Patent ID: 7701568

Claim:
An apparatus for conveying and lasering pellet-shaped articles each having a center, comprising: a conveyer mechanism having a conveyer belt with a plurality of carrier bars each having at least one row of article receiving pockets each configured to receive one of said pellet-shaped articles; a laser unit to create a laser beam; and a multi-axis controller to control the laser unit relative to the position and speed of the conveyer belt to generate a pattern on each of the articles in the at least one row of receiving pockets, wherein the pattern includes a series of holes of predetermined depth and diameter including at least a first hole positioned relatively near the center of the respective pellet-shaped article, and a plurality of second holes which are positioned radially outward from the at least one first hole, the at least one first hole and the at least one second hole combining to form a relatively larger hole of a predetermined diameter.