Hand-held implements for transferring a film from a backing strip onto a substrate

The invention relates to a hand-held implement for transferring a film (25) from a backing strip (7) wound on a supply real (5) onto a substrate, the said implement having a housing (2), a pressure-exerting part (16) projecting therefrom, and two bearing and/or carrier devices for the supply reel (5) and a take-up real (6) for the backing strip (7) guided around the pressure-exerting part (16), the housing being able to be opened for the purposes of replacing the reels (5,6). In order to be able to load such a hand-held implement simply and quickly without the costs and material expenditure involved in a replaceable cassette, a loading aid (30) provided for loading the opened housing (2) with the reels (5,6) is proposed in a mutual arrangement of these reels (5,6) that is substantially identical to that of the bearing and/or carrier devices, the loading aid having at least one guide element (34) associated with the guide surface (16b, 18) of the pressure-exerting part (16), which element is designed to ensure that the backing strip (7) extending between the two reels (5,6) rests against the latter in such a way that when the loading aid (30) is in place it at least partially surrounds or envelopes the pressure-exerting part (16).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a hand-held implement for transferring a 
film of e.g. an adhesive, coating or colored material from a supporting 
strip wound on a supply reel onto a substrate, the said implement having a 
housing, a pressure-exerting part protecting therefrom and two bearing 
and/or carrier devices arranged in the interior of the housing for the 
supply reel and a take-up reel for the supporting strip unwound from the 
supply reel and guided round the pressure-exerting part, the housing being 
able to be opened for the purposes of replacing the supply reel and the 
take-up reel. 
With such a hand-held implement the length of the film and thus also the 
capacity of the hand-held implement is predetermined by the length of the 
supporting or backing strip, which forms a supply arranged in the 
hand-held implement. This supply accordingly has to be replaced after the 
film has been used up. One possibility of doing this, namely replacing 
exclusively the supply reel and the take-up reel together with the backing 
strip is impracticable since it is difficult to handle the reels without 
winding the backing strip and, in particular, to incorporate them in the 
housing. Although it is relatively simple to remove the spent backing 
strip together with the associated supply and take-up reels, since these 
parts can simply be thrown away, it is nevertheless difficult to 
incorporate these replacement parts and further incorporation errors may 
arise that could put an end to the proper correct functioning of the 
hand-held implements One possible way of solving this problem is to 
arrange the supply reel, the take-up reel and the backing strip in a 
replacement cassette that can simply be replaced after the supply has been 
used up. Such a hand-held implement is described for example in DE 36 44 
946 C2. With this known design the replacement cassette includes not only 
the supply reel and the take-up reel together with the backing strip, but 
also an application device for pressing the backing strip onto the 
substrate, which device projects forwardly from the housing of the 
hand-held implement and around which the backing strip is drawn when the 
film is transferred to the substrate. 
This known design is material-consuming since each time the materials are 
replaced not only the supply reel and the take-up reel together with the 
backing strip, but also the replacement cassette, including the 
application device together with the associated retaining parts, are 
replaced and consequently lost. 
The object of the invention is to provide a hand-held implement of the type 
described at the beginning that enables the supply reel and take-up reel 
together with the backing strip to be replaced with less expense and 
effort. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
With the design according to the invention a loading aid is provided to 
accommodate the reels and the backing strip in a mutual arrangement that 
is essentially the same as that of the reels and the backing strip in the 
housing. In this way it is possible, from a position of the loading aid in 
which the aforementioned arrangements of the reels and backing strip 
coincide, to displace the said reels and the backing strip from the 
loading aid to the associated bearing and positioning parts of the 
housing. The loading aid thus acts as a means by which the reels and the 
backing strip are on the one hand held in a position coinciding with the 
arrangement in the housing, and on the other hand it is possible, from a 
transfer position in which the positions coincide, to displace the reels 
and the backing strip into the functional position in or on the housing of 
the hand-held implements 
The design according to the invention provides the following advantages. On 
the one hand it significantly reduces the material expenditure since the 
loading aid can be formed as a temporary device in a simple and light form 
of construction, which merely serves to hold the reels and the backing 
strip in the specific arrangement without having to satisfy further 
stability and functional requirements, as is the case with a replacement 
cassette. At the same time the loading aid can form a packaging means for 
the reels and the backing stripe which means that a separate special 
packaging means can be dispensed with. The loading aid together with the 
reels and the backing strip may be arranged in various ways in the 
transfer starting position, in which the said reels and backing strip can 
be inserted into the housing. On the one hand it is possible to align the 
loading aid visually in the transfer starting position. In this connection 
special features such as marks or edges on the loading aid can serve to 
recognize the correct transfer starting position by comparison with 
associated marks or edges on the housing. It is also possible and in fact 
advantageous to arrange a positioning device, for example a plug-in 
socket, between the loading aid and the housing so that the loading aid 
simply needs to be inserted into the positioning device, where it will 
necessarily be in the correct transfer starting positions 
In its functional position in the hand-held implement the backing strip 
runs around the application device in the form of an arcuate loop that is 
also preset on the loading aid, so that the loop can be slipped onto the 
application device. To this end the loading aid has a guide element that 
secures the position of the loop and ensures that the loop is displaced 
onto the application device when the spools are transferred to the 
housing. In this connection it is also possible within the scope of the 
invention for the guide element of the loading aid to support the loop on 
the outside or, preferably, on the inside. Such a backing measure is 
sufficient to stabilize the loop for the transfer procedure so that the 
said loop can be displaced without any difficulty onto the application 
device during the transfer. The guide element of the loading aid 
preferably has a shape adapted to the application device so that the wedge 
shape of the loop can be preset in such a way that the said loop can be 
displaced without any difficulty onto the application device during the 
transfer. In this connection the guide element of the loading aid can be 
at a somewhat greater distance from the reels than the application device, 
so that in the transfer state the loop surrounds the application device 
with a certain degree of play. This does not cause any problems since the 
play can be eliminated either by a slight manual actuation of the take-up 
reel or is automatically eliminated when the hand-held implement is used, 
since the take-up reel is driven with a greater winding speed than the 
withdrawal speed of the backing strip. 
After the transfer of the reels and the backing strip the loading aid can 
be disposed of as a low material content structural part, or alternatively 
it is possible to reuse it as a carrier and optionally also as a bearing 
and transporting means.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The hand-held implement has a box-shaped housing 2 of such a size that it 
can be held easily and comfortably in the hand. The housing 2 is of flat 
construction with oppositely facing, parallel or approximately parallel 
broad sides 3 and narrow sides 4. In the functional position the housing 
may be arranged flat or, in the case of the present embodiment, with the 
edge uppermost. A supply reel 5, a take-up reel 6 together with a backing 
strip 7 forming a supply, an application device 81, and a drive device 9 
active between the supply reel 5 and the take-up reel 6 are arranged in 
the cavity of the housing 2. 
The housing 2 is designed in two parts, with a pot-shaped housing part, 
hereinafter identified as the under part 2a, containing a broad side wall 
11 and the narrow circumferential wall 12, and a housing upper part 
containing the other broad side wall 13 and fulfilling the function of a 
cover 2b, which parts can be connected to one another by a closure device, 
preferably in the form of a locking device 14. The housing parts can be 
joined to one another by means of a hinge 15, which is preferably arranged 
opposite the application device 8 on the associated end of the housing 2, 
which is preferably oblong in this direction. 
The application device 8 is formed by a wedge-shaped pressure-exerting or 
application part 16, which is secured to one of the two housing parts in 
such a way that its wedge section 16a projects outwardly through an 
opening 17 in the circumferential wall 12. The wedge vertex is formed by a 
rectilinear tip 18 that extends transverse to the broad sides in the case 
of the present embodiment of the housing, and in which terminate the two 
back surfaces 16b of the wedge shape. The application part 16 can be 
formed in one part on one of the housing parts or can be formed as an 
additional structural part that can be joined by means of a plug-in socket 
in a positive-locking manner to one or both housing parts. 
In order to mount the reels 5, 6, bearings are provided in the form of 
preferably hollow sleeve-shaped bearing shafts 19, 21, which are secured 
preferably in one piece on the inside on one of the two broad sidewalls of 
the housing. In the present embodiment the bearing shafts 19, 21 are 
arranged on the cover 2b, which may have a small transverse edge 12a for 
positive locking engagement with the circumferential wall 12. The 
application part 16 too is mounted on the inside of the cover 2b. In the 
open or closed position of the housing 2 the reels 5, 6 and the 
application part 16 are consequently freely arranged, in the case of a 
cover 2b lying on a bass with a broad side, on the inside of the said 
cover and are visible from above 
In the functional position the housing 2 is in a position such that the tip 
or apex 18 is situated on one side of the housing and the housing projects 
slightly downwards, with the result that it can be pressed onto a 
substrate 23, for example a sheet of paper lying on a support. 
The backing strip 7 carries on its outside (according to FIG. 1, underside) 
a layer of an adhesive, coating or colored material. The strip is taken up 
on the supply reel 5 and runs in the working position of the hand-held 
implement 1 from the lower side thereof from below around the application 
part 16 and its tip 18 to the take-up reel 6. If the hand-held implement 1 
in its functional position is displaced rearwardly in the direction of the 
arrow 24, then on account of the existing adhesion the material layer 25 
together with the pressure-exerting part 16 is pressed onto the substrate 
23, adhering to the latter and being released from the backing strip 7. 
The backing strip 7 is unwound from the supply reel 5 and wound by the 
drive device 9 onto the take-up reel 6. The transmission ratio of the 
drive device 9 is chosen to be sufficiently large so that the winding rate 
of the take-up reel 6 on its take-up circumference is equal to or larger 
than the unwinding rate on the unwinding circumference of the supply reel 
5. This results in a so-called "advance" of the take-up reel 6, which 
ensures a certain degree of tension in the backing strip section 7a 
extending between the supply reel 5 and the take-up reel 6. In this 
connection the drive device 9 is designed so as to ensure a constant 
"slippage," i.e., it can be overwound, with the result that the tension in 
the backing strip 7 does not exceed a predetermined value. 
The drive device 9 can be formed by a drive belt or by a direct frictional 
or toothed engagement on the reel walls 26, 27 the respective drive 
engagement being able to be "overridden" in order to avoid a damaging 
tension in the backing strip 7. For the sake of simplicity the drive 
device 9 is illustrated simply by means of an arrow. The reels 5, 6 
consist in each case of a hollow cylindrical reel arrangement 28 from 
whose ends the two associated reel walls 26 and 27 extend radially 
outwardly and form the associated unwinding and take-up space for the 
backing strip 7. 
When the film supply is used up, the reels 5, 6 together with the backing 
strip 7 can be removed in a simple manner from the aforedescribed mounting 
and positioning arrangements 
In order to load the opened housing 2 a loading aid 30 is provided on which 
a supply reel 5 and a take-up reel 6 together with an unused backing strip 
7 are mounted respectively by means of a positioning device 31, 32, 33 in 
each case in a position corresponding to the position in the housing 2. 
The positioning device is 31, 32 for the reels 5,6 are formed in each case 
by a centering device that ensures the positioning. The positioning device 
33 for the loop-shaped backing strip 7a is formed by a positioning element 
34 that delimits the tip of the loop of the backing strip section 7a 
internally or externally in a shape that corresponds to or is dimensioned 
larger than the loop shape in the working position. The arrangement is 
designed so that the reels 5,6 and the backing strip 7a can be removed 
from one side of the loading aid 30. The positioning devices 31, 32, 33 
are connected by a rod-shaped or plate-shaped carrier element 35 to form a 
structural unit. In the present embodiment the carrier element 35 is a 
flat strip-like structural part on one of whose broad sides the 
positioning devices 31, 32, 33 are arranged and can thus be removed from 
the existing free side. 
The positioning devices 31, 32 are formed in each case by three star-shaped 
projections, in the present case in the form of pins 37, arranged 
distributed around a central axis running transverse to the strip-like 
carrier element 35, the center-to-center distance of the said pins being 
chosen so that the relevant reel 5 is centered therebetween. In a similar 
manner the positioning device 32 is formed by three or more pins 38 that 
surround and center the take-up reel 6. In the position existing in the 
centering devices 31, 32 the reels 5,6 may abut the carrier element 35, or 
spacing members may also be provided separating the reels from the carrier 
element, these members in the case of the present embodiment being formed 
by shoulders 39 arranged in the base of the pins, and against which rest 
the relevant reel walls 26, 27. 
The pins 37, 38 may exert a slight radially inwardly directed clamping 
action on the reels 5,6 so that these are slightly held between the pins, 
or they can also be arranged having a small degree of play so that the 
reels 5,6 can slip out on account of their intrinsic weight. 
In order to load the housing 2 with a reel/backing strip arrangement the 
loading aid 30 has to be moved relative to the opened housing 2 or, in 
this case, the cover 2b, into a transfer starting position in which it is 
aligned relative to the housing or cover 2b so that the arrangement of the 
reel/backing strip arrangement on the loading aid 30 corresponds to the 
arrangement in the housing 2. In this connection the loading aid can be 
held manually or can also rest against the other housing part, for example 
on the bearing shafts 19, 20. The alignment may be made manually with a 
visual check. In the aligned position the reels 5, 6 together with the 
backing strips 7 can be moved into the housing 2 or cover 2b, which can 
take place through their intrinsic weight if the loading aid is inserted, 
or can be effected by manual displacement. It is advantageous in this 
connection to place the loading aid first of all with its edge uppermost 
on the housing 2 and then tilt both parts. After the transfer procedure 
the loading aid 30 can be removed and disposed of, or collected and 
reused. 
In the present embodiment the positioning and guide element 34 is formed by 
a wedge or hollow wedge 10, whose cross-sectional shape and wedge walls 
34a, 34b roughly correspond to the cross-sectional shape of the 
pressure-exerting part 16 and whose height is such that they support the 
backing strip loop and are able to maintain the shape of the loop. The 
wedge wall 34b associated with the backing strip section running onto the 
take-up reel 6 is preferably formed so as to converge towards the take-up 
reel 6 (FIG. 4). 
The loading aid 30 is a structural part of low weight and comprising little 
material, which can be manufactured inexpensively and represents little 
material loss when it is disposed of, i.e., it is economical to 
manufacture and use. The structural part is preferably a plastics 
injection molded part that can be produced in one piece. 
It is advantageous to provide on the housing or cover 2b and the loading 
aid 30 a further positioning device 41 with a positioning device part 41b 
associated with the housing part and with a positioning device part 41a 
associated with the loading aid 30, which together permit the correct 
position to be compared visually or in a positive-locking engagement 
manner or necessarily produce the correct position mechanically. 
In the present embodiment two holes 42 are provided in the strip-like 
carrier element 35, the size and diameter of the holes being adapted 
roughly to the size of the bearing axes 19, and preferably being somewhat 
larger. In this way the loading aid 30 can, after optically checking, be 
aligned in a simple and quick manner in the transfer starting position. 
Another embodiment of the positioning device 41 is similarly accomplished 
according to FIGS. 3 to 6. In this embodiment the positioning device part 
41a is formed by two spaced apart projections that cooperate in positively 
locking manner with two counter-elements arranged on the cover 2b, or 
alternatively is formed by a non-circular projection 43 that is arranged 
on one side of the application part 16 and may serve both for the 
positive-locking engagement positioning of the application part 16 on an 
associated side wall 13 and for the positioning of the loading aid 30, by 
engagement in a recess 44 of appropriate shape and size in the carrier 
element 35. 
It is advantageous to arrange the positioning device part 41a in the 
vicinity of the holding and guide element 34. In this way it is possible 
first of all to bring the positioning device 41 into operation by a 
somewhat inclined arrangement of the loading aid 30 and then bring 
together the loading aid 30 and the cover 2b. It is particularly 
advantageous to make the loading aid 30 of a flexible material so that it 
can be mounted in a slightly bent state in the region of the positioning 
device 41 and the remaining part of the loading aid can then be bent back 
in order to bring it into the transfer position. 
For the rest, the carrier element 35 has lateral or also further recesses 
in order to reduce weight and save material. 
In the embodiment of the loading aid 30 according to FIGS. 8 and 9, in 
which identical or comparable parts are provided with the same reference 
numerals, two positioning device parts 41a are formed by preferably hollow 
pegs 45, 46 that project preferably in one piece from the carrier element 
35 and that are adapted to the holes provided in the reels 5, 6 so that 
they can engage therein with a slight play or can exert a slight clamping 
action. 
The loading aid 30 may in combination with a further packaging part, for 
example a cover, comprise part of a packaging 60 for the reels/backing 
strip unit. The packaging may be a blister pack 61 whose blister floor 62 
or cover foil 63 are designed as a loading aid. After removing the cover 
foil 63 the blister floor 62 can be used as a loading aid. 
Within the scope of the invention it is also possible to arrange the 
positioning device parts 41a, 41b in the edge region of the housing part 
and of the carrier element 35, so that the positioning is effected by a 
positive-locking engagement cooperation and centering in the edge region. 
In the embodiment according to FIGS. 10 and 11, in which identical or 
comparable parts are similarly provided with the same reference numerals, 
the preferably likewise hollow bearing pegs 45, 46 are made sufficiently 
long that they project beyond the reels 5,6. The free ends of the bearing 
pegs 45, 46 are convergently stepped, and shaped conically or rounded. An 
independently centering positioning device 41 is thereby formed since the 
projecting ends of the bearing pegs 45, 46 can on account of the 
convergence easily be introduced into the hollow bearing shafts 19 and 
thereby effect an independent centering and positioning. The bearing pegs 
45, 46 may be open or closed in the region of their free ends. The guiding 
and positioning part 34 may be formed as one piece or may be detachably 
connected to the carrier element 35 by means of a positive-locking 
engaging plug-in device 34c and may optionally be formed and appropriately 
held by means of a pressure-exerting part. The plug-in device 34c may be 
formed by holes 34d and pins 34e insertable therein. A strip guide element 
34f, for example in the form of a pin for the wind-on edge of the strip 7, 
may be arranged between the positioning part 34 and the take-up reel 6. 
FIG. 12 likewise shows a releasable locking device 51 for independently 
locking the housing parts to one another. The central parts of the locking 
device 51 are an elastically bendable locking arm 52 on whose free end a 
catch 53 is formed. The locking arm 52 is situated in the vicinity of the 
housing part that carries it, in this case the underpart 2a, in which 
connection it may preferably be formed in one part on the circumferential 
wall 12 or on the side wall 11 or cut or punched out from the latter, the 
length of the arm being such that it engages behind a locking edge 54 on 
the cover 2b or on a small circumferential edge 2c of the cover 2b. The 
catch 53 has a run-on incline 55 which on closure of the cover 2b impacts 
against an edge of the other housing part and produces an elastic outward 
bending of the locking arm 52, following which after the further closing 
of the housing parts the catch 53 independently snaps into place behind 
the locking edge 54. In this case the free end of the locking arm 52 or 
the catch 53 can engage in a recess 56 arranged in another housing part. 
The width of this recess is sufficiently large so that the locking arm 52 
can be bent in its position releasing the locking edge 54. It is also 
advantageous to design the arrangement so that the top surface of the 
catch 53e which in the present case is formed by its run-on incline 55 
corresponding to the external contour of the associated housing part, 
forms a uniform external contour in the closed state of the housing 2. 
In order to release this locking device 51 an actuating lug 57 may 
advantageously be arranged on the side of the locking arm 52 pointing in 
the locking direction. The actuating lug 57 fits in a recess 58 in the 
circumferential wall 12 of one or other of the housing parts, and 
preferably likewise forms part of the external contour. The actuating lug 
57 is thus accessible from the outside. By depressing the actuating lug 57 
the locking arm 52 can be moved to its release position, from which it 
then independently springs into its locking position on account of its 
inherent elasticity.