Patent ID: 7784601

Claim:
A conveyor for forming a pallet layer, the conveyor comprising: a side guide along a first side of the conveyor; a conveyor belt running in a direction of belt travel and including a plurality of freely rotatable article-supporting rollers disposed at individual roller positions to support the bottom surfaces of conveyed articles, each roller arranged to rotate on an axis oblique to the direction of belt travel and intersecting the first side of the conveyor downstream of the roller's position; a stop positioned across the conveyor to block the advance of conveyed articles in the direction of belt travel and to cause the rollers by contact with the bottom surfaces of blocked articles as the conveyor belt runs to rotate in a direction with a first component directed opposite to the direction of belt travel and a second component directed toward the first side of the conveyor to allow blocked articles to accumulate and be pushed toward the first side, whereby leading articles blocked against the stop translate toward the first side along the stop to form a first pallet-layer row against the side guide and the stop and whereby trailing articles translate toward the first side along the first pallet-layer row to form a second pallet-layer row and so on to form a pallet layer of multiple rows.