Patent ID: 8360231

Claim:
A method for transferring articles in a machine direction from a first carrier moving at a first speed to a second carrier moving at a second speed greater than the first speed, each article having a leading end and a trailing end, the method comprising: transferring the leading end of each article from the first carrier to a first transferring surface configured to receive the leading end of each article from the first carrier, the first transferring surface being mechanically coupled to a first drive motor that advances the first transferring surface in the machine direction towards the second carrier; advancing the first transferring surface at the first speed as the leading end of each article is transferred from the first carrier to the first transferring surface; decelerating the first transferring surface to accumulate slack in the article; transferring the trailing end of each article to a second transferring surface configured to receive the trailing end of each article from the first carrier, the second transferring surface being mechanically coupled to a second drive motor that advances the second transferring surface in the machine direction; advancing the second transferring surface at the first speed as the trailing end of each article is transferred from the first carrier to the second transferring surface; accelerating the first transferring surface to the second speed before the leading end of the article is transferred to the second carrier; accelerate the second transferring surface to the second speed before the trailing end of each article is transferred to the second carrier; transferring the leading end of each article to the second carrier; and transferring the trailing end of each article to the second carrier.