Patent ID: 7331156

Claim:
A system for conveying articles for processing, the system comprising: a conveyor configured to convey articles, the conveyor including a plurality of links, each link having a body, a cam follower member, at least two opposed gripping members, and a gear drive mechanism including a double rack and pinion arrangement interconnecting the cam follower member and the gripping members, the cam follower member being movable to selectively move the gripping members between a first position and a second position via the gear drive mechanism, the gripping members when in first position being disposed in an open position, and the gripping members when in the second position being disposed in a gripping position for contacting one of the articles to hold the article during transport, articles being gripped by adjacent links so as to achieve a predetermined spacing between the articles; and a processing station disposed along the conveyor, the conveyor being driven so as to grip the articles upstream of the processing station and to move the articles through the processing station maintaining the predetermined spacing via the movable grippers, the processing station including mating elements spaced according to the predetermined spacing for processing the articles.