Patent ID: 7580055

Claim:
An appearance inspection device for a rod-like article comprising: a main feeding path for feeding a rod-like article with a first zone of an outer peripheral surface of the rod-like article exposed, said main feeding path having a first and a second feeding phase that are different from each other with respect to feeding of the rod-like article and being capable of receiving the rod-like article in said first feeding phase, a bypass-feeding path for receiving the rod-like article in said first feeding phase from said main feeding path to convey the rod-like article and then returning the rod-like article onto said main feeding path so that the rod-like article is fed in said second feeding phase, said bypass-feeding path conveying the rod-like article with a second zone of the outer peripheral surface of the rod-like article exposed, the second zone being different from the first zone, wherein the first and second zones cover the entire outer peripheral surface of the rod-like article, and imaging means for collect image data of the entire outer peripheral surface of each rod-like article in a process of feeding the rod-like article on said main and bypass-feeding paths, said imaging means including a single inspection camera for directly or indirectly imaging the first and second zones of the rod-like article.