JP2003118829A - Commodity supply device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a commodity supply device for stably performing work for supplying specifically shaped commodities aligned in almost the same direction. SOLUTION: Sweet peppers A are aligned in vertical attitude approximately parallel to the carrying direction using a supply conveyor 30 and transferred one by one between supporting rollers 32, 33 of an alignment conveyor 30. The sweet peppers A have front ends in contact with the supporting roller 32, held at fixed position and in fixed attitude by contacting resistance and rear ends in contact with a protrusion 33a of the supporting roller 33, moved approximately perpendicularly to the carrying direction by the rotating force and contacting resistance of the protrusion 33a. The whole sweet peppers A are rotated in an approximately horizontal direction and turned to lateral attitude approximately perpendicular to the carrying direction, and then transferred one by one between supporting rollers 42 of a sorting conveyor 40.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to agricultural products such as bell peppers, kiwi, eggplant, cucumber, and yam (including fruit vegetables), or processed foods, electrical products, industrial products, parts, etc. The present invention relates to an article supply device used for aligning and supplying articles having an elliptical shape.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a device for supplying peppers of the above-mentioned example, as shown in FIG. 11, for example, a dispersion conveyor 6 in which a large number of peppers A are erected in a substantially V shape when viewed from the front.
0 or 60 separates or disperses in the front-rear direction and transfers to the aligning conveyor 61, and the peppers A placed on the aligning conveyor 61 are aligned in a row by the guide plates 62 installed on both sides of the conveying path to sort the conveyor. There is a feeding device to be transferred to 63.

[0003]

However, when the above-mentioned green pepper A comes into contact with the guide plate 62, the green pepper A is conveyed while horizontally rotating around the contact portion as a fulcrum, so that the direction of the green pepper A is displaced. It is easy and it is difficult to supply them in line in the same direction. Further, when measuring a predetermined item (eg, equal rank or sugar acidity) of the whole bell pepper A, the bell pepper A is placed in a posture substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction between the support rollers having a plurality of axes, and By rotating the support roller, the bell pepper A is turned upside down and a predetermined item is measured. However, when the bell pepper A is placed in a posture substantially parallel or oblique to the conveying direction between the support rollers, the bell pepper A is turned upside down. Since it is not possible to do so, it is necessary to correct the orientation of the bell pepper A in a sideways posture, and there is a problem that the orientation correction work takes time and labor.

In view of the above problems, according to the present invention, the contact resistance of the resistance imparting portion formed on one of the supports causes the entire article to rotate substantially horizontally to change its orientation to a sideways posture substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction. An object of the present invention is to provide an article supply device capable of reliably and stably performing an operation of aligning and supplying in substantially the same direction.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a plurality of pairs of supports, which are spaced apart from each other on which articles are placed, are arranged on a conveyance path for conveying the articles, and the conveyance direction with respect to the articles is set. A support body that is provided with a resistance imparting portion that imparts contact resistance in a substantially orthogonal specific direction on the outer surface of the one support body, and that rotates one support body in the direction in which the contact resistance of the resistance imparting portion is imparted. It is an article supply device provided with a rotating means.

The above-mentioned articles are, for example, bell pepper, kiwi,
Agricultural products such as aubergine, cucumber, and yam (including fruit vegetables), or processed foods, electric products, industrial products, parts and the like having a substantially oblong shape or a substantially oval shape can be used. Further, the support can be composed of, for example, large and small rollers having different outer diameters, rollers having substantially the same diameter, a substantially cylindrical or substantially columnar rotating body, and the like. Further, the resistance applying portion can be configured by, for example, a substantially spiral protrusion or groove portion. Further, the support body rotating means can be composed of, for example, a rotation transmitting roller and a rotation imparting rail, a gear and a rack, a chain mechanism including a sprocket and a chain, a gear and a motor, and a cam mechanism. Further, the endless belt can be composed of, for example, a chain, a belt, a wire, or the like.
Further, the endless belt rotating means can be composed of, for example, a chain mechanism including a sprocket, a chain, and a motor, a crank mechanism, a cam mechanism, and the like.

That is, for example, an article having a substantially oblong shape such as bell peppers is placed between a pair of supports, and then one support is rotated in a specific direction by the support rotating means to impart resistance to the support. While moving the rear end side of the article that is in contact with a part (for example, a substantially spiral protrusion) in a direction substantially orthogonal to the transport direction, the front end side of the article that is in contact with the other support is a fulcrum, and the entire article is substantially horizontal. The paper is rotated and then changed to a horizontal posture that is substantially orthogonal to the conveyance direction for conveyance.

As an embodiment, the resistance applying portion can be formed substantially spirally with respect to the outer peripheral surface of the support. Further, the resistance applying portion may be formed by forming a substantially spiral projection on the outer peripheral surface of the support. Further, the pair of supports may be composed of rollers having different outer diameters or substantially the same outer diameters. In addition, a plurality of the above-mentioned pair of supports are installed at a predetermined interval with respect to the entire length of the endless belt stretched on the transport path,
An endless belt rotating means for rotating the endless belt with respect to the transport direction can be provided.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the contact resistance of the resistance imparting portion formed on one of the supports causes the entire article to rotate substantially horizontally to change its orientation to the sideways posture substantially orthogonal to the carrying direction. It is possible to reliably and stably perform the work of aligning and supplying the articles in the substantially same direction. Moreover, since the articles having the unique shapes are aligned and supplied in substantially the same direction, for example, when measuring a predetermined item or sorting the items, it is possible to save the trouble and work of correcting the orientation of the item,
It is possible to save labor and improve efficiency.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. The drawings show an article supply device used for the work of aligning and supplying bell peppers, which is an example of an article, in a predetermined direction. In FIG. 1 and FIG.
An aligning conveyor 30 that aligns and conveys the bell peppers A in a horizontal posture that is substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction, a supply conveyor 20 that conveys the peppers A to be received in a vertical posture that is substantially parallel to the conveying direction, and the peppers. A is arranged between a sorting conveyor 40 that sorts items A by item (for example, equal rank, sugar acidity, etc.) based on measurement information by an optical item measuring means (not shown), and a line is provided by the supply conveyor 20. The peppers A that are aligned and conveyed in the direction are changed to a horizontal posture that is substantially orthogonal to the conveyance direction, and the sorting conveyor 4
Transfer to 0 and supply.

The above-mentioned supply conveyor 20 is arranged substantially in series with the starting end of the aligning conveyor 30 which will be described later on the feed side, in the vicinity of the front-rear spacing where the transfer of the bell pepper A is allowed, and has a substantially flat cross section. The formed feed belt 21 is rotated in the conveying direction by the driving force of a motor (not shown) with a speed reducer, and a large number of bell peppers A are received from the producer.
While being distributed in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction, the support rollers 32 and 33, which will be described later, are transferred one by one, and are aligned and conveyed in a vertical posture substantially parallel to the conveyance direction at a front-rear interval.

The above-mentioned aligning conveyor 30 is shown in FIGS.
As shown also in FIG. 5, a large-diameter support roller 32 that gives a contact resistance necessary to maintain the position and posture to one end side (front end side) of the bell pepper A and the other end side of the bell pepper A ( A support roller 3 having a small diameter that imparts a contact resistance required to move in a direction substantially orthogonal to the transport direction with respect to the rear end side).
3 and the bell pepper A are placed in a lateral posture substantially orthogonal to the transport direction, and are axially mounted between the revolving chains 31 stretched on both sides of the transport path at a front-rear interval, and a pair of two support rollers 32 are provided. , 33 as a set, and a plurality of shafts (or a large number of shafts) are mounted on the entire length of the circulating chain 31.

Further, one support roller 32 is mounted (or fixed) so as to be incapable of rotating in the conveying direction with respect to the revolving chain 31, and the other supporting roller 32 is conveyed in the conveying direction with respect to the revolving chain 31. It is mounted so that it can rotate freely. That is, the revolving chain 31 is stretched between the sprockets 31a pivotally supported on the start end side and the end side, and the sprockets 31c, 31c and the drive chain 31d are driven by the driving force of the motor 31b with a reduction gear arranged at the lower end of the start end. While rotating in the transport direction via the plurality of support rollers 32 and 33,
It moves in the conveying direction at a speed faster than the feeding speed of
The bell peppers A, which are supplied by the supply conveyor 30 in a vertical posture substantially parallel to the conveying direction, are supplied to the support roller 3
They are placed one by one between 2 and 33 and transported in the transport direction.

Further, the support rollers 32 and 33 should be formed to have substantially the same outer diameter, or the support rollers 32 and 33 should be mounted in a cantilevered manner on the revolving chain 31 stretched on one side of the conveying path and arranged in a substantially keyboard shape. You can also In addition, the circulating chain 31 can be rotated by, for example, a crank mechanism or a cam mechanism.

Further, the contact resistance and transfer required for moving the one-sided side (the rear end side or the front end side) of the bell pepper A in a direction substantially orthogonal to the carrying direction (left side with respect to the carrying direction in the embodiment). A single projection 33a that applies force is formed in a substantially spiral shape continuously in the circumferential direction and the axial direction with respect to the outer peripheral surface of the central portion of the support roller 33, and one end of the bell pepper A is on the right side of the conveyance path ( It is formed at an interval (pitch) and an angle at which it is positively transferred with respect to the left side when viewed from the front of FIG. Further, the size, width, interval and angle of the protrusions 33a may be changed.

The above-mentioned protrusion 33a is formed of a material having a large contact resistance, such as synthetic rubber or soft resin, and moves the whole bell pepper A in the carrying direction, or one end thereof in a direction substantially orthogonal to the carrying direction. It provides the contact resistance necessary to move relative to it.

The above-mentioned projections 33a may be formed in parallel with the outer peripheral surface of the support roller 33, for example, or may be partially formed on the outer peripheral surface of the support roller 33 at predetermined intervals. You can also Also, the protrusion 33
As another example of the resistance applying portion instead of a, for example, one or a plurality of groove portions may be continuously formed in a substantially spiral shape in the circumferential direction with respect to the outer peripheral surface of the support roller 33.

Further, a rotation imparting rail 35 for imparting a contact resistance necessary for rotating the supporting roller 33 in the conveying direction is fixed to both side ends (or one side end) of the supporting roller 33. The roller 34 is installed on both lower sides of the conveyance path so as to face the lower peripheral surface of the roller 34, and is horizontally installed substantially parallel to the conveyance direction.

The above-mentioned rotation transmitting roller 34 is formed or covered with a rotation imparting member having a large contact resistance, such as synthetic rubber or synthetic leather, and when the supporting roller 33 is rotated in the conveying direction, the rotation imparting rail 35 travels. The support roller 33 is orbited while contacting the surface, and the support roller 33 is rotated in the transport direction by the contact resistance generated at the contact portion between the rotation transmission roller 34 and the rotation imparting rail 35 to form a substantially spiral protrusion on the support roller 33. By 33a, the one end side of the green pepper A is positively moved in the direction substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction. Further, the outer peripheral surface of the support roller 33 and the traveling surface of the rotation imparting rail 35 may be formed or covered with the rotation imparting member having a large contact resistance as described above.

As another example of the supporting means in place of the supporting roller 32 described above, a supporting member having, for example, a substantially plate shape, a substantially spherical shape, a substantially rod shape, or the like is used, and the position and posture with respect to the one end side of the pepper A are used. It is also possible to impart a contact resistance required to hold the sheet to suppress movement in a direction substantially orthogonal to the transport direction.

On the other hand, as another example of the rotation imparting means which replaces the rotation transmitting roller 34 and the rotation imparting rail 35, the support roller 33 is rotated by the driving force of the motor through, for example, a sprocket, a chain, a gear, or the like. It can be rotated by the driving force of a motor built in or directly connected to the roller,
The gear fixed to the shaft end of the support roller 33 may be meshed with a rack installed below the transport path, or the shaft end of the support roller 33 may be brought into contact with a cam to rotate. In addition, for example, a rotation imparting member having a large contact resistance, such as a rubber belt or a rubber roller, is attached to the support roller 33 or the rotation transmission roller 3.
It is also possible to press against 4 to impart rotation.

Further, the alignment guide 36, which is obliquely provided on the upper left side of the conveying path (upper left side as viewed from the front side in FIG. 5) substantially parallel to the conveying direction, removes the green pepper A placed between the support rollers 33 and 34. , The width is adjusted or regulated so that the left side portion of the transport path is aligned in a line. Further, the alignment guides 36 can be installed above and below the transport path.

The above-mentioned sorting conveyor 40 is arranged substantially in series with the end portion on the sending side of the above-mentioned aligning conveyor 30 in the vicinity of the front-rear space in which the transfer of the green pepper A is permitted, and is substantially drum-shaped or substantially. Cylindrical support roller 42 ...
, One side portion of the conveying path (or both side portions of the conveying path) with the bell peppers A being placed in a posture substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction with a front-rear interval.
It is mounted in a substantially keyboard shape on the revolving chain 41 stretched around. The sorting conveyor 40 has, for example, the second patent.
It is configured by a transport device such as 911801 and Japanese Patent No. 2824046.

That is, the orbiting chain 41 is rotated in the conveying direction by the driving force of a motor (not shown) with a speed reducer, and the supporting rollers 42 ...
The bell peppers A, which are orbitally moved in the transport direction at a speed substantially in synchronization with the feed speed of 0 or faster than the feed speed, are aligned and fed by the alignment conveyor 30 in a lateral orientation substantially orthogonal to the feed direction, are supplied to the support roller. 42 ... One by one is placed between them and conveyed in the conveying direction.

In addition, a holding belt 50 for preventing the direction of the bell pepper A from being displaced at the time of transfer is mounted on the pulley 51, which is mounted on the upper end of the aligning conveyor 30 and the upper end of the sorting conveyor 40. The slack is provided in a state of being contacted with or pressed against the upper peripheral surface of the green pepper A transferred from the alignment conveyor 30 to the sorting conveyor 40 while being passed over. That is, the presser belt 5
0 by the driving force of the motor with reduction gear (not shown)
The peppers A rotate in the transfer direction in synchronism with the feed speeds of the alignment conveyor 30 and the sorting conveyor 40, and rotate in the transfer direction (direction of the arrow) while contacting or pressing the upper peripheral surface of the peppers A, so that the peppers A are transferred. It is prevented from floating up and is held in a sideways posture substantially orthogonal to the transport direction.

The above-mentioned pressing belt 50 is, for example, a belt made of synthetic rubber or soft resin, artificial grass or non-woven fabric, cloth material, belt made of natural fibers, or a large number of synthetic fiber hairs are planted in the belt. The lateral width is configured to be substantially the same as or wider than the conveying width of the sorting conveyor 40 (horizontal width pressed against the upper peripheral surface of the bell pepper A).

The illustrated embodiment is configured as described above, and the operation of supplying the bell peppers A by aligning them in a specific direction by the article supply apparatus 10 will be described below.

First, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the bell peppers A to be received are distributed by the supply conveyor 20 in the front-rear direction and in the left-right direction, and are aligned and conveyed in a vertical posture substantially parallel to the conveyance direction. , Support roller 3 of the alignment conveyor 30
One is transferred to each of 2 and 33.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5,
The rotation transfer roller 34 of the support roller 33 is moved in the transport direction while being in contact with the rotation imparting rail 35, and the support rollers 33 are rotated in the transport direction by the contact resistance between the rotation transmitting roller 34 and the rotation imparting rail 35. .

At the same time, the bell peppers A, which come into contact with the protrusions 33a of the support rollers 33, are transferred in the conveying direction to obtain the bell peppers A.
The front end side (one end side) of the roller rides on the support roller 32, and the rear end side (the other end side) of the support roller 33 and the protrusion 33.
Since the rear end side of the green pepper A that has been ridden on the support roller 33 on the small diameter side is supported in a posture in which the rear end side is lowered, the contact resistance of the protrusion 33a is positively imparted.

The front end side of the bell pepper A that contacts the support roller 32 is held in a fixed position and posture by the contact resistance with the support roller 32, and the rear end of the bell pepper A that contacts the protrusion 33a of the support roller 33. Side, the projection 3
3a is positively moved in a direction substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction by the rotational force and contact resistance, and the whole bell pepper A is rotated in a substantially horizontal direction with the front end side of the bell pepper A as a fulcrum.
The orientation is changed to a sideways posture that is substantially orthogonal to the transport direction.

Further, the pepper A is the supporting rollers 32, 3
When temporarily placed in a lateral posture substantially orthogonal to the conveyance direction between the three, the side peripheral surface of the pepper A and the support roller 3
Since the outer peripheral surface of 2 is in contact with each other by surface treatment or line treatment, the contact area of the support roller 32 with the support roller 32 is larger than the contact area of the support roller 33 with the rotation force and contact resistance of the projection 33a. As a result, the direction of the bell pepper A is not displaced, and the bell pepper A can be conveyed while being held in the lateral posture substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction.

Next, the bell peppers A, which are placed between the support rollers 32 and 33 and are in a horizontal posture substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction, are
The supporting rollers 31 of the sorting conveyor 40 are arranged side by side in a horizontal posture and transferred one by one. At the same time, the pressing belt 50 is rotated in the conveying direction while being in contact with or pressed against the upper peripheral surface of the bell pepper A, and the bell pepper A is moved from the supporting rollers 32 and 33 of the aligning conveyor 30 to the sorting conveyor 40.
Transfer to the support roller 42 of the ...
One by one is transferred between the support rollers 42 of the sorting conveyor 40 while being aligned in a lateral posture substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction.

Thereafter, the green pepper A is placed on the supporting roller 42.
After being turned upside down by the rotational force of ..., the predetermined items (such as equal grade and sugar acidity) of the whole bell pepper A are measured by an optical item measuring means (not shown), and then the supporting roller is based on the measurement information. 31… Pepper A placed between
Is sorted by item.

As described above, the bell pepper A is placed between the pair of support rollers 32 and 33 forming the alignment conveyor 30, and then the support roller 33 is rotated while being orbited in the conveying direction to rotate the support roller 33. Protrusion 33 formed on
By the rotational force and contact resistance of a, the whole bell pepper A is rotated substantially horizontally and is changed in the lateral posture substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction and is conveyed. Therefore, an article having a peculiar shape such as the bell pepper A is moved in substantially the same direction. The work of aligning and supplying can be performed reliably and stably.

Moreover, the peppers A are aligned and fed in substantially the same direction so that the direction of the peppers A is corrected when the predetermined items of the peppers A are measured on the sorting conveyor 40 or sorted according to the items. It is possible to save labor and work, and to save work and improve efficiency.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the support roller 33 in which the inclination angle of the protrusion 33a is gradually increased from the right end to the left end when viewed from the front in the figure. , The front end side or the rear end side of the bell pepper A in contact with the protrusion 33a is moved to the left side portion (corresponding to the right side portion of the conveyance path) in the drawing to change its direction, and therefore the action and effect substantially the same as those of the above-described embodiment. Can be played.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the support roller 33, in which the outer diameter of the protrusion 33a is gradually reduced from the right end to the left end when viewed from the front in the figure ( (For example, a substantially conical shape or a substantially tapered shape), the front end side or the rear end side of the bell pepper A that comes into contact with the protrusion 33a is moved to the left side portion in the drawing to change its direction, and therefore, the action and the function substantially the same as those of the above-described embodiment are obtained. It is possible to exert an effect.

FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of the support roller 33, in which the intervals (pitch) of the protrusions 33a are formed so as to become gradually smaller from the right end to the left end when viewed from the front in the figure. And the bell pepper A that comes into contact with the protrusion 33a
Since the front end side or the rear end side is moved to the left side portion in the drawing to change the direction, it is possible to achieve an operation and an effect substantially similar to those of the above-described embodiment.

FIG. 9 shows another embodiment of the support rollers 32 and 33. The support rollers 32 and 33 are obliquely installed at an angle that decreases from the right end to the left end when viewed from the front in the figure. Then, the whole bell pepper A is supported by the support roller 32,
Since the direction is changed while moving to the lower side along 33, it is possible to obtain an action and an effect substantially similar to those of the above-described embodiment. The above-mentioned right end corresponds to the left side of the transport path, and the left end corresponds to the right side of the transport path.

FIG. 10 shows another embodiment of the article supply apparatus 10 in which the supply conveyor 45 is arranged between the aligning conveyor 30 and the sorting conveyor 40. The bell pepper A is used as the supporting roller 33 of the aligning conveyor 30, When the transfer belt 45a of the supply conveyor 45 is transferred from between 34 and when it is transferred from the supply belt 45a of the supply conveyor 45 to the support rollers 42 of the sorting conveyor 40, the pressing belt erected above the transfer section. Since 50 is aligned and held in a lateral posture substantially orthogonal to the carrying direction to transfer and carry, the direction of the bell pepper A is not displaced, and an action and an effect substantially similar to those of the above-described embodiment can be obtained. it can.

In the correspondence between the constitution of the present invention and the above-mentioned embodiments, the articles of the present invention are agricultural products (including fruit vegetables) such as bell pepper A, kiwi, eggplant, cucumber, and yam of the embodiments, or processed. Corresponding to foods, electric products, industrial products, parts, etc., the same applies to the support roller 32,
33 and a substantially cylindrical or substantially columnar rotating body or the like, the resistance applying portion corresponds to the protrusion 33a of the support roller 33, the groove portion, the unevenness or the like, and the support body rotating means is the rotation transmitting roller. 34, a rotation imparting rail 35, a gear and a rack, a chain mechanism including a sprocket and a chain, a gear, and a motor, a cam mechanism, and the like. The endless belt includes a revolving chain 31, a belt, a wire, and the like. The endless belt rotating means corresponds to the sprockets 31a and 31c, the drive chain 31d, the motor 31b, the chain mechanism, the crank mechanism, the cam mechanism, and the like. It is not limited to the configuration of form.

The above-mentioned article supply apparatus 10 can also be used for aligning and supplying articles to, for example, a bucket conveyor, a belt conveyor, a keyboard-like receiving plate, a free tray, a cup or the like.

Further, for example, vibration generated by a vibration generator (vibrator) can be applied to the support rollers 32 and 33 to change the direction of the bell pepper A by the synergistic action of the protrusion 33a and the vibration.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an operation of aligning peppers by an article supply apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an alignment operation by an alignment conveyor.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an alignment operation by an alignment conveyor.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing an alignment operation by a support roller.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an alignment operation by a support roller.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing another embodiment of the support roller.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing another embodiment of the support roller.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing another embodiment of the support roller.

FIG. 9 is a front view showing another embodiment of the support roller.

FIG. 10 is a side view showing another embodiment of the article supply apparatus.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing an operation of aligning peppers by a conventional feeder.

[Explanation of symbols]

A ... Bell pepper 10 ... Article supply device 20 ... Supply conveyor 30 ... Aligning conveyor 32, 33 ... Support roller 33a ... Protrusion 34 ... Rotation transmission roller 35 ... Rail for imparting rotation 40 ... Sorting conveyor 50 ... Presser belt

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of pairs of supports, which are spaced apart from each other at which articles are placed, are arranged on a conveying path for conveying the articles, and contact resistance is applied to the articles in a specific direction substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction. An article supply apparatus provided with a resistance applying section for applying a resistance to an outer surface of the one support, and a support rotating means for rotating the one support in a direction in which the contact resistance of the resistance applying section is applied. . 2. The article supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the resistance applying portion is formed in a substantially spiral shape with respect to the outer surface of the support. 3. The article supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the resistance applying portion is formed by forming a substantially spiral projection on the outer surface of the support. 4. The article supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pair of supports are rollers having different outer diameters or substantially the same outer diameters. 5. An endless belt rotating means for arranging a plurality of the pair of supports at a predetermined interval with respect to the entire length of the endless belt stretched over the conveying path and rotating the endless belt in the conveying direction. The article supply apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: