Automatic pallet wrapping machine

Claim 1

Apparatus for providing a sleeve of plastic film tightly around a load on a forklift truck pallet, comprising: a forklift pallet for carrying a load; means for providing a horizontal path for the load carrying pallet; web supply means for supplying and disposing a web of plastic film in vertical position across said path; means for advancing the said pallet and said load thereon against the web of film across said path, to carry the web along said path, withdrawing addition film from said supply means, forming a bight in the web around the load; a pair of clampingsealing jaw assemblies stradling said path and adapted to close towards each other in vertical planes parallel to each other behind the article onto the bight in the web; power operated means activated during said movement of said jaw assemblies toward each other and opposing withdrawal of the web from the supply means and thereby placing the web uNder greater tension than the tension resulting from the movement of the pallet and load against the web; means for actuating said opposing means after the load has pulled the web into a bight and passed along the path beyond the jaw assemblies, so that as said jaw assemblies close they deflect the web behind the load, thereby increasing its length, and thereby stretching the two superposed portions of the web therebetween; each of said jaw assemblies including two spaced-apart vertical clamping jaws, whereby said assemblies, when closed on each other, clamp the superposed portions of the web along two spaced-apart lines, and a radiant heat source for melting a gap in the superposed portions of the web together along the gap.