Tape sealer

An apparatus for sealing an object with a one-sided adhesive tape on a support surface, comprising:

• a rigid base adapted for fixing with the support surface and including a pivot aperture and a plurality of radially-spaced angle adjustment apertures;
• a rigid rear plate having a second pivot aperture cooperative with a pivot pin and the pivot aperture of the base to provide pivotal movement between the rear plate and the base, the rear plate further including an adjustment pin adapted for engaging any of the angle adjustment apertures, a manual adjustment knob cooperative with the pivot pin to tighten the rear plate to the base with the adjustment pin engaged with one of the angle adjustment apertures to rotationally lock the rear plate to the base;
• the rear plate further including a tape roll spindle rotationally attached at a tape roll aperture traversing the rear plate, a sealing pathway traversing a top side of the rear plate and terminating at an orthogonally-oriented cutting pathway of the rear plate;
• a rigid front plate fixed with the rear plate with at least one standoff, thereby defining a gap therebetween for holding a sealing mechanism, the front plate including the sealing pathway aligned with the sealing pathway of the rear plate, traversing a top side of the front plate and terminating at an orthogonally-oriented cutting pathway of the front plate;
• the sealing mechanism comprising an indexing wheel rotationally captured between the front and rear plates and having a plurality of radially-extending teeth, a plurality of the teeth extending across the sealing pathway;
• a tape brake rotationally captured between the front and rear plates and having a tape engaging surface urged against the indexing wheel adjacent the sealing pathway with a first biasing mechanism;
• a tape cutter rotationally captured between the front and rear plates at a central position thereof and having a lower end and a cutting blade fixed with an upper end, a second biasing mechanism urging the blade away from the sealing pathway and the lower end across the sealing pathway;
• an object cutter fixed to either the front or rear plate at the cutting pathway thereof, the object cutter including a blade for cutting the object when the object is moved through the cutting pathway;
• whereby with the tape fixed with the tape roll spindle and a length of the tape fixed along a top side of the indexing wheel and across the sealing pathway, the object when forced down through the sealing pathway receives the length of tape between two of the teeth of the indexing wheel, the tape brake capturing a leading edge of the tape to adhere to a loop of the tape as the object passes the tape brake, the object being sealed by the loop of the tape adhering to itself and passing along the tape cutter that, when the object contacts the lower end of the tape cutter, rotates to force the tape cutting blade across the sealing pathway to cut the tape, the object then being moved through the cutting pathway to cut the object with the blade of the object cutter.