WO2007144726A1

WO2007144726A1 - Adhesive mounting products and articles provided with mounting adhesive

Info

Publication number: WO2007144726A1
Application number: PCT/IB2007/001531
Authority: WO
Inventors: Clifton Aubrey Van Der Hoven
Original assignee: Clifton Aubrey Van Der Hoven
Priority date: 2006-06-13
Filing date: 2007-06-07
Publication date: 2007-12-21
Also published as: AU2007258913A1; GB0900417D0; ZA200900219B; GB2453081A

Abstract

An adhesive mounting product is provided of the type comprising a patch (2, 17, 21) of mounting adhesive on a carrier (1 , 21 ) therefor. Positioned adjacent, and recessed relative to the adhesive package is a generally non- adhesive contact surface (6) of a guide element (5, 10, 18, 22) that is adapted to give way under pressure to enable the adhesive patch to contact a surface with which the guide element is in contact. Preferably, the patch (2) of mounting adhesive has two opposite edges with the adhesive patch being positioned centrally of, and recessed relative to, a pair of contact surfaces (6) of a guide element (5) positioned adjacent each of said opposite edges. The guide elements are preferably made of a material selected from a compressible material, an optionally resilient, foam material, a collapsible frangible or crushable material, and an element (10) that is integral with the carrier and connected thereto by way of an integral frangible web (12) of material.

Description

ADHESIVE MOUNTING PRODUCTS AND ARTICLES PROVIDED WITH

MOUNTING ADHESIVE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to adhesive mounting products and articles provided with mounting adhesive whereby an article can be mounted on a supporting surface therefor by way of the adhesive. The adhesive may simply be a double sided layer of adhesive although more typically it is carried on a deformable pad that generally has adhesive on both major surfaces thereof.

The double sided adhesive or pad carrying same may be supplied on a backing sheet from which the one side can be removed with a removable cover on the other adhesive side. Alternatively, it may be supplied in the form of a roll in which instance a single removable cover generally serves to cover the outer and inner adhesive layers.

In a still further alternative, an article for adhesive mounting may be supplied with the adhesive or pad carrying same already applied directly to the relevant surface of the article itself with the adhesive surface whereby the article is to be mounted covered with a removable cover sheet.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Adhesive mounting products and articles provided with mounting adhesive applied directly thereto are widely used for numerous different purposes and, indeed, adhesive is the standard way of mounting many different types of articles. Articles that are commonly mounted to a support surface using adhesive mounting products are mirrors, picture hooks, wall mounted brackets, kitchen and bathroom fittings, light fittings, and numerous other articles, the list being too long to be exhaustive in this specification. The reasons for the use of adhesive are primarily those of convenience; speed of application; reduction of labour and any costs associated therewith; low cost of adhesive mounting products; the avoidance of forming permanent drill holes in solid supporting walls or the like and the suitability of adhesive fixing in instances that walls, doors or the like are hollow and are not suitable for receiving a wall plug or expansion unit.

However, one disadvantage of the use of such adhesive mounting products, that applicant considers to be significant, is the difficulty of aligning or positioning an article accurately once the adhesive is exposed by the removal of the relevant cover sheet. The difficulty is that the exposed adhesive can catch on the surface on which the article is to be mounted before the article is located in the required position and, in some instances, it is not possible to release the adhesive effectively to enable repositioning to take place. This can lead to all sorts of difficulties even to the extent of requiring a replacement adhesive surface that may be almost impossible for an individual to provide.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to provide adhesive mounting products and articles provided with mounting adhesive applied thereto in which the disadvantage indicated above is overcome, at least to some extent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect of this invention there is provided an adhesive mounting product comprising a patch of mounting adhesive on a carrier therefor characterised in that the mounting adhesive is positioned adjacent, and recessed relative to, a generally non-adhesive or substantially less adhesive contact surface of a guide element that is adapted to give way under pressure to enable the adhesive patch to contact a surface with which the guide element is in contact.

Further features of the invention provide for the patch of mounting adhesive to have two opposite edges with the adhesive patch being positioned centrally of, and recessed relative to, a pair of contact surfaces of guide elements positioned adjacent said opposite edges with each of the guide elements being adapted to give way under pressure to enable the adhesive patch to contact a surface with which the guide elements are in contact; for the guide elements to be made of a material selected from a compressible material, an optionally resilient, foam material, a collapsible frangible or crushable material, and an element that is integral with the carrier and connected thereto by way of an integral frangible web of material; and for the contact surface of the guide elements to be slightly adhesive, friction affording or tacky so that the surface does not slip on a mounting surface with which it is in engagement whilst pressure is applied to cause the guide elements to give way.

The invention also provides an article having an attachment surface carrying a patch of mounting adhesive with one or more guide elements having contact surfaces as defined above being positioned adjacent the patch of mounting adhesive.

Of course, in all instances in which an adhesive mounting product or an article provided with mounting adhesive is provided, the adhesive patch is covered with the usual type of releasable cover sheet and it is preferred that the contact surfaces of the guide elements are also covered by the same or a different releasable cover sheet in order to keep them clean.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood various embodiments and applications thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:-

Figure 1 is an isometric view illustrating part of an article provided with one arrangement of mounting adhesive and guide elements according to the invention;

Figure 2 is similar to Figure 1 but illustrating another arrangement of mounting adhesive and guide element according to the invention;

Figure 3 illustrates schematically, in elevation, an article supported by way of guide elements in relation to a mounting surface to which it is to be adhesively secured;

Figure 4 is the same as Figure 3 but showing the guide elements collapsed and the adhesive in contact with the mounting surface;

Figure 5 is similar to Figure 3 but shows guide elements formed integral with an article to be mounted utilizing a patch of mounting adhesive;

Figure 6 is a party broken away view of one form of adhesive mounting product; and,

Figure 7 is a cross-section taken through the mounting product illustrated in Figure 6. DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS

Referring firstly to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, the invention may be implemented for the mounting of an article indicated by numeral (1) by providing, in one way or another, a patch (2) of adhesive covered by the usual type of removable cover sheet (3) on an appropriate attachment surface (4) of the article. The patch of adhesive may be an adhesive applied directly to the attachment surface or it could be of the type carried by a deformable pad itself carried by the attachment surface in well-known manner.

Located on each of two opposite sides of the patch of adhesive is a strip (5) of deformable material forming a guide element and having an operatively exposed contact surface (6). The thickness of the strips is greater than the thickness of the adhesive patch so that, when the contact surfaces of the strips are in contact with the mounting surface (7) (see Figure 3), the adhesive patch is out of contact with the mounting surface.

Thus, in order to adhesively mount such an article, the releasable cover sheet (3) is removed and the article can then be located lightly against the mounting surface with the adhesive out of contact with that surface. The position of the article can then be adjusted as may be required and, when it is in its desired position, pressure may be applied to the article to cause the guide elements to give way by collapsing and allow the adhesive patch to contact and become bonded to the mounting surface, as shown in Figure 4.

From the above it will be understood that the nature of the guide element can vary widely according to requirements, cost, and availability of suitable materials, as well as other considerations. It is envisaged that one type of material that will be suitable is a foamed elastomer or plastic typically used for forming sealing strips. However, numerous other materials can be employed. It is also possible that the guide elements be formed as feet (10) moulded integral with a plastics article (11) and connected to it by means of a frangible web (12) of the integral material, as illustrated in Figure 5. In this instance, application of pressure to the article in order to cause the adhesive to contact the mounting surface is designed to cause the webs of material to give way and the feet can then be removed if they do not break off automatically.

Also, the arrangement of the guide elements relative to the patch of adhesive can vary widely. Thus, as illustrated in Figure 2, the patch (17) of adhesive could be totally surrounded by a ring (18) defining a guide element.

It will be understood that the article schematically indicated above could assume any form and could have the patch of adhesive and guide elements applied thereto prior to introduction of the article into the commercial chain.

However, one of the major applications of the invention is envisaged to be in the form of prefabricated adhesive mounting products such as sheets, strips or rolls of double sided adhesive with or without an interposed deformable pad.

Figures 6 and 7 illustrate one form of such a product. In this instance a backing sheet (20) carries a wide central continuous patch (21) of adhesive, with or without a deformable pad. A guide strip (22) of material of greater thickness extends along each side of the patch to form the guide elements described above wherein a section of the composite sheet is separated from the rest for use. Such an adhesive mounting product can be cut to required lengths as and when the occasion arises and can then be used as described above.

Of course, the adhesive has the usual releasable cover sheet (23) that may optionally extend over the surfaces of the guide strips, as shown in Figure 6. Alternatively, the guide strips need not necessarily have a cover strip associated with them at all, or, as a further alternative, they could have their own cover strips (24) as shown in Figure 7.

It will be understood that numerous variations may be made to the embodiments and applications of the invention described above. In particular, the characteristics of the contact surface can be varied according to requirements. Thus, it may be desirable that the contact surface be slightly adhesive, tacky or friction affording, as indicated above. In this event, the contact surface may be covered by its own separate releasable cover sheet that can be removed if the slightly adhesive or friction affording characteristic is required, and left in place in the event that a more easily slidable contact surface is required. In this manner a choice of two different contact surfaces is provided on the same product.

Numerous other embodiments and applications are possible within the scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An adhesive mounting product comprising a patch (2, 17, 21) of mounting adhesive on a carrier. (1 , 21) therefor characterised in that the mounting adhesive is positioned adjacent, and recessed relative to, a generally non-adhesive or substantially less adhesive contact surface (6) of a guide element (5, 10, 18, 22) that is adapted to give way under pressure to enable the adhesive patch to contact a surface with which the guide element is in contact.

2. An adhesive mounting product as claimed in claim 1 in which the patch (2) of mounting adhesive has two opposite edges with the adhesive patch being positioned centrally of, and recessed relative to, a pair of contact surfaces (6) of guide elements (5) positioned adjacent said opposite edges with each of the guide elements being adapted to give way under pressure to enable the adhesive patch to contact a surface with which the guide elements are in contact.

3. An adhesive mounting product as claimed in either one of claims 1 or 2 in which the guide elements are made of a material selected from a compressible material, an optionally resilient, foam material, a collapsible frangible or crushable material, and an element (10) that is integral with the carrier and connected thereto by way of an integral frangible web (12) of material.

4. An adhesive mounting product as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the contact surface of the guide elements is slightly adhesive, friction affording or tacky so that the surface does not slip on a mounting surface with which it is in engagement whilst pressure is applied to cause the guide elements to give way.

5. An adhesive mounting product as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the adhesive patch is covered with a releasable cover sheet.

6. An adhesive mounting product as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the contact surfaces of the guide elements are covered by a releasable cover sheet in order to keep them clean.

7. An adhesive mounting product as claimed in claims 5 and 6 in which the contact surfaces of the guide elements are covered by a releasable cover sheet that may be the same or a different from that covering the adhesive patch.

8. An adhesive mounting product as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the mounting product is in the form of a sheet, strip or roll of double sided adhesive with or without an interposed deformable pad.

9. An article (1 , 11) having an attachment surface (4) carrying a patch (2) of mounting adhesive and characterised in that one or more guide elements (5, 10, 18) having contact surfaces (6) as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 positioned adjacent the patch of mounting adhesive.