Patent ID: 7617923

Claim:
A conveyor comprising: a carryway extending from an upstream end to a downstream end in a direction of belt travel and having a first side and an opposite second side and providing a support surface; a modular thermoplastic conveyor belt including a series of rows of belt modules connected together by hinge pins at hinges between successive rows into an endless belt loop, the conveyor belt further having an outer surface and an inner surface and including: a plurality of rollers disposed across the rows and arranged in laterally spaced longitudinal lanes parallel to the direction of belt travel with portions of the rollers extending past the outer surface of the belt loop, each roller arranged to rotate on an axis oblique to the direction of belt travel and intersecting the first side of the carryway downstream of the roller; wherein a portion of the conveyor belt loop, along which articles are conveyed atop the rollers, is supported on the support surface of the carryway; a stop blocking the advance of conveyed articles along the carryway in the direction of belt travel; wherein the stop causes the rollers in contact with the blocked articles to rotate on their axes opposite to the direction of belt travel as the rollers advance with the belt and thereby provide a component of force to the blocked articles directed to push the blocked articles toward the first side of the carryway.