<p>A bead feeder (10) for serially delivering beads (12) to a downstream location (42) comprises a bead supply wheel (14) connected to rotate about a substantially vertical axis (16). The bead supply wheel includes a bead supply bowl (18) and a plurality of radially and outwardly extending bead passageways (20) connected to rotate with the bowl and dimensioned to receive a single line of beads from the bowl. A plurality of discharge openings (22) in the bead supply bowl is spaced around a lower portion thereof with the openings in alignment with the radially and outwardly extending passageways, and each of the passageways has an outer exit end. A stationary blocking ring (26) is directly below the outer exit ends of the passageways for receiving the lowermost bead from the single line of beads in each passageway. A drop-off (34) on the blocking ring allows the lowermost beads to drop away in a downward direction while a stationary bead retainer (32) above the drop-off of the blocking ring retained the bead adjacent the outermost bead.</p>
