Self-arranging conveyor

Claim 1

A conveyor for handling articles of uniform width in a production line to reduce disorderly or random arrangements of said articles to single-file transport comprising at least one conveyor belt disposed to transport said articles in a generally horizontal plane, a first pair of guides defining an entrance to a path to be followed by articles carried by said conveyor belt, one of said guides of said first pair having a portion converging toward said other guide of said first pair and extending transverse to the direction of transport of said conveyor belt at an acute angle therewith, said portion converging to within a distance, measured perpendicularly to the direction of transport, of slightly more than three times the width of the articles to be transported, a second pair of substantially parallel guides located downstream of said first pair of guides and defining a first leg of a zig-zag portion of said path, said second pair of guides being spaced apart a distance less than said first mentioned distance but slightly more than the width occupied by three off-set rows of said articles, a third pair of substantially parallel guides defining a second leg of the zigzag portion of said path, said third pair of guides being spaced apart a distance slightly more than the width occupied by two off-set rows of said articles, said second leg of the zig-zag portion of said path merging into a path defined by a fourth pair of guides, said fourth pair of guides being spaced apart a distance approximately equal to the width of one of said articles.