Apparatus for diverting successive articles in a single lane to plural lanes

A system for directing articles in single file to a plurality of lanes, the system comprising:

• a conveyor configured to move the articles along a travel path,
• a guide rail provided above the conveyor, the guide rail having an upstream portion and a downstream portion,
• wherein the guide rail is configured to be movable in a direction substantially parallel to the travel path,
• wherein, while the guide rail is moving in the direction substantially parallel to the travel path at a speed substantially equal to the speed of article conveyance, the downstream portion of the guide rail is configured to be selectively movable in a direction substantially perpendicular to the travel path in order to selectively direct the articles to one of the lanes.

A method of diverting articles from a single lane to a plurality of lanes, the method comprising:

• conveying the articles in a single lane between an upstream portion of a flexible guide chute,
• moving the flexible guide chute in the direction of article conveyance at a speed substantially equal to the speed of article conveyance;
• and
• while the flexible guide chute is moving in the direction of article conveyance, selectively moving a downstream portion of the flexible guide chute in a direction substantially perpendicular to the travel path to selectively distribute the articles into one of the lanes without reducing the speed of the articles moving on the conveyor.