Abstract: An infrared heat tunnel with hot air circulation for heat shrinking wraparound labels on containers which are moved through the tunnel in an upright attitude on an open weave conveyor belt. The infrared heating is by electrical strip heaters along the sides of the tunnel and air is blown by blowers across these heaters to impinge on the sides of the containers. The air is drawn down through the conveyor belt since the inlet to the blowers is from beneath the conveyor. A vertical air curtain along each side of the first half of the tunnel is adjustable in length to effectively delay the skin shrinkage of the film-foam material of the labels in order to get wrinkle-free shrinkage of the film and underlying foam about the container wall and heel areas without bottle rotation.

Abstract: Apparatus for accepting preheated or ambient containers in single file to an eighteen-head handling turret that will carry the containers through a generally circular path by their necks. The containers are transported through 320.degree. of the circle described by the chuck-carrying turret. The other 40.degree. of the circle is the zone where the chucks are open and the containers that are labeled move away from the turret and heated containers are entering. The chucks are rotated about their axes by a chain-driven mechanism, and while rotated, pass between spaced ovens to shrink theremoplastic sleeves about the containers.