Patent ID: 7055816

Claim:
A method of changing the formation of an imbricated stream of generally flat flexible products comprising the steps of conveying the products in a predetermined original order in an inverse imbricated formation wherein each product rests at least in part on the trailing product at an initial conveying speed in a conveying direction, combining a plurality of the conveyed products which define a section of adjacent products, to form an intermediate stack, conveying the intermediate stack once it has been formed, and/or while it is being formed, such that a gap is formed in relation to subsequent products as seen in the conveying direction, displacing each product in the intermediate stack so as to form a normal imbricated formation wherein each product rests at least in part on the leading product and wherein the order of the products is reversed from said predetermined original order; and wherein the step of displacing each product includes moving the first product displaced from the intermediate stack such that it rests at least partially on the last product of a previous intermediate stack.