PURPOSE: To prevent the staining of a conveyor, etc., with a viscous fluid by dropping the viscous fluid on only an article to be coated over a prescribed width and circulating the excessive portion of the viscous fluid.

CONSTITUTION: A viscous fluid (e.g. a melted chocolate) 1 is dropped from a storage tank 2 on only a target article 3 over a prescribed width in the state of a flowing thin film 22 by its own weight and allowed to reach only an article 3 to be coated on a conveyer 4 traveling at an equal speed. When the article is not placed at the dropping position of the flowing thin film, a receiving tank 5 is moved in the forward direction with an air cylinder 9, and the viscous fluid is received in the receiving member 6 of the receiving tank 5. The received viscous fluid is collected in a tank 30 and subsequently circulated through the storage tank 19 with a pump 19.