Abstract
A box-packing apparatus includes a conveyance unit, an alignment unit, an accumulation unit, a contact unit, a gate, and a control unit. The alignment unit aligns articles being conveyed so that mutually adjacent articles partially overlap and form an article group. The accumulation unit transfers the aligned article group and accumulates multiple article groups so they are parallel on a box-packing conveyance route. The contact unit contacts the articles on the box-packing conveyance route starting-end side in the accumulated article groups. The gate is positioned on the box-packing conveyance route terminal end and supports multiple article groups. The control unit moves the contact unit toward the box-packing conveyance route terminal end and collectively moves groups that have been accumulated by the accumulation unit onto the gate. The control unit drives the gate and a pusher to pack the article groups in a box below the gate.