Patent ID: 8857605

Claim:
A feeder and positioner for discrete products ( 209 ), comprising: at least one conveyor guide ( 227 ); at least one first endless driving element ( 211 ) which in an upstream section is substantially side-by-side with the at least one conveyor guide, and is arranged to engage with a plurality of discrete products, conveyed sequentially, composed of upstream and downstream discrete products and make them advance along the at least one conveyor guide ( 227 ) toward a pick up area; and wherein: at a disengaging element ( 213 ) the at least one first endless driving element ( 211 ) is substantially diverted from the path of the at least one conveyor guide ( 227 ) so as to disengage from the plurality of discrete products; the feeder and positioner ( 209 ) comprises a system for reversibly moving the disengaging element ( 213 ) along the at least one conveyor guide ( 227 ); a pick-up area ( 241 ) which in turn comprises a section of the at least one conveyor guide ( 227 ) which, when the disengaging element ( 213 ) has moved into its most upstream position, extends downstream of the disengaging element ( 213 ) for a length sufficient to allow a number N of the plurality of discrete products to be accumulated, wherein N is greater than three, without the upstream discrete products which subsequently reach the pick-up area ( 241 ) moving downstream discrete products in the pick-up area downstream.