Patent ID: 8215474

Claim:
A method of maximizing product output of a conveyor system, the method comprising: providing an upstream normal flow line moving at a constant speed, wherein said flow line includes multiple spaced apart partitions forming segregated units wherein each unit is sized to receive a product; loading the normal flow segregated units with product and identifying a loaded product and its segregation unit; providing a downstream line for receiving product deposited from the normal flow line; detecting a pause in the downstream line; halting the normal flow line in response to the detected pause in the downstream line; providing an upstream accumulator line moveable at variable speed and parallel with the normal flow line, having multiple spaced apart partitions forming segregated units, wherein the spaced apart distance of adjacent accumulator partitions is less than the spaced apart distance between adjacent normal flow partitions; indexing the accumulator line forward one segregation, presenting an empty segregation unit for product loading product into the segregated unit of the upstream accumulator line; restarting the downstream line; and moving product in the accumulator line downstream and downloading product onto the downstream line.