Laminating and adhesive transfer apparatus

A laminating and adhesive transfer apparatus to be used in conjunction with a removable cartridge for performing a laminating and adhesive transfer operation on a master, the cartridge having a pair of feed rolls rotatable mounted therein and a master feeding opening through which the master can be fed, each of the feed rolls supporting a supply of stock material, said apparatus comprising:

• a frame having cartridge-mounting structure positioned and configured to removably receive the removable cartridge, said cartridge-mounting structure being configured such that the master feeding opening of the removable cartridge faces outwardly with respect to said frame when the removable cartridge is removably mounted on said cartridge-mounting structure;
• a pair of nip rollers rotatably mounted within said frame and extending transversely between opposing sides thereof, said pair of nip rollers defining a nip area therebetween, said nip area having a feed side and a discharge side;
• an actuating mechanism constructed and arranged to impart rotation to at least one of said pair of nip rollers, said nip rollers being configured to apply pressure to a master and stock material being fed therethrough as said nip rollers are rotated during a laminating or adhesive transfer operation;
• and
• said pair of nip rollers being constructed and arranged such that the master can be fed through the master feed opening of the removable cartridge and into said feed side of said nip area with the stock material unrolled from the feed rolls of the removable cartridge disposed on opposing sides of the master, said actuating mechanism imparting rotation to said at least one of said nip rollers to thereby feed the master and stock material through said nip area and discharge the master and stock material out said discharge side, said nip rollers applying pressure to the master and the stock material such that a selective laminating or adhesive transfer operation is performed on the master without the use of heat transfer as the master and stock material are fed through said nip rollers,
• said cartridge-mounting structure being configured such that the removable cartridge can be manually removed from said cartridge-mounting structure to thereby allow an operator to select a similar removable cartridge and mount it on said cartridge-mounting structure when replacement of the removable cartridge is desired.