Patent ID: 8640853

Claim:
An article alignment device for aligning a plurality of articles, the article alignment device comprising: a first conveyance device that carries and conveys the articles in a first conveyance direction, each of the plurality of articles having a first end portion and a second end portion opposed to the first end portion, the first end portion having a first shape and the second end portion having a second shape different than the first shape, the first conveyance device conveying each of the plurality of articles in a first orientation where the first end portions face downstream with respect to the first conveyance direction; a second conveyance device located downstream of the first conveyance device and further conveys the plurality of articles that have been conveyed thereto by the first conveyance device; and a control device configured to control operation of the first conveyance device and the second conveyance device such that a selected first article of the plurality articles is switched from the first orientation to a second orientation where the second end portion of the first article faces downstream with respect to the first conveyance direction, and a second article of the plurality of articles adjacent to the first article is maintained in the first orientation.