Transport apparatus for handling cut products

An apparatus for handling rows of units of multi-ply material such as rolls of bathroom tissue or paper toweling and stacks of folded facial tissue or toweling, each row having an upstream end and a downstream end and including an upstream unit, a downstream unit, and a plurality of units therebetween, comprising a frame having an upstream end and a downstream end and an opening between the ends, a trailing shuttle reciprocatingly mounted on the frame for movement between an upstream position and a downstream position, means for moving the trailing shuttle between the upstream and downstream positions, a leading shuttle reciprocatingly mounted on the frame upstream of the trailing shuttle for movement between an upstream position and a downstream position, means for moving the leading shuttle between the upstream and downstream positions, the shuttles forming a substantially continuous support surface when both shuttles are in their upstream positions and when both shuttles are in their downstream positions whereby units of multi-ply material can be conveyed over the shuttles without falling into the opening of the frame, the shuttles being spaced from each other when the trailing shuttle is in its downstream position and the leading shuttle in its upstream position whereby selected units can fall between the shuttles and through the opening in the frame.