US Patent 7090743 Pressure laminator apparatus

An apparatus for laminating at least two sheets of material includes a supply station at which rolls of the sheet material are rotatably supported, a laminating station in which the materials are laminated together with heat and compression and a take-up station where the laminate is accumulated on a take-up roll. The laminating station includes upper and lower sections of a pressure box between which upper and lower endless drive belts pass which entrap the laminate materials therebetween and transfer the materials through the lamination station. Heating and cooling sections of the pressure box are provided with floating heating and cooling bars and a single underlying heating plate and a single underlying cooling plate. A pneumatic inflatable seal extends around the periphery of the pressure box between the upper and lower sections thereof to establish a hermetic seal that includes an inflatable bladder positioned within a flexible low-friction strip of material which is slidably engaged with one of the drive belts. The other drive belt slides along another strip of low friction material and against which the inflatable bladder compresses the belts.