Patent ID: 7467703

Claim:
A device for separating imbricated, non-rectangular, flat products and folded boxes, the device comprising: a delivery conveyor on which the flat products are supported as an imbricated flow, said delivery conveyor having a delivery speed; an intake conveyor disposed immediately downstream of said delivery conveyor to extract the flat products from said delivery conveyor, said intake conveyor having an intake speed which is larger than said delivery speed; an intake conveyor retention device, said intake conveyor retention device having a first intake vacuum means cooperating with a first trailing corner of the product and a second intake vacuum means simultaneously cooperating with a second trailing corner of the product, said first and said second intake vacuum means being displaced with respect to each other in a longitudinal direction, said first and said second intake vacuum means generating an intake retention force on the flat product; a transfer conveyor disposed immediately downstream of said intake conveyor to remove the flat product from said intake conveyor, said transfer conveyor having a transfer speed which is higher than said intake speed, said transfer conveyor having a first vacuum belt disposed on a first side of the product and a second vacuum belt disposed on a second side of the product; means for controlling a first transport speed of said first vacuum belt; means for controlling a second transport speed of said second vacuum belt, independent of said first transport speed; and transfer conveyor vacuum means communicating with said first and said second vacuum belts to extract a leading flat product from said intake belt, said transfer conveyor vacuum means generating a transfer retention force on the flat product which is greater than said intake retention force, wherein, during transfer of the product from said intake conveyor to said transfer conveyor, said first and said second intake vacuum means exercise said intake force on a rear portion of the flat product at a same time as said transfer conveyor belt vacuum means exercise said transfer retention force on a leading portion of that product.