Patent ID: 6923880

Claim:
A film splicer apparatus for splicing a film used for bagging snack foods, said apparatus comprising: a frame; an axle supported by said frame for rotatably supporting a first roll of the film used for the bagging of the snack foods; a further axle disposed spaced from said axle for rotatably supporting a replacement second roll of film for replacing the first roll of the film when spent, the first roll and the replacement second roll being rotatable about a first and second axis respectively, said axes being disposed spaced and parallel relative to each other; a tail grabber connected to said frame for grabbing a tail end of the spent first roll; a drive roll disposed downstream relative to said tail grabber for pulling the film through said tail grabber; a registration device for registration of the tail end of the first roll with an aligned leading edge of the replacement second roll; a splice head for splicing together the registered tail end and the leading edge such that the replacement roll is brought into operation without stopping the operation of bagging the snack foods; said tail grabber including: a first roller for guiding the tail end; a second roller for guiding the tail end; and a clamp being movable from said first location thereof spaced from said first and second rollers to a second location thereof in which the tail end is clamped between said clamp and said first and second rollers such that limited movement of the tail end relative to said first and second rollers is permitted so that registration of the tail end is attainable.