GB2234479A

GB2234479A - Support ring for a collapsible bag

Info

Publication number: GB2234479A
Application number: GB8917395A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Stephen Kerridge; Stephen Miles
Original assignee: Polymark International Ltd
Current assignee: Polymark International Ltd
Priority date: 1989-07-29
Filing date: 1989-07-29
Publication date: 1991-02-06
Anticipated expiration: 2009-07-29
Also published as: JPH05500788A; WO1991002115A1; GB2234479B; GB8917395D0

Abstract

A support ring (21) for a collapsible bag, used for material handling especially in laundries, is in the form of a polygon having between five and ten sides. A hexagon is preferred. The ring (21) is supportable from an overhead conveyor (14) by brackets (22) located at opposite balance points for the ring (21). The polygon encloses an area which is at least the same area as a circle with a diameter equal to the distance (D1) between the brackets (22) in which case the width (W) of the ring is smaller than said distance (D1), or a greater area than said circle when the width (W2) of the ring is substantially equal to said distance (D2) between the brackets (32).

Description

Support Ring for Material Handling Bag This invention relates to support rings for bags which are used to automatically handle materials transfer operations , and in particular to support rings for bags for handling laundry In commercial laundries, dirty laundry and clean laundry is generally moved around the premises in collapsible bags which are supported at their upper open ends by a rigid ring, usually a circular or a square ring. These rings are in turn suspended from overhead conveyor rails to facilitate movement of the bags around the laundry site. Laundry is delivered into the bags via chutes and is released from the bags by opening the bottoms thereof.

The chutes typically have a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the support rings. In order to more easily transfer material into the bags it is desirable for the rings to have as large a cross-sectional area as possible. This of course has the advantage that the bags are also more voluminous. However with circular support rings the diameter of the ring is limited by the size of the conveyor equipment, the potential for the filled bags to tip during transfer, the ease with which bags will move around corners during transfer operations, and the stacking ability of the collapsed bags and associated rings when storing empty bags. Square rings are particularly difficult to store when the bags are empty.

The present invention seeks to provide a support ring for a collapsable bag which overcomes the above problems.

Accordingly there is provided a support ring for a collapsible bag used in material handling systems , said ring being in the form of a polygon having between five and ten sides, and which can be suspended from a conveyor rail by brackets located at opposite points of the polygon, wherein said polygon encloses an area having at least the same area as a circle with a diameter equal to the distance between said opposite points.

Preferably, the ring has an even number of sides and more preferably is in the form of a irregular hexagon.

Also according to the invention there is provided a material handling system for transfer of materials in which the material is transferred in collapsable bags suspended from support rings, and the support rings are moveable along a single overhead rail, said support rings and bags being stored when empty in bag stacking units in which the support rings are suspended from a pair of spaced apart parallel overhead rails, wherein said system includes support rings of different cross-sectional areas which can all be stored on the same bag stacking unit.

The invention will be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a prior art support ring, FIG. 2 is an elevation of a portion of the support ring of Fig. 1 showing the ring suspended from a conveyor rail, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a support ring according to the invention, FIG. 4 is a plan view of a bag stacking unit using rings according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is an isometric sketch showing the ring of Fig. 3 in a bag stacking unit.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of second support ring alsoaccording to the invention.

Now with reference to Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 there is illustrated a prior art support ring 11 for a laundry handling system in a commercial laundry. The ring is suspended by two diametrically opposed brackets 12, and 13 best seen in Fig. 2. During normal transfer operations the support ring 11 is suspended from a single overhead rail 14 which runs for and aft along the line CL between the brackets 12 & 13. A pair of roller devices 15, to which the brackets are attached , are movable along the rail enabling the bags to run freely along the rail 14.

The ring 11 may also have a locking cleat 16 and a cord peg 17 mounted thereon for contol of a cord which is utilised for opening and closing the bottom of the laundry bag (not shown) suspended from the ring 11. The cord can be locked into the cleat to keep a bag closed during the transfer operation.

The ring 11 typically has a diameter of 800mm giving it an area of approximately 500,000 mm2. Now the dimensions of the ring are substantially fixed by the distance between the rails 14A and 14B of a bag stacking unit.

This is best seen in Figs.4 and 5. The single transfer rail 14 splits into two parallel rails 14A and 14B, and a support ring and its empty bag move along the rail 14 to a bag stacking station where the two roller unit 15 move onto the two rails 14A and 14B and the ring then moves sideways between the two rails. This allows the rings to be tipped into a substantially vertical configuration for storage. In this case the distance D between the rails 14A and 14B is also of necessity 800mm.

In this prior art handling system, it is desired to have a larger cross-sectional area laundry bag when handling clean laundry, which is more voluminous than dirty laundry, then it is necessary to have a larger diameter ring, for example a ring of 850mm DIA with a cross-sectional area of approximately 570,000 mm2.

However a desired larger diameter will necessitate a separate bag stacking unit having a different distance between its rails , that is 850mm.

Furthermore a larger diameter ring gives rise to other problems , such as the loaded bags having a greater tendancy to tip on transfer when suspended for and aft.

Now with reference to Fig. 3, there is illustrated a bag support ring 21 according to this invention, and which is for a collapsible laundry bag. The #support ring 21 is formed from steel tube arranged in the shape of a polygon, preferably an irregular polygon . The polygon in the preferred embodiment has an even number of sides so that the brackets 22 and 23 can be located at opposite balance points on the polygon for balanced suspension from the transfer rail 14 which runs for and aft as for the prior art ring on the line CL. The distance D, between the brackets 22 and 23 may be selected as 800mm as for the prior art circular support ring 11. The preferred polygonal shape is that of a irregular hexagon however octogons or decagons may also be used.

By utilising a polygon of between 6 and 10 sides it is possible to produce a ring having a cross-sectional area that is at least equal to area of a circular support ring 11 of nominated diameter, but with a width W (as measured normal to the line between the brackets 22 & 23) that is less than the nominal diameter of a circular ring of the same area.

For example an 800mm ring has encloses an area of about 500,000 mm2, whereas the hexagon in fig 3 has a length D1 of 800mm between bracket hanging points and a width W of 700mm and the enclosed area is approximately 505,000 mm2.

One advantage of having a ring 21 of a smaller width W is that a loaded bag is less likely to tip when suspended by its ring. Further there is a lower possibility of adjacent rings 21 touching when going around corners during transfer along a conveyor.

Alternatively and as shown in Fig. 6, it is possible to produce a support ring 31 of significantly larger cross-sectional area than a circular prior art ring having a diameter substantially equal to the distance between the brackets 32 and 33. The ring 31 has both a length D2 and a width W2 substantially equal to each other.

As an example in Fig. 6 the length D2 is 800mm and the width W2 is also 800mm giving a cross-sectional area of approximately 570,000 mm2, which greatly exceeds the area for a circular ring of 800mm DIA and is in fact substantially the same as the area of a 850mm DIA circular support ring. Hence a larger area support ring 31 has been obtained without increase in the critical dimensions of the ring , i.e. width and length.

By utilising the hexagon support ring type several different cross-sectional area support rings can be passed down the same rails and into the same bag stacking units. This of course is not possible using circular rings of different diameters.

The preferred shape of the support ring 21, 31, is a hexagon having two opposed longer sides 24, 25 and two pairs of equal length sides 26 and 27, 28 and 29, the two pairs having the same length sides. The brackets 22 and 23 are located at opposite points on the hexagon at intersections between two sides 26 and 27, or 28 and 29 respectively, of each pair of equal length sides. The included angle alpha between the equal lenth sides is approximately 155 degrees.

Fig. 5 shows a bag stacking unit having a pair of spaced rails 14A and 14B with support rings 21 or 31 according to the invention moving along the rail and being tipped into a vertical position by an actuator A for storage.

As long as the distance between the brackets on each ring is substantially equal to the distance between the rails of the bag stacking unit, and that the sides of the rings21 or 31 miss the rails during the bag tipping operation , it is apparent that different cross-sectional area rings can be stored in the same bag stacking unit.

Claims

1. A support ring for a collapsible bag used in material handling systems , said ring being in the form of an polygon having between five and ten sides, and which can be suspended from a conveyor rail by brackets located at opposite balance points on the polygon, wherein said polygon enlcoses an area having at least the same area as a circle with a diameter equal to the distance between said opposite balance points.

2. A support ring as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the support ring is a polygon with an even number of sides

3. A support ring as claimed in claim 2 wherein the ring is an irregular hexagon having two longer opposed sides, and two opposed pairs of equal length sides with said opposite points respectively located at the intersection between the pair of even length sides.

4. A support ring as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the distance between said longer sides is less than the distance between the said opposite points.

5. A support ring as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the distance between the said opposite sides is substantially equal to the distance between said opposite points and the enclosed area is greater than the area within said circle.

6. A support ring as claimed in any one of Claim 1 to 5 wherein the brackets are located to enable the ring to run on a pair of parallel conveyor rails spaced approximately 800mm between centers.

7 A support ring as claimed in any one of Claims 3 to 6 , wherein the included angle between pairs of even length sides is about 155 degrees.

8. A support ring for a collapsable bag used in material handling systems for laundry and which is substantially as described herein and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

9. A material handling system for transfer of materials in which the material is transferred in collapsible bags suspended from support rings, and the support rings are moveable along a single overhead rail, said support rings and bags are stored when empty in bag stacking units in which the support rings are suspended from a pair of spaced apart parallel overhead rails, wherein the system includes support rings of different cross-sectional areas which can all be stored on the same bag stacking unit

10. A material handling system as claimed in Claim 8 and which includes a bag support ring as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 8.

11. A materials handling system for a commercial laundry and which includes a materials handling system as claimed in Claim 9 or Claim 10.

12. A method of handling materials in which the material is transferred in collapsable bags suspended from support rings which can be tilted to a vertical position for storage between a pair of spaced apart rails, wherein at least two different cross-sectional area rings are stored on same pair of rails.