GB1334313A - Method for folding and packaging articles of clothing - Google Patents

Abstract

1334313 A method of and apparatus for packaging articles of clothing G FERRARO and F FERRARO 10 May 1972 21849/72 Heading B8C In an apparatus for folding and packaging articles of clothing a garment 1 is slipped over a pair of folding arms 2, 3, suction means 6, 7 transfers the upper cardboard sheet 5 from a pile 4 on top of the garment and an expeller plate 14 moves from its retracted position over the cardboard sheet 5 to hold it in position while the arms 2, 3 fold over the sides of the garment, the upper envelope in a stack 10 located below the folding zone being held open by a constant stream of air from a nozzle 9 connected by a tube 8 to a supply of compressed air and the lower part of the garment being subsequently folded over by a turntable 11. Fingers 12, 13 are then rotated from a retracted position to a position where they engage in the open mouth of the envelope to hold the latter open after the cessation of the air stream from the nozzle 9 and while the expeller plate 14 begins to move forward to strip the garment from the arms 1, 2 and insert it in the envelope 10. Simultaneously with the movement of the expeller plate 14 a second expeller plate 15, mechanically coupled to the expeller plate 14, moves, in the opposite direction to that of the expeller plate 14, toward the pile of envelopes to grip the filled envelope with a gripper 18 and then move the envelope away to be sealed, by a sealing member 19. The sealed envelope is then placed on an intermittently moving belt discharge conveyer 20 which removes the sealed and filled envelopes from the apparatus. When the apparatus is returned to its original position for repeat operations the arms 2, 3, during their rotation back to their initial positions, engage a lever 21 to tilt up the expeller plate 14 into its retracted position to allow the feeding of the next garment 1 and the positioning of a fresh cardboard sheet 5.