Patent attributes
A stretch head for facilitating the wrapping of palletized loads within packaging or wrapping film comprises a vertical downright, and a carriage assembly vertically movable along the vertical downright. A base plate is mounted upon the carriage assembly and is inclined with respect to a horizontal plane so as to have a first end thereof disposed at a higher elevation than a second opposite end thereof. A supply roll of wrapping or packaging film is rotatably mounted upon the first higher end of the base plate, and a pair of tension rollers are mounted upon a substantially central portion of the base plate. A strain gauge roller is also mounted upon the base plate for receiving the wrapping film exiting from the tension rollers, a first idler roller is mounted upon the base plate for receiving the wrapping film from the strain gauge roller, and a second idler roller is mounted upon the second opposite end of the base plate for receiving the wrapping film from the first idler roller. Since the second idler roller is mounted upon the lowest end portion of the base plate, in view of the inclined disposition thereof, the second idler roller is capable of positioning the wrapping film at the lowest elevation whereby the wrapping film can be wrapped around the lowermost regions of the palletized load. The second idler roller also comprises a rubberized sleeve member for preventing movement of the wrapping film in an axial direction along the external periphery of the second idler roller so as to ensure proper positioning and orientation of the wrapping film with respect to the palletized load.
