Patent ID: 7572216

Claim:
A dunnage converter, comprising: a conversion assembly that converts a stock material into a strip of dunnage as the stock material passes therethrough in a downstream direction; an output chute through which the strip of dunnage is discharged downstream of the conversion assembly; and a guard disposed in the chute and movable between an open position allowing passage of the strip of dunnage through the chute and a closed position inhibiting access to an upstream end of the chute from the downstream end of the chute, and the guard having at a free end both a forward glide surface operative to glide along an outer surface of the strip of dunnage as the strip moves in the downstream direction and a rearward glide surface operative to glide along an outer surface of the strip of dunnage as the strip moves in an upstream direction opposite the downstream direction wherein the chute includes an upstream-facing shoulder that defines a recess upstream of the shoulder, such that when the guard is in a closed position, the free end of the guard lies in the recess upstream of the shoulder, thereby making the rearward glide surface inaccessible from a downstream end of the chute.