US Patent 7079236 Appearance inspection machine for flat tablet

An appearance inspection apparatus is disclosed. A flat tablet (t) is placed in an uprightly erected posture on and between two adjacent ones of rollers (12) which form a roller belt (1), and is transported by the roller belt (1). During the transportation, a front surface image and a reverse surface image of the flat tablet (t) are fetched. Further, the two rollers (12) on which the flat tablet (t) is held are rotated by a rotatable roller (4) disposed on the lower side of the roller belt (1) to rotate the flat tablet (t). An image of the flat tablet (t) transported while being rotated in the uprightly erected posture is picked up from above to fetch an image of the overall circumference of the side face of the flat tablet (t).