Patent attributes
Objects to be printed are loaded one-by-one onto a conveyor extending through and upstream from a printing station in a longitudinally extending row in groups each having a predetermined number n of longitudinally aligned objects and a longitudinal length equal to n times a predetermined step length and with the groups separated in the row from one another by an empty gap having a short length equal to n−1 times the predetermined step length. The thus oriented objects are moved by the conveyor through the printing station in alternating long steps having a long length equal to n times the predetermined step length and short steps equal to n−1 times the predetermined step length such that with each long step one of the groups is positioned in the printing station. In the printing station the objects are taken off the conveyor, printed, and returned to the conveyor between the long steps.
