Patent ID: 8171974

Claim:
A film laminating apparatus configured to horizontally laminate protective films on both surfaces of vertically oriented glass sheets simultaneously while the vertically oriented glass sheets are horizontally conveyed along a horizontal conveyance path, the film laminating apparatus comprising: a conveyor configured to horizontally convey the vertically oriented glass sheets along the horizontal conveyance path while holding the glass sheets in a vertical upright orientation; film feed units horizontally disposed on each side of the horizontal conveyance path through which the vertically oriented glass sheets are horizontally conveyed by the conveyor; and vertical nip roller units disposed on each side of the horizontal conveyance path, each vertical nip roller unit comprising a plurality of nip rollers, wherein each nip roller has a vertically oriented rotational axis, and the vertical nip roller units are configured to be positioned such that at least one nip roller from each vertical nip roller unit is pressed together along the corresponding vertically oriented rotational axis wherein films from the film feed units are simultaneously pressed against both surfaces of the glass sheets to sandwich the glass sheets between the films as the vertically oriented glass sheets are horizontally conveyed by the conveyor along the horizontal conveyance path.