Laminating apparatus

Claim 2

The apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein said guide means further include a pin having a taper at one end extending in the direction of said reference plane and located at a given distance which is slightly larger than the nominal width of said strip material; means for adjusting the given distance between said pin and said reference plane, and wherein said strip material is drawn against said taper and continuously urged against said reference plane.

Claim 3

Laminating apparatus for laminating two or more webs of strip material of differing thickness in side-by-side relation to a backing element comprising: a frame: a first pair of nip forming idler rollers having hard surfaces journaled on said frame; a second pair of nip forming driving rollers having cushioned operating surfaces journaled on said frame and coupled to a drive motor; means for controlling the nip pressure of the idler rollers and the driving rollers; an adhesive applying station for applying adhesive to one side of said backing element; means defining a path for said backing element from a supply thereof through said adhesive applying station and through the nips of said idler rollers and said cushioned driving rollers; means defining separate paths for said strip materials from respective supplies thereof through the nips of said idler rollers and said cushioned driving rollers including means guiding said strip material in substantially side-by-side relation with the edge of one strip overlapping the adjacent edge of an adjacent strip; said idler rollers pressing the strip material of greatest thickness against the adhesive coated surface of said backing and said cushioned rollers pressing each of said strips against the glue coated surface of said backing material, whereby the pressure of said idler rollers against said strip materials causes shifting of one strip material on the backing relative to the other to effect edge-to-edge contact of said strip materials.

Claim 4

The apparatus as set forth in claim 4 including additionally; means for individually adjusting the nip pressure of each of said roller pairs.

Claim 5

The apparatus as set forth in claim 4 wherein said strip materials have substantial flow characteristics and wherein said backing element has a relatively small flow characteristic, including additionally; a motor driven take-up station for rewinding the laminated material and wherein said driven cushioned rollers control the rate of speed of said material and backing element and isolate the tension of the strip materials and backing element between the laminating section of the apparatus and the take-up section thereof.