Abstract: Apparatus for dropping rings one at a time from a stack and including apparatus for receiving piston rings so dropped and applying them to pistons. The apparatus includes a tube, upper and lower pawls slidably mounted in the lower end of said tube and an oscillating cam having a pin and slot interconnection to said pawls to cause them to project and retract alternately in order to drop a ring from the lower pawl while retaining the stack with the upper pawl and to drop the stack onto the lower pawl. Adjacent the lower end of the tube is a ring spreader which has a jaw engageable with one side of a piston ring and bifurcated jaw engageable with the other side of the piston ring with means to cause the jaws to engage the piston ring and spread the bifurcated jaws apart to open up the ring, whereupon the spreader may be lowered to position the ring around the piston.