Apparatus for conveying and lifting a group of containers

A device for lifting a plurality of rows of containers has a base and a lifter with a transport surface formed like a blind and displaceable parallel to the base and provided with a frame. The surface slipped under the layer by feeding the containers into the frame. Prior to raising the layer, the lifter is moved toward the layer so that the transport surface is located with its front edge in front of the first row of the layer and is then moved underneath the layer into its lifting position by relative movement with respect to the containers. A partial region of the base is underneath every container at any point in time and the edge of the transport surface is shifted downward to form a clearance is given between the bottoms of the containers of the row and the base.