Patent ID: 7017730

Claim:
An article pusher for a conveying system, comprising: a. a conveyor including a multiplicity of spaced rollers for moving articles along a longitudinal path; b. a push up stop normally positioned below the conveyor and movable between adjacent rollers to a position above the rollers to stop forward movement of an article which is on the rollers; and c. lateral diverters for moving articles, which are on the rollers and stopped by the push up stop, to a position off of the rollers and out of the longitudinal path and at a right angle to the longitudinal path, said diverters being arranged to accelerate articles slowly, in a horizontal direction, for the first part of a diverting cycle until, during the first part of the cycle, the articles reach an acceleration plateau and then decelerate the articles quickly, in the horizontal direction, at the very end of the cycle to provide time for an article to exit the conveyor and be moved out of the longitudinal path.