Patent ID: 7926664

Claim:
A method for transferring products from a first conveyor to a second conveyor which includes selecting and removing those products having a certain property, comprising the steps of: moving the products along a first conveyor and then along a second conveyor located downstream from the first conveyor to form a gap between the two conveyors, transferring the products from the first conveyor to the second conveyor using grippers having a closed gripping position and an open release position, detecting a given property of each product upstream from the gap and sending a signal to the grippers relating to whether a given product associated with that gripper has the certain property, such that for products having that property, the grippers take up the open release position so as to not grip those products while on the first conveyor, allowing those products to fall into the gap between the two conveyors and not be transferred to the second conveyor and for products which do not have the certain property, the grippers take up the closed gripping position to grip those products while on the first conveyor to transfer those products from the first conveyor to the second conveyor.