GLUE APPLICATOR

Abstract: A portable adhesive applicator apparatus for articles to which adhesive is to be applied, wherein the articles may be parquet panels, ceramic tiles and the like, including an element (13) having a least one elongate contact face for articles to which an adhesive is to be applied, an adhesive applicator (21) detachably secured to the said element (13) or pivotally secured against said element (13) so as to be pivotal from a position of use to a position of transport and having at least one nozzle (5) for the application of adhesive to said article and at least one storage site for the articles to which adhesive is to be applied. The contact face of the element (13) defines a first storage site, and a second storage site is defined by said bars (15) pivotally secured to the element (13). Said element (13) and the bars (15) are provided with wheels (10). On the contact face behind the stack of articles is arranged a pusher means (25) which pushes the lowermost article in the stack under the adhesive applicator nozzles (5).

Description: 1 GLUE APPLICATOR The present application relates to an adhesive applicator apparatus for parquet panels, ceramic tiles and the like as disclosed in the preamble of claim 1. When gluing parquet panels, tiles or the like to the underlying surface, it has hitherto been usual to apply adhesive to the underlying surface and then place the parquet panels on top of the adhesive. This has been found to be unfavourable because the adhesive is apt to run into the tongue and groove joint between the parquet panels when they are pushed into place, thus preventing the joint between the parquet panels from being as tight as possible, and this has a particularly unfavourable effect when laying the parquet panels in, e.g., herringbone and chequered patterns, because an eventual gap between the panels is accumulated. This can be avoided by applying adhesive directly to the underside of the parquet panels and then laying the panels in place with the adhesive thus applied. However, this will be a rather time-consuming operation, and parquet floor laying, in itself a time- consuming operation, will take even longer to do and will cost the customer even more. The object of the present invention is to avoid the aforementioned disadvantages, and this is attained by means of an adhesive applicator apparatus of the type mentioned above whose characteristic features are set forth in claim 1. Additional features of the invention are set forth in the other dependent claims. The use of this adhesive applicator apparatus will result in a considerable reduction of the working hours needed to lay a parquet floor, which in turn will result in a lowering of the costs involved in parquet laying. A parquet floor layer will be able to take on more jobs, and both the customer and the parquet floor layer will benefit economically as a result of the use of the apparatus. The invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the adhesive applicator apparatus. Fig. 2 is an end view of the adhesive applicator apparatus. 2 Fig. 3 is a top view of the adhesive applicator apparatus. Fig. 4 is a side view of the adhesive applicator apparatus. Fig. 5 is a view of the adhesive applicator apparatus from the other side to that shown in Fig. 4. The adhesive applicator apparatus as shown in perspective in Fig. 1 consists of a longitudinal beam 13 which forms the contact face for the parquet panel to which adhesive is to be applied. This beam is provided with wheels, and to this beam are attached bars 15 with wheels 10, enabling the unit to be moved as the work progresses. In addition, the bars 15 form a rest, i.e., a storage site for a stack of parquet panels 1, the individual stacks being transferred to the actual adhesive application table which forms another storage site for parquet panels which are to be glued, and the parquet panels are pushed onto the beam 13 individually from the bottom of the stack for the application of adhesive. The beam 13 may also be made having one projecting bar 14 or more, which form a rest for an adhesive container 2. The stack of parquet 1 on the bars 15 at one end thereof abuts against a bearing plate 11 as indicated in Fig. 2. This bearing plate 11 may, e.g., be releasably attached to the bar 15' and the upwardly projecting bar 16'. The bars 16', 16 constitute a side rest for the parquet blocks to which adhesive is to be applied. One of the upwardly projecting bars 16' may also serve as an attachment bar for the adhesive applicator 21. The adhesive applicator 21 may be provided at one end thereof with one or more nozzles 5, the number of nozzles depending upon how many strips of adhesive it is desirable to apply to the parquet block, and the width of the parquet block or the article to which adhesive is to be applied. The adhesive device or adhesive pump is connected via a hose 3 to the adhesive tank 2. The adhesive tank 2 may be a container which is filled with adhesive or it may in fact be formed by the packaging in which the adhesive is supplied, a hole being pierced in the lid of the adhesive container and the hose 3 with, e.g., a tube, being inserted into the adhesive container. In the illustrated exemplary embodiment the adhesive pump is attached to the bar 16', but there may also be another separate attachment where the essential point is that the adhesive nozzles are above the parquet panel which is pushed forward. The application of adhesive may be semi-automatic or fully automatic. This takes place in that a switch 8 is actuated, and a pusher means 25 pushes the parquet panel under the nozzles 5, the adhesive pump 18 being activated when the parquet panel touches an activating means 9 in the form of, e.g., a microswitch under the adhesive nozzles, so that adhesive exits the nozzles 5 whilst the pusher means 25 pushes the parquet panel against the end switch 8 which is then turned off until the parquet panel is removed for placement on the floor. The operation is then repeated either automatically or by means of manually reactuating the switch 8. The pusher means 25 may be operated electrically by an electric motor, or hydraulically, or by other suitable driving means. The adhesive pump may, e.g., be made of an air-driven piston 17 which presses the adhesive down, adhesive being sucked from the adhesive container 2 via the hose 3 on the return of the piston. The adhesive pump thus works on the same principle as a bicycle pump. In the drawings the various bars are shown to be pivotal. This is so that the whole adhesive applicator can be folded up to give a simple elongate unit which can easily be transported from work site to work site.

Claims: P a t e n t c l a i m s 1. A coating applicator apparatus, including an elongate element (12) having an upper elongate contact face (13) for articles to which a coating, preferably adhesive, is to be applied, a coating applicator (21) arranged above the contact face (13), a storage site (15, 16) for a stack of articles at one end of the elongate contact face (13), and a pusher means (25) for pushing the lowermost article in the stack onto and along the elongate contact face (13), under and past the coating applicator (21), characterised in that the storage site (15, 16) has a bottom surface which is formed by a part of the elongate contact face (13) and by one or more bars (15) projecting sideways out from the elongate element (12), to receive a plurality of adjacent stacks of articles. 2. A coating applicator apparatus according to claim 1 , characterised in that the bar or bars (15) are pivotally connected to the elongate element (12) about a vertical axis. 3. A coating applicator apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the bar or bars (15) and the elongate element (12) are provided with carrying wheels (10) against an underlying surface, for example, a floor. 4. A coating applicator apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the storage site includes at least one vertical bar (16) which projects upwards from one side of the elongate element (12). 5. A coating applicator apparatus according to claim 4, characterised in that the vertical bar or bars (16) are pivotally mounted on the elongate element (12) about a horizontal axis. 6. A coating applicator apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the coating applicator (21) is mounted on the elongate element (12) by means of a vertical bar (16') which preferably is pivotally mounted on the elongate element (12) about a horizontal axis. A coating applicator apparatus according to claim 6, characterised in that the coating applicator (21) is connected to a coating container which is supported by a bar (14) projecting horizontally from the elongate element (12), which preferably is pivotally mounted on the elongate element (12) about a vertical swivelling axis.

Inventors: ANDERSEN DAGFINN, ANDERSEN, DAGFINN
Applicants: ANDERSEN DAGFINN, ANDERSEN, DAGFINN
Application year: 1999
Main classification: B05C5
IPC codes: B05C5, B05C13, E04F21