cornering operation the lock assembly 52 is removed from its locking position shown in fig3 b to permit the cutting assembly to travel right through the spacer 12 and to sever a length from the source of the spacer referring to fig4 a through 4c a typical spacer 12 which may be used with the apparatus of the present invention is shown in fig4 a normally this spacer comes in a continuous roll and typically may be made of a polymer or cellular material with suitable adhesives being applied to the substrate engaging surfaces if required fig4 a illustrates the spacer as it would be fed through the apparatus when the cutting assembly is not actuated in fig4 b when the cutting assembly is actuated to make a slit cut 70 partially through the spacer body the cut would appear as illustrated and by turning the apparatus of the present invention around a corner as in a cornering operation the strip 12 will assume the configuration shown in fig4 c in this manner a portion of the strip remains as indicated by the ligament 72 as those skilled in the art will realize these preferred illustrated details can be subjected to substantial variation without affecting the function of the illustrated embodiments it will be obvious that the features of the present invention in addition to being utilized in a hand tool can also be utilized in automated equipment for applying spacer to a glass substrate although embodiments of the invention have been described above it is not limited thereto and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous modifications from part of the present invention insofar as they do not depart from the spirit nature and.