Apparatus for alternately forming and forwarding stacks of articles

An improved apparatus for alternately forming a predetermined stack of articles in vertically spaced ways, and then removing the stack as a unit from between said ways, said apparatus including a frame, an endless flight of said ways looped about a plurality of guide members to define a closed path which path passes through an infeed station and an outfeed station, stack removal means, unitary flight drive means, and means for operating said flight drive means in timed relation with an ancillary article infeed means so that a said article is received between each two adjacent said ways at said infeed station, said improvement comprising means for cyclically spatially stopping and forwarding a portion of said flight of ways adjacent said outfeed station while continuously operating said unitary flight drive means to continuously forward said flight of ways through said infeed station and past all of said guide members, and means for operating said stack removal means in timed relation with said cyclically stopping so that each time a said stack of articles arrives at said outfeed station, said stack is forwarded from said ways to an ancillary receiving means while said stack has been spatially stopped.