Abstract:
A laminating apparatus is provided in which the distance between a pair of paper feed rollers and a pair of pinch rollers is adjusted according to the size of the paper or item being laminated and the diameter of sheet rolls between which the paper or item is laminated. The adjustment is synchronized so that the paper sizes and sheet roll diameters are accounted for at once according to the insertion of a detachable housing providing a cassette accommodating different paper sizes. A depression portion on the housing permits the paper feed rollers to adjust to or from the pinch rollers when the selected housing is inserted to the laminating apparatus.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application contains subject matter that is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/664,051, filed Sep. 18, 2000 U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,243. The two co-pending applications have common inventors and are commonly owned or assigned. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The invention relates to a laminating apparatus that covers and adheres front and back surfaces of a laminate target, such as paper, using sheets made of synthetic resin, and a structure of a sheet cassette to be mounted in the laminating apparatus. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     There has been known a laminating apparatus for laminating targets, such as a card, by sheets of synthetic resin film. 
     National Stage Laid-Open Patent Publication (KOUHYOU) No. 10-507005 based on a PCT application discloses an example of the laminating apparatus described above. In the laminating apparatus, a pair of sheet rolls which are wound around each sheet thereof for laminating front and back surfaces of paper is rotatably supported at respective upper and a lower positions in a sheet cassette. The sheet cassette can be detachably mounted to a sheet supply unit of the laminating apparatus. 
     In the laminating apparatus, a pair of upper and lower pinch rollers are disposed at the paper feed-out side of the sheet cassette. Both pinch rollers are structured so as to rotate in synchronization with a turn of an external handle. 
     Paper put on a paper supply tray is fed to the gap between the upper and lower sheet rollers, and the paper is sandwiched therebetween and laminated while drawing the upper and lower sheets. A laminate thus formed is cut in an X direction (a direction perpendicular to a feed direction of the paper) using a lateral cutter blade. Accordingly, the paper laminated by sheets of a PET film (laminate) can be obtained. 
     However, in the conventional laminating apparatus, the paper, which is a laminate target, is manually inserted into a sheet laminating unit for laminating an upper and lower sheet in the sheet cassette after putting the paper on the paper feed tray. Therefore, there is a problem that it is burdensome to manually perform the inserting operation. 
     In response, applicant proposed a motor-driven laminating apparatus, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 10-369566. That is, a pair of paper feed rollers are disposed between a base end of the paper supply tray disposed at an inlet side in the laminating apparatus and an inlet side in the sheet cassette detachably mounted in the laminating apparatus (laminate target leading side). The paper feed rollers, the pinch rollers, and a pair of paper feed-out rollers are synchronized with each other and driven via an electric motor (not shown) and a power transmission mechanism, thereby automatically supplying paper P on the paper supply tray to the sheet laminating unit. 
     A minimum length (dimension along a feed direction of the laminate target) of paper (laminate target) that can be laminated is determined by a distance between the rollers. That is, when paper which is shorter in length than the distance between the rollers is put on the paper supply tray, a tip of the paper P does not reach the pinch rollers even though an end of the fed paper P is released from the paper feed rollers. Consequently, it is impossible to pinch the paper P by a pair of sheets. 
     It has been desired that one laminating apparatus could laminate different sized paper, such as A3, A4, and A6-size paper. Each width of the upper and lower sheets, which are to be accommodated in the sheet cassette, need to be changed to conform to each size. When the number of laminations of paper is set to the same number without concerning the size of the sheets, the roll length when the sheet for laminating a large size paper is rolled is long. By extension, the diameter of the roll is also large. Therefore, as to a dimension along the feed direction of the laminate target of the sheet cassette (hereinafter referred to as a depth), it is set large for the housing for large size paper and it is set small for the housing for small size paper. 
     In such a case, the sheet cassette has to be freely detachably disposed between the paper feed rollers and the pinch rollers. Therefore, the distance from the paper feed rollers to the pinch rollers (the distance between rollers) needs to be set longer in the structure than the paper feed rollers and the pinch rollers as fixedly disposed in the prior art which resulted in the problem that small size paper could not be laminated. 
     On the other hand, when the distance between rollers is set to be shorter, so that small size paper can be laminated, the diameters of the sheet rolls to be accommodated in the sheet cassette need to be small. In this case, problems arose that large size paper P could be laminated extremely few times, and required frequent replacement of the sheet cassette or the sheet rolls in the sheet cassette. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, the invention is made to solve the above-described problems. It is an object of the invention to provide a laminating apparatus which is capable of laminating different sized paper (laminate targets) and a sheet cassette which is capable of accommodating sheets having a large winding diameter and which is used in the laminating apparatus. 
     According to a first aspect of the invention, a laminating apparatus may include a laminate target supply unit that supplies a laminate target, a sheet supply unit that supplies a pair of sheets by which the laminate target is laminated, and a laminate processor that laminates the laminate target supplied from the laminate target supply unit with the pair of sheets supplied from the sheet supply unit while the laminate target is sandwiched between the pair of sheets and fed out as a laminated product. A cassette accommodating portion for detachably accommodating a sheet cassette which accommodates the pair of sheets wound in a roll shape thereof is formed in the sheet supply unit, and a paper feed roller means disposed between the laminate target supply unit and the cassette accommodating portion is provided so that the paper feed roller means can move closer to and apart from a laminate target leading side of the sheet cassette. 
     Therefore, when the sheet cassette for sheets having a small winding diameter is set in the same cassette accommodating portion as a replacement of the sheet cassette for sheets having a large winding diameter, the distance between the paper feed roller means and the pinch roller means can be shortened, so that a small laminate target can be also surely laminated and produced. 
     According to a second aspect of the invention, in the laminating apparatus of the first aspect of the invention, the laminating apparatus further may include an interlocking unit that moves the paper feed roller means closer to the laminate target leading side of the sheet cassette in synchronization with the setting operation of the sheet cassette into the cassette accommodating portion. 
     In the above laminating apparatus, in addition to the effect obtained by the first aspect of the invention, an effect that the laminating operation can be extremely speedily performed with ease is also produced. 
     According to a third aspect of the invention, in the laminating apparatus of the first or second aspect of the invention, a dimension of a feed direction of the laminate target in the cassette accommodating portion is formed to correspond to the sheet cassette in which sheets having a large winding diameter are accommodated, and the cassette accommodating portion is structured so that an attachment can be detachably mounted thereof and a sheet cassette in which sheets having a small winding diameter are accommodated is mounted apart from the laminate target supply unit on the attachment. 
     In the above laminating apparatus, the sheet cassette for the sheets having a small winding diameter can be easily mounted in the cassette accommodating portion, where the sheet cassette for the sheets having a large winding diameter can be mounted thereof, using the attachment. Therefore, in addition to the effects obtained by the first or second aspect of the invention, an effect that various sizes of the laminate targets can be easily laminated using one laminating apparatus is produced. 
     According to a fourth aspect of the invention, the sheet cassette may have sheets having a large winding diameter and can be mounted in the cassette accommodating portion of the laminating apparatus of the first aspect of the invention, wherein a depressed portion is formed toward the laminate target feed-out side on the laminate target leading side. With this structure, an effect is achieved such that the sheet cassette for the sheets having a large winding diameter can be mounted and used in the laminating apparatus so that the distance between the paper roller means and the pinch roller means can be adjusted. Further, the gap between the sheet rolls having a large winding diameter provided next to each other results in a space in which the depressed portion is provided, whereby the paper feed roller means can enter to accommodate the variable paper size adjustments. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention is described in detail with the reference to the following drawings, wherein like numerals represent like elements, and wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a laminating apparatus of an embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway plan view of essential parts of a cassette accommodating portion; 
     FIG. 3 is a side view of a swing mechanism; 
     FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing a state where a sheet cassette for small size paper is mounted in the cassette accommodating portion via an attachment; 
     FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a housing of a sheet cassette for A3-size paper used in the laminating apparatus of the embodiment of the invention and the cassette accommodating portion; 
     FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of the housing of the sheet cassette for A3-size paper; 
     FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the attachment; 
     FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a housing of a sheet cassette for A4-size paper when viewed from the bottom; 
     FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a housing of a sheet cassette for A6-size paper when viewed from the bottom; 
     FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a state where the sheet cassette for A4-size paper is mounted on the attachment; 
     FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a state where the sheet cassette for A6-size paper is mounted on the attachment; 
     FIG.  12 ( a ) is a diagram showing a layer structure of sheets laminated by the laminating apparatus of the invention; 
     FIG.  12 ( b ) is a diagram showing a method of using a laminate; 
     FIG.  13 ( a ) is a perspective view of a laminate made by another embodiment; and 
     FIG.  13 ( b ) is an enlarged view showing a layer structure of the laminate. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described. 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a laminating apparatus of an embodiment of the invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a cassette accommodating portion, FIG. 3 is a side view of the cassette accommodating portion, FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing a state where a sheet cassette mounted on an attachment is mounted in the cassette accommodating portion, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the sheet cassette for laminating A3-size paper, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the attachment. 
     In FIGS. 1-5 and  7 , the laminating apparatus  1  of this embodiment of the invention is covered by an outer housing  1   a , and the inside of the laminating apparatus  1  comprises a paper supply unit A, a sheet supply unit B, a laminating processor C, and a cutting unit D, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. 
     Each structure basically functions such that the paper supply unit A serves paper P such as a document, a card, or the like, and the sheet supply unit B serves sheets S 1 , S 2  by which the sheet P is laminated. The laminating processor C serves to laminate the paper P with the sheets S 1 , S 2  while sandwiching the paper P between the sheets S 1 , S 2 . Further, the cutting unit D serves to cut the laminate R fed out from the laminating processor C, and has not only a function of cutting a laminate R in a Y direction shown in FIG. 1 using a first cutting mechanism (not shown) which is cutter means, but also a function of cutting the laminate R in an X direction shown in FIG. 1 using a second cutting mechanism  66  (see FIG. 6) of a longitudinal cutting mechanism  47 . 
     As shown in FIG. 1, a paper supply tray  11  provided to the paper supply unit A, which is a laminate target supply unit, on the left upper side of the outer housing  1   a , may be structured so that the paper supply tray  11  can be removed from the outer housing  1   a  or can fold when not in use. 
     The paper supply tray  11  has a paper mount face on which the paper P to be laminated is placed, and is provided with paper guides  12   a ,  12   b  for positioning the paper P in a width direction of the paper P. The paper guides  12   a ,  12   b  are supported by the paper supply tray  11  so that at least one of them is freely slidable in the X direction, and thus serves to adjust the distance between a wall face of the outer housing  1   a  and the paper guide to any value or width. In this embodiment, each sheet cassette  20  for each size paper is disposed so that the paper P is laminated with respect to the right side of the paper P (the right side when viewed from the paper feed-out side). 
     Between a base end of the paper supply tray  11  and the front side (a laminate target leading side) of the sheet cassette  20  which is freely detachably mounted on the cassette accommodating portion  4  having no upper surface in the sheet supply unit B, a pair of paper feed rollers  8   a ,  8   b , which are paper feed roller means, are disposed so as to move closer to and apart from the laminate target (the paper P) leading side via a swing mechanism  3  which is an interlocking unit described later (see FIGS.  2  through  4 ). 
     The sheet cassette  20 , which is freely detachably attached to the cassette accommodating portion  4  and an attachment  60 , described later, are structured to contain two sheet rolls  21 ,  22  in a housing  23  as shown in FIG.  6 . 
     The laminating apparatus  1  of the invention is structured to accommodate various detachably mounted sheet cassettes  20 , each of which may have different sized housings  23  in which two sheet rolls  21 ,  22  having the width corresponding to different-sized paper such as A3, A4, or A6-size paper are accommodated, so that the laminating apparatus  1  can laminate at least three different sizes of paper. Hereinafter, a housing for A3-size paper is  23   a  (see FIGS.  5  and  6 ), a housing for A4-size paper is  23   b  (see FIGS.  8  and  10 ), and a housing for A6-size paper is  23   c  (see FIGS.  9  and  11 ). 
     The housing  23  used in this embodiment is formed by an injection molding method using a synthetic resin material, such as polypropylene resin, and comprises a pair of front and rear cases  27   a ,  27   b . The end portions of the front and rear cases  27   a ,  27   b  are mutually engaged with each other and integrated with each other, thereby fabricating the housing  23 . 
     An opening at the front side (an upstream of feed direction of the paper and the laminate target leading side) serves as a paper insertion port  27   c , and an opening at the back side (downstream in the feed direction of the paper and laminate target feed-out side) serves as a paper feed-out port  27   d.    
     The paper insertion port  27   c  has a function of feeding the paper P into the gap between the sheet rolls  21 ,  22 . The paper feed-out port  27   d  has a function of feeding out the paper P fed through the paper insertion port  27   c  to the laminating processor C together with the sheets S 1 , S 2  fed out from the sheet rolls  21 ,  22 , respectively. The paper feed-out port  27   d  is provided with a pair of upper and lower shutters  24  for opening/closing the paper feed-out port  27   d.    
     A pair of upper and lower guide plates  25   a ,  25   b  are provided in the housing  23  that extend from the paper insertion port  27   c  to the paper feed-out port  27   d . The guide plates  25   a ,  25   b  form a guide path for guiding the paper P fed from the paper insertion port  27   c  to the paper feed-out port  27   d . In this embodiment, the guide plates  25   a ,  25   b  are different in length, and the lower guide plate  25   b  is shorter while the upper guide plate  25   a  is longer. The lower guide plate  25   b  is provided with a resin spring  26  for pressing the paper P being fed against the upper guide plate  25   a  to position the paper P. Accordingly, the paper P fed from the paper insertion port  27   c  is surely guided to the paper feed-out port  27   d  by the guide plates  25   a ,  25   c  and the resin spring  26 . 
     As shown in FIGS. 4,  7 ,  10 , and  11 , the attachment  60  has the same shape in a plan as the shape of the housing  23   a  for A3-size paper snugly fit in the cassette accommodating portion  4  which has no upper surface, and is structured so that the small housing  23   b  for A4-size paper and the housing  23   c  for A6-size paper can be mounted at each predetermined position. Particularly, the attachment  60  is formed in a substantially L-shape in side cross section by a bottom plate  60   a , on which the housing  23  is mounted, and a wall plate  60   b  that stands from one side of the bottom plate  60   a  (the upstream of the feed direction of the paper P in this embodiment), and is integrally formed by an injection molding method using a synthetic resin material so that the block portion  60   c  for positioning the attachment  60  protrudes upwardly from one end of a longitudinal direction of the bottom plate  60   a  and the wall plate  60   b  (the right edge of the paper P in this embodiment). The wall plate  60   b  and the block portion  60   c  are provided with support portions  60   d ,  60   d  for preventing the housing  23  set on the attachment  60  from falling down to the upstream side of the feed direction of the paper P. Further, a plurality of guide recesses  62  and positioning protrusions  63  are each located at predetermined positions. 
     When the housing  23  is set in the cassette accommodating portion  4  or the attachment  60 , guide protrusions  61  that protrude from right and left ends of the bottom surface of the housing  23  fit into the guide recesses  62  which are perforated or recessed in the bottom of the cassette accommodating portion  4  and the attachment  60 . Further, truncated pyramid positioning protrusions  63  that protrude from the bottom of the housing  23  fit into the positioning recesses  64  which are perforated or recessed in the bottom of the cassette accommodating portion  4  or the attachment  60 . (See FIGS. 4 through 10. FIGS. 8 and 9 shows the sheet cassettes in perspective views so that the housings  23   b ,  23   c  can be seen.) 
     It has been desired that the laminating apparatus could laminate, for example, A3, A4, and A6-size paper. Each width of the upper and lower sheets S 1 , S 2 , which are accommodated in the housing  23  of the sheet cassette  20 , therefore needs to be changed with respect to the paper size. When the number of laminations of paper are set to the same number without concern for the size of the paper, the roll length when the sheets S 1 , S 2  for laminating a large size paper are rolled is long, and therefore by extension, the diameters of the rolls are large. Thus, the dimension along the feed direction of the laminate target of the housing  23  of the sheet cassette  20  (hereinafter referred to as a depth) is set large for the housing for large size paper and is set small for the housing for small size paper. The sheet cassette  20  needs to be detachably disposed between the pair of paper feed rollers  8   a ,  8   b  and a pair of pinch rollers  31 ,  32 . 
     In the prior art, therefore, the distance between the pair of paper feed rollers and the pair of pinch rollers was long as each pair of rollers were fixedly disposed. Consequently, small size paper could not be laminated. On the other hand, when the distance between each pair of rollers is set shorter so that small size paper can be laminated, the diameters of the sheet rolls  21 ,  22  accommodated in the sheet cassette  20  must be small. This results in large size paper P being laminated extremely few times, and requires frequent replacement of the sheet cassette  20  or the sheet rolls  21 ,  22  in the sheet cassette  20 . 
     Therefore, the invention provides in the housing  23  for laminating A3-size paper P, that the dimension in the feed direction of the paper P (the depth) is large. On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 3 through 6, in the front case  27   a , a depressed portion  27   e , where the portion of the paper insertion port  27   c  is depressed toward the paper feed-out port  27   d , is formed. In a state where the sheet cassette  20  is set, as described later, the paper feed rollers  8   a ,  8   b  are entered within the depressed portion  27   e  via the swing mechanism  3  to accommodate lamination of large-size paper. On the other hand, in a state where the sheet cassette  20  for small size paper (A4 or A6) is set, the paper feed rollers  8   a ,  8   b  are moved closer to the paper insertion port  27   c  so that the distance between rollers becomes shorter. The sheet cassette  20  is structured so as to be detachably mounted in the same laminating apparatus even when each sheet cassette  20  has different dimensions for different sized paper. 
     Further, when the housing  23   b  for A4-size paper or the housing  23   c  for A6-size paper is set on the attachment  60 , so that the one end surface of the housing contacts the block portion  60   c  of the attachment  60  (see FIGS.  10  and  11 ), the sheets S 1 , S 2  are fed out so that the right edge of the paper P to be fed becomes a reference side of the laminating operation, 
     In the set state described above, the size of the paper P which can be laminated can be displayed on a display unit (not shown), such as a liquid crystal panel provided on the laminating apparatus  1 , by detecting detected portions  65 ,  65  which project from both ends of the side surface of the one longitudinal direction of the housings  23   a ,  23   b ,  23   c , using a sensor (not shown), such as a limit sensor, which is disposed at a predetermined position in the laminating apparatus  1 . 
     The sheet rolls  21 ,  22  are the same as the prior art in that the sheet rolls  21 ,  22  are formed by winding elongated sheets in a roll shape. However, the material of the sheets is greatly different from the prior art. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the sheet S 1  rolled as the sheet roll  21  includes a transparent resin film layer as a base and an adhesive layer laminated on one surface of the base. PET (polyethylenetelephthalate) is practically used as the film layer serving as the base of the sheet S 1 . The sheet S 2  rolled as the sheet roll  22  which is disposed at the lower portion is formed of a separation type sheet, and more specifically it is a separation type sheet. That is, the sheet S 2  has paper as a base, and a material having separativeness, such as paraffin or the like, is impregnated into or laminated on the base. The sheet S 1  has such an adhesiveness property that the adhesive layer of the sheet S 1  is easily peeled off. The sheet S 2  is not limited to the separation type sheet having paper as a base, and it may be a sheet using resin having separativeness as a base. 
     The sheet rolls  21 ,  22  are rotatably-supported in the housing  23 . 
     The sheets S 1 , S 2  are drawn out from the paper feed-out port  27   d  of the housing  23  so that the adhesive surface and the separation face confront each other. 
     The sheet cassette  20  is freely detachably mounted to the cassette accommodating portion  4  in the laminating apparatus  1 , or to the attachment  60  which is freely detachably mounted to the cassette accommodating portion  4 . In a state where the large housing  23   a  for A3-size paper is placed on a bottom plate  4   a  of the cassette accommodating portion  4  or in a state where the housing  23   b  for A4-size paper or the housing  23   c  for A6-size paper is placed on the bottom plate  60   a  of the attachment  60 , the paper insertion port  27   c  is located on an extension line of the feed path (supply path) of the paper P, that is, on a straight line connecting a pinching area of the paper P of the paper feed rollers  8   a ,  8   b  and a pinching area of the pinch rollers  31 ,  32 , so that the paper P supplied from the paper supply tray  11  is smoothly fed into the sheet cassette  20  (see FIG.  4 ). 
     In a state where the sheet cassette  20  is not mounted in the cassette accommodating portion  4 , the shutter  24  covers the paper feed-out port  27   d . In a state where the sheet cassette  4  is mounted in the cassette accommodating portion  4 , the shutter  24  is evacuated from the paper feed-out port  27   d , so that the paper P can be fed out to the laminating processor C. 
     As shown in FIGS. 2,  3 ,  4 , and  6 , the laminating processor C is provided with pinch roller means  30  that includes the upper and lower rollers  31 ,  32 . The pinch roller means  30  is supported so that the pinch position thereof faces the paper feed-out port  27   d  of the sheet cassette  20  mounted in the cassette accommodating portion  4 . 
     The lower roller  32  rotatably supported by right and left chassis  1   a ′ is a driving roller rotated by driving means, such as a motor (not shown). On the other hand, the upper roller  31  is a driven roller which is idled, and is rotated in contact with the lower driving roller  32 . In the laminating apparatus  1  of the invention, the upper driven roller  31  is structured to contact/release from the lower roller  32  in unison with the movement of the swing mechanism  3  of the paper feed roller  8   a ,  8   b , as shown in FIG.  3 . 
     Next, a structure of the swing mechanism  3  will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. 
     The paper feed rollers  8   a ,  8   b  are axially fixed on a pair of right and left main swing arms  34 ,  34  pivotally supported by lower pivot pins  33  mounted on the lower portion of the right and left of chassis  1   a ′,  1   a ′. A paper sensor  35  for detecting the tip of the paper P to be fed is mounted to a connection plate  34   a  that connects both main swing arms  34 ,  34 . Further, guide pins  38 ,  38  that laterally project from a pair of right and left cassette holding support arms  37 ,  37  whose ends are pivotably supported by upper pivot pins  36  mounted on upper portions of the right and left chassis  1   a ,  1   a  slidably engage into slits  39 , which elongate in the vertical direction and are perforated in upper sides of the right and left main swing arms  34 ,  34 . A press roller  40 , for pressing the upper portion of the paper feed out of the housing  23  of the sheet cassette  20  that is inserted into the cassette accommodating portion  4  from above, is rotatably mounted to the front ends of the cassette holding support arms  37 ,  37 . 
     Further, both ends of the upper rollers  31  are rotatably supported by a pair of roller arms  41 ,  41  rotatably supported by a pin  47  provided at the front ends of the right and left cassette holding support arms  37 ,  37 . One end of each torsion spring  44  supported by a projecting piece  43 , which is formed by cutting and bending, is caught by the cassette holding support arm  37 , and other end of each torsion spring  44  is joined together so as to urge the roller arms  41  downward. 
     The housing  23   a  for A3-size paper is directly set in the cassette accommodating portion  4 . The housing  23   b  for A4-size paper or the housing  23   c  for A6-size paper is either set in advance into attachment  60  which is then set in the cassette accommodating portion  4 , or the housing  23   b  or  23   c  is set on the attachment  60  after the attachment  60  is set in the cassette accommodating portion  4 . After that, an operator holds the front end of the cassette holding support arm  37  and rotates it to the paper feed-out side which is the upper portion of the housing  23  so that the housing  23  is pressed so as not to be lifted up by the press roller  40 . The pair of the right and left cassette holding support arms  37 ,  37  are engaged with an engagement portion (not shown) of the chassis  1   a ′ or the outer housing  1   a  while keeping the posture of the cassette holding support arms  37 ,  37 . At this time, the upper roller  31  mounted on the roller arms  41 ,  41  is urged against the lower roller  32  by an urging force from the torsion springs  44  (see a state of a portion indicated with a solid line in FIG.  3 ). 
     Further, when the housing  23  is set under the pressure, the right and left main swing arms  34 ,  34  are swung in the right direction in FIG.  3  and the upper and lower paper feed rollers  8   a ,  8   b  as paper feeding means mounted to the main swing arms  34 ,  34  move closer to the paper insertion port  27   c , which is the laminate target leading side of the sheet cassette  20 , by a sliding connection relationship of the cassette holding support arms  37 ,  37  and the slits  39 . This state is detected by a sensor  46 , such as a limit switch, which is provided to the laminating apparatus  1  and is touched by a tip  45   a  of a detecting arm  45  extending from the lower paper feed roller  8   b  to the upstream of the paper feed direction, and this state is communicated to an operator via the display unit. 
     On the other hand, when the right and left cassette holding support arms  37 ,  37  are swung in the upper left direction in FIG. 3 so that the housing  23  becomes free from the pressure, the upper roller  31  mounted on the roller arms  41 ,  41  at its front ends is released from the lower roller  32 , the main swing arms  34 ,  34  are also swung in the left direction. The upper and lower paper feed rollers  8   a ,  8   b , as the paper feed means, move away from the paper insertion port  27   c , which is the laminate target leading side of the sheet cassette  20  (see a state of a portion indicated with a double dashed chain line). 
     The pinch roller means  30  described above functions to pinch the paper P fed into the gap between the sheets S 1 , S 2 , which are supplied from the sheet cassette  20  mounted in the sheet supply unit B, while joining the sheets S 1 , S 2 . The paper P pinched between the sheets S 1 , S 2  is fed out while pinched by the pinch roller means  30 , whereby the paper P is laminated by the sheets S 1 , S 2  to thereby obtain a laminated member R. 
     The cutting unit D is provided with a first cutting mechanism (not shown) for cutting the laminate R fed out from the laminating processor C in the Y direction (cutting in the direction parallel to the feed direction of the laminate R), and a cutter blade  66  (see FIG. 6) that is a second cutting mechanism for cutting the laminate R in the X direction, which is perpendicular to the feed-out direction of the laminate R, as the cutter means. 
     A spiral groove is formed at the center of a circular plate type cutter blade of the lateral cutting mechanism. Further, a spiral shaft extending in the lateral direction (not shown) is provided to the chassis  1   a ′, and the spiral shaft is engaged with the spiral groove of the cutter blade. The spiral shaft is rotatably mounted on the chassis  1   a ′, and is connected to a motor (not shown). By rotating the motor, the spiral shaft is rotated and the cutter blade engaged with the spiral shaft is moved in the X direction to cut the laminate R in the lateral direction, 
     The cutter blade  66  of the longitudinal cutting mechanism  47  serves to cut out the side edge portion (salvage) of the laminate R when the width of the sheets S 1 , S 2  is excessively larger than the paper P. 
     A laminating operation in the above-described structure will be described. First, either the sheet cassette  20  for A3-size paper is directly set in the cassette accommodating portion  4 , or the attachment  60 , in which the small sheet cassette  20  for A4 or A6-size paper is set in advance, is set in the cassette accommodating portion  4 . 
     When the sheet cassette  20  is mounted, the tip portions of the sheets S 1 , S 2  of the sheet cassette  20  are mutually adhesively attached to each other in advance. Then, in this state, the cassette holding support arm  37  is swung in the upward direction of the housing  23 , the housing  23  is pressed by the pressing roller  40 , and the tip portions of the sheets S 1 , S 2  are pinched by the pinch rollers  31 ,  32 . At this time, the distance between the paper feed rollers  8   a ,  8   b  and the pinch rollers  31 ,  32  can be shortened because the main swing arms  34 ,  34  are rotated and moved closer to the front side of the housing  23 , and the upper and lower paper feed rollers  8   a ,  8 B, which are the paper feeding means, are moved closer to the front surface of the housing  23 . 
     When the standby work as described above is completed, the paper P to be laminated is put on the paper supply tray  11 . Here, at least the width of the sheets S 1 , S 2  are larger than the width of the paper P. When the paper P is fed between the paper feed rollers  8   a ,  8   b  along the paper guide plate  12   a ,  12   b , the paper P is inserted into the sheet cassette  20  from the paper insertion port  27   c  of the sheet cassette  20  mounted in the sheet supply unit B, sandwiched between the sheets S 1  and S 2  and fed out from the paper feed-out port  27   d  to the laminating processor C while guided by the paper guide plates  25   a ,  25   b  and the resin spring  26 . The paper P which is fed out together with the sheets S 1 , S 2  is pinched by the pinch roller means  30  to laminate the paper P with the sheets S 1 , S 2 . 
     In the laminating apparatus  1  of the embodiment, the sheet S 1  has the transparent resin film layer F as the base, the adhesive layer T is laminated on one surface thereof. When the sheet S 2  is the separation type sheet layer, the sheet S 1  including the film layer F and the adhesive layer T is pressed against the surface of the paper P. The film layer F is adhered to the surface of the paper P by the adhesive layer T. On the other hand, the sheet S 2  is pressed against the back surface of the paper P, however, the sheet S 2  does not adhere to the paper P because the sheet S 2  has only the separation type sheet layer. 
     The width of the sheets S 1 , S 2  is larger than the width of the paper P, and thus the sheets S 1 , S 2  are protruded from the paper P in the width direction of the paper P. The adhesive layer T of the sheet S 1  and the separation type sheet layer of the sheet S 2  are adhesively attached to each other at the protruded portions, and the sheets S 1 , S 2  and the paper P are substantially integrated into the laminate R. Thereafter, the laminate R is fed out to the cutting unit D as shown in FIG.  12 ( a ). 
     In the laminating apparatus  1  of the embodiment, the first cutting mechanism cuts the protruded extra edge portions of the sheet S 1 , S 2  to obtain a proper edge width when the width of the sheets S 1 , S 2  is excessively larger than the width of the paper P. Further, when the feed-out of the laminate R progresses and the laminate R reaches a predetermined position in the Y direction of the paper P, that is, at the time when a predetermined position of the laminate R reaches the cutting position of the lateral cutting mechanism, the laminate R is cut by the second cutting mechanism in the X direction. 
     In the laminate R thus formed, the transparent film layer F is laminated on the surface of the paper P, the separation type sheet layer L exists on the back surface of the paper P in a non-adhesion state, the edge of the paper P is surrounded by the sheets S 1 , S 2  and the transparent film layer F and the separation type sheet layer L adhere to each other at the protruded portions thereof while they are easily peeled off from each other. 
     When the laminate R thus obtained is adhesively attached to the wall or the like, the separation type sheet layer L on the back surface of the laminate R is peeled off as shown in FIG.  12 ( b ). As a result, the adhesive layer T of the sheet S 1  is exposed to the surrounding portion of the paper P. Accordingly, the laminate R can adhere to a desk or the like. 
     As another embodiment, the same sheet as the above embodiment (the laminate sheet of the resin film layer F and the adhesive layer T) is used as the sheet S 1 , and a magnetic sheet is used as the sheet S 2 . As an embodiment of the magnetic sheet, a sheet M having magnetism as a base and the adhesive layer T is laminated on one surface of the sheet M as shown in FIG. 13 b . The sheet having magnetism may be formed by kneading magnetic material into rubber or synthetic resin to magnetize the sheet. 
     The laminate sheet S 1  composed of the resin film layer F and the adhesive layer T and the magnetic sheet S 2  are wound in a roll shape and accommodated in the housing  23  to fabricate a sheet cassette  20 , and then the sheet cassette  20  thus fabricated is mounted in the sheet supply unit B. Subsequently, the same steps as described above are carried out to obtain a laminate RM having the layer structure as shown is FIGS.  13 ( a ) and  13 ( b ). 
     The surface of the laminate RM is protected by a transparent resin film layer F, and the magnetic layer M is laminated on the back surface of the laminate RM. Accordingly, the laminate RM can be magnetically attached to an iron plate or the like.