Patent ID: 8234846

Claim:
A shrink film applying apparatus comprising: an article feed for feeding articles for shrink-wrapping at line pressure; a wrapping conveyor driven at a wrapping speed through a wrapping zone, the wrapping conveyor receiving articles from the article feed; a first film supply supplying a first film to the wrapping zone, the first film being fed to a position above the wrapping conveyor and beneath the articles; a second film supply supplying a second film to the wrapping zone, the second film being fed to a position above the first film and the articles; a plurality of flight bars and a plurality of flight bar drives, each flight bar individually driven in a path at a variable speed by a respective one of the flight bar drives, the second film being sequentially pulled down between selected articles by the flight bars so as to form loops of the second film in the wrapping zone between adjacent flight bars, each loop of the second film having a contact point adjacent the respective flight bar contacting the first film; and a sealing mechanism within the wrapping zone for sealing the first film to the second film at the contact points to form a circumferential film unit substantially surrounding grouped articles within each loop of second film and a corresponding portion of the first film, the film unit being shrinkable about the grouped articles to form a package.