Patent ID: 8079202

Claim:
A method of loading a plurality of food items in multiple layers, comprising: collecting food items in a staging area to form a first plurality of distinct groups separated from one another, each of the distinct groups comprising a plurality of the food items; displacing the first plurality of distinct groups substantially simultaneously downwardly into an accumulating and storage area while maintaining the distinct groups separate from one another to form a plurality of first distinct layer groups separated from one another, each of the first distinct layer groups having the respective food items thereof arranged in a first row; collecting additional food items in the staging area to form a second plurality of distinct groups separated from one another, each of the distinct groups of the second plurality of groups comprising a plurality of the additional food items; displacing the second plurality of distinct groups substantially simultaneously downwardly into the accumulating and storage area while maintaining the distinct groups of the second plurality separate from one another to form a plurality of second distinct layer groups separated from one another, each of the second distinct layer groups having the respective additional food items thereof arranged in a second row, the second rows being superposed on the first rows, thereby forming a plurality of distinct multi-layer groups each comprising a plurality of the food items and the additional food items; and displacing the plurality of distinct multi-layer groups downwardly into a receptacle.