Patent ID: 8230141

Claim:
An apparatus for sorting items, the apparatus comprising: a loading device; a buffer device with a multiplicity of buffer storage locations, said loading device for filling said buffer storage locations; an intermediate store with a multiplicity of intermediate storage locations, said intermediate store and said buffer device disposed such that the items stored at a buffer storage location of said buffer device are transferable into an intermediate storage location of said intermediate store, said intermediate storage locations of said intermediate store being movable at a relative speed with respect to said buffer storage locations of said buffer device and suitable for receiving more than one item in each case, for a purpose of presorting; said buffer device disposed at least in certain portions over said intermediate store, said buffer device disposed over said intermediate store for permitting an item disposed in said buffer storage location to fall into said intermediate storage location for filling said intermediate storage in a vertical direction; a further loading device connected to said intermediate store for loading the items into said intermediate storage locations, said further loading device loading the items into said intermediate storage locations in a horizontal direction; and a multiplicity of collecting containers disposed under said intermediate store and being at rest during a sorting operation and for being filled during the sorting operation with the items contained in said intermediate storage locations of said intermediate store, said collecting containers at rest being disposed under said intermediate store such that an assignment of the items to individual ones of said collecting containers at rest takes place by a movement of said intermediate storage locations, and the items that are located in said intermediate storage location for being dropped into one of said collecting containers at rest as soon as a respective intermediate storage location is suitably positioned.