Apparatus for handling snack chips

Claim 1

Apparatus for handling a column of uniformly shaped, nested, individual curvilinear snack chips, said apparatus comprising: conveyor means including a pair of substantially parallel side wall means, a pair of parallel, spaced elongated conveying surfaces disposed between and in alignment with said pair of wall means, and elongated stationary support means disposed between said pair of belt means; and shifting means for acting on said column of individual chips to shift the support of said column from said conveyor belt means to said stationary support means and from said stationary support means to said conveyor belt means, said shifting means comprising gate means and reciprocable driving means for moving said gate means into and out of the conveying path traversed by said column of chips, whereby said gate means is moved into said path to change the orientation of said individual chips from a position approaching but greater than horizontal to a position approaching but less than vertical thereby shifting the support of said column from said pair of belt means to said stationary support means and whereby said gate means is moved out of said path to permit the individual chips to return to a position approaching horizontal.