Patent ID: 8317032

Claim:
A system for sorting and packaging products, chosen from the group consisting of eggs and fruit, the system comprising a sorting machine with at least one single sorting track with carriers each arranged for carrying a single product and each defining a position in the sorting track; the sorting machine being provided with at least one sensor for determining at least one characteristic of each product, a control for storing the at least one characteristic of a said product together with the position of the carrier carrying said product so that each carrier position is coupled to the at least one characteristic of the product conveyed therewith, the control being adapted to classify a said product in accordance with the at least one characteristic of said product the sorting track extending substantially in a horizontal direction and, in use, having a conveying speed in a substantially horizontal conveying direction (X), at least one packaging conveyor for supplying and discharging packaging units, in which, in use of the system, the products carried by the carriers are to be packaged, the at least one packaging conveyor located above the sorting track and crossing the sorting track at an angle thereto; a transferring device located at the level of or higher than the at least one packaging conveyor, the transferring device being arranged to pick up a product from a carrier of the sorting track and transfer the product to a level above a packaging unit on the at least one packaging conveyor and place the product from above the packaging unit into a the packaging unit on the at least one packaging conveyor; the control being arranged for controlling the transferring device such that each product is transferred in accordance with its classification to a packaging conveyor to which that classification has been assigned, and wherein the control is adapted for, inter alia, controlling the conveying speed of the sorting machine, of the transferring device, and of the at least one packaging conveyor so that their operations are coordinated with each other.