This invention relates to a guide member for use in the application of a sheet material in roll form and having a bottom surface consisting of or coated with a heat activatable binder onto a base, said guide member comprising a shaft for insertion into the central hole of a roll of said sheet material and a guide rod connect¬ ed with one end of said shaft and extending essentially perpendicular thereto in a zone adjacent to said shaft.

More particularly the invention relates to a guide member for use in the application of roofing felt onto a base.

The German Utility Model registration No. 78.13578 discloses a guide member of the type defined above, viz. a guide member for use in the application of rolls of roofing felt onto a roof surface- When using such prior art guide member, the free end of the shaft is inserted into the central hole of the roll of roofing felt and while moving the guide member in a direction so as to unroll the roofing felt, the bottom surface of the roofing felt is heated with a separate burner system comprising a plurality of gas burners mounted on a common supporting rod . This supporting rod comprises wheels mounted at the ends of said rod and a guide rod having a handle . portion extending therefrom.

When using this prior art guide member and the prior art burner system it is difficult to control the movement and the position of the burner system relative to those of the roll of roofing felt and to achieve an optimum heating of the bottom surface of said roofing felt.

The object of the invention is to provide a guide member and a burner system, wherein the movement of the burner system is harmonized with that of the guide member. A further object is to provide a combined guide member and burner system which is simpler and easier to operate than the above mentioned separately operated guide member and burner sy¬ stem .

These objects and other objects which will become apparent from the following description are achieved by the guide member of the invention which comprises a supporting rod extending parallel to and essentially over the full length of said shaft, a fuel pipe and coupling means located at the ends of said supporting rod and coup¬ ling the ends of said fuel pipe to the ends of said supporting rod in

such a manner that said fuel pipe is movable within predetermined limits relative to said supporting rod, said fuel pipe being connected with a p-iuralϊty of burners and being connectable to means for supplying fuel to said fuel pipe. When using the guide member of the invention for the application of a roll of roofing felt onto a base, the movement of the shaft inserted in the central hole of a roll of roofing felt will be synchronized with the movement of the burner system.

This facilitates the heating and application of the sheet material on the base and permits an optimum heating of the heat activatable material at the bottom surface of the roofing felt.

In a preferred embodiment of the guide member of the invention the coupling means are designed so that they permit rota¬ tion of the fuel pipe about its own axis. This enables the operator to direct the flames produced in the burner either directly against or under an angle relative to the sheet material which is being unrolled and thus to control the temperature of the heat activatable material without adjusting the fuel supply.

The coupling means may also be of such a construction that they allow the fuel pipe to rotate about an axis perpendicular to the supporting rod. By using such an embodiment it is possible to effect a stronger heating of the sheet material in a zone adjacent to one longitudinal edge than in the zone adjacent to the opposite longitudinal edge and thus to fulfil special needs during the applica- tion of the sheet material .

The two above mentioned embodiments may be combined in a single unit. Thus, the coupling means may comprise two U-shaped members having a stopper mounted at the open end of the U and having the ends of the fuel pipe inserted into the oblong hole thus formed . These U-shaped members permit the fuel pipe to be rotated both about its own axis and about an axis perpendicular to the supporting rod . Additionally it permits a displacement of the fuel pipe as a whole towards or away from the shaft to be inserted in the central hole of a roll of sheet material - In order to stabilize the movement of the fuel pipe relative to the supporting rod It may be desirable to mount two guide discs on the fuel pipe, one being located on the internal side and the other on the external side of a coupling means .

The fuel pipe is preferably divided into several sections,

each section being closed at its end and each section being connected with one or more burners . In that case fuel is supplied to said sec¬ tions through distributor pipes which in turn are connected with the fuel supply pipe. 5 The fuel supply pipe may comprise a handle portion and said handle portion may comprise a valve which in a non-activated state allows the passage of sufficient fuel to maintain a pilot flame and which , when fully opened, permits full supply of fuel to all burners. 10 The guide member of the invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the drawings, in which

Fig . 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the guide mem¬ ber of the invention in isometric view and Fig . 2 schematically illustrates the fuel pipe of the de- 15 vice illustrated in Fig . 1 in two different posi¬ tions . The drawings illustrate a handle 1 of a guide member which comprises a connecting rod 2, a supporting rod 3 and two further connecting rods 4 connecting one end of the supporting rod 20 3 with a shaft 5 ^ having such a shape and length that it can be inserted into the central hole of a roll 6 of roofing felt or a similar sheet material .

The supporting rod 3 comprises two U-shaped coupling means 7 surrounding the ends of a fuel pipe 8. The fuel pipe 8

25 comprises three separate sections, each carrying two burners 9.

Each of these sections is connected with a distributor pipe 10 via a valve 11 .

The distributor pipe 10 is connected with a fuel supply pipe 12. The supply pipe 12 comprises a handle portion 13 having a

30 stop valve 14 and a control valve 15. In non-activated state the

-m control valve 15 allows passage of fuel in an amount sufficiently high _j c to maintain a pilot flame in each burner 9 and when turned into a

_* fully open position it permits full supply of fuel to the burners 9.

In order to stabilize the fuel pipe 8 relative to the U-shap-

35 ed coupling means 7 the fuel pipe comprises two guide discs 16, one being mounted on one side and the other on the other side of a coupling means 7. The sides of the discs 16 facing the coupling means 7 are of a conical shape, cf. Fig . 2. This conical shape allows the opposite ends of the fuel pipe 8 to be moved freely

positions located at opposite ends of the coupling means. These two end positions are schematically illustrated in Fig. 2 which illustrates one position in full lines and the other position in broken lines.

For the sake of clarity the valves 11 and the burners 9 have been omitted in the latter position.

As will appear from Fig. 1 the burners 9 can be rotated in a vertical plane and thus the flames generated therein can be direct¬ ed more or less directly against the bottom surface of the roll 2. As illustrated in Fig. 2 the burner system can also be rotated about an axis perpendicular to the supporting rod 3, thus making it possible to heat one lateral edge of the roll 3 to a higher temperature than that of the other edge. Finally, the burner system may be moved closer to or away from the roll 6.

When the burner system has been correctly adjusted rela- tive to the roll 6, the application of the sheet material may be effect¬ ed simply by moving the device along the surface to be coated.