Stretching system

Stretching system comprising a transverse stretching system or a sequential stretching system comprising a longitudinal stretching stage and a transverse stretching stage, comprising:

• two circulating guide tracks arranged having a lateral offset transversely with respect to a take-off direction of a film to be stretched,
• a circulating conveyor system along the two guide tracks, the circulating conveyor system having a plurality of clip conveyor units, via which the film to be stretched can be gripped at its sides and moved through the transverse stretching system or transverse stretching stage from an infeed zone to a discharge zone,
• at least one circulating guide track of the two circulating guide tracks comprising a guide rail arrangement along which the clip conveyor units can be moved in a supported manner via casters and/or sliders,
• wherein:
• the clip conveyor units comprise guide clips and control clips, each of the guide clips and the control clips being separately provided with at least one clamping device via which device a film edge of the film to be stretched can be clamped in place,
• either at least two guide clips that follow one another in a circulating direction of the conveyor system are interconnected by arranging one of the control clips therebetween, or at least two successive control clips are interconnected by arranging one of the guide clips therebetween, such that a connector hinges together the one of the guide clips and an adjacent control clip, the adjacent control clip being adjacent to the one of the guide clips,
• over at least one first section, the guide rail arrangement comprises a guide rail having at least one associated guide rail surface,
• over at least one second section, the guide rail arrangement comprises, in addition to the guide rail, a control rail and/or a control rail surface that is arranged at a spacing from the guide rail or the at least one associated guide rail surface,
• the guide clips can be moved along the at least one first section and the at least one second section of the guide rail, for which purpose the guide clips are meshed with the guide rail or the at least one guide rail surface, and
• the control clips can be moved along the guide rail over the at least one first section and are meshed with the associated control rail or the associated control rail surface in the region of the at least one second section such that each of the control clips and each clamping device associated with each of the control clips is moved at a lateral offset from both the guide rail and the guide clips, such that, in the region of the at least one second section, the connector is pivoted, in the process reducing a distance between the one of the guide clips and the adjacent control clip.