The present invention concerns an auxiliary element for applying an illustration, more particularly a photograph or the like, on a surface of the like.

An auxiliary element consisting of a sheet with a hot melt glue on both sides is already known, which auxiliary element is used to glue sheets from a photobook together.

The use of such an auxiliary element obviously requires a device to heat the hot melt glue and press the sheets to be glued together against each other.

The present invention relates to another auxiliary element, namely an auxiliary element used to place an illustration on a surface, for example on the cover of a book, on a photo block or the like.

Such an auxiliary element according to the invention is composed of a plate-shaped support provided on either side with a self-adhesive glue layer covered with a peel-off cover foil.

With such an auxiliary element, an illustration such as a photo or the like can easily be glued to a surface without the need for a special tool or device. It is sufficient to peel off the cover foil from one side of the auxiliary element, to then glue the support of the auxiliary element to the illustration and subsequently peel off the cover foil from the second side of the support, and then glue the support together with the illustration to the book or the like.

In this way, any surface can be professionally provided with an illustration without the need for a lot of professional experience or skill.

Preferably, the plate-shaped support is made of a rigid material, for example polyethylene terephthalate (PET) , which, with a small thickness of for example half a millimetre to one millimetre, can provide sufficient stiffness for the intended application.

A support is preferably used that corresponds in length and width to a standard paper size such as A4 or A3 in Europe, or Letter size or Legal size in the USA, etc., so that the auxiliary means can be used to decorate standard paper products such as covers, ring binders and the like.

The adhesive layer is preferably applied on one or both sides of the support over the entire surface of the support, so that the illustration can be applied to the surface without any inclusion of air bubbles and thus without blowing.

The invention also relates to the use of such an auxiliary means for applying an illustration on a surface, where the illustration is glued to one side of the support and the support is glued to the relevant surface.

In order to better explain the characteristics of the invention, the following preferred embodiment of an auxiliary element according to the invention and its use are described by way of example only without being limitative in any way, with reference to the accompanying drawings, where: figure 1 schematically represents an auxiliary element according to the invention, and seen in perspective; figure 2 shows the auxiliary element of figure 1 as disassembled;

figure 3 shows a section according to line III-III in figure 2 to a larger scale;

figures 4 and 5 illustrate the use of the auxiliary element of figure 1;

figures 6 to 8 illustrate another application of the auxiliary element;

figure 9 shows a device that can be used to assemble a presentation medium using the auxiliary element;

figure 10 shows a section according to line VII-VII in figure 9:

figures 11 to 16 show consecutive steps during the assembly of a presentation medium according to the invention by means of the device from figure 7.

The auxiliary element 1 shown in figures 1 to 3 is composed of a plate-shaped support 2 provided on both sides with a self-adhesive glue layer 3 and 4 which is covered with a peel-off cover foil 5 and 6.

The peel-off foils 5 and 6 are provided for example with a protruding lip 7 that can be used to easily hold a peel-off foil concerned in order to pull it off from an adhesive layer 3 or 4 concerned when using the auxiliary element 1.

The plate-shaped support 2 is preferably a rigid support that is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and has a sufficient thickness D of for example half a millimetre to one millimetre to give the support sufficient stiffness so that it will not bend or deform when used as intended, and yet is not too thick to be inconvenient after using the auxiliary means 1 to glue an illustration 8 to the surface 9 of an object 10 such as a book or the like.

The plate-shaped support 2 could also be made of a rolled plastic sheet with a constant thickness.

Preferably the support has 2 sizes A and B that correspond to a standard size of paper or the like, for example size A4 or Letter size.

The self-adhesive glue should preferably be applied evenly over the entire surface of one side or both sides of the support 2.

The use of auxiliary element 1 is very simple and is illustrated by figures 4 and 5. Starting from the auxiliary element of figure 1, the peel- off foil 5 is removed first, after which the illustration is glued directly to the self-adhesive glue layer 3 as shown in figure 4.

Next, the remaining peel-off foil 6 is removed, after which the support 2 together with the illustration 8 applied to it can for example be glued to the outside surface 9 of the cover of a book 10 or the like as shown in figure 5.

This allows the book 10 to be given a professional look and feel in a very simple way and without any special auxiliary means or tools being required.

It is clear that with the auxiliary element 1, an illustration can be glued to any object whatsoever as shown in figure 5, or on panels, but also on other flat surfaces such as doors, signposts, walls, etc.

With the auxiliary element 1, any sheet of paper, laminate, plastic or metal can be made self-adhesive and then glued to any surface.

Naturally, the auxiliary element 1 be realized in different sizes and shapes and in any material with which a rigid plate-shaped support 2 can be made.

Figures 6 to 8 show another application of the auxiliary element 1 for a presentation medium 11 instead of for a book 10. The presentation medium 11 in this case consists, for example, of a hollow block-shaped element made of plastic with a thickness E of for example 10 to 40 and a separately supplied auxiliary element 1 consisting of a support 2.

The support 2 is for example a rolled plastic sheet that is perfectly flat.

The presentation medium 11 and the support 2 in this case have the same format in terms of length and width as the format of the illustration 8 for which the presentation medium 11 is intended.

The illustration 8 is in this case a photograph 8.

The presentation medium 11 has a front panel 12 with a flat surface 9 that serves as presentation side and is optionally covered at the back with a bottom 13 that may have the necessary provisions to hang the presentation medium 11 on a wall or the like or to make it stand upright .

The front and back are defined in relation to a spectator who stands in front of the presentation medium 11 and looks in the direction of the presentation medium 11.

The presentation medium 11 has reinforcement ribs 14 inside to support and strengthen the front panel 12.

In the example of figures 6 to 8, the support 2, according to the invention, is covered on both sides with an adhesive layer 3, 4 of self-adhesive glue. In this case, both sides are completely covered with an adhesive layer 3, 4.

Both adhesive layers 3, 4 are covered with a cover foil 5 and 6 with a protruding lip 7 to allow the foil to be grasped and peeled off from the adhesive layer.

Figure 9 shows an example of a simple device 15 for composing a presentation medium 11 as described above with a photograph 8.

The device 15 contains a base plate 16 whose size is larger than the size of the photograph 8.

The base plate 16 is provided with raised ribs 17 and 18 along two right-angled edges, against which the photograph 8 and the presentation medium 11 can be aligned.

The device 15 is equipped with a pressure roller 19 along an overlying edge of the rib 17 which is freely rotatable around an axis 20, parallel to the base plate 16.

On the other rib 18 is provided a guide arm 21 which is hinged with one end around an axis 22 on the rib 18 between a position perpendicular to the rib 18, as shown in figure 9, and a position parallel to it, as shown in figure 12.

The use of this device 15 is simple and is illustrated by the successive steps as shown in figures 10 to 16 for an auxiliary element according to figure 1 with an adhesive layer 3, 4 on both sides. First the support 2 is placed on the base plate 16 with two edges against the ribs 17 and 18, and a strip 23 is pulled off from the cover foil 5 and folded as in figure 10, exposing a strip 24 of the adhesive layer 3.

Next, the photograph 8 is placed against the ribs 17 and 18, and this photograph 8 is glued with an edge to the strip 24 of the adhesive layer 3, as shown in figure 11.

The guide arm 21 is then rotated across the support 2 to underneath the photograph 8 so as to keep the photograph 8 separated from the support 2, as shown in figure 12.

Next, the support 2 is pushed under the pressure roller 19 while at the same time the cover foil 5 is gradually peeled off further from the adhesive layer 3, as shown in figures 13 and 14.

As a result, the photograph 8 is firmly pressed against the support 2 and thus securely fixated.

The presentation medium 11 is then placed on the base plate 16 against the ribs 17 and 18 with the surface 9 serving as the presentation side turned upwards, as shown in figure 15, and the cover foil 6 is pulled from the adhesive layer 4, and the support 2, supported by the ribs 17 and 18 with the photograph 8 on it, is glued manually on the presentation side 9 of the presentation medium 11. It is clear that such a device can be operated by anyone without great dexterity to still achieve a finished presentation medium 11 of high quality without any blowing or any air bubbles under the photograph 8.

The aforementioned embodiment of the presentation medium 11 can be summarised by the following characteristics:

Presentation medium 11 to present an illustration 8 or the like, where the presentation medium 11 has a surface 9 that serves as a flat presentation side to glue the illustration 8 or the like to, characterised in that use is made of a loose, rigid, flat support 2 that is provided with a first adhesive layer 3 on the front side to attach the illustration 8 or the like to, and that is intended to be glued with its back side to the aforementioned presentation side of the presentation medium 11, to which end the back side of the support 2 is provided with a second adhesive layer 4.

- In addition, the front side of the support 2 may be completely covered by the first adhesive layer 3.

- Additionally, the second adhesive layer 4 may completely cover the back side of the support 2.

- In addition, the second adhesive layer 4 may be covered by a cover foil 6.

- In addition, the first and/or second adhesive layer 3, 4 may be made of self-adhesive glue, in which case the relevant adhesive layer 3, 4 is covered by a cover foil

5, 6.

- In addition, the support 2 may be a rolled sheet.

- In addition, the presentation medium 11 is a hollow block-shaped element provided with internal reinforcement ribs 14.

- In addition, the hollow block-shaped element at the rear side may have a bottom 13 which is provided with means to hang up the presentation medium 11 or make it stand upright .

It is clear that the object 10, apart from a book 10 or a presentation medium 11, can also take other forms, such as a presentation folder, binding folder and the like. Also panels or other flat surfaces such as doors, signposts, walls, etc. are among the possible applications.

The present invention is by no means limited to the embodiment described as an example and shown in the figures; on the contrary, an auxiliary element according to the invention and its application can be realised in all sorts of shapes and embodiments while still remaining within the scope of the invention.