an apparatus and method for automatically placing large plastic lids onto containers . lids 24 are dispensed individually from magazine 11 onto slide 33 . each dispensed lid is individually retained at the bottom of the slide 33 for pickup by a container 41 . the lid is urged onto the container by a pivoted roller 47 and further leveled by a roller 58 which is extended twice by a pneumatic piston to first contact a leading edge of the lid and to secondly contact a trailing edge of the lid . thereafter a pneumatically operated lid securement means 61 comprising a convex plate 70 &# 39 ; burps the air from beneath the lid and fully seats the lid on the container . the apparatus has various sensing means for sensing the depletion of lids from magazine 11 , for sensing that a lid has been dispensed onto slide 33 and for sensing a container at the capping station . the sensing means control the various operations of the machine in proper sequence .