Patent ID: 7866458
Filing Date: 2011-01-11
Classification: B65G

Abstract:
1. A conveyor device for moving, substantially rectilinearly and substantially horizontally, containers, each container comprising a neck and a collar at the base of said neck, which device comprises two conveyors respectively equipped with two endless links which respectively have two moving facing lines which are substantially parallel and substantially horizontal and which are driven in the same direction and substantially at the same speed, these two lines being separated from each other by a nominal separation defined by a distance greater than the diameter of the neck of the containers and less than the diameter of the collar of the containers such that the containers are supported in a substantially vertical position on the two lines by their collar, wherein at least one of said two conveyors comprises at least one short conveyor segment that comprises an engaging portion adapted to engage the line of said conveyor, said conveyor segment being movable transversely towards the outside such that, over a length of the line of said conveyor which corresponds approximately to the diameter of the collar of a container, the separation between the two facing lines becomes greater than the nominal separation and than the diameter of the collar, whereby the corresponding container is no longer supported and falls; wherein the speed of movement of the two lines, and therefore of the containers, is greater than the speed of grasping containers at the exit of the device, whereby containers are pressed against each other in the vicinity of the exit and are pushed to the exit of the device.