EP0267396B1 - Device for applying an adhesive film - Google Patents

Abstract

An applicator for adhesive film to a surface has a supply spool for tape carrying the film and a take-up member coupled to the supply spool by a drive mechanism. The tape passes around an applicator member which is resiliently mounted on the housing and can press the tape against the substrate so that the adhesive film is transferred to the latter.

Description

The invention relates to a device for applying an adhesive film according to the preamble of claim 1.

In such known devices, a supply reel and a winding device are arranged side by side in a plane, similar to a tape cassette. A carrier tape coated on one side with an adhesive film is wound up on the supply reel. The winding device, initially comparable to an empty tape cassette reel, is intended for receiving the used carrier tape. Both are arranged in a housing, which has a cover, which enables the replacement of the supply reel and the removal of the winding of the used carrier tape from the winding device.

An application device is attached to the outside of the housing, namely on one of its narrow sides. The coated carrier tape is guided over the edge or side of the application device which points away from the housing and thus faces the substrate. This application device is placed on the substrate to which the adhesive is to be applied. Due to the relative movement between the device and the substrate, usually by moving the device over the stationary substrate, the adhesive film is separated from the carrier tape, which at the same time - now adhesive-free - is wound up again by the winding device.

The carrier tape is guided tightly over a bar or rotatably arranged roller. In order to achieve the required tape tension and ultimately also to ensure a sufficiently tight and clean winding on the winding device, the supply reel and the winding device are connected to one another by a drive connection which has a slip clutch. The drive connection is designed so that, similar to a tape recorder, the take-up device tries to turn so quickly that it not only picks up the carrier tape drawn off from the supply reel in every operating stage, but also keeps it taut.

In known devices, the drive connection is established, for example, by a slipping transmission that has used a belt or a spiral spring loop as the transmission element, or by gear drives in conjunction with a separate slip clutch.

If the device is tilted when applying the adhesive layer to a substrate, or if there is a substrate that is not absolutely flat or cannot be placed flat so that the application device rests only on one side of the substrate, then the adhesive film tears uncontrollably . As a result, not only does less adhesive get onto the substrate than intended, but in addition the pulling-off process of the tape from the supply reel can come to a standstill, or on the contrary, an only partially torn-off adhesive film can still adhere to the carrier tape, which is further conveyed to the winding device , which in turn is inclined, under certain circumstances, to contaminate the tape guiding devices and drive elements arranged in the interior of the housing or even to cause malfunctions up to total failure.

In order to remedy this disadvantage, the application zone of the application device which comes into contact with the substrate to be coated has been widened on both sides to the direction of movement of the device, so that the adhesive film does not yet come into contact with the substrate when the device is tilted on the other hand, such a wide circulation is created that it is easily possible to keep the device untied.

After the adhesive transfer has been completed, the device is lifted from the substrate, whereby the user cannot control the most favorable angle of the lifting device and thus the quality of the adhesive film tear, which is perpendicular to the side edges of the applied adhesive film and, above all, runs straight in the tear would be optimal, but runs more or less serrated and / or wavy in the known devices, with the further disadvantage that the start edge of the next adhesive transfer inevitably has the same, irregular edge course. Then sharper adhesive tips usually spring back and thus form an accumulation of adhesive on the substrate, which can often reach a multiple of the remaining layer thickness of the adhesive film and which is unsightly on the surface of the object to be bonded.

In order to avoid this disadvantage, it has also already been proposed to attach a brake to devices of the type mentioned at the outset, which inhibits the tracking of the carrier tape and must be actuated by hand each time the transfer is to be ended.

However, operating such a brake requires increased concentration, since different movements have to be coordinated and also limits the ergonomic design options considerably, since the operating finger must always be in the immediate area of the triggering device and, with different body sizes, the respective palm inevitably has different positions on the Housing outer contour is forced to take.

When using such a device, there are always boundary conditions that limit the main dimensions of the device. The critical dimensions are the height and length extension of the device, seen in the direction of its movement, since these dimensions limit the usability of the device, for example for coating the inner surfaces of containers, boxes and the like.

These main dimensions in turn limit the size of the coils that can be used, which have so far been relatively small, so that the known device often has to be recharged.

It would also be desirable for the device of the type mentioned at the outset to be able to accommodate a replacement supply roll made of coated adhesive tape. However, this is problematic because the known devices, with their axes of supply spool and winding core lying essentially parallel to the horizontal, do not offer any accommodation options for this purpose. Rather, a compartment or the like would have to be additionally molded onto the outside of the device to accommodate such a replacement winding, this compartment then forming a protruding projection of the housing that protrudes laterally and is always annoying

Finally, it would also be desirable to create a device by means of which the type of tape inserted can be seen from the outside, without being restricted in the choice of material to transparent sprayable types, in order to be able to recognize the supply spool through the housing wall.

As described in more detail at the beginning, after the supply of coated adhesive tape has been used up, the winding of the used carrier tape is removed and the empty supply reel is replaced by a full supply roll. The known devices have the disadvantage that the exchange manipulations must be carried out within the housing, since, as also mentioned at the beginning, the coils, as well as the drive mechanism, are integrated into the interior of the housing and are therefore difficult to access, so that a great deal of tact for removal the empty tape reel and the empty supply reel, the insertion of the replacement reel, the correct insertion of the tape leader into the guide channels and the attachment of the tape start to the take-up device are required, especially since these devices, as tabletop devices in a compact design, allow only little space for handling inside the housing.

Furthermore, these unfavorable conditions mean that if the supply reel is mistakenly inserted incorrectly and the other handling operations when inserting the tape, in addition to the contamination risk already mentioned, there is an additional risk of distributing adhesive particles inside the device, especially since the drive elements are open are arranged accessible, which also excludes the use of extremely adhesive adhesives, since the drive elements have to be designed precisely for the tape tension required for a certain type of adhesive and, for example, a bonded gear drive would overwhelm the slip clutch in its effective tolerance. Regarding the type of adhesive, the known devices also have no protection against the insertion of foreign coils with adhesives for which the drive functions are not designed, which then severely limits the functional reliability and is usually attributed to the quality of the device in ignorance of the user.

The object of the invention is to eliminate these disadvantages and to improve the manageability of the device mentioned at the beginning. In particular, an exact, uniform, edge-sharp adhesive application with a perfect tear-off edge should be made possible.

This object is achieved in that the application device is mounted elastically.

The measure according to the invention ensures that when a device is canted on the substrate or if the substrate itself has an uneven surface profile, the application device can adapt to the substrate in a kind of pendulum movement, always one over the entire Width of the adhesive tape running, even contact pressure and thus to achieve a uniform detachment of the adhesive.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the application device is designed as an application track which, likewise according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, is fastened by an elastically bendable, approximately rectangular intermediate piece. The elastically bendable intermediate piece can be realized in a particularly simple manner in terms of production technology, namely in that the application bar is designed with a wall spring reduction similar to leaf spring. The elastic mounting can also be achieved by two notches running directly above the application bar from both narrow sides over the surface to the center, similar to a wasp waist whose remaining smallest cross section is designed such that the waist width is smaller than the foot thickness of the application bar.

According to a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention it is provided that skids are arranged on both sides of the application device, which are movable relative to the application device in the direction perpendicular to the substrate plane.

One of the essential features of the adhesive transfer is - the edge-to-edge transfer of the adhesive film to the substrate, which should be the advantage of this type of device over glue sticks, glue bottles and other applicators, which is due to the technically perfected cutting of the edges along the glue film Adhesive tape supply roll is specified, but with respect to the tear, that is to say the start and end edge running transversely to the longitudinal direction, has not yet been achieved in the desired quality in the known devices. A bad tear-off edge in turn leads to an equally bad start edge of the subsequently applied adhesive strip. Tests have shown that the quality of the tear-off edge largely depends on the angle at which the application device is lifted off the substrate. The provision of the elastically resilient skids surprisingly achieved that, even with different, individual handling types of the device, a constant, optimal lifting movement of the application device from the substrate after applying an adhesive strip was always achieved, so that a considerable increase in the quality of the tear-off edge by the provision of the resilient Skids could be achieved.

A further increase in the quality of the demolition Edge is achieved according to a further advantageous embodiment in that the application device has at least one cam which engages in a control curve of the skids. Of course, it would also be possible to provide the skid with a cam and the application device with a corresponding control curve. This measure allows the movement of the skids to be coupled with the elastic pendulum movement of the applicator bar, which in particular also allows the movement of the applicator bar to be controlled in coordination with the movement of the skid in the final phase of the adhesive application. In addition, the elastic mounting of the application device or application bar can be used for the elastic prestressing of the skids in the direction of the substrate. This is particularly advantageous from a manufacturing point of view since no additional spring parts have to be provided for the pretensioning of the skids. In addition, the skids protect the applicator bar when not in use by protruding beyond it and so the adhesive film cannot come into contact with the surface. This also increases the ease of handling the device.

It is also advantageous if, according to a further embodiment of the invention, the cam can be snapped into the control cam in order to establish a secure but detachable connection between the skids and the application device.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, it is provided that the control cam is designed such that when the skids are raised in the direction of the application device, the application device is pivoted in the direction in which the tape is pulled off. This ensures that when an adhesive transfer is initiated, the pair of runners first touches the substrate, when the device is depressed, the runners retreat while the applicator bar and thus the adhesive tape are moved obliquely forward by the control curve, and the adhesive tape comes into contact with the substrate.

If, according to a further advantageous embodiment, the control curve is designed so that when the application device is pivoted in the pulling direction of the tape, the skids are also reversed in the direction of the application device, the pair of skids is moved upwards over the area by the control curve when the device is in motion of the adhesive application raised so that only the application strip with the adhesive tape then touches the substrate and the skids remain in the raised state. All of this is done without user intervention by simply placing the device and painting over the substrate.

If the adhesive transfer is then ended, this is done by simply lifting the device, whereby the tear-off mechanism automatically takes effect, such that the pair of skids reaches the transfer level again due to the pressure relief, is placed on the substrate and, with further relief, the application bar is inclined by the curve control from the substrate is guided away, whereby it is achieved that the adhesive film is torn off, regardless of the individual handling of the user, always in the once determined, optimal angular range defined by the shape of the control curves. The alignment of the device when placing the substrate should be mentioned as further advantages of the design of the skids. The skids act as cantilevers and thus facilitate pre-orientation, while they are only lifted off the substrate during the subsequent adhesive transfer, i.e. after pre-orientation has taken place.

In terms of manufacturing technology, an embodiment has proven particularly useful in which the supply reel, the take-up reel, the application device and the drive connection are arranged on a base plate.

It is particularly advantageous if, according to a further embodiment of the invention, the skids are arranged on a lever arm articulated on the base plate.

A base plate designed in this way can be arranged pivotably on a housing without great technical effort, so that it is easily accessible in the pivoted-out state, for example for refilling the carrier tape and can be pivoted back into the hood-like housing with a handle.

To lock the base plate in the housing, it is particularly advantageous if, according to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the housing has an undercut opening, which is preferably circular, with which an arcuate tongue of the lever arm can be locked when the base plate is pivoted into the housing. With this design, the lever arm can thus be used both as a carrier for the skids and as a closure cap which is mounted approximately in the middle of one side of the base plate. The arcuate tongue engages in the locked state, comparable to the closure of a sheet steel gasoline can, in the housing opening and creates a secure connection between the housing and the base plate. When the cams arranged on the application device snap into the control cam, a secure connection is thus already established and the lever cannot return to the open position. If the arcuate locking tongue and the housing are held in contrasting colors at least in the area of the undercut opening, the user can easily recognize the locking principle and operate the lock without studying the operating instructions.

With regard to easier handling when applying the adhesive, an embodiment has proven to be particularly advantageous in which the base plate (and the housing adapted to it) has the shape of an oblique triangle, the application device being arranged at a corner with an acute angle. If the application device is designed as an application bar, this bar represents the acute-angled corner of the triangle, so that the adhesive carrier tape is well presented and in particular can also be worked on the inside of containers and the like. This shape ensures that a housing enveloping the functional parts can be designed ergonomically optimally in the form of a hand wedge, and that the acute-angled arrangement of the application device enables a precise transfer of the adhesive to the substrate.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, the supply spool is arranged as close as possible to the application device, i. H. at the smallest possible distance that a full supply spool allows. The pivot point of the supply spool lies approximately on the bisector of the said acute angle of the triangle.

In the area of the obtuse angle of the triangle, the arrangement of the take-up reel for the used carrier tape is provided according to a further advantageous embodiment. Less space is required for this, since the carrier tape takes up less space because of the adhesive layer that has been transferred in the meantime. In the area of the second acute angle of the triangle, a chamber with cylindrical free space for a replacement coil is provided immediately after the supply spool. The side between the two acute angles of the triangular base is preferably used as a storage surface for the device. With the construction described above, it is achieved that, with the utmost space utilization, an additional chamber for accommodating a replacement supply spool can be realized with extremely small external dimensions of the housing. In addition, the construction enables space to be created in the area between the supply spool and the replacement spool for housing a reliable housing locking system.

According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the drive connection between the supply reel and the take-up reel is arranged in a closed cavity in the base plate. This encapsulation of the drive connection protects it from contamination by adhesive particles. In the event that adhesive residues can still get onto the surface of the base plate, they can be easily removed with a cleaning agent, for which it is particularly advantageous if the materials are resistant to cleaning agents, such as polyolefins.

The drive connection is usually designed in such a way that a tension is exerted on the belt from the take-up reel, either by a slipping transmission or by a gear drive with a slip clutch. Each tensioning element tries to counteract this tension in such a way that the supply reel and the winding of the used carrier tape turn back against the direction of rotation until the tension is released and the tape loosens. If the device is now transferred over the substrate in the opposite direction during adhesive transfer, be it by mistake or ignorance of the operating instructions, the tape would be loosened in such a way that loops would result and thus adhesive from the tape section between the supply reel to Application device could get inside the device. In order to avoid this undesirable loop formation, it is provided according to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention that the drive connection is provided with a backstop. This ensures with simple and inexpensive means of production that the band always remains taut. In contrast to conventional devices, in which an additional brake to be operated by the user is provided, the backstop works completely automatically. A gearwheel with a resilient tongue engaging in the teeth can be provided as the backstop, for example. The fact that the tape is always kept taut by the backstop also ensures that when the device is attached at the beginning of the transfer process, the adhesive strip can be produced with a sharp edge at the beginning.

According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the slip clutch is arranged between the supply spool take-up mandrel and a drive gear carrying it. It is particularly advantageous if the supply spool receiving mandrel is formed on the inside as a splined hub, in whose toothing inclined, resilient pawls engage, which are fastened to the drive gear wheel carrying the supply spool receiving mandrel. The proposed slip clutch system, consisting of the spline hub and the resilient pawls, ensures that resistance peaks which adjust to the quality of the adhesive periodically occur with continuous strip removal in the order of the tooth pitch, an additional manually operated braking device of known devices is unnecessary, the Leap jump after overcoming each resistance peak, which would be followed by a loosening of the belt tension, is compensated for by the elastically mounted application device and thus a constant belt tension is achieved.

One further reaches by an inclination of the resilient paws, depending on the direction of rotation, with dragged pawls a lower slip resistance and with pushed pawls a higher resistance, which can be used in such a way that the transfer operation with the higher rotational resistance and the return, which the tensioning of the tape at Changing the tape by rotating the take-up reel corresponds to the lower resistance, so that when changing the supply reel, the tape can be tensioned with little effort.

To improve the handling of the device also contributes if, according to a further advantageous embodiment, the housing has at least one inspection hole opposite the winding of the supply spool and / or the empty spool points so that the available supply of the tape roll can be checked by the user at any time. The spool core of the supply spool, which can also be located in the area of the inspection hole, can also be provided with a color code which indicates the type of adhesive, for example permanent or non-permanent. The inspection hole is preferably outside the area that is covered by the user's hand when operating the device. The inspection hole is preferably rectangular and its narrow sides run parallel to the radius line of the supply reel, so that the rectangle extends in the longitudinal direction over the entire area of the winding height including the winding core of the supply reel.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, the housing is flat and a protruding, hump-shaped finger rest is provided on a narrow side above the application device. This, in terms of ergonomics particularly advantageous design of the housing is adapted to the human palm in a "paw grip position". By rounding the contours of the base triangle together with the molded hump-shaped nose as a finger brake or finger rest, whose radius of curvature increases from the finger rest to the rear, it is achieved that the contour characteristic remains geometrically similar for people of different hand sizes and thus an optimized housing shape for all hand sizes and approximately similar pressure distributions are guaranteed.

• FIGUR 1: ein Gerät zum Auftragen der Klebstoffschicht gemäß der Erfindung im Betrieb;
• FIGUR 2: das Gerät in Figur 1, jedoch mit zurückgeklapptem Gehäuse;
• FIGUR 3: die Grundplatte des Gerätes mit aufgesetzter Antriebsverbindung in der Draufsicht;
• FIGUR 4: einen Vorratsspulenaufnahmedorn in der Draufsicht, im Teilaxialschnitt und in Teilseitenansicht;
• FIGUR 5: einen Wickelkern einer Vorratsspule in einer Ansicht von unten und im Axialschnitt;
• FIGUR 6: eine Ansicht des Gerätes gemäß Figur 1 von vorne gesehen.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the exemplary embodiment shown schematically in the figures. It shows:

• FIGURE 1: a device for applying the adhesive layer according to the invention in operation;
• FIGURE 2: the device in Figure 1, but with the housing folded back;
• FIGURE 3: the base plate of the device with attached drive connection in plan view;
• FIGURE 4: a supply spool receiving mandrel in plan view, in partial axial section and in partial side view;
• FIGURE 5: a winding core of a supply spool in a view from below and in axial section;
• FIGURE 6: a view of the device according to FIG. 1 seen from the front.

1 shows a substrate 1 which is already partially provided with an adhesive layer 25. The device for applying the adhesive layer has a housing 2 which, in the view in FIG. 1, has approximately the shape of an acute-angled triangle. The device has a thickness of 1.5 to 2.5, preferably 2 cm and can be held by hand like a hand wedge, with a hump-shaped finger rest 24 serving to rest the index finger. To apply the adhesive layer 25, the device is pressed with its housing 2 against the substrate 1, so that the adhesive carrier tape 4 guided over an application bar 6 is pressed against the substrate and adheres there. In this state of application operation, skids 13, of which only one can be seen in FIG. 1, are lifted off the substrate in a fork-like manner on both sides of the application bar 6. A cam 14, which is connected to the applicator bar 6 and which engages in a corresponding control curve of the skid 13, serves to lift the skids 13. This is explained in more detail below. Because the application device 6 is arranged in a corner with an acute angle, the device can also be used with pinpoint accuracy in places that are relatively difficult to access, such as, for example, inside a container.

FIG. 2 shows the device according to FIG. 1 with the housing 2 folded away. When the housing 2 is folded away, a base plate 16 becomes visible, on which - rotatably mounted - a supply spool 3 for a carrier tape 4 coated with adhesive is arranged. The supply reel 3 consists of the tape winding 3a and the winding core 3b. The winding core 3b is seated on a supply reel mandrel 22. A winding reel 5 is also provided on the base plate 16, likewise rotatably mounted, for receiving the carrier tape 4b freed from the adhesive layer. The take-up reel 5 has a tape receiving slot 26 in a zigzag shape with an insertion slope and a turning handle 35. The supply reel 3 and the take-up reel 5 are connected in terms of drive via a drive connection with a slip clutch, which is described further below.

On the base plate 16, a tape guide device 27 is also attached. The strip guiding device 27 merges in one piece at its end facing the first acute-angled corner of the base plate 16 into an application bar 6, which is connected to the tape guiding device 27 via an intermediate piece 12 with thinned wall thickness such that the application bar 6 oscillates with elastic deformation of the intermediate piece 12, possibly with slight torsion. On the application bar 6, two cams 14 which extend in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the base plate 16 are fastened, of which only one can be seen in FIG. 2.

A receiving chamber 20 for a replacement supply spool (not shown) is furthermore arranged on the base plate 16 in the region of the second corner with an acute angle. The chamber 20 is open on its narrow side, which lies between the corner with an obtuse angle and the second corner with an acute angle of the triangular base plate 16, so that from there, after the housing 2 has been folded away, the replacement supply spool can be easily removed or inserted. Brief operating instructions are attached to the upper surface of chamber 20, but are not shown in FIG. 2 for reasons of clarity.

As can be seen in FIG. 2, the carrier tape 4a coated with adhesive is pulled off the supply reel 3 and passed over the application bar 6. Then it is freed of adhesive via the band guide device 27 up to the vicinity of the take-up reel 5. the direction of rotation of the up Winding reel 5 is - as will be explained in more detail below - designed so that the side of the band, which was coated with adhesive, can be brought into contact with the surface of the reel.

On the side of the triangular base plate 16, which lies between the two corners at an acute angle, a lever 17 is articulated approximately in the middle and can be pivoted in the direction of the arrow F shown. At its free end, the lever has two skids 13 pointing in the direction of the substrate, which surround the applicator bar in a fork-like manner on both sides when the lever is pivoted in the direction of the base plate 16 in the direction of the arrow. The wall of the skids 13 is further provided with a recess acting as a control curve 15, into each of which the cam 14 fastened to the application bar 6 can be latched. The function of the control curve is described below. A corrugation 28 is attached to the outer wall of the skids 13 so that the user can grip the lever 17 securely with his fingers. In the vicinity of the articulation point of the lever 17, this is provided with an arcuate tongue 19 which extends perpendicularly from the lever 17 in the direction of the base plate 16 and whose circular arc shape is selected such that the center of curvature of the arc approximately coincides with the articulation point of the lever 17 . The housing 2 is articulated in the corner in which the chamber 20 is provided for the replacement supply spool.

The housing 2 consists essentially of two approximately triangular plates which are connected to one another on two outer narrow sides and whose shape corresponds approximately to the shape of the base plate 16. A finger rest 24 is provided on that narrow side, which lies in the area above the application device 6 when the housing is closed. On the side which lies in the region of the lever 17 when the housing is closed, there is an opening 18 which is adapted to the shape of the arcuate tongue 19. The housing thus encloses the base plate 16 like a hood. The design of the outer housing as a hood has the advantage that it can be made absolutely symmetrical, especially considering larger draft angles for injection molded parts with a textured surface and against a sealing lid, with larger rounded edges, which makes the same for right and left-handers Handlinbg is guaranteed.

The device is operated like folate:

To open the device, the lever 17 is gripped on the corrugation 28 and the corresponding corrugation - not visible in FIG. 2 - on the other side with the thumb and forefinger and pivoted in the direction of the arrow F shown. The cams 14 disengage from the cam 15 with slight deformation of the elastic intermediate piece 12 of the application bar 6. The lever 17 is then pivoted in the direction of arrow F until the arcuate tongue 19 is completely pulled out of the opening 18 in the housing 2 so that the housing 2 can be pivoted into the position shown in FIG. In this position, the inside of the device is fully accessible, insofar as this is necessary for changing the carrier tape or for cleaning work. The supply roll 3 is placed on the supply reel mandrel 22. It is connected to these via a driver connection in the manner of a spline-spline profile, as described in more detail below. The carrier tape 4 is then, as can easily be seen in FIG. 2, pulled over the application bar 6 and guided to the take-up reel 5, where it can be inserted into the receiving slot 26. By a few turns of the take-up reel 5, the end of the tape is securely attached to it. The end of the band can also be fastened without using the receiving slot 26. The side identity of the adhesive tape coating and the take-up reel surface has the advantage that, in the case of manual as well as automatic initial loading, the tape itself or an upstream tensioning tape with adhesive film, which is preferably provided on the same side for production reasons, can be attached to the take-up device without being complicated by rotating the reel to align the take-up slot and to insert the end of the tape, whereby the user can alternatively use the additional take-up slot for later changing of the supply reel, the zigzag design of which holds the end of the tape in position until it is turned by turning the reel using the rotary handle mentioned above , thanks to the special arrangement of the resilient pawls, is pre-wound and tensioned with little effort.

The supply reel 3 is in drive connection with the take-up reel 5 via a slip clutch, as is also explained in detail below.

To close the device, we first pivoted the housing 2 against the drawn arrow direction G on the base plate 16, so that the two side surfaces of the housing 2 completely enclose the base plate and the components arranged on it. Thereafter, the lever 17 is pivoted back against the arrow direction F shown, so that the arcuate tongue 19 engages in the openings 18 in the housing walls 2 in the manner of a tin can closure and locks the housing in the closed position. The lever 17 is pushed so far in the direction of the base plate 16 until the cams 14 snap into the cam 15 with slight deformation of the elastic intermediate piece 12 of the application bar 6.

When applying adhesive to a substrate (cf. FIG. 1), the device is pressed onto the substrate as shown in FIG. 1, the skids 13 first touching the substrate. By further depressing the device in the direction of the substrate, the lever 17 is pivoted further in the direction of the application bar until the application bar 6 protrudes above the level of the skids 13 and the carrier tape 4a coated with adhesive presents the substrate. By choosing the form of tax Erkurve 15 in the side wall of the skids 13, the applicator bar is moved forward via the cams 14, ie opposite to the direction of movement of the device. The application bar 6 experiences the same deflection when the device is pulled over the substrate. In this case, the choice of the shape of the control curve 15 requires that the skids 13 are raised and only the applicator bar 6 comes into contact with the substrate 1 with the carrier tape 4 running over it (cf. FIG. 1). Unevenness of the substrate is compensated for during the adhesive transfer by the elastic mounting 12 of the application bar 6, so that an edge-sharp adhesive transfer is possible. After the adhesive transfer process has ended, the application bar 6 springs back into its equilibrium position, the skids 13 being moved via the cams 14 and the control cam 15 in the direction of the substrate and projecting beyond the application bar 6, so that the application bar 6 is lifted off the substrate. This lifting of the application bar 6 takes place in accordance with the conditions given by the geometry of the device, which are selected so that an optimal tear-off edge of the adhesive is ensured. The demolition conditions are therefore largely independent of the type of handling of the device by the user.

The drive connection between the supply reel and the take-up reel is explained below with reference in particular to FIG. 3. The base plate 16 is double-skinned, so that gears for the drive connection between the supply roll 3 and the take-up reel 5 can be accommodated in the cavity between the two shells. The almost hermetic encapsulation of the drive connection consisting of gear wheels ensures that no adhesive residues get to the gear wheels and can interfere with their function. In Figure 3, the upper half-shell of the base plate 16 is removed, so that only the lower half-shell 16a can be seen. As a result, three gearwheels are visible, namely the gearwheels 7, 8 and 9. On the gearwheel 7, which lies below the supply roll 3, five resilient pawls 10 extending in the circumferential direction are arranged, which are part of a slip clutch. The gear 7 meshes with an intermediate gear 8, which has fewer teeth and a smaller diameter. The intermediate gear 8 in turn meshes with an even smaller gear 9. The gear 9 is integral with the winding reel 5 already described. A spring tongue arranged on the half-shell 16a engages in the teeth of the intermediate shell 16 in the manner of a directional lock. The choice of the transmission ratio ensures that the reel can always rotate sufficiently fast enough to wind up and tension the tape drawn off from the supply roll 3. The backstop consisting of the intermediate gear 8 and the spring tongue 21 ensures that the belt 4 is always kept taut and device operation with adhesive application in the "wrong" direction is avoided. The second half-shell of the base plate 16, which is not shown in FIG. 3, is fastened to the half-shell 16a in a known manner via a sleeve-pin plug connection (not shown). It has only a small distance of a few millimeters from it in the area of the gear wheels 7, 8 and 9, which is sufficient to accommodate the gear wheels 7, 8, 9, while in the remaining area to form the receiving chamber 20 (in FIG. 2) for the replacement coil, the distance between the two housing shells is increased.

The supply reel mandrel 22 is explained below with reference to FIG. 4. In the left half of Figure 4, the mandrel 22 is shown in plan view, while the right half of Figure 4 shows the mandrel partly in axial section and partly in side view. The supply reel mandrel 22 essentially consists of a cylindrical part 29, the height of which corresponds approximately to the width of the adhesive carrier tape 4. The cylindrical part 29 is closed by a cover plate 30 on one end face. At the open end, the cylindrical part 29 merges into an enlarged support flange 31. Ribs 32 are formed on the outer surface of the cylindrical part 29, the height, i.e. whose dimension in the radial direction decreases in the direction of the end of the holding mandrel 22 which is closed by the cover plate 30, so that there is a conical outer profile. Axial grooves 11 are provided on the inner wall of the holding mandrel 22 in the region of the support flange 31. The supply spool receiving mandrel 22 rests on the gear 7 (FIG. 3). The elastic pawls 10 engage in the axial grooves 11 and form a slip clutch with them. In the axial direction, the holding mandrel 22 is held by the upper half-shell of the base plate 16, which for this purpose has a circular recess whose diameter is somewhat smaller than the diameter of the support flange 31.

The winding core 3b of the supply reel 3 is described below with reference to FIG. 5. The left half of FIG. 5 shows the winding core in a view from below, the right half in axial section. The winding core 3b consists of a cylindrical part which is open on both ends, over the outer circumference of which the adhesive carrier tape (not shown in FIG. 5) is wound. Ribs 33 are arranged on the inner wall at a uniform circumferential spacing, the width of which is smaller than the spacing of the ribs 32 on the outer circumference of the holding mandrel 22. The winding core 3b also has an inner ring collar 34 on one end face. The supply reel 3 with its winding core 3b can be placed on the supply reel mandrel 22 with a slight play, the ribs 32 of the mandrel 22 with the ribs 33 of the winding core 3b producing a positive driver connection in the manner of a spline-spline connection. The conical flattening of the ribs 32 of the holding mandrel 22 makes it easier to put on. Since the inner diameter of the inner ring collar 34 is smaller than the diameter of the enveloping circle of the ribs 32 of the holding mandrel 22, the inner ring can collar 34 can not be pushed over the ribs 32 of the mandrel 22.

This arrangement ensures that the inner collar of the supply spool core is stopped by the end faces of the recessed supply spool receiving ribs when attempting to inadvertently insert the supply spool, thus making it impossible to insert the supply spool with the wrong pulling direction, which on the one hand ensures the functionally correct insertion and on the other hand soiling of the device due to adhesive transfer, which would be unavoidable if the coil is incorrectly inserted due to the inevitable manipulation with the adhesive tape, whereby the seat of the supply coil core 3b on the mandrel, which is determined exclusively by rib-groove contacts with cylindrical enveloping surfaces, one axial force component can arise, which would result in a lateral displacement of the supply spool, while the conical effective envelope surface of the supply spool receiving mandrel 22 prevents the user from using supply spools The dimensions and adhesive properties of which the device is not designed.

FIG. 6 shows the fully assembled device in a front view (seen from the left in FIG. 1). The housing 2 with the finger rest 24 can be seen. In the area of the carrier tape guide, the housing is open, so that it can be observed how the carrier tape 4 coming from the application bar 6 is guided via the tape guide device 27. FIG. 6 also shows the skids 13 arranged on the lever 17 on both sides, which surround the applicator bar 6 in a fork-like manner on both sides. Furthermore, the cams 14 on both sides can be seen, which engage in control cams in the side wall of the skids 13.

According to a variant, not shown, it is provided that, while maintaining all the other functions, the supply reel holder and take-up core are converted into driver pins and the upper part of the gearbox, backstop, application device and tape guide device, supplemented by a cover, are combined to form a cassette, this cassette containing a full supply reel , whose leader tape is already attached to an additional empty spool and both spool cores have profiled receiving bores, the contours of which are matched to the input and output drive pins of the remaining gear, while the backstop is split, integrated in one piece into the lower part of the cassette, in addition engage teeth formed on the preferably identical coil cores. A breakthrough is provided for the cassette cover congruent to the inspection hole of the housing hood.

The result of this is that, like a ribbon cassette, the entire refilling handling can be carried out in a simple manner by changing the cassette, there is no need to attach or insert the leader belt to a take-up reel and the gear drive no longer has to be encapsulated, since there is no longer a risk of contamination. while a slight contamination of the inside of the cassette can be accepted, since tests have shown that the passage of only one band, with the consequent accumulation of possible adhesive particles, is managed, also because there are no functional parts inside the cassette.

The splitting of the backstop ensures that the supply reel and empty reel are secured against loosening of the tape, especially in the storage phase, in which the reels are not in contact with a gear and the opening in the cassette cover also secures this variant Check the tape supply, as in the type of tape loaded.

Regarding the tape change handling, in addition to the variants described, a third design option should not be left unmentioned, in which only the winding core of the first solution is replaced by a driving pin and the replacement supply reel with an empty spool core, the receiving bore of which is profiled according to the driving fit, the leader tape already being on the empty spool is attached.

It is thereby achieved that when changing the tape, only the unit of empty supply reel core with a full take-up core needs to be replaced by the unit spare supply reel with an empty take-up core, and that the used tape is produced as waste and not as a ball, as in the first solution, as waste.

Claims (27)

1. Apparatus for applying an adhesive film to a substrate (1), comprising a casing (2) containing a supply reel (3) for a backing tape (4a) coated with an adhesive film, a winder (5) for holding the backing tape (4b) when separated from the adhesive film, and an applicator which guides the tape (4) and projects from the casing (2) and by means of which the side of the backing tape (4) coated with the adhesive film is presented to the outside of the apparatus and consequently to the substrate (1), and a drive connection (7, 8, 9) comprising a slipping clutch (10, 11) is formed between the supply reel (3) and the winder (5) and, when driving the supply reel (3) pulls off the backing tape (4) and thus drives the winder (5) at a speed such that the backing tape (4) always remains stretched, characterised in that the applicator (6) is resiliently mounted.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterised in that the applicator (6) is made in the form of a strip.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the resilient mounting is made in the form of a resiliently flexible, substantially rectangular intermediate member (12) to which the applicator (6) is secured.

4. Apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that sliding runners (13) are disposed on both aides of the applicator (6) and are movable in the direction at right angles to it. and are resiliently prestressed in the direction towards the substrate (1).

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, characterised in that the applicator (6) has at least one cam (14) which engages in a control curve (15) in the sliding runners (13).

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, characterised in that the cam (14) is lockable in the control curve (15).

7. Apparatus according to claim 5, characterised in that the control curve (15) is constructed so that, when the sliding runners (13) are raised in the direction towards the applicator (6), the applicator (6) is pivoted in the direction for pulling off the tape (4).

8. Apparatus according to any of claims 5 to 7, characterised in that the control curve (15) is shaped so that, when the applicator (6) pivots in the direction for pulling off the tape (4), the sliding runners (13) are lifted in the direction towards the applicator (6).

9. Apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 8, characterised in that the supply reel (3), the winder (5), the applicator (6) and the drive connection (7, 8, 9) are disposed on a baseplate (16).

10. Apparatus according to claim 9 and at least one of claims 4 to 7, characterised in that the sliding runners (13) are disposed on a lever arm (17) pivoted to the baseplate (16).

11. Apparatus according to claim 9, characterised in that the baseplate (16) is pivotable out of the casing (2).

12. Apparatus according to claim 10 and claim 11, characterised in that the casing (2) has an undercut aperture (18) for locking an arcuate tongue (19) of the lever arm (17) when the baseplate (16) is pivoted into the casing (2).

13. Apparatus according to any of claims 9 to 12, characterised in that the baseplate 16 is shaped as a scalene triangle and the applicator (6) is disposed at an acute-angled corner.

14. Apparatus according to claim 13. characterised in that the supply reel (3) is disposed very near the applicator (6).

15. Apparatus according to claim 13 or 14, characterised in that the winder (5) is disposed near the obtuse corner of the triangle.

16. Apparatus according to any of claims 13 to 15, characterised in that a storage chamber (20) for a spare reel is disposed near the second acute corner of the triangle.

17. Apparatus according to any of claims 13 to 16, characterised in that the drive connection (7, 8, 9) is disposed in a closed cavity in the baseplate (16) .

18. Apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 17, characterised in that the drive connection (7, 8, 9) contains a back stop (8, 21

19. Apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 18, characterised in that the sliding clutch (10. 11) is disposed between a spindle (22) holding the supply reel and a drive gearwheel (7) holding the spindle.

20. Apparatus according to claim 19, characterised in that the sliding clutch comprises axial grooves (11) disposed on the inside of the spindle (22) holding the supply reel and resilient pawls (10) disposed on the hub of the drive gearwheel (7) and engaging in the axial grooves (11).

21. Apparatus according to claim 20 characterised in that the core (3b) of the supply reel (3) has an inner annular collar (34) preventing it from being placed the wrong way round on the spindle (22).

22. Apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 20, characterised in that the casing (2) has at least one inspection hole (23) opposite the winder (5) and/or the package on the supply reel.

23. Apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 21, characterised in that the casing (2) is flat and has a finger grip (24) projecting to one narrow side above the applicator (6).

24. Apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 23, characterised in that the supply reel (3) is disposed in a cassette.

25. Apparatus according to claim 24, characterised in that the cassette contains the winder (5).

26. Apparatus according to claim 24 or 25, characterised in that the back stop in disposed in the cassette.

27. Apparatus according to any of claims 24 to 26, characterised in that the cassette contains a tape guide (27).

Images