Abstract: To permit random loading of workpieces for passage through a furnace, and removal of the workpieces for subsequent handling by presses and the like, the furnace is constructed as a roller hearth furnace in which the width of the roller hearth is a multiple of the diameter of the ring-shaped workpieces, and adjacent the outlet an aligning means is provided in the form of a funnel of which one side wall is movable, for example by longitudinal or transverse reciprocation to align the randomly positioned workpieces in single file. A roller conveyor, with progressively increasing conveyor speed, is located beneath the aligning funnel to remove the aligned workpieces in single file for subsequent handling and treatment.