Apparatus and method for supplying articles to a conveyor

Apparatus for supplying articles to a conveyor comprising:

• (a) a primary supply of primary articles, and a supplemental supply of supplemental articles;
• (b) a conveyor having conveyor drive means for driving the conveyor at a first speed, and at a second speed higher than the first speed;
• (c) a primary feed mechanism responsive to operation of said conveyor at said first speed for feeding primary articles, seriatim, from said primary supply to said conveyor so that primary articles are uniformly spaced on said conveyor;
• (d) detector means for detecting the presence of a predetermined number of supplemental articles in said supplemental supply;
• (e) control means responsive to detection of the presence of a predetermined number of supply articles in said supplemental supply for causing said conveyor and drive means to drive said conveyor at said second speed until there is sufficient space on said conveyor to accommodate said predetermined number of supplemental articles with the same spacing as the primary articles on the conveyor;
• and
• (f) a supplemental feed mechanism downstream of said primary feed mechanism and responsive to operation of said conveyor at said second speed for feeding supplemental articles, seriatim, from said supplemental supply to said conveyor so that the supplemental articles are uniformly spaced on the conveyor with the same spacing as the primary articles on the conveyor.