Patent ID: 6929111

Claim:
Apparatus for collating and cartonning product units comprising: product infeed means adapted to dispense a succession of discrete product units; one or more servo-trains, the or each servo-train comprising a plurality of buckets in which each bucket is configured to receive a predetermined plurality of product units from the product infeed means to form a product group; first conveying means for conveying said one or more servo-trains between a loading station juxtaposed said product infeed means and a dispensing station; cartonning means comprising second conveying means adapted for transporting a succession of cartons juxtaposed said dispensing station; driving means associated with said first conveying means; controlling means for controlling operation of the driving means such that when a servo-train is positioned at the loading station, said servo-train is moved intermittently in synchronization with the product infeed means for collating a product group into each of the buckets, and such that after loading of the servo-train is completed the servo-train is moved to the dispensing station and then moved in synchronisation with the second conveying means; and product pushing means at the dispensing station for pushing the product group from each bucket into a single corresponding carton on the second conveying means.