Apparatus for alternately arranging the direction of an article

An apparatus for arranging articles having front and back end portions different from each other to direct said front and back portions to be alternately opposed to each other, comprising:

• a base in which annular guide grooves are formed;
• feeding means having ratchet wheels rotating around the center of said annular guide grooves as a center of rotation, and feed claws formed in the outer periphery of said ratchet wheels and moving in a circumferential direction along said annular guide grooves by the rotation of said ratchet wheels;
• first and second supply conveyers supplying said articles in into said annular guide grooves, and said first and second conveyers transferring said articles in a state that said front and back portions of said articles are arranged in the same direction relative to the advancing direction;
• top end portion of said first supply conveyer arranged in a direction of a contact line relative to said annular guide grooves to be positioned in a direction where the advancing direction of said articles to be supplied on said top end portion is the same as the moving direction of said feed claws;
• top end portion of said second supply conveyer arranged in a direction of a contact line relative to said annular guide grooves to be positioned in a direction where the advancing direction of the articles to be supplied on said top end portion is opposite to the moving direction of said feed claw;
• supply means for supplying said articles fed on said first and second supply conveyers to said annular guide grooves in said top end portions of said first and second supply conveyers;
• an exhaust conveyer provided close to said annular guide grooves;
• and
• exhausting means for exhausting said articles, which are pressed by said feed claws and moved in said annular guide grooves, on said exhaust conveyer.