Abstract: An apparatus for placing randomly received items, such as poultry carcasses, in a single file and for placing adjacent single filed items in a substantially equidistant spaced relationship 10 includes a rotatable cone 12 having an outer periphery 14, a conveyor belt 28 disposed about the outer periphery 14 of the rotatable cone 12, a guide wall 64 for effecting disposal of the items in a single file on the conveyor belt, a speedup conveyor section 160 for receiving and accelerating the single filed items, and an inclined conveyor section 162 having a plurality of substantially equidistantly spaced carriers 220 for receiving the items from the speedup conveyor section 160 and placing adjacently received items in a substantially equidistantly spaced relationship to each other.