Patent ID: 8147177

Claim:
An apparatus for forming layers of packing units comprising: at least one supply conveyor for supplying the packing units; at least one further conveyor downstream of the supply conveyor; at least one gripper associated with the further conveyor, the at least one gripper being usable for positioning the packing units, wherein the at least one gripper is configured in such a way that at least one packing unit is positionable, and on the positioned packing unit at least one further packing unit is placeable in the same orientation; at least one exit conveyor downstream of the further conveyor; and means associated with the exit conveyor to form with the positioned packing units form-fitting layers of the packing units; wherein the at least one gripper positions a packing unit, which is part of a first layer of packing units and in that the gripper places a further packing unit in the same orientation on the positioned packing unit and thus forms a stack of two packing units.