Patent ID: 7328786

Claim:
An apparatus for use in a shrink packaging machine for accommodating a greater height variance of articles, comprising: (a) a plurality of rollers, each roller including a shaft and a cylindrical member mounted on said shaft for rotation about an axis of said shaft; and (b) a frame including a pair of parallel side members generally extending in a first, horizontal direction and defining a plurality of slots receiving opposite ends of said shafts of said rollers for mounting of said rollers between said side members; (c) wherein each of said slots has a slot length that extends in a direction having both a component extending in the first, horizontal direction and a component extending in the second, vertical direction orthogonal to the first, horizontal direction; (d) wherein said rollers mounted between said side members each generally extends in a third direction orthogonal both to the first, horizontal direction and to the second, vertical direction; (e) wherein each of said rollers mounted between said side members is received within a pair of said slots and is vertically and horizontally displaceable between a respective uppermost position and a respective lowermost position within its respective said pair of slots; and (f) wherein each said roller is configured to first engage an article being shrink wrapped when in its respective lowermost position, and wherein the axes of said rollers do not all lie within a common horizontal plane when each said roller is disposed in its respective lowermost position within its respective said pair of slots.