Conveying and aligning apparatus suitable for lens-fitted photographic film packages

An apparatus for conveying and aligning various types of film packages recovered for recycling. A conveyer of the apparatus is constructed by a pair of parallel belts combined to form a V-shaped bearing gutter and driven in the same conveying direction. The film packages are conveyed on the conveyer and are slid downward through an inclined cylindrical tube which rotates about the longitudinal axis and has spiral ridges on the inner periphery. Thereby, the longitudinal direction of the film packages are aligned with the conveying direction. Then a posture discriminator discriminates between the upright posture and the upside-down posture of the film packages on a first conveying path, based on the position of the viewfinder. The film packages having the upright posture are caused to fall headlong from the first conveying path onto a second conveying path, so as to have the upside-down posture on the second conveying path. The film packages conveyed on the first and second conveying paths are again joined together in a line.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a conveyer and an aligning apparatus for 
various types of objects having substantially rectangular box shapes. The 
present invention relates particularly to an apparatus suitable for 
conveying and aligning used and recovered lens-fitted photographic 
packages to be fed to a disassembling process. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
A belt conveyer using a flat belt is capable of conveying a large number of 
objects at a high speed. Because the flat belt of the belt conveyer 
vibrates with the conveying movement, if objects are unstably loaded 
thereon at random posture, some objects may fall from the flat belt. To 
prevent the falling, fences are conventionally provided along the lateral 
sides of the flat belt. 
A feeder which can automatically disperse a cluster of objects into 
individual pieces and feed the objects in series, has been disclosed, for 
example, in JPB 44-29098 and JPB 62-29195. Specifically, the former 
discloses a feeder which makes use of electromagnetic vibration and a 
specific resilient material for spacing objects. The latter publication 
discloses a feeder which uses a robot hand having a touch sensor so as to 
pick up an individual object from a plurality of objects. 
Indeed, the flat belt conveyer having fences can rapidly and smoothly 
convey those objects which have same or approximately same shapes and 
dimensions, but the conventional flat belt conveyer cannot effectively 
convey a plurality of objects having different shapes and dimensions or 
those objects which are wrapped or encased with paper, film or the like. 
In such cases, a part of the object or a part of the wrapper may curled, 
and become jammed or trapped in a stationary portion of the belt conveyer, 
resulting in the need to interrupt operation of the conveyer. 
The feeder using a robot hand can reliably pick up an individual piece from 
among a plurality of objects lying at random postures and orient the 
objects in the same direction. However, a robot hand feeder cannot 
reliably handle objects whose wrappers or cases are partly broken. 
Besides, the working speed of such a device is low. Electromagnetic 
vibration feeders are complicated in construction, and the running speed 
thereof cannot easily be controlled. 
Meanwhile, various types of lens-fitted photographic film packages, 
hereinafter referred to as film packages, are now on the market. The film 
package is fundamentally constructed of a plastic resin package body 
loaded with film in factory. The package body is constituted of a main 
body section having a lens unit, a shutter unit and/or a printed circuit 
board thereon, and front and rear cover sections removably attached to the 
main body section. The package body is encased in a cardboard case, and 
the film package is used in this condition. After exposure of all 
available frames of the film, the film package is forwarded to a 
photofinishing laboratory where the exposed film is removed for developing 
and printing from the package body after breaking a part of the case. 
Because of the increased need for reuse of industrial materials, it is 
desirable to recover the emptied package body along with the cardboard 
case for reuse. For example, JPA 3-243930, JPA 4-17730 and U.S. Pat. No. 
5,021,811 disclose film packages or single-use cameras which are designed 
for recycling. However, because the used and recovered package bodies are 
mostly encased in the partly broken cardboard cases, and the film packages 
have different shapes and dimensions according to the type and the 
manufacturer, conventional feeders are not reliable in handling the 
recovered package bodies. 
Furthermore, it is necessary, for automatic disassembling of the used 
package bodies, to uniformly orient the package bodies before the 
disassembling process. However, neither the above-described robot hand 
feeder nor other conventional aligning apparatus can discriminate between 
the upright posture and the upside-down posture of the film package. 
Therefore, it has been necessary to manually align the recovered film 
packages. This makes the recycling of the film packages labor intensive 
and expensive. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object of the present invention is to provide a conveyer which is simple 
in construction and can effectively convey various types of objects. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide an aligning apparatus 
for aligning objects of substantially rectangular box shape in the same 
longitudinal direction and/or with the same side up while conveying the 
objects at a high speed. 
A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for 
bringing a plurality of film packages lying at random posture into a line 
wherein each package has the same posture while continuously conveying the 
film packages. 
To solve the above objects, a conveyer of the present invention has first 
and second bearing surfaces for bearing the objects thereon. The first and 
second bearing surfaces extend parallel to each other and are laterally 
inclined relative to horizontal to meet at respective lateral sides 
thereof at an angle, less than 180.degree. for example. 
An aligning apparatus of the invention for aligning objects having 
substantially rectangular box shapes into the same longitudinal direction 
has a cylindrical tube rotating about a longitudinal axis thereof. The 
tube is inclined to dispose a first end thereof at a higher position than 
a second end of the tube. The first end constitutes an entrance for 
receiving a plurality of the objects at random postures, the second end 
constitutes an exit for ejecting the objects. At least a ridge is formed 
on an internal peripheral surface of the tube and extends from the 
entrance to the exit, for guiding the objects along, while the objects 
slide downward through the rotating tube. This brings the longitudinal 
direction of each of the objects into alignment with the longitudinal 
direction of the tube. 
An aligning apparatus for aligning a plurality of objects having 
substantially rectangular box shapes, in particular, film packages, with 
the same side up, has a first conveying path conveying the objects in 
series in a first direction and a discriminating device disposed on the 
first conveying path for discriminating between a first vertical posture 
and a second vertical posture relative to the first posture. An inverting 
device is disposed after the discriminating device for inverting those 
objects having the first posture to have the second posture by letting 
each object having the second posture fall headlong to one lateral side of 
the first conveying path. A second conveying path extends below the first 
conveying path to receive the objects from the first conveying path, and 
convey the inverted objects in the first direction. The second conveying 
path joins the first conveying path at a downstream position and a guide 
device is disposed in the downstream position for guiding each object 
conveyed on one of the first and second conveying paths into the other 
conveying path to bring the separately conveyed objects having the second 
posture into a line. 
By combining the conveyer and the aligning apparatuses of the invention, a 
feeder suitable for feeding used and recovered film packages to a 
disassembling section is provided.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a conveyer 2 having a pair of parallel flat belts 
4 and 5 laterally inclined with respect to horizontal to form a V-shaped 
bearing gutter. The conveyer 2 conveys devices, for example used and 
recovered film packages from which exposed films have been removed, 
hereinafter referred to as units 3. Bearing surfaces 4a and 5a of the flat 
belts 4 and 5, on which the units 3 are borne, define an angle .crclbar.2, 
for example 45.degree., with respect to the horizontal. Therefore, the 
units 3 are supported on the belts 4 and 5 at a bottom portion of the 
V-shaped bearing gutter. 
The belts 4 and 5 are driven by respective drivers 6 and 7 such as motors, 
so that the conveying speed of the belts 4 and 5 can be controlled 
independently from each other and may be different from each other. If the 
conveying speeds of the belts 4 and 5 are to be equal, a single driver may 
be commonly used. In the present description, "flat belt" means any belt 
having a flat bearing surface. For example, the belt 4 or 5 may be a 
V-belt or a timing belt having a flat bearing surface, as opposed to a 
flat belt in the strict sense. 
Since the unit 3 does not contact portions of the conveyer 2 other than the 
bearing surfaces 4a and 5a, jamming or curling of a part of the unit 3 
such as a part of an outer cardboard case of the unit 3 will not occur. 
Therefore, it is possible to run the conveyer 2 without interruption. 
The belts 4 and 5 may be made of rubber, fiber, resin, metal, or a 
composite of these materials, for example. It is possible to provide the 
bearing surfaces 4a and 5a of the belts 4 and 5 with a knurled surface 
defined by bosses, grooves, cross-strips or the like. Although the flat 
belts 4 and 5 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are identical in shape as well as in 
size, the belts may be different in size. Also, the shape of the belts may 
be different from each other if the conveyer has a curved or torsional 
path. In place of the flat belts 4 and 5, a pair of roller conveyers each 
consisting of many rollers may be used to obtain the same effect by 
arranging the bearing surfaces of the roller conveyers to form a V-shaped 
bearing gutter. 
FIG. 3 shows an aligning apparatus for aligning the longitudinal direction 
of objects having a substantially rectangular box shape, for instance, the 
units 3. The aligning apparatus 10 has a cylindrical tube 11 having an 
entrance 11a for receiving the units 3 and an exit 11b for ejecting the 
units 3. The cylindrical tube 11 is rotatably mounted on a base portion 12 
and is inclined at an angle .crclbar.3 with respect to the horizontal, 
such that the entrance 11a is placed higher than the exit 11b. The base 
portion 12 has a sloped surface 13 at the exit 11b of the tube to receive 
the units 3 from the tube 11 and feed the same to the next process. A 
motor 14 is disposed in the base portion 12. The motor 14 drives a pulley 
15 which presses against the outer periphery of the tube 11, to rotate the 
tube 11 in a direction shown by the arrow. Four parallel ridges 16 are 
formed on an inner peripheral surface of the tube 11. The ridges 16 extend 
in a spiral manner from the entrance 11 a to the exit 11b of the tube 11. 
According to this construction, the units 3 guided into the entrance 11a 
are guided along the spiral ridges 16 while sliding downward through the 
rotating tube 11, thereby to bring the longitudinal direction of the units 
3 in the same sliding direction, that is, the longitudinal direction of 
the tube 11. 
The number of the ridges 16 may be varied depending upon the size, weight, 
balance of the units 3, and the desirable throughput of the aligning 
apparatus 10. Also, the angle .crclbar.3, length and rotational speed of 
the tube 11, and the shape of the ridge 16 may be varied in accordance 
with the objects to be aligned. The tube 11 may be made of metal, resin, 
concrete or a composite of these materials, for example. 
FIG. 4 schematically shows a feeder for separating a pile of units 3, and 
serially feeding the individual units 3 in the same posture to a 
disassembling section (not illustrated). The feeder has a belt conveyer 21 
with side fences, a reception conveyer 22, an upward conveyer 23, a 
conveyer 24, a first aligning apparatus 10 having the above-described 
construction, a conveyer 25 and a second aligning apparatus 26. Further, a 
feedback conveyer 27 is provided to connect the conveyer 25 to the belt 
conveyer 21 with fences. 
FIG. 5 shows an enlarged view of the above described conveyers 21, 22, 23 
and 24 and the first aligning apparatus 10. The feedback conveyer 27 is 
omitted from FIG. 5 for clarity. The belt conveyer 21 with side fences 
conveys a plurality of units 3 at random postures which are thrown 
together through a chute 20 (FIG. 4) onto the flat belt conveyer 21. The 
conveyers 22, 23 and 24 have the same construction as the conveyer 2 shown 
in FIGS. 1 and 2, and the conveying speeds of these conveyers 21 to 24 are 
set higher in this order from the upstream conveyer 22. The units 3 are 
conveyed on the flat conveyer 21 in a direction shown by an arrow so as to 
fall onto the reception conveyer 22 through a chute 30. Because the 
reception conveyer 22 conveys the units 3 faster than the flat conveyer 
21, the cluster of the units 3 becomes slightly dispersed on the reception 
conveyer 22. Also, since the conveying speed of a pair of belts 22a and 
22b of the conveyer 22 is set to be different from each other, the units 3 
are further dispersed while conveyed on the conveyer 22. 
The cluster of the units 3 is then transferred from the reception conveyer 
22 to the upward conveyer 23. Because the conveyer 23 conveys the units 3 
faster than the reception conveyer 22, the units 3 of the cluster are 
further separated from one another. Also, since the upward conveyer 23 is 
inclined at an angle .crclbar.4, e.g. 45.degree., to the horizontal to 
convey the units 3 upwards, any units 3 lying on other units 3 will fall 
downward while the units 3 are conveyed upwards. 
The units 3 thus separated fall onto the conveyer 24 through a chute 31. 
Because the conveyer 24 conveys the units 3 faster than the upward 
conveyer 23, the units 3 are further spaced apart from one another in this 
stage. Thereafter, the units 3 are seriatim thrown into the aligning 
apparatus 10 and slide along the ridges 16 to the sloped surface 13 of the 
aligning apparatus 10. The sloped surface is connected to the conveyer 25. 
As shown in detail in FIG. 6, the sloped surface 13 is provided with a 
pair of fences 35 and 36 for guiding the units 3 to be placed on the 
conveyer 25 with the longitudinal direction of the units 3 in alignment 
with that of the conveyer 25. 
The conveyer 25 is constituted of four serially disposed flat belts 40, 41, 
42 and 43 and a stationary guide plate 44 which meet with these belts 40 
to 43 at one lateral thereof to form a V-shaped bearing gutter. Because 
one side of the unit 3 is slid on the guide plate 44 while the unit 3 is 
conveyed on the four belts 40 to 43, the guide plate 44 must have a smooth 
surface made of plastic resin, for example. 
On the lateral side of the belts 40 to 43 opposite from the guide plate 44, 
there are provided the feedback conveyer 27 and three discharge chutes 45, 
46 and 47 for discharging units 3 that are unsuitable for the present 
feeder. A put-out arm 49 and first, second and third sensors 50, 51 and 52 
are disposed on the guide plate 44 in correspondence with the feedback 
conveyer 27 and the discharge chutes 45 to 47, respectively, and air jet 
nozzles 53, 54 and 55 are formed in the guide plate 44 proximate the 
respective sensors 50 to 52. 
By virtue of the put-out arm 49, if any unit 3 lies on another unit 3 when 
these units 3 slide from the aligning apparatus, the upper unit 3 strikes 
against the put-out arm 49 is pushed onto the feedback conveyer 27. The 
first sensor 50 detects those units 3 whose cardboard cases are 
irregularly torn open. For instance, if a part of the cardboard case other 
than a predetermined part for film cassette removal is broken, the air jet 
nozzle 53 blows such units 3 from the flat belt 40 to the discharge shoot 
45. 
The second sensor 51 detects those units 3 which were not manufactured by a 
predetermined manufacturer, and the air jet nozzle 54 blows these units 3 
off the belts 41 to the discharge shoot 46. The third sensor 52 detects 
deformed units 3, and the air jet nozzle 55 blows these units 3 off the 
belt 42 to the discharge shoot 47. The flat belts 40 to 43 may have a 
width approximately equal to the width of the top or bottom side of the 
unit 3, or less than that value as long as the stability of conveying is 
not affected, to facilitate blowing the units 3 off the conveyer 25. The 
conveying speeds of the belts 40 to 43 are set faster in this order from 
the upstream. Therefore, the distance between the units 3 are further 
spaced apart in the conveying direction. The sensors 50, 51 and 52 can be 
configured in a known manner to discriminate characteristics of the units 
3. It is possible to provide a space for passing a spot light beam of a 
photosensor between two of the flat belts 40 to 43 to detect desired 
characteristics or position of units 3. 
FIG. 7 shows the second aligning apparatus 26 disposed after the flat belt 
43 to discriminate between the upright posture and the upside-down posture 
of the units 3, overturn those units 3 having the upright posture, and 
thereafter, align the units 3 in a single line. In FIG. 7, a pair of flat 
belts 56a and 56b define a V-shaped bearing gutter as described with 
reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. A posture discriminator 57 is disposed at a 
middle portion of the flat belt 56a. The posture discriminator 57 includes 
two photosensors each constituted of a light emitting portion 58a/59a and 
a light receiving portion 58b/59b. One pair 58a and 58b constitutes a body 
sensor for detecting each unit 3 passing therethrough, whereas the other 
pair 59a and 59b constitutes a viewfinder sensor for detecting a 
viewfinder 3a formed in each unit 3 and extending from the front to the 
rear thereof (See FIG. 8). 
The light emitting portion 58a of the body sensor emits a spot light beam 
L1 toward the light receiving portion 58b disposed on the opposite lateral 
side of the belt 56b. The light emitting portion 59a emits slit light L2 
having a vertical width of 10 mm toward the light receiving portion 59b 
which is also disposed on the opposite lateral sides of the belt 56b. As 
shown in FIG. 99, an output signal A from the light receiving portion 58b 
is switched OFF when the spot light beam L1 is shielded by the unit 3. An 
output signal B from the light receiving portion 59b is switched ON upon 
receipt of slit light L3 which is a portion of the slit light L2 having 
traveled through the viewfinder 3a. That is, if the light L2 passes 
through the viewfinder 3a while the body is between light emitting portion 
58a and light receiving portion 58b, the unit has an upside-down posture. 
A detection signal C is obtained by a combination of these output signals 
A and B as illustrated in FIG. 9. In other words, when signal A is off and 
signal B is on, signal C is in an on state. 
Meanwhile, the viewfinders of the film packages are different in position 
as well as in size according to the type of units, such as panoramic, 
telephoto type and so forth, even between the film packages of the same 
manufacturer. As shown in FIG. 10, lock-in windows of the viewfinders of 
the different types of film packages are disposed in a range from h1 to h2 
in height. That is, the distances h1 and h2 of the lower and upper margins 
of the viewfinder from the bottom of the film package vary according to 
the type and also depending upon whether or not the recovered film package 
is encased in a cardboard case. Such variations are shown for eight 
examples D to K in FIG. 10. In this instance, the width of the slit light 
L2 from the light emitting portion 59a must be about 9 mm or more in order 
to cover a range from the least value of the height h1 to the largest 
value of the height h2. On the other hand, the light receiving portion 59b 
is required to detect light at least in a range indicated by L4 (which is 
defined by the lowest upper dimension of a viewfinder and the highest 
lower dimension of a viewfinder) in FIG. 10. In the embodiment shown in 
FIG. 8, the light receiving portion 59b can receive light in the same 
vertical range as the slit light L2. The light receiving portion 59b may 
be a linear or area image sensor. Thereby, it is possible to determine the 
types of the unit 3 with reference to the width and height of the received 
slit light L3. 
An air jet nozzle array 60 is disposed after the posture discriminator 57 
(see FIG. 7). The air jet nozzle array 60 blows air against an upper 
portion of the unit 3 when a photosensor 61 detects the unit 3 and the 
posture discriminator 57 did not output the detection signal for this unit 
3, that is, when the unit 3 has an upright posture. Thereby, the unit 3 
having the upright posture is overturned to fall from the flat belt 56b. A 
wide flat belt 62 is disposed below the flat belt 56b to receive the unit 
3 from the flat belt 56b and convey the same in a direction substantially 
parallel to the flat belt 56b, as shown by an arrow in FIG. 7. A guide 
bridge 64 for guiding the units 3 from the flat belt 56b to the wide flat 
belt 62 has a ridge 63 extending in parallel to the conveying direction in 
a middle of the guide bridge 64. The unit 3 that has been blown off the 
flat belt 56b stumbles over the ridge 63 and falls headlong on the guide 
bridge 64 to the flat belt 62. As indicated by the phantom line, a fence 
64a is provided for preventing the units 33 from dropping off of the flat 
belt 62. 
The lower end of the guide bridge 64 is centrally disposed over the center 
of the flat belt 62 and a partition wall 66 is provided immediately after 
and in alignment with the lower end of the guide bridge 64, to partition 
the flat belt 62 into two lines. The units 3 having fallen along the guide 
bridge 64 are conveyed on the line before the partition wall 66 in FIG. 7. 
On the other hand, the belt 56b is connected in series to a downward 
conveyer 65, which conveys those units 3 which have caused the posture 
discriminator 57 to output the detection signal, toward the lower flat 
belt 62, while maintaining the upside-down posture of these units 3 
unchanged. The units 3 transferred from the downward belt 65 to the lower 
flat belt 62 are conveyed along the line behind the partition wall 66, in 
FIG. 7. These units 3 eventually run into a joint guide 67, thereby, to be 
joined into the same line as the units 3 having been conveyed along the 
line before the partition wall 66. In this way, the units 3 divided at the 
air jet nozzle 60 into two lines are again aligned in the same upside-down 
posture. 
It may be possible to perform discrimination between the upright posture 
and the upside-down posture based upon detection of the vertical position 
of a taking lens or any other element of the film package as long as the 
distance of that element from the bottom of the film package is not equal 
to the distance from the top. 
Now, the operation of the feeder constructed as set forth above will be 
described. 
The units 3, or used film packages from which exposed films have been 
removed, are collected from the photofinishing laboratories to be sent to 
a factory for recycling. In the factory, a cluster of units 3 are thrown 
through the shoot 20 onto the belt conveyer 21 and are conveyed thereon in 
a pile with random postures. The pile of the units 3 are tumbled into 
individual pieces 3 while conveyed on the conveyers 22 to 24. The separate 
units 3 are slid through the first aligning apparatus 10, so that the 
longitudinal direction of each unit 3 is aligned with the conveying 
direction. Thereafter, while conveyed on the conveyor 25, the units 3 are 
inspected by the first to third sensors 50 to 52 to eliminate unsuitable 
units 3 and pass suitable units 3 to the second aligning apparatus 26. 
In the second aligning apparatus 26, the posture discriminator 57 
determines the posture of each unit 3 borne on the belt 56b. If the 
viewfinder 3a is located in the upper portion of the unit 3, the unit 3 is 
blown off the belt 56b to fall headlong onto the lower belt 62. If the 
viewfinder 3a is located in the lower portion of the unit 33, the unit 3 
is not overturned and is conveyed through the downward conveyer 65 to the 
lower belt 62. Thereafter, these non-inverted units 3 are guided by the 
joint guide 67 to be inserted between the inverted units 3. In this way, 
all the units 3 having passed through the conveyer 26 are placed in the 
upside-down posture and aligned. 
The units 3 are then sent to a disassembling section (not illustrated), 
wherein first a stationary knife is inserted into the moving unit 3 to 
peel off a pasted flap of the cardboard case and remove the case off the 
package body. Thereafter, the front cover section, the lens unit, the 
shutter unit and/or the printed circuit board are detached from the main 
body section. The lens unit, the shutter unit and the printed circuit 
board are reassembled after necessary inspections. The front cover 
section, the main body section and the rear cover section are melted to be 
reused as resin material. 
An example of the preferred embodiment was constructed. The flat belts 4 
and 5 of the conveyer 2 of the example are made of polyester fiber 
impregnated with urethane rubber. The angle .crclbar.1 between the bearing 
surfaces 4a and 5a of the belts 4 and 5 is 90.degree., while the 
inclination angle .crclbar.2 of the bearing surface 5a to horizontal is 
45.degree.. The angle .crclbar.4 of the upward conveyer 23 is set at 
45.degree.. These features were selected based on the result of several 
tests. The width of the flat belts 22a and 22b is 75 mm, and the width of 
the flat belts 23a and 23b is 100 mm. The respective conveying speeds of 
the conveyer 22, 23 and 24 are set as follows: 
______________________________________ 
belt 22a 16.5 m/minute, 
belt 22b 15.0 m/minute 
belt 23a 19.5 m/minute, 
belt 23b 18.0 m/minute 
belt 24a 26.5 m/minute, 
belt 24b 33.0 m/minute 
______________________________________ 
The cylindrical tube 11 of the aligning apparatus 10 is made of polyvinyl 
chloride, and is 400 mm in external diameter, 10 mm in thick and 1 m in 
length. The inclination angle .crclbar.3 of the tube 11 is 10.degree. and 
the rotational speed of the tube 11 is 18.5 m/minute. The throughput 
capacity of the aligning apparatus 10 constructed as above was about 100 
pieces/minute. In this instance, the works processed by the aligning 
apparatus 10 were recovered units of various types of various manufactures 
whose dimensions and weight were included in the following ranges: 
______________________________________ 
LENGTH HEIGHT THICKNESS WEIGHT 
______________________________________ 
97 to 130 mm 
57 to 60 mm 
29 to 50 mm 50 to 130 g 
______________________________________ 
In the conveyer 25 of the example the four flat belts 40 to 43 are rubber V 
belts with fiber core having a length of 400 to 600 mm and a width of 27 
mm. The stationary guide plate 44 is made of slipping resin (DURACON: 
trademark) having a thickness of 4 mm and a width of 200 mm. The angle 
.crclbar.5 of the V-shaped gutter of the conveyer 25 is 90.degree., while 
the inclination angle .crclbar.6 of the guide plate 44 to horizontal is 
60.degree.. The belts 56a, 56b and 65 of the example are also rubber V 
belts with fiber core like the belts 40 to 43, whereas the belt 62 is made 
of polyester fiber impregnated with urethane rubber like the belt 21, and 
has a width of 100 nm. The respective conveying speeds of the above flat 
belts are as follows: 
belt 40 . . . 36.5 m/minute 
belt 41 . . . 41.0 m/minute 
belt 42 . . . 46.0 m/minute 
belt 43 . . . 51.0 m/minute 
belt 56b . . . 56.0 m/minute 
belt 65 . . . 56.0 m/minute 
belt 62 . . . 78.0 m/minute 
Although the units 3 are blown off the belt conveyers by means of the air 
jet nozzles in the above embodiment, it is possible to push the units 3 
down by means of pins or levers actuated by cylinders, electromagnetic 
solenoids, cams or the like. Thus, the present invention is not to be 
limited to the above-described embodiments, but on the contrary, various 
modifications may be possible without departing from the scope of the 
appended claims.