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Claim 1

A METHOD OF HANDLING UNITS OF STACKABLE MATERIALS LEAVING CONTINUOUSLY OPERATING PRODUCTION MACHINERY COMPRISING: (A) RECEIVING ON A CONVEYOR MEANS A STACKABLE UNIT DELIVERED FROM THE PRODUCTION MACHINERY; (B) ACCELERATING THE STACKABLE UNIT BY OPERATING THE CONVEYOR MEANS AT A SPEED GREATER THAN THE DELIVERY SPEED OF PRODUCTION MACHINERY; (C) EJECTING THE ACCELERATED STACKABLE UNIT CLEAR OF THE ACCELERATING CONVEYOR MEANS; (D) RETARDING AND POSITIONING THE EJECTED STACKABLE UNIT ON A RECEIVING TRAY; (E) DROPPING THE POSITIONED STACKABLE UNIT ONTO AS STACK OF UNITS BY QUICKLY WITHDRAWING THE RECEIVING TRAY WHILE RESTRAINING THE STACKABLE UNIT AGAINST AN ABUTMENT CAUSING THE STACKABLE UNIT TO FALL FREELY DOWNWARDLY; (F) INTERPOSING INTERMITTENTLY AN INTERIM STACKING TRAY TO TEMPORARILY RECEIVE UNITS FALLING FREELY DOWNWARDLY FROM THE INITIAL RECEIVING TRAY LEVEL CREATING AN INTERIM STACK OF UNITS; (G) WITHDRAWING THE INITIAL STACK FROM BENEATH THE INTERIM STACK OF UNITS BY USING HANDLING EQUIPMENT; (H) DROPPING THE INTERIM STACK TO REPLACE THE INITIAL STACK OF UNITS BY QUICKLY WITHDRAWING THE INTERIM STACKING TRAY WHILE RESTRAINING THE INTERIM STACK AGAINST AN ABUTMENT CAUSING THE INTERIM STACK TO FALL FREELY DOWNWARDLY FROM THE INTERIM TRAY LEVEL; (I) KEEPING THE INTERIM TRAY RETRACTED UNTIL THE FOLLOWING STCK INCREASES TO A SELECTED SIZE AS STACKABLE UNITS ARE DEPOSITED FROM THE INITIAL RECEIVING TRAY; AND (J) REPEATING THESE SEVERAL STEPS IN SEQUENCE, CHANGING THE TIMING, AS NECESSARY, TO CONTROL THE SIZE OF STACKS CLEARED FROM BENEATH THE INTERIM STACKING TRAY.

Claim 2

A METHOD OF HANDLING UNITS OF STACKABLE MATERIALS LEAVING CONTINUOUSLY OPERATING PRODUCTION MACHINERY COMPRISING: (A) RECEIVING ON A CONVEYOR MEANS A STACKABLE UNIT DELIVERED FROM THE PRODUCTION MACHINERY; (B) ACCELERATING THE STACKABLE UNIT BY OPERATING THE CONVEYOR MEANS AT A SPEED GREATER THAN THE DELIVERY SPEED OF PRODUCTION MACHINERY; (C) EJECTING THE ACCELERATED STACKABLE UNIT CLEAR OF THE ACCELERATING CONVEYOR MEANS; (D) RETARDING AND POSITIONING THE EJECTED STACKABLE UNIT ON A RECEIVING TRAY; (E) DROPPING THE POSITIONED STACKABLE UNIT ONTO AS STACK OF UNITS BY QUICKLY WITHDRAWING THE RECEIVING TRAY WHILE RESTRAINING THE STACKABLE UNIT AGAINST AN ABUTMENT CAUSING THE STACKABLE UNIT TO FALL FREELY DOWNWARDLY; (F) INTERPOSING INTERMITTENTLY AN INTERIM STACKING TRAY TO TEMPORARILY RECEIVE UNITS FALLING FREELY DOWNWARDLY FROM THE INITIAL RECEIVING TRAY LEVEL CREATING AN INTERIM STACK OF UNITS; (G) WITHDRAWING THE INITIAL STACK FROM BENEATH THE INTERIM STACK OF UNITS BY USING HANDLING EQUIPMENT; (H) DROPPING THE INTERIM STACK TO REPLACE THE INITIAL STACK OF UNITS BY QUICKLY WITHDRAWING THE INTERIM STACKING TRAY WHILE RESTRAINING THE INTERIM STACK AGAINST AN ABUTMENT CAUSING THE INTERIM STACK TO FALL FREELY DOWNWARDLY FROM THE INTERIM TRAY LEVEL; (I) KEEPING THE INTERIM TRAY RETRACTED UNTIL THE FOLLOWING STCK INCREASES TO A SELECTED SIZE AS STACKABLE UNITS ARE DEPOSITED FROM THE INITIAL RECEIVING TRAY; AND (J) REPEATING THESE SEVERAL STEPS IN SEQUENCE, CHANGING THE TIMING, AS NECESSARY, TO CONTROL THE SIZE OF STACKS CLEARED FROM BENEATH THE INTERIM STACKING TRAY.