PURPOSE: To prevent collision of steel pipes against each other and to decrease noise by providing successively a detector for moving and stopping a carriage according to the turning angle of a cushion member to the cushion member and providing a means for detecting the steel pipe in front of the cushion member.

CONSTITUTION: The steel pipe A transferred to a detecting plate 11 stops by contacting with said plate, then with the cushion plate 9 but the colliding sound is absorbed and noise is decreased. The detector 12 is operated by the contact of the pipe A with the plate 11 and the command for advancing the carriage is emitted via a control part to a driving device, by which the carriage is advanced. The plate 9 in the state of being sandwiched between the pipes A and B is thereupon turned successively backward until the plate rides over the pipe A and faces downward without having contact with the pipe. The turning position of the plate 9 in this stage is detected by the detector 10 which actuates the driving device via the control part to stop the carriage and emits thereafter the command for retreating the carriage, thereby bringing the rear surface of the plate 9 into contact with the pipe A.