Patent ID: 7258657

Claim:
A conversion machine for converting a sheet stock material into a dunnage product, comprising: a feeding assembly having a first pair of rotating components and a second pair of rotating components downstream of the first pair, and a housing that encloses at least a portion of the feeding assembly and through which the stock material passes along a path, the first and second pairs of rotating components extending into the housing from opposite sides thereof whereby the feeding assembly is operative to pull the stock material from a source thereof along the path and crumpling the stock material; and an apparatus for varying characteristics of the crumpled dunnage product, wherein the feeding assembly includes a motor coupled to at least one of the first pair of rotating components for continuously driving the first pair of rotating components during a dunnage formation operation, and to at least one of the second pair of rotating components by the apparatus for varying characteristics of the crumpled dunnage product, which apparatus includes an indexing gear mechanism that effects intermittent rotation of the second pair of rotating components thereby intermittently longitudinally crumpling the stock material and subsequently longitudinally stretching the crumpled stock material.