24) where each group is successively deposited as a layer on a pallet. <IMAGE></p> |
