Apparatus for singularizing garment hangers

Apparatus for singularizing garment hangers in a plant wherein the hooks of garment hangers are slidable along a downwardly sloping ramp has a stop with a tooth extending upwardly from an intermediate portion of the ramp. The tooth has a substantially vertical arresting flank confronting the oncoming hooks, and a downwardly sloping second flank defining with the arresting flank an apex at a level above the topmost portion of the hook which is arrested by the tooth. An elevator, which is movable up and down by a fluid-operated motor, has a leg which is reciprocable adjacent the stop upstream of the arresting flank to lift the foremost arrested hook to a level above the apex so that the lifted hook can ride over the tooth and descends onto the ramp below the stop. The leg of the elevator has a top land which slopes downwardly and is flush with the second flank of the tooth in the upper position of the elevator to facilitate downward movement of the lifted hook. The effective width of the top land is between 0.5 and 1.5 D wherein D is the diameter of the wire of which the hooks are made.