FR2632330A1 - METHOD AND DEVICE FOR FEEDING LAUNDRY PIECES TO A GRILLE - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and apparatus for feeding items of laundry to a calender or the like, in which the items of laundry are moved past a feed conveyor leading them to the calender by a spreader device having at least two spreader grippers for delivery. grasp two corners of the piece of laundry, the pieces of laundry being brought to a transfer station adjoining the spreader device by a parts conveyor having a large number of conveyor clamps intended to grip a corner of the piece of laundry, characterized by the causes that first, a free corner of the piece of laundry is put into a spreader clamp 15 of the spreader device 13, 13a, and then the corner 16 held by the conveyor clamp 20 of the piece conveyor 18, 18a is removed from this one and put in the other spreader clamp 14.

Description

1 t The present invention relates to a method of supplying laundry items

  to a calender or the like

  in which the laundry items are moved in front of a trans-

  feed carrier leading them to the calender by a spreading device having at least two pliers (spreading pliers) intended to grip two corners of the

  piece of linen, the pieces of linen being for this purpose

  born at a transfer station attached to the extended system

  deur by a parts conveyor having a large -number of grippers intended to grab a corner of the piece of laundry. The invention further relates to a device for feeding pieces of laundry to a calender or

to a similar machine.

  A device for bringing pieces of laundry to a grille is known from DE-A-3 119 600. Each of two corners of the piece of laundry is put in a clamp of the spreading device. The clamps are then spread for the tension of the piece of laundry and centered in front of a feed conveyor going to the calender. The laundry room

  scope is then transferred to this food carrier

  mentation. It is also known in practice to bring the pieces of laundry to the spreading device by means of an endless conveyor. The pieces of linen are then each held at a corner by a gripper. In the area of a transfer station attached to the spreading device, the

  pieces of linen are removed by hand from the clothespins

  carriers and transferred to the spreading device.

  With such a device or with the process described, the handling

  laundry items are still relatively

  complicated and therefore time consuming.

  The problem underlying the invention was to increase the rate of supply of pieces of laundry to a calender or similar machine or to reduce the use of manual activity.

  To resolve this problem, the method of the invention

  tion is characterized by the fact that, first, a free corner of the piece of laundry is put in a clamp (spreading clamp) of the spreading device and, then, the corner held by the clamp of the conveyor of the parts

  is removed and put in the other clamp of the spreading device.

  In the method of the invention, the parts conveyor, or the conveyor clamp thereof, provides the function of supporting the piece of laundry when putting a corner

  of the latter in one of the two clamps of the extended device

  deur. The hanging corner first (by hand) of the piece of laundry can still be put in the relevant clamp of the spreading device during transport

  by the parts transporter. When the gripper carries

  teuse, with another corner held from the piece of laundry, has

  dyed the end of the transport path, only the transfer from the corner held by the parts conveyor takes place to the second spreader clamp of the spreader device. A

  operator can produce higher throughput.

  The transfer of the laundry items from the parts transporter to the spreading device can however also, according to a

  another proposal of the invention, to be done mechanically and.

automatically.

  According to a first embodiment of the method of

  the invention or a device, for mechanization by-

  part of the transfer operation, a conveyor member is provided for transferring the

263233C

  free corner seized first of the brought piece of linen,

  in particular a movable transverse transfer clamp

  slowly or tilting. In it is put the free corner of the laundry room. The transfer to the associated spreading clamp of the spreading device is then carried out automatically.

only by the transfer clamp.

  Instead, or in addition, mechanical transfer to the corresponding spreader clamp from the corner of the piece of laundry gripped by the clamp of the parts conveyor can also be done mechanically. For this, in the area of the transfer station, there is provided a transmission member which brings the conveyor clamp with the piece of laundry to the spreading clamp so that the latter takes up the corner of the piece of laundry with the clamp.

  conveyor. Instead, the spreader's pliers

  positive spreader can be mounted to move perpendicular-

  lying in the stretching plan so that it can be moved to the gripper to take up the corner of the

piece of laundry.

  The transfer according to the invention of the laundry parts from the parts conveyor to the spreading device can be used in a particularly advantageous manner in a two-way step installation, with an appropriate dimensioning of the calender and of the feed conveyor and use of two spreading devices placed one beside the other and operating independently, to each of which is added a separate parts conveyor for the supply of laundry items, an operator can take care of the two parts conveyors, or of the two spreading devices, of the installation in the area of the loading station. This is possible because the operator does not have to

  handle only one corner of the laundry.

  According to another embodiment of the invention, the transfer

  laundry items from the parts transporter available

  tif extender is fully mechanized, so

  automatically. For this, the laundry items are

  located in the area of the parts conveyor by an edge pick-up device, more precisely by the gripper thereof, on a vertical edge (when they

  are spread out) immediately below the gripper

  carrier. The gripper descends along this edge of the laundry item until the nearest free corner of the laundry item is detected. This wedge is then gripped by the gripper and transferred to a

  parts conveyor separated by tilting the device

  tif taking edge. Each piece of laundry is then

  gripped at two corners and thus brought to the extended clamps

of the spreading device.

  Examples of embodiment of the device of the invention

  are explained in detail below using the description

  tion with representation of the process of the invention. In the drawings: fig. 1 is a simplified schematic representation of a device for feeding laundry items to a radiator grille, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a detail of this device, FIG. 3 is a representation similar to FIG. 1 of another embodiment of the device, FIG. 4 is a representation similar to FIGS. 1 and 3 of a third embodiment of the device of the invention,

  fig. 5 is a schematic top view of a device

  tif two-way, fig. 6 is a side view of the device of FIG. 5, fig. 7 shows an embodiment of a device with fully automatic introduction of the laundry items into an introduction machine,

  fig. 8 is a top schematic view of an installation

  two-way connection with transfer of the laundry items according to fig. 7 and fig. 9 is a side view of the installation of the

fig. 8.

  The supply of laundry items 10 to a radiator grille (not shown

  sent) or to another machine for the treatment of linen is done largely mechanically. For this, before the

  calender is placed an introduction machine 11. This

  this can be done for example in the manner shown and described in DE-A-3 119 600. The pieces of laundry 10 extended are placed there on a feed conveyor

12 which leads them to the grille.

-

  In front of the feed conveyor 12, formed of

  streaks, is placed a spreading device 13 which extends the

  pieces of laundry in a plane perpendicular to the transport

  feeder 12 and places them thereon. This dis-

  positive spreader 13 is therefore provided with extended clamps

  dense 14 and 15 mobile relative to each other.

  These are ordered (see for example DE-A-

  3,119,600) so that they can be brought closer and further apart

  one against the other, lastly for the hanging of a piece of laundry 10. For this, corners 16 and 17 of the piece of laundry 10 are each put in one of the clamps 14, 15, in particular when these are at

  a short distance from each other.

  In the exemplary embodiments shown of the device

  tif, the supply of laundry items 10 to the extended device

  Deur 13 is largely or entirely mechanized and automated. For this, a parts conveyor 18 brings the laundry items 10 one after the other to a loading station 19 in front of the spreader device 13. This conveyor 18 is a rotating or endless conveyor which has a fairly large number of conveyor grippers 20 each intended to receive a corner 16 of the piece of laundry 10 (exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6). The parts conveyor 18 is loaded by an operator 22 (or possibly by several operators) in the area of a loading station 21 possibly distant from the introduction machine 11. The laundry items 10 are taken from a treatment of linen, a dryer or a stock and introduced by a corner 16 into a clamp

conveyor 20.

  In the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 6, the trans-

  coin carrier 18 is of the conventional type. It forms in

  the loading station area 21 a tanker

  gement (endless) 23. This passes over three deflection pulleys 24, 25, 26. The lower deflection pulley 26 is at a working height suitable for the operator 22, so that in this lower zone can be do the

  loading of the loading conveyor 23. The transport

  loading loader 23 then transports the laundry items 10 obliquely upwards to a store conveyor 27 located above. In the area thereof, a large number of grippers 20 carrying pieces of laundry 10 can be queued in a row

tight and advanced.

  The warehouse conveyor 27 is followed, in the area of the pos-

  loading te 19, i.e. before the filling machine

  production 11, an unloading conveyor 28 for

  the grippers 20 carrying pieces of linen.

  In the area of this unloading conveyor 28, the grippers 20 taken from the store conveyor 27 are moved down to a suitable height

  for removal and transfer to the introductory machine

  tion 11. The unloading conveyor 28 is here made in the same way as the loading conveyor 23, that is to say, return pulleys 24, 25, 26. In the area of the lower return pulley 26 , the laundry items 10 are removed from the conveyor clamps 20, in the case of the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 6 by one

operator 29.

  The transfer of the grippers 20 from the loading conveyor 23 to the store conveyor 27 and from this to the unloading conveyor 28 is done automatically

by suitable known means.

  The transfer of the laundry parts 10 from the parts conveyor 18 to the introduction machine 11 can be done in different ways. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the operator 29 acts by placing the wedge 17 which is located below the

  gripper 20 when the piece of laundry is extended

  due. During this phase, the piece of laundry is still held by the wedge 16 in the unloading conveyor 28 by the clamp 20 of the parts conveyor 18. The unloading conveyor 28 is preferably eccentric, that is to say offset laterally by relative to the introduction machine 11. The corner 17 of the piece of laundry to be introduced 10a which is in the transfer clamp 30 is then automatically introduced into the spreading clamp 15 remote from the parts conveyor 18.

  The laundry item thus becomes held in this area.

  At the same time, the operator 29 removes the opposite corner 16 from the transport clamp 20 and puts it directly into the spreader clamp 14. After that take place in the manner

  the usual stretching of the laundry room 10a and the

  feed it to the feed carrier 12.

  The free corner 17 of the piece of laundry 10a can be placed by hand directly in the spreader clamp 15, or else a mechanical transfer is provided as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in which case the wedge 17 is put in a separate transfer clamp 30 (by hand) and transferred from the latter to the spreading clamp 15. The transfer clamp can, as shown in FIG. 1, be moved by means of a roller trolley 31 on a rail 32 towards the spreader clamp 15 and in the opposite direction to a reception position. The transfer of the laundry item 10a or

  wedge 17 to the spreader clamp 15 waiting in the extension

  Management of the trajectory of the transfer clamp 30 is done automatically. The transfer clamp 30 is therefore U-shaped, so that an area of the corner 17 extending

  between branches can be brought into the extended clamp

god 15.

  Fig. 2 shows another possible solution as regards the control of the transfer clamp 30. This is here mounted on a rocking arm 33 which can be m by a crank mechanism 34 towards the spreading clamp

  and in the opposite direction to the receiving position.

  The corner 16 of the pieces of laundry 10 held by the cross clamp

  carrier 20 can also be removed from it and

  transferred to the extension clamp 14 automatically, mechanically

  only. This operation can replace the manual removal of the corner 16 of the gripper 20 from the examples.

  ples of realization described previously.

  For this, the grippers 20 are placed on the parts conveyor 18, more precisely on the unloading conveyor 28, so as to arrive, one after the other, in the area of the loading station 19, in the case present in the area of the lower return pulley 26, on a transmission member 35. This is fixedly mounted near the unloading conveyor 28 but can tilt around an axis 36 oriented in the direction of transport of the laundry 10. This transmission member 35, in the form of a plate, can be tilted from a vertical position intended for the reception of a conveyor clamp 20 directed downwards, with the latter, to a horizontal position (position

shown in fig. 3 and 4).

  When the conveyor clamp 20, with the piece of laundry a, is horizontal, the transfer (automatic mechanical) to the neighboring spreader clamp 14 can take place. For that,

  in the case of the embodiment of FIG. 3, or-

  transmission gane 35 is mf to the spreader.

  The transmission member 35 is therefore movable by rollers 37 on a support rail 38 extending in the direction of transport. The conveyor clamp 20 is driven by the transmission member 35, with the piece of laundry 10a, as far as the area of the spreading clamp 14, so that the latter can automatically grip the piece of laundry. The laundry item transfer operation

  10a at the introduction machine 11 is then finished.

  During the take-up of the piece of laundry 10a by the spreading clamp 14, the conveyor clamp 20 is attacked in the direction of its opening, for example by fixed projections which act on movable members of this clamp 20. The latter, after that , returns to the initial position

with the transmission member 35.

  The automatic transfer of the piece of laundry to the spreader clamp 14 is possible thanks to an appropriate shape of the transmission member 35. This forms, next to the conveyor clamp 20 which rests thereon, a hollow in the form of trough 39 which is open laterally in the direction of transport. This recess 39 is covered by a corner side part of the piece of laundry 10a. During the transfer of the piece of linen 10a, the spreading clamp 14 enters the zone of the hollow 39, so that an edge (upper) of

  the piece of laundry 10a is introduced into the spreading clamp.

  Fig. 4 shows a variant of the previous embodiment

  in which the spreader clamp 14 of the intro machine

  duction 11 is movable in the transport direction of the

  piece of laundry. The spreader pliers 14 may, as shown

  felt, be moved on support bars 40 to the loading station 19, or to the standby transmission member 35, stationary, for example by a jack not shown. The spreader clamp 14 is then brought into the hollow area 39 of the transmission member 35, so that the laundry item is taken up in the manner already described by the spreader clamp 14. The latter, after that, returns to initial position. The spreading operation of the

  Then a piece of laundry can start.

  The broad mechanization described above of transferring the pieces of laundry 10a to an introduction machine 11 can be carried out particularly effectively in the event of

  two-way walk of an installation, as shown

  felt in figs. 5 and 6. Two operators 42, 43 take large pieces of linen (pillowcases, sheets, table linen) from a container 41 and put them on two parallel piece conveyors 18, 18a. These conveyors 18, 18a, independent, go to a common introduction machine 11

  of appropriate width (double) to feed conveyor

  tion 12 of corresponding size. This machine

  troduction 11 is provided with two spreading devices 13, 13a placed one beside the other and operating independently. Each of these extension devices 13, 13a is made in the manner described, that is to say a

  at least two spreading pliers 14, 15 movable one relative to

  port to another. Each of the workpiece carriers 18, 18a ends in front of the associated spreading device 13 or

  13a, offset as described from the median plane thereof

  this. Between the two coin conveyors 18, 18a, in

  the zone of the common loading station, works an operation

  tor 29 which takes care of the two parts conveyors 18, 18a and therefore of the two spreading devices 13, 13a. This is

  possible in particular when, as described and shown

  tee, the transfer of the corners 16 of the laundry items 10, lOa

  held by the grippers 20 to the extended device

  date 13 or 13a is done mechanically and automatically

  (fig. 3 and 4). In the case of this realization, the opera-

  teur 29 only has to handle and put in pliers

  a free corner 17 of each piece of linen 10, 10a.

  An example of implementation with mechanization or automation

  Maximum manipulation of the laundry items is shown schematically in FIG. 7. The pieces of laundry 10 transported or stored by a piece conveyor 18 of the type described are mechanically gripped in the area of the store conveyor 27 by a second wedge 17 pendant and pipes held at two corners 16, 17

  to the clamps 14, 15. For this, the clamps

  carriers 20 are one after the other isolated, that is to say

  say separated from the neighboring conveyor tongs 20, in the area of the store conveyor 27 at an isolation station 44. At this isolation station 44 an on-board device 45 comes into action. This device consists

  essentially a vertical support bar 46 in posi-

  initial tion which can tilt around an upper axis 47. A gripper 49 can be moved, that is to say moved in the vertical direction, on this support bar 46 with a trolley on wheels 48. The carrying gripper the piece of laundry is brought into a position

  next to the edge taking device 45. The clamp pre-

  neuse 49 is then lowered from a higher position (shown in broken lines in fig. 7) along the support bar 46 and thus moves along a

  vertical edge of the piece of laundry and grips it.

  When the gripper 49 has reached the end

  lower of the vertical support bar 46, it is

  ve in the downward corner area 17 of the room

  of linen. This is then gripped by the gripper.

se 49.

  The piece of laundry held by a second corner 17 is now

  nant transferred to a parts conveyor, namely an auxiliary conveyor 50. This is provided with conveyor clamps 51 which may correspond to the conveyor clamps 20. The corner 17 of the laundry item is

  inserted by the gripper 49 in a trans- gripper

  carrier 51 of the auxiliary conveyor 50. This is

  formed in the recovery area of corner 17 of a trans-

  horizontal magazine carrier 52 followed by a trans-

  unloading carrier 53. The latter is made of the same

  way that the unloading transporter 28.

  The auxiliary conveyor 50 is placed at a certain distance from the coin conveyor 18 and parallel to it. This distance is chosen so that the grippers 51, or the unloading conveyor 53, bring the laundry items into the area

  associated pliers 15.

  The transfer to the grippers 14, 15 of the two corners of a piece of laundry held by the grippers 20, 51 respectively of the parts conveyor 18 and of the auxiliary conveyor 50 takes place here automatically,

  as already described with fig. 3 or fig. 4.

  In the embodiment of FIG. 7 is chosen a device similar to that of FIG. 4. The pliers

  conveyors 20, 51, resting on transfer members

  mission in the form of tilting plates 35, 54 and tilted in a horizontal position, hold the piece of laundry

  ready for take-up by the stretching pliers 14, 15.

  These can be removed in the manner described from the spreading device 13 perpendicular to the plane of the laundry item until they receive the

laundry 1Oa.

  Figs. 8 and 9 show the use of the device of FIG. 7 in a two-way installation. This is made up for the most part as shown

  in fig. 5 and 6 and already described. To each of the trans-

  parts carriers 18, 18a is added an auxiliary conveyor 50 or 50a with a corner gripping device 17 for a piece of laundry (edge pick-up device 45). This allows fully automatic transfer of laundry items to two spreading devices 13, 13a.

  brought along two coin conveyors 18, 18a.

  Operators 42, 43 only required for loading

  coin conveyors 18, 18a.

Claims (16)

Claims   1. A method of feeding laundry items to a calender or similar machine, in which the laundry items are moved in front of a feed conveyor   duisant to the calender by a spreading device presented   as long as at least two grippers (grippers) intended to grip two corners of the piece of linen, the linen pieces being therefore brought to a transfer station attached to the spreading device by a conveyor   parts with a large number of grippers   its intended to grip a corner of the piece of laundry, characterized in that, first, a free corner of the piece of laundry is put in a spreader clamp (15) of the spreader device (13, 13a) and, then , the corner (16) held by the gripper (20) of the conveyor   parts (18, 18a) is removed from it and placed in the other be spreader pliers (14).   2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the transfer of the corner (free) (17) from the piece of linen (10) to the spreading clamp (15) is done mechanically (by a transfer clamp 30), the corner (17) being put   by hand in the transfer device.   3. Method according to one of claims 1 and 2, character-   rised by a two-way step, an operator (29) being assigned to two parts conveyors (18, 18a) and two extenders (13, 13a).   3o 4. Method for feeding pieces of linen to a calender or similar machine, in which the pieces of linen are moved in front of a feed conveyor   leading to the grille by a pre-   feeling at least two grippers (grippers) intended to grip two corners of the piece of linen, the linen pieces being for this brought to a transfer station attached to the spreading device by a conveyor   parts with a large number of transport clips   its intended to grasp a corner of the piece of linen, characterized in that a free corner (17) of the piece of linen (10) is automatically grasped by a conveyor member, in particular by an edge taking device ( 45), is transferred to a separate transporter (auxiliary transporter 50, 50a) and can be brought by   this to the spreading device (13, 13a).   5. Device for feeding laundry items to a calender or similar machine, in which the laundry items are placed in front of a feed conveyor going   to the radiator grille by at least one spreading device comprising   both spreading tongs intended to grip two corners of the laundry item, the laundry items being able to be brought to a transfer station located in the area of the spreading device by at least one piece conveyor   with a large number of conveyor grippers   designed to grip a corner of the piece of laundry, characterized in that at least one of the spreading clamps (15) of the spreading device (13, 13a) is added a member for introducing a free corner of the piece of laundry (10) held by the parts transporter (18, 18a) for the   transfer (mechanical) from the corner (I7) to an extended clamp god (15).   6. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the spreader clamp (15) intended to receive the   free corner (17) of the laundry item (10, 10a), is attached   a transfer clamp (30) which can come and go   in the direction of insertion of the laundry item.   7. Device according to one of claims 5 and 6,   characterized in that at least one spreading clamp (14, 15) of the spreading device (13, 13a) is added a transmission member (35, 54) for transferring the wedge (16, 17) from a conveyor gripper (20, 51) directly to a spreader clamp (14, 15).   8. Device according to claim 7 and one or more   of the other claims, characterized in that a   corner area of the laundry room (10, O10a) is held   freely, horizontally oriented, on the trans-   mission (35, 54) in such a way that it can be intro   pick in the spreader pliers (14, 15) by movement with compared to it.   9. Device according to claim 8, characterized in that the transmission member (35, 54), in the form of a plate, has a hollow in the form of a gutter (39) which is covered by the piece of linen (10, 10a) and in   the area from which between the spreader pliers (14, 15).   10. Device according to claim 7 and one or more   of the other claims, characterized in that   the transmission member (35, 54) moved from the corner side areas of the laundry item (10, 10a), by driving conveyor tongs (20, 51), to a position for   the recovery by the stretching pliers (14, 15), in particular   from a vertical transport position to a position   substantially horizontal transfer.   11. Device according to claim 5 and one or more   of the other claims, characterized in that at   at least one of the spreading tongs (14, 15) can come and go in the direction of transport of the items of laundry (10, 10a), in particular having left the area of the drying plan for the take-up of a piece of linen (10o, lOa).   12. Device according to claim 7 and one or more   of the other claims, characterized in that   the transmission member (35, 54) can come and go in   the direction of transport of the pieces of linen (10, boa).   13. Device according to claim 5 and one or more   of the other claims, characterized by several, in   particular two, spaced parts carriers (18, 18a)   and by two spreading devices operating independently   each other (13, 13a) placed one next to the other   be in front of a feed conveyor (12) of corresponding width, the workpiece conveyors (18, 18a)   being each assigned to a spreading device (13, 13a).   14. Device according to claim 5 and one or more   of the other claims, characterized in that a   free corner (17) of a piece of linen (10) held by a gripper (20) of a parts conveyor (18, 18a) can be seized and brought to a separate conveyor (auxiliary conveyor 50, 50a) by a clamp member,   the piece of linen (10) held by two corners (16, 17) for   before being brought to the spreading device (13, 13a).   15. Device according to claim 14, characterized in that the free corner (17) can be grasped by an edge gripping device (45) with gripper (49) and   brought by tilting it to the auxiliary transporter liar (50, 50a).   16. Device according to claim 14, characterized in that the auxiliary conveyor (50, 50a) has transportable grippers which can be moved separately (51) intended to grip the corner (17) of the laundry item (10).