Patent ID: 7131249

Claim:
A product overwrap machine comprising: a crossfeed conveyor having adjacent electric drives each driving a loop positioned adjacent to one another, each loop having a plurality of flight bars affixed thereto, adjacent opposing flight bars of the adjacent loops forming pairs of flight bars, said crossfeed conveyor having an inlet position; a first sensor for detecting product presence at said inlet position of said conveyor and providing a first product detecting output; a lifting table positioned next to said conveyor and moveable between a lower position and an upper position; a pusher bar positioned adjacent to said lifting table for pushing product transversely from said crossfeed conveyor onto said lifting table when actuated by a pusher bar electric drive, said pusher bar having a pusher bar plate having a width; a second sensor for detecting the width of the pusher bar plate and providing a pusher bar plate width output; a control system for controlling operation of said crossfeed conveyor according to the first product detecting output of said first sensor; and wherein said control system receives said pusher bar plate width output and operates said electric drives to position flight bars of each pair of flight bars apart a sufficient distance such that a distance between opposing flight bars in each pair of flight bars is greater than the width of the pusher bar plate.