Knitted netting is applied to products in a machine. A chute receives
products serially through a receiving end, as from a conveyor, and
discharges them serially into netting preferably rucked on the chute. As
each product arrives at the product receiver, voiders operate to form a
rope section of the netting behind the product, at the chute's discharge
end. The clipper also clips the netting, to complete the netting of the
product, and clips to create the starting end of the next netted product.
A netting handle former operates to loop the rope section behind the
product, before clipping, to form a looped handle for a product in the
rope section of the netting. The netting that is clipped behind the
products is the netting formed into the loops, and thus, the clips that
are put on by the clipper secure the loops in their size and condition.
The product receiver is preferably a discharge tray, and product guides
on the tray straighten the product, to align it for netting, and also
co-operate with the voiders to help tighten the product packaging. The
clipper is also preferably uniquely structured in its clip rails to
contribute to tighter packaging. The clip rails are paired on one side of
the machine, with one angled and extending through a near clipper die
support to reach the die of a distant die support. The chute is gravity
driven and includes product ribs or rails for centering and ease of
movement of products. The handle former is an essentially two-part,
mechanically actuated disc and clam shell construction that reaches for
the netting, captures it, and rotates a loop into it, while tightening
the packaging, in co-ordination with the voiders.