High speed variable count mechanical stacker

Apparatus for forming stacks of articles of predetermined count, comprising:

• a translationally driven closed loop conveyor having a series of uniformly spaced apart paddles extending therefrom and arranged for being driven past an article infeed station where articles are deposited on successive paddles and past an outfeed station where articles constituting a stack are ejected from a substantially horizontal run of the conveyor,
• a stack ejector device including a pair of spaced apart arms mounted for being driven rotationally in unison about a common horizontal axis spaced from said horizontal run,
• a power source for driving said conveyor translationally at a constant speed and means for coupling said arms in driving relationship with the power source,
• an ejector shaft extending between the arms for orbiting in a circular path when said arms rotate, said shaft having opposite ends mounted in said arms for rotating about an axis parallel to the axis about which the arms rotate and radially spaced from said axis of the arms,
• ejector rod mounting means mounted on said ejector shaft for sliding reversibly, and a row of ejector rods extending from the respective mounting means radially from the shaft for, during part of the orbit, transiting through the spaces between moving paddles to eject articles from between paddles to form a stack,
• means operative when said rods enter the spaces between paddles to shift said ejector rod mounting means on said ejector shaft in the direction and at the same speed as the conveyor is moving while the rods are transiting the spaces between paddles, and
• means for restoring said mounting means to unshifted position when the orbitally moving ejector rods have passed through said spaces to eject the articles.