Laminating and adhesive transfer apparatus

A multi-purpose laminating and adhesive transfer apparatus having a frame supporting rotatably engaging nip rollers. The frame and has upper and lower feed rolls which may be a laminate, film or paper, or an adhesively coated film or a film having an affinity for adhesive. The upper and lower feed rolls containing the webs of laminating or adhesive transfer material have tensioning caps which can be adjusted to provide the proper tensioning to prevent the rollers from overrunning as they rotate. The tensioning caps are pre-set and provided to the user. A cutter blade is positioned at the discharge side of the nip rollers and may be actuated to sever the master at any desired location. The apparatus may be operated to apply lamination to either top or bottom surfaces of a substrate.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a device which will laminate objects and 
which also will transfer adhesive to a substrate for purposes such as 
labeling. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
It is common practice to protect documents and other items by encasing them 
in clear plastic coverings. Various products, generally known as 
protectors are available for this purpose. Another common way of 
protecting documents is to laminate them. Lamination involves sealing the 
document or item between oppositely applied transparent films. 
Another operation which is commonly applied to documents and papers is that 
of adhesive transfer. Adhesive transfer is practiced when it is desired, 
for example, to make labels or stickers. One manner of producing such 
stickers and labels is to print the stickers or labels on blanks provided 
for this purpose. The blanks generally have an adhesive backing and are 
secured to a liner from which they are peeled at the time of use. This 
manner of making labels or stickers is expensive and further is limiting 
in that the printed :material must be adapted to the physical size or 
confines of a label or sticker which is generally small in size. 
Based on the foregoing, there exists a need for a multi-purpose machine 
which can both serve to apply laminates to documents and papers and which 
will also serve the purpose of adhesive transfer to materials of various 
sizes. For example, the apparatus of the present invention can apply clear 
plastic laminates to master substrates of various sizes and similarly can 
transfer adhesive to master substrates of various sizes and not limited by 
length. The adhesive transfer can be applied to either surface of the 
master as desired. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Briefly, in accordance with the present invention, a multi-purpose 
laminating and adhesive transfer device is provided which has a frame 
member with mounting means for receiving a first roll material such as a 
laminate or roll of film coated with releasable adhesive. A first nip 
roller extends transversely across the base. An upper frame member is 
pivotally secured to the base. The upper frame member has means for 
mounting or securing a roll of material such as a laminating film or a 
paper or film which has affinity for an adhesive. A second nip roller 
extends transversely across the upper frame member and, with the upper 
frame member positioned in the operative position relative to the base, 
the nip rollers engage or are closely proximate to one another. An 
actuator which may be powered or may be manual such as a hand crank is 
provided for driving or rotating at least one of the nip rollers. The 
upper frame member can be pivoted to an open position to facilitate 
loading of rolls of material in the base and upper frame member and to 
facilitate their insertion between the nip rollers. In an alternate 
embodiment, one of the nip rollers is mounted on a gibb plate so the 
rollers may be "opened". 
The upper and lower rollers containing the webs of laminating or adhesive 
transfer material have tensioning caps which can be adjusted to prevent 
the rollers from overrunning as they pay-out material. The tensioning caps 
may be pre-set by the material supplier or may be adjusted at the time of 
use. 
A feed tray is mountable either to the base or the upper frame member for 
feeding the master to be processed. By way of example, the lower feed roll 
can be a flexible film with an adhesive and the upper feed roll a supply 
of film with has an affinity for adhesive. A pre-printed master such as a 
master consisting of labels repetitively printed on a sheet can be fed via 
the feed tray to the interface between the nip rollers. Adhesive will be 
transferred from the bottom web to the labels with excess adhesive being 
picked up by the top web. The labels are now provided with an adhesive and 
may be severed at a cutting edge provided at the rear of the device. 
Accordingly, it is a primary and broad object of the present invention to 
provide a simple and efficient laminating and/or adhesive transfer device.

Turning now to the drawings, particularly FIGS. 1 to 5, the apparatus of 
the present invention is generally designated by the numeral 10 which 
includes a lower frame member or base 12 and an upper frame member 14. The 
lower frame member consists of spaced-apart side plates 16 and 18 secured 
in spaced-apart relationship by transversely extending spacer rod 25. The 
inner faces of the side plates are provided with horizontally extending 
grooves 28 and 28A which provide mounting means to accommodate the 
insertion of feed rolls as will be explained hereafter. The side plates 
are shown as rectangular having a bottom edge 30 which serves as a 
supporting surface or stand for the apparatus and a horizontal top edge 
34. 
The upper frame member 14 includes a pair of spaced-apart side plates 36 
and 38. The side plates 36, 38 are shown as each having top and bottom 
edges 40 and 42 and front and rear edges 44, 46, respectively. An angular 
surface 45 extends between the bottom edge and the front edge to 
facilitate access to the nip rollers for loading and unloading. 
Plates 36, 38 are pivotally mounted to lower plates 16 and 18 by means of 
pivot link 48. In the normal operative position, the bottom edge 42 of the 
upper side plates rests on the upper horizontal surface 34 of the lower 
side plates. In the open position, as shown in FIG. 3, the upper frame 
member is rearwardly tilted about pivot 48 to a position in which the rear 
surface of the lower end plates engage the lower edge of the upper frame 
member to provide access for loading and unloading. 
Feed material is secured in the upper frame member by inserting a feed roll 
into slots 56 and 56A extending vertically in the inner surface of the 
opposite plates. 
An upper nip roller 60 extends transversely between the side plates of the 
upper frame member positioned adjacent the lower edge 42 of the plates. 
The upper nip roller includes an axial shaft 62 which is rotatable in a 
suitable bearings or bushings 64. A stop nut or cap, not shown, is 
provided at the left end of the shaft, as viewed in FIG. 1. 
The shaft is covered by a cylindrical roller member 65 of resilient 
material such as rubber. The shaft 62 projects exteriorly of the side 
plate 38 and is shown carrying a hand crank 70 for manually rotating the 
roller and shaft. Alternatively, the rollers may be powered by an 
electrical driven motor. A pinion gear 72 is secured to the shaft 62 
adjacent the exterior surface of side plate 38, as best seen in FIG. 4. 
A second nip roller 80 extends transversely between the lower side plates 
positioned parallel to the upper nip roller. The lower nip roller may be 
vertically aligned with the upper nip roller but preferably is forwardly 
displaced a small distance ahead of the upper nip roller as for example 
1/4" as seen in FIG. 2. The lower nip roller has a shaft 82 which is 
rotatable in bearings or journals 84 in the side plates 16 and 18. A 
pinion gear 85 is carried on the extension of shaft 82 at side plate 18. 
When the upper frame is in its operative position, gear 85 will engage the 
upper pinion gear 72 so that actuation of the upper nip roller shaft by 
crank 70 or by other power means will impart rotation to both nip rollers. 
As mentioned above, the device may be used as a laminator or as an adhesive 
transfer device. In the case of use as an adhesive transfer device, a 
lower feed roll 100 carrying a transferrable adhesive is secured in the 
lower frame member. Referring to FIGS. 10 to 13, the feed roll includes a 
web 102 of flexible carrier material having release characteristics on the 
lower surface and an adhesive coating 106 on the other surface. With the 
roll in position, the end of the web 102 is extended over the lower roller 
80 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 10. An upper feed roll 110 is positioned in 
engagement with the slots 56 and 56A in the interior surface of the upper 
side plates. The upper feed roll, in the case of adhesive transfer, will 
consist of a web 112 of material such as inexpensive paper or film having 
an affinity for adhesive. The end of the web 112 is extended between the 
nip rollers with the end of the web adhesively secured to the web of the 
master 125 in the lower roll. 
The upper frame member is then rotated to a closed position bringing the 
nip rollers 60 and 80 into engagement or close proximity with the webs 
102, 112 and master 125 compressed therebetween. 
A feed tray 130 which consists of a planar feeding surface 132 and opposite 
extending flanges 135, 135A is suspended from the sides of the lower frame 
member. This is accomplished by engaging flanges 135 and 135A with the 
respective upper edges of the side plates. 
Referring to FIG. 9, cutter bar 150 is shown which extends transversely 
between the lower side plates rearwardly of the nip rollers. The cutter 
bar 150 has a sharpened edge 152 which allows the operator to easily 
manually sever a master at any location as it is being processed when it 
emerges rearwardly from between the nip rollers. 
Referring to FIGS. 10-13, the master, which is designated by the numeral 
125, consists of a continuous sheet of material having an upper surface 
126 and a lower surface 128. The upper surface 126 is imprinted with 
indicia 131 forming a repetitive pattern of labels which have been 
pre-printed as desired, although the master can be any pre-printed 
documents or series of documents. The master is aligned on the feed tray 
with the free edge of the master positioned on the exposed adhesive 
surface 106 of the lower feed stock. The slight forward protrusion of the 
lower nip roller facilitates securing the master to this location. 
The operator then actuates the machine by operating the crank which will 
rotate the upper nip roller 60 and by means of the inter-engaging pinion 
gears, cause rotation of the lower nip roller 80. This rotation will 
advance the upper web 112, lower web 106 and the master 125. As the master 
proceeds between the nip rollers, the exposed adhesive 106 from the lower 
web will be transferred to the lower surface 128 of the master. The upper 
web will pick up any excess adhesive not transferred to the master, as for 
example areas outside the perimeter of the label areas 130. The upper 
pick-up web should be wider than the adhesive web. The master may then be 
easily severed into individual labels by transversely severing the master 
at predetermined locations. The labels are shown as being on a continuous 
strip which has been pre-printed with the desired indicia 135. 
Note that the master can be oriented with either the printing or indicia 
facing upwardly or downwardly, depending on the user's requirements. For 
example, if the labels are to be applied to the inside of a window, the 
master would be in most cases fed into the applicator with the printing 
downwardly positioned so adhesive would be applied over the printing 130. 
The apparatus can apply lamination to either the top or bottom surfaces of 
a substrate or adhesive to the top or bottom surfaces of a substrate or to 
both. The device can also perform combination operations of applying both 
a laminate and an adhesive to a substrate. 
The characteristics of the lower web are such that the adhesive 106 is a 
non-aggressive adhesive loosely adhered to the surface of the web. Thus, 
the lower web serves as a peelable covering which can be stripped away at 
the time the master is to be used by adhesively applying the master to a 
surface. 
One significant advantage of the device of the present invention is that 
the upper and lower feed rolls may be provided to the end user pre-wound 
and properly tensioned so as to not overrun during operation. The proper 
tensioning of the feed rolls is accomplished by means of a tensioning 
device as best seen in FIGS. 7 and 8. In FIGS. 7 and 8, one end of the 
feed roll core 200 is shown about which is wound the roll of web material 
and which is representative of either roll 100 or 110. The core is a 
cylinder of cardboard or plastic having an end face 210. Core 200 has an 
interior 212 which receives end cap 215. The cap may be of molded plastic 
or other similar material having an interior outer wall 216. A boss 220 is 
concentrically formed in the cap with respect to the cylindrical wall 216. 
Boss 220 defines an axial bore 225. The cap 215 is positioned slightly 
inwardly of the end 210 of the core and may be adhesively secured in place 
to the interior wall 212 of the roll core. 
A circular end plate 230 abuts the end of the core having a diameter 
slightly greater than the diameter of the core. The end plate has a 
central aperture 240 which receives the threaded shaft of bolt 246. A 
spring 250 is interposed between the head of the bolt and the interior 
face of the cap 215. A nut 252 engages the threaded end of the bolt. The 
head of the bolt 246 bears against the exposed surface of the end plate 
and the position of the nut determines the frictional resistance that 
exists between the interior surface of the end plate 230 and the end face 
210 of the core of the roller. This tension is pre-adjusted by the 
manufacturer to provide the proper roll tension depending upon the type of 
material, size of the material, thickness of the material and other 
factors. 
Mounting tabs 260 and 260A project outwardly from the end plate and are 
engageable in the mounting slots provided on the interior surfaces of the 
upper and lower end plates of the applicator device. 
Thus, it will be seen that inserting a supply of feed stock either in the 
upper or lower frames is easily accomplished. The existing or spent feed 
rolls are removed by sliding them outwardly to disengage the tabs from the 
slots. The new roll is inserted by aligning the mounting tabs with the 
slots and sliding the new feed roll into place. 
The feed rolls may be supplied with various types of feed stock webs such 
as clear laminates, paper for removing excess adhesive or rolls of 
material having a loose adhesive coating and a release coating on the 
opposite surface. 
FIGS. 14 and 15 show an alternate embodiment of the apparatus of the 
present invention which is generally designated by the numeral 400. 
Elements which are the same or similar to elements described with respect 
to the preceding figures are identified by the same numerals. The 
apparatus of FIGS. 14 and 15 has a frame consisting of opposite side walls 
436 and 438. The side walls are again provided with vertically extending 
grooves 56, 56A and horizontally extending grooves 28, 28A which 
accommodate the insertion of feed rolls 110 and 100, respectively. In this 
embodiment, the side walls of the frame are fixed and separation of nip 
rollers 60 and 80 is accomplished by means of a gibb plate arrangement as 
will be explained hereafter. 
Since mounting slots 56, 56A are vertically disposed, the weight of the 
roller 110 will maintain the feed roll in the proper position. Preferably 
the feed rollers 100 and 110 are positioned as close to the nip rollers as 
possible to maintain accurate feeding and to minimize misalignment. It may 
be desirable to provide positive biasing means to urge feed roll 100 
rightwardly as shown in FIG. 14. To this end, a link 430 is pivotally 
secured at pivot point 432 to the interior of the side wall 436. A similar 
link may be disposed on the interior side wall 438. A spring 435 is 
disposed below the slot 28. When the roll 100 is inserted, link 432 may be 
rotated downwardly as indicated by the arrow and engaged with spring 435 
to apply a biasing force to the feed roll to maintain it in a secure 
position. 
As indicated above, it is desirable that the nip rollers 60 and 80 be 
separated to provide access for purposes of loading the apparatus. In the 
prior embodiment, access was provided by a frame arrangement in which one 
portion of the frame is pivotal with respect to the other. In the 
embodiment of FIGS. 14 and 15, the lower nip roller 80 extends between the 
interior side walls of the side plate and mounted at opposite ends at 
bearing arrangement 485. The upper nip roller 60 is provided with opposite 
stub shafts 444 which are received in bearings in opposite gibb plates 450 
and 452. Gibb plates 450 and 452 are vertically slidable and are upwardly 
biased by springs 460. In FIG. 15, the rollers are shown in a closed 
position in which they are in contact or close engagement. The nip rollers 
are maintained in position by shaft 425 which is operated by nip 
engagement lever 470. It will be seen that by rotating lever 470, shaft 
425 will be rotated bringing notches or grooves 480 into engagement with 
the upper end of the gibb plates 450, 452. This will allow the gibb plates 
and nip roller 60 to move upwardly separating from lower nip roller 80. In 
the closed position, as shown in FIG. 15, the shaft 425 is rotated into 
engagement with the gibb plates 450, 452 to force the gibb plates and 
upper nip roller downwardly into engagement with the lower roller 
overcoming the bias of the springs 460. 
While the principles of the invention have been made clear in the 
illustrative embodiments set forth above, it will be obvious to those 
skilled in the art to make various modifications to the structure, 
arrangement, proportion, elements, materials and components used in the 
practice of the invention. To the extent that these various modifications 
do not depart from the spirit and scope of the appended claims, they are 
intended to be encompassed therein.