Abstract: A can-orienting system in which open-topped steel-based cans in random orientations are first automatically aligned with each other by feeding them to an aligning chute to form an end-on train of cans which are fed end-on, at a controlled rate, to the edge of a first rotating magnetic pick-up wheel which picks up and carries with it the successive leading cans in the train. A second magnetic wheel, rotating oppositely to the first wheel, is preferably located above the first wheel and to the opposite side of the first wheel from the point at which the cans are fed to the first wheel. Those cans initially having their bottoms against the first wheel stay on the first wheel until they are rotated far enough to be wiped off onto a first separator plate, all with their bottoms against the plate; those cans having their open ends against the first wheel are pulled off by the second wheel and carried by it to a second separator plate, all with their bottoms against the plate.