In fruit processing plants the trend has long been toward mechanization of as many steps in the processing as possible, particularly in the cutting and pitting of fruit. Fruits of the drupe type and having a clearly defined suture or seam, such as peaches and apricots, have long been halved and pitted by machines with varying degrees of success. In general, these machines grip the fruit which has been aligned with its seam extending in a predetermined direction, into a cutting blade which cuts generally along the seam and grips the pit such that the fruit halves may be twisted free of the pit. However, for such pitting machines to operate satisfactorily, it is necessary that the fruit be aligned such that the blade will engage the fruit generally along the suture. Any other orientation generally results in damage to the fruit and unsatisfactory operation of the pitting function. Exemplary of prior art fruit aligning apparatus is that disclosed in McClelland U.S. Pat. No. 2,786,562. Such prior art apparatus, while functioning satisfactorily in certain applications, has suffered from various disadvantages. For example, the McClelland apparatus conveys the fruit both upwardly and downwardly along a predetermined path but is capable of performing its aligning function only during the downward travel. To obtain consistently proper alignment, it is necessary to apply the aligning motions and forces to the conveyed fruit for a certain minimum period of time and thus along a certain minimum length of the conveyor travel. Such construction as that of McClelland has thus necessarily required a long downward travel and thus a very tall structure, which not only renders maintenance difficult but also requires a substantial vertical clearance in any area where such machine is to be used, thus rendering certain installations difficult.