Dancer roller

A dancer roller apparatus for controlling tension in a sheet material as the sheet material is wound between a pair of rollers comprising:

• a housing having a cavity and an entrance and an exit opening communicating into said cavity for passage of said sheet material into and out of said cavity, said cavity having therein a pair of end arcuate surfaces and a guide channel disposed adjacent said end arcuate surfaces;
• an elongated movable roller positioned in said cavity atop said sheet material for applying a tension to said sheet material between said entrance and exit openings, said roller having end arcuate surfaces for closely fitting in said end arcuate surfaces of said housing;
• an annular gear segment secured to each of said arcuate ends of said roller, the pitch of each said annular gear segment having a common radius measured from the axial center point of said roller;
• and
• a gear rack movably carried in each of said guide channels for meshed relation with a said annular gear segment.