Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company

Frederic A Longworth

Robert H Heil

Allen J Rivard

Todd R Betterley

A portable device for applying pressure sensitive adhesive coated tape to surfaces including along the top edges of baseboards and the like. The tape applying device includes two generally cylindrical application rollers rotatably mounted on a roller frame in parallel spaced relationship, together with a tape hub adapted to receive a tape roll. The tape hub and the application rollers define portions of first or second paths for tape being unwound from the tape roll with the rear surface of the tape backing disposed partially around the periphery of the first or the second application roller and extending from that to the periphery of the other application roller. The device includes a manually actuatable mechanism that can cut tape moving along either one of the paths between the tape roll and one of the application rollers. The tape hub is part of a novel tape hub assembly including a flange adapted to locate one side of the tape roll that can be positioned at different positions axially of the tape hub so that the device can apply tape of different widths.

Tape applying device

A portable device for applying pressure sensitive adhesive coated tape to surfaces including along the top edges of baseboards and the like. The tape applying device includes two generally cylindrical application rollers rotatably mounted on a roller frame in parallel spaced relationship, together with a tape hub adapted to receive a tape roll. The tape hub and the application rollers define portions of first or second paths for tape being unwound from the tape roll with the rear surface of the tape backing disposed partially around the periphery of the first or the second application roller and extending from that to the periphery of the other application roller. Blades are mounted on the roller frame with their cutting edge transverse of portions of the paths between the tape roll and the application rollers, and the device includes manually actuatable means adapted to cause tape moving along one of the paths between the tape roll and one of the application rollers to engage and be transversely cut by the cutting edge of the adjacent blade.

A guard for teeth on a cutting blade comprising a guard portion having a side part adapted to lay along one side of the teeth and a projecting part adapted to project past the points of the teeth, an anchor portion adapted to be fixed to the blade at a position spaced from the teeth, and a hinge portion of resiliently flexible polymeric material joining the guard and anchor portions. The hinge portion affords movement of the guard portion relative to the anchor portion from a normal protecting position along and projecting past the teeth, to a cut position spaced from the teeth so that the teeth can be used to cut material, while biasing the guard portion to its normal protecting position.

Blade guard

A portable device for guiding a length of pressure sensitive adhesive coated tape partially onto the outer wrap of a roll of masking material adjacent one of its edges to provide a composite masking sheet for use in masking surfaces comprising a length of the sheet material having the tape adhered along and extending widthwise past one edge by which the composite masking sheet can be adhered to a surface. The outer edge of the tape is not guided by the device, and a tendency that otherwise exists for the tape being adhered along the edge portion of the roll of masking material to move transversely away from the masking material so that less and less of the tape is adhered to the masking material is restricted by a tracking member mounted on a frame of the device between a hub supporting a roll of the tape and the roll of masking material. The tracking member engages the rear surface of the tape along its edge that overlaps the masking material for less than the full width of the tape and deflects the tape toward a plane through the axes of the rolls of tape and masking material from a plane which is mutually tangent to the peripheries of the rolls of tape and masking material.

Masking device with tape tracking member

A device with a first tape supply roll including a first length of tape helically wound about a first core with its adhesive coating on the side of its backing adjacent the core, a second tape supply roll comprising a second length of tape helically wound about a second core with its adhesive coating on the side of its backing opposite the core, and first and second hubs mounted on a frame for rotation about spaced parallel axes. The first hub is adapted to receive the core of the first tape supply roll and position a first edge of the first length of tape at a first predetermined position axially with respect to the first and second hubs, and the second hubs is adapted to receive the core of the second tape supply roll and position a first edge of the second length of tape at a second predetermined position axially with respect to the first and second hubs with the width of the first length of tape extending from the first position past the second position and the width of the second length of tape extending from the second position past the first position so that portions along the first edges of both lengths of tape are positioned between the first and second positions. Tapes are pulled from the first and second tape supply rolls along paths comprising a common path portion having a beginning position at which the portions along the first edges of both lengths of tape are adhered together to form a composite tape structure with a portion of a layer of adhesive exposed on each of its major sides.

Tape laminating device

A pin extending along an axis which is mutually parallel to the axis of rotation of a roll of tape and the axis of rotation of a roll of masking sheet in a masking machine deflects tape inboard from the normal tangential path between rolls whereby the tape is coursed into overlapping engagement while the edge of the roll of masking sheet material. An auxiliary roll of tape is rotatably carried by a subframe which is slidably engagable with a slot formed in the frame of a masking machine. The subframe, which is removable, is automatically retained by a manually releasable detent.

Masking machine

A cut off blade adapted for severing plastic film material folded in layers. The blade is a thin metal sheet including an attachment portion and a plurality of similarly shaped teeth defining a cutting edge portion of the blade. Each of the teeth defines parts of the first and second major surfaces in the shapes of isosceles triangles with two equal length sides terminating in points and having bases adjacent the attachment portion and aligned in a first direction along the blade so that the points project at right angles to the first direction. The angle between any portion of an edge surface of the blade along the cutting edge portion and the second surface when measured in a plane normal to the first direction is the same acute angle, and the metal of the sheet defining the edge surface along the cutting edge has been cold flowed toward the intersection thereof with the second major surface by a punch and die forming method to define a sharp edge at that intersection.

Growing community of inventors

Shoreview, MN, United States of America

Frederic A Longworth