a flexible wrapper strip 136 fig1 and 2 looped around the same at the staggered end of the conveyor 88 such strips 136 being spaced outwardly from the surfaces of their respective conveyor sections by a distance corresponding to the height of the backstops 110 of the carriers 106 so as to effectively form a cover for the carriers 106 around that portion of the conveyor 88 note that no such strips 136 are provided around the subsections 94b and 104a for reasons which will ultimately become apparent the wrapper strips 136 continue around their respective conveyor sections and terminate along the bottom of the conveyor 88 in an oblique line that parallels and is disposed immediately alongside of an obliquely disposed gathering conveyor device 138 as illustrated perhaps best in fig2 and 25 thus the covers for the carriers 106 formed by the wrapper strips 136 terminate along and on the upstream side of the oblique conveyor 138 such relationship also being shown in fig2 at the point of termination of the wrappers 136 the conveyor 138 becomes the underlying cover for the carriers 106 as illustrated in fig1 24 and 25 the oblique conveyor 138 includes a belt 140 of segmented nature and has an upper surface disposed immediately below the outermost tips of the backstops 110 of the carriers 106 the belt 140.