an apparatus for orienting random oriented lightweight articles . the apparatus includes a wheel which rotates on an axis which is substantially horizontal . a plurality of alignment troughs is mounted on the interior of the wheel . each of the alignment troughs has a longitudinal axis substantially parallel to the wheels horizontal axis . each trough has a plurality of openings to allow air to pass through the trough and out of the wheel to hold lightweight articles in the troughs against the force of gravity . each of the articles has a longitudinal axis which is parallel to the troughs longitudinal axis . rotation of the wheel selectively positions the troughs with a source of air under pressure to move the articles to the end of the respective trough . each article at the end of its respective trough moves into an external receiver where the article is transferred to a vertical attitude having the bottom up . the article is rotated to a bottom down attitude . a retriever positioned adjacent to the wheel retrieves each article in a vertical bottom down attitude and delivers each article to a conveyor .