Container inspecting apparatus having rotary indexing apparatus

A container inspecting apparatus comprising:

• a rotatable inlet star wheel for introducing containers successively;
• a rotatable outlet star wheel for discharging the containers successively;
• a plurality of feed units movable along a circular path for successively receiving the containers from said inlet star wheel, stopping the containers in respective inspecting positions, and successively transferring the containers to said outlet star wheel;
• an inspecting device disposed in each of said respective inspecting positions for inspecting a container placed in said each inspecting position;
• a feeding and indexing device for intermittently moving said feed units along said circular path such that said feed units are stopped in said respective inspecting positions at mutually different times;
• a support mechanism vertically mounted on each of said feed units for supporting the bottom of said container placed on said feed units, said support mechanism including suction tubes positioned to engage bottoms of said containers and having outside diameters substantially smaller than outside diameters of said containers such that edges of said bottoms of said containers are visible for inspection;
• and
• rotating means for rotating said support mechanism to rotate the container about its own axes.