Handling of flat articles

Claim 1

A MACHINE FOR STACKING A SERIES OF SUBSTANTIALLY IDENTICAL FLAT ARTICLES INITIALLY LYING AT RANDOM INTERVALS IN A NUMBER OF ROWS OR LANES ARRANGED SIDE BY SIDE, THE MACHINE COMPRISING A MOVING CONVEYOR FOR RECEIVING THE ARTICLES IN THEIR LANES SPACED APART ACROSS THE CONVEYOR, A DEVICE ABOVE EACH LANE WHICH TEMPORARILY STOPS OR REDUCES THE SPEED OF EACH ARTICLE AND THEN RELEASES IT, THE DEVICES BEING SO CO-ORDINATED THAT SUCCESSIVELY RELEASED ARTICLES ARE SPACED APART AT SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL INTERVALS ALONG THE CONVEYOR, A CURVED MOVING CONVEYING SURFACE ON TO WHICH THE ARTICLES ARE TRANSFERRED BY THE CONVEYOR, THE SURFACE EXTENDING, AT THE TRANSFER POINT, SUBSTANTIALLY IN LINE WITH THE CONVEYOR AND THEREAFTER TURNING DOWNWARDS UNTIL IT IS NEARLY VERTICAL AND THE SURFACE BEING FORMED WITH STEPS AT EQUAL INTERVALS ALONG ITS DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT AND MOVING AT A SPEED SUCH THAT ONE ARTICLE IS DEPOSITED ON EACH STEP, MEANS FOR MOVING THE ARTICLES IN A NUMBER OF LANES LATERALLY SO THAT THE ARTICLES ON SUCCESSIVE STEPS ARE ALIGNED IN THE DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT OF THE SURFACE AND STATIONARY MEMBERS BETWEEN WHICH THE STEPS PASS IN SUCCESSION ON WHICH EACH ARTICLE IS DEPOSITED IN AN UPRIGHT POSITION, THE FACE OF EACH STEP MOVING THE PREVIOUSLY DEPOSITED ARTICLES FORWARDS TO LEAVE A SPACE FOR THE NEXT ARTICLE SO THAT THE ARTICLES ARE ASSEMBLED ON THE MEMBERS IN A STACK.