Patent ID: 8342315

Claim:
An apparatus for conveying products to a destination, comprising: a continuous conveyor chain, having entraining elements revolving along a first continuous track, and having a chain pitch; a revolving conveyor, having grippers, spaced apart on the conveyor means from one another and revolving along a second continuous track; a first zone of the first continuous track and the second continuous track for transferring products from the first continuous track on the conveyor chain to the second continuous track by means of the grippers; a second zone of the second continuous track for delivering products from the grippers at the destination; a third zone of the first continuous track and the second continuous track for returning products, not needed at the destination, by means of the grippers from the second continuous track onto the conveyor chain into the first continuous track, wherein the distance of the conveyor chain on the first continuous track from a transfer point of the products in the first zone to a return point in the third zone, and the distance of the grippers on the second continuous track from the transfer point of the products in the first zone to the return point in the third zone, are selected such that between the conveyor chain and the grippers from the return point to the transfer point, a phase shift of a fraction of the chain pitch results.