Patent ID: 9284699
Filing Date: 2016-03-15
CPC Classification: B29L,E01C

Claim Text:
1. A striper for applying marking tape to pavement at desired locations comprising: a carriage comprising a front and a rear, the carriage being mounted on pavement-engaging wheels; the carriage rotatably supporting at least one spool, the at the least one spool being mounted rotatably on an idler axle adapted to rotatably dispense the tape along a predetermined path onto the pavement, the tape having a non-adhesive side and an adhesive side; the path comprising only two sites which contiguously engage only the non-adhesive side of the tape to redirect the tape so that during continuous pavement placement of the tape there is no contact with the adhesive side of the tape; the first redirection site comprising an idler roller at an elevation substantially above the pavement and in front of the at least one spool by which the tape is redirected into a generally downward direction; the second redirection site comprising an idler pressure roller generally below the idler roller by which the tape is redirected into pressurized contiguous relation with the pavement; a tape cutting mechanism carried by the carriage and located adjacent to the tape between the idler roller and idler pressure roller by which an operator selectively causes the tape to be cut leaving a free end of the tape suspended in air; a tape end displacement mechanism which is selectively activated under operator control to cause one limited edge area only of at least one displaceable finger, without compression, to first move toward the tape to thereby engage in a slight way the adhesive side of the tape above the free end thereof and thereafter to displace the free end of the tape in spaced relation past the tape cutting mechanism bringing the adhesive side of the tape adjacent to the free end thereof into contiguous adhering engagement with the pavement in front of the idler pressure roller, solely by reason of the limited area engagement, the tape end displacement mechanism being deactivated under operator control to displace the finger away from the tape to thereby eliminate the limited area engagement without disrupting the adhering engagement between the adhesive side of the tape at the free end thereof and the pavement.