Patent ID: 7861849

Claim:
A merge conveyor comprising: a multilane timing conveyor having a plurality of lanes conveying articles to a downstream end in a conveying direction, wherein the timing conveyor staggers the articles in the conveying direction from lane to lane to feed the articles off the downstream end at different times; a conveyor belt advancing in the conveying direction toward an exit end from an opposite upstream end adjacent the downstream end of the timing conveyor to receive articles from the timing conveyor, the conveyor belt having a plurality of article-supporting rollers arranged to rotate freely in a direction transverse to the conveying direction; a plow arranged with the conveyor belt to funnel articles received from the timing conveyor through a narrowing-width region of the conveyor belt to the exit end; wherein the rollers have a high-friction peripheral surface contacting conveyed articles to resist movement of the articles along the rollers parallel to the conveying direction while the rollers supporting an article engaging the plow rotate to push the article in the transverse direction as the conveyor belt advances.