and 2 of the drawings there is shown a preferred embodiment of an apparatus for separating straightening and stacking hose in accordance with the principles of the present invention specifically the apparatus generally designated by the reference numeral 10 includes a base 12 upon which are mounted a drive unit 14 for operating a reciprocating arm 16 and a tray 15 the arm 16 is movable within channel 18 between the opposite ends 20 and 22 of the drive member 14 arm 16 contains a pair of fingers 24 that come together and close for gripping a folded over end of a hose h for initially pulling the hose from hosiery string s on tubular form 26 and secondly advancing the hose along the upper surface of a horizontal platform 28 for straightening the outermost gripping finger of the pair is formed by an elongated plate carried on the end of an actuating rod a base plate is fixedly carried on the arm 16 and forms the other gripping finger one end of the base plate slidably supports the actuating rod which may be the armature of a solenoid see fig1 a and 2 platform 28 is pivotally mounted on a shaft 30 supported by members 31 only one is shown and is orientatable selectively in a substantially horizontal position fig1 and a downwardly tilted position fig2 as will be described in more detail.