Method and arrangement for converting a single-row stream of containers into a multi-row stream of containers

In an arrangement for converting a single-row stream of containers, which stream is supplied via a feed mechanism, into a multi-row stream of containers, which is to be withdrawn via a withdrawal mechanism that has a transport speed that is less than the transport speed of said feed mechanism, said arrangement including an intermediate transport means that is disposed between said feed mechanism and said withdrawal mechanism and forms a conversion region for said conversion of said single-row stream of containers into said multi-row stream of containers, with said intermediate transport means having an entrance that follows either said feed mechanism or a connecting zone that is disposed between said feed mechanism and said intermediate transport means, and with said intermediate transport means also having an outlet to which said withdrawal mechanism is connected, said intermediate transport means being provided with a number of transport sections on which bases of said containers stand, with said transport sections being formed from continuous rotating conveyer belts which, relative to their direction of rotation or transport, each have an upstream end, which is delimited by a respective direction-changing means at that location, and also have a downstream end, which is similarly delimited by a respective direction-changing means, whereby at least a first transport section forms said entrance of said intermediate transport means, said upstream and downstream ends of said conveyer belts of said transport sections are offset relative to one another in said direction of transport of said conveyer belts, said transport sections laterally abut one another in a direction transverse to said direction of transport, and said conveyer belts of said transport sections have different rotational or transport speeds in order to bridge, in stages, the difference between the transport speeds of said feed mechanism and said withdrawal mechanism, the improvement wherein:

• all of said transport sections have a conveyer belt that extends to said outlet of said intermediate transport means;
• said first transport section, as well as further transport sections disposed laterally of said first transport section, with the exception, on each side of said first transport section, of the outermost transport section, each have at least two conveyer belts that in a given transport section follow one another in said direction of transport via the interposition of respective transition zones;
• at least in said conversion region of said intermediate transport means, that conveyer belt that follows a transition zone of a given transport section in said direction of transport has a lower transport speed than does that conveyer belt of this transport section that immediately precedes this transition zone in said direction of transport;
• at least in said conversion region of said intermediate transport means, disposed adjacent to each transition zone of one transport section is a conveyer belt of a laterally abutting transport section, with this conveyer belt overlapping this transition zone;
• and
• the width of each of said conveyer belts that form said transport sections of said intermediate transport means, as measured at right angles to said direction of transport, is less than the diameter of said bases of said containers.