Palletizing apparatus and method for packaged containers

A palletizing apparatus for providing container packages in a desired pattern to a pallet, and related method are presented. The apparatus includes a metering conveyor section which uses a traveling endless belt to feed container packages to a lane forming station; a lane forming station having a lane divider which accepts container packages from the metering conveyor section and separates the container packages such that they are fed to a turning station in a plurality of lanes; a turning station having a turning conveyor using a traveling endless plastic belt made up of individual modules shaped to provide longitudinally oriented upper ribs, which conveys the container packages therealong; turning apparatus for turning container packages by approximately 90 DEG ; and bypassing means for bypassing each of the turning apparatus; a collection station having a collection conveyor using a traveling endless plastic belt made up of individual modules shaped to provide longitudinally oriented upper ribs which convey the container packages therealong; a pair of side pushers, one disposed on either side of the collection conveyor such that movement of the side pushers towards each other forces the container packages closer to each other in the transverse direction; a stop bar wherein the stop bar is moveable into position with respect to the collection conveyor such that leading container packages strike the stop bar and subsequent container packages strike the leading container packages and collect against the stop bar; and apparatus for transferring the collected container packages to a pallet.