Patent ID: 8485342

Claim:
A method for grouping products so as to form a batch in order to be taken up by a suitable mechanism, wherein said products arrive in a line, transported by a supply conveyor; the method comprising steps of: providing a movable comb-like collector, which comprises a certain number of cells, said number of cells being two or more, collecting a certain number of products on said supply conveyor, by said collector, which is arranged transversally with respect to a forward direction of said products, each of said products collected individually in one of said cells, depositing and releasing said number of products at a take-up station that is located on a side of said supply conveyor, driving said collector in a loop movement, which involves a transverse movement of said collector, sometimes combined with a longitudinal movement of said collector upstream along said product line, opposite the movement of said product supply conveyor, activating the collection of products according to information taking into account the position of said products on said supply conveyor with respect to said collector, and the speed of said supply conveyor; and for said collector, after having detected an arrival of a first product to be collected, marking a stopping time at the moment that said first product reaches a position and is wedged in an allocated cell of said cells of the collector, then activating the combination of transverse and longitudinal movements in order to prepare for a next collection, stopping the transverse movement and longitudinal movement of said collector at the moment of impact; and collecting said products one after another at various points on said supply conveyor, wherein said points are offset along said line with a same interval between two consecutive points; and when said collector is completely filled, transversally offsetting said collector with the collected products in order to bring said collected products to a deposition station, in a receiving structure also of the comb type, then moving said collector, parallel to said product supply conveyor in order, first, to overtake said line of products and said first product to be collected and, then, longitudinally and transversally to return said collector to the level of a first capture point.