Patent ID: 7393482

Claim:
A process of applying a plastic sleeve to a pole of varying cross sectional area, comprising: advancing a plurality of substantially rectilinear poles of varying cross sectional area along their lengths in series along a processing path through the opening of an extruder die, feeding a plastic material at substantially a constant rate to the extruder die, continuously applying the plastic material through the opening of the extruder die about the exterior surface of each pole as each pole moves through the extruder die and progressively surrounding the pole with the plastic, detecting the thickness of a portion of the pole at a position displaced upstream of the extruder die, as the detected portion of the pole enters the extruder die increasing the rate of advancement of the pole in response to the detected portion of the pole decreasing in thickness and decreasing the rate of advancement of the pole in response to the detected portion of the pole increasing in thickness, and wrapping the plastic about the trailing end of the pole as the trailing end of the pole moves away from the extruder die.