Infeed counting conveyor

An automatic infeed conveyor for forming generally flat pieces of material into vertically aligned stacks of a predetermind quantity comprising:

• a star wheel having a plurality of peripheral slots therein with each slot arranged to receive an individual piece of said material from a delivery source;
• a star wheel drive means arranged too rotatably drive said star wheel at a constant, predetermined speed;
• a flight conveyor positioned adjacent said star wheel including a conveying surface having an accumulating area upon which a stack of material is formed and having counting flight means to automatically move a formed stack of material out of said accumulating area after a predetermined quantity of said material has been formed into said stack;
• a decelerating stop means positioned in said accumulating area to intercept, decelerate and strip said individual pieces of said material from said star wheel slots for depositing said material on said conveying surface to accommodate the formation of said aligned stacks in said accumulating area;
• a synchronized drive means being arranged to drive said counting flight means along said conveying surface at a speed proportional to said predetermined speed of said star wheel whereby a predetermined quantity of material is collected in an aligned stack on said conveying surface prior to being moved out of said accumulating area, and
• a separating means being effective to delay the formation of a new stack of material on said conveying surface for a predetermined time, said separating means including a paddle means operatively associated with said decelerating stop means to intercept and elevatably support material received from said star wheel for said predetermined time, being of a duration sufficient for said formed stack of material to be moved clear of said accumulating area, said paddle means is adapted to rest flat on said conveyor surface when a preselected quantity of said flat pieces of material have been stripped from said star wheel and deposited on top of said paddle means during the formation of an aligned stack and adapted to assume a raised position remote from said conveying surface when less than said pre-selected quantity of said flat pieces of material have been stripped from said star wheel and deposited on top of said paddle means, said separating means further includes a counterbalance weight means being effective to control the movement of said paddle means relative to said conveying surface in response to the quantity of flat pieces of material deposited on top of said paddle means.