In a packaging machine in which bottles (P) or the like are drop-loaded into open topped article carriers (C), a device for interrupting the fall of bottles into a carrier. The device comprises a pivotal arm (32) which includes resiliently mounted support blocks (42, 44) adapted to displace a base panel (b) of a carrier upwardly at a drop-loading station of the machine and provide a temporary platform onto which the dead load of a bottle is transmitted during interruption of drop-loading while the base panel remains displaced. The pivotal arm is cam-actuated so that it pivots in one direction to cause the carton base panel displacement and thereafter in the opposite direction to allow completion of loading by withdrawal of the support blocks so that the dead load of the bottle is transferred from the support blocks to the carrier base.