For many years, a person’s knowledge of hot melt adhesives was limited to the small, handheld hot glue guns used around the house or for craft projects. If a plate, coffee mug, lamp, or other common household object broke for one reason or another, it was always the hot glue gun to the rescue to make it look brand new again. That’s what we remember, but the hot melt adhesive industry has come a long way since then, developing incredible technologies and becoming a billion-dollar industry.
Humble Beginnings for a Revolutionary Product
The journey began in 1971 with Carl Weller, who most people credit as being the inventor of the hot glue gun. Influenced by earlier tools that dispensed other materials, Weller filed a patent for the Apparatus for Dispensing Thermoplastic Material. It was the first device that was able to heat and dispense glue. Throughout the 1970s, a slew of similar devices were patented, each one taking hot melt adhesive technology one step forward, leading to the hot glue guns that most of us probably remember and may still use in our homes today.
But the hot melt adhesive industry has not stopped there. Advancements continue to be made, not just for home use, but for use in factories and assembly lines. The latest in hot melt adhesive technology is definitely not your grandma’s old glue gun.
The Latest in Hot Melt Adhesive Technology
Most amazing about the advancements in hot melt adhesives is that they can be useful in an almost unlimited number of ways, far more than just putting broken pottery back together. Hot melt adhesive can be applied to everything from furniture to packaging to construction projects to car manufacturing, and everything in between.
Even if there’s not an established use for hot melt adhesive, the ingenuity of those within the industry means that a custom application can be created to fit any need. Remember, the industry is far more than your grandmother’s glue gun. Hot melt adhesive can be applied via spray, extrusion, slot coating machines and other creative methods, making the possibilities almost endless.
For anyone who still thinks of hot melt adhesives as a tool you’d find at the bottom of a craft box, the equipment used in this industry today will blow your mind. There are machines specifically designed for mattresses, automobiles, carpets, floors, furniture, packaging, and even garage doors. Some are manually operated, but most are automatic machines that run on their own, making things run that much faster and easier.
Looking to The Future
Even with all of that possible, the innovation in the hot melt adhesive industry is far from complete. The latest smart technologies are being applied to the current crop of machines to make them even more efficient and productive. At this point, there may be no limit to where hot melt adhesive technology can take the industry.
At Sure Tack Systems, we are at the head of the pack when it comes to the most advanced hot melt adhesive products. Contact us today to learn more.