US Patent 9873571 Device and method for grouping containers

Described are a device and a method for grouping, and in particular, for sorting out containers conveyed in a container flow. Provided for this purpose are an outlet star wheel and an immediately adjoining outlet conveyor. Because the latter comprises a plurality of separately driven vehicles with positioning elements to influence the conveying position of a container relative to the container flow, and because a conveyor section is provided for the containers along which the vehicles run during the grouping of the containers, the positioning elements can be selectively positioned in a flexible manner between individual containers in order to push the containers together into container groups.