JP2002321869A - Folding-up method and device for towel and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a folding-up method and a device for quadruply folding suspending cloth in a suspending state so that the lengthwide direction becomes horizontal. SOLUTION: In the folding-up method and the device, after gripping and holding a lengthwise directional adjacent corner part of the square cloth 5 in a state of expanding the cloth 5 by first and second clamps 43 and 59, a lengthwise directional central part of one side surface of the cloth 5 is pressed down by a first presser bar 73, and is rotated so that the first and second clamps 43 and 59 relatively approach with the first presser bar 73 as the center, and after doubly folding the cloth 5 so as to surround the presser bar 73, the lengthwise directional central part of one side surface of this doubly folded cloth 5 is pressed down by a second presser bar 75, and is rotated so that the first presser bar 73 and the first and second clamps 45 and 59 relatively approach with this second presser bar 75 as the center, and the cloth 5 is foled up so as to surround the second presser bar 75, and is quadruply folded as a whole.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for automatically folding a quadrilateral fabric such as a towel into four folds. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of suspending a hollow fabric such as a towel. The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for folding in four in a folded state.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-10370 discloses a prior art example of a device for folding a quadrangular cloth such as a towel into four. In this prior example, conveyors that rotate in opposite directions are arranged opposite to each other below a horizontal cloth body mounting surface having a groove, and a lower central conveyor and lower both sides are arranged below one conveyor. A configuration in which a conveyor and a conveyor are arranged in parallel, and a central portion of a cloth body such as a towel placed on the cloth body mounting surface is folded in half by being pushed into the space between the conveyers arranged opposite from the groove portion. Direction, and push the center of the folded two-folded fabric horizontally between one conveyor and the lower center conveyor, and the lower side conveyors in a two-fold manner to obtain a total of 4
It is configured to be folded in half.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned prior art, the operation of placing and positioning a cloth such as a towel on the cloth mounting surface is performed manually. This placing and positioning operation is a simple operation and is relatively easily fatigued.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for automatically lifting a cloth, such as a towel, which is randomly stored in a container and automatically folding the cloth into four.

[0005]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and the invention according to claim 1 is directed to a method in which a corner of a quadrangular fabric which is adjacent in a longitudinal direction is formed by a first material. ,
After being held by the second clamp and holding the cloth in an expanded state, a central portion of one side surface of the cloth in the longitudinal direction is pressed by a first pressing bar, and the first holding bar is centered on the first pressing bar. 1. After the second clamp is rotated so as to approach relatively, the cloth is folded in two so as to surround the first pressing bar, and then the center of one side of the folded cloth is moved to the second position. A second presser bar, and the first presser bar and the first and second clamps are rotated around the second presser bar so as to approach each other to surround the second presser bar. In this manner, a folding method of folding a towel or the like to fold the cloth into four.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there are provided first and second clamps for gripping adjacent corners in the longitudinal direction of a quadrilateral fabric and holding the fabric in an expanded state. A first holding bar for holding a central portion in a longitudinal direction of one side of the fabric held by the second clamp; and the first and second at least so as to surround the first holding bar with the fabric. A second pressing bar for rotating one side around the first pressing bar as a center and pressing a central portion in the longitudinal direction of one side of the folded fabric, and the second pressing bar for folding the fabric into four. The second presser bar surrounds the second presser bar.
The first holding bar and the first and second clamps are relatively rotatably provided so as to approach each other around the holding bar.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the folding device for towels or the like according to the second aspect, further comprising a transport clamper for gripping the fabric folded in four and transporting it to the next process.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, which are schematically and conceptually shown, a folding device 1 for towels and the like according to the present embodiment is provided with a frame body 3 having an appropriate frame. At an appropriate position of the frame main body 3, a suitable container 7 such as a basket storing a large amount of square-shaped cloth 5 such as a large amount of towels after washing and drying is placed. Is arranged. The mounting table 9 includes a large amount of cloth 5
It is desirable that the container 5 is a movable carriage on which the container 7 is placed so that it can be easily exchanged for the container 7 containing the container 7 and the empty container 7. In the case of a configuration in which the container 7 is successively carried into the container 7 by the carrying means, the mounting table 9 only needs to support the container 7 at a predetermined position.

Above the container 7 at the predetermined position, a gripper device 11 (see FIG. 1) for holding and lifting an arbitrary position of the rectangular cloth 5 such as a towel in the container 7 is provided. It is arranged. More specifically, an upper frame 3U provided above the frame body 3 is provided with a vertical actuator 13 such as a fluid pressure cylinder such as an air cylinder, and the vertical actuator 13 is vertically movable. At the lower end of the vertical operating member 15 such as a piston rod, there is provided a lifting gripper 17 capable of gripping the rectangular cloth 5 such as a towel in the container 7.

The lifting gripper 17 may have any configuration as long as it can hold the fabric 5 in the container 7 and can lift it. For example, the lifting gripper 17 may have a configuration as shown in FIG.

That is, in the casing 19 provided at the lower end of the vertically moving member 15, the ceiling 1 of the casing 19 is provided.
A vertically movable member 21 is provided along a vertical guide member 20 provided between 9U and the bottom portion 19B. The vertically movable member 21 is, for example, a balance spring elastically mounted between the bottom portion 9B and the bottom member 9B. It is supported by balance support means 23. The balance support means 23 supports the elevating member 21 so as to be able to move up and down in balance with the weight and the like of the elevating member 21.

A pair of fingers 25 capable of gripping the cloth 5 is provided on the lower surface at the center of the elevating member 21 so as to be openable and closable. The finger 25 is opened and closed by an appropriate actuator such as a fluid pressure cylinder or the like, and may have a known configuration such as a robot hand.
A detailed description of the configuration for opening and closing the unit will be omitted.

In order to detect the vertical movement of the lifting member 21, a vertical position detecting sensor 27 is provided on the ceiling 19U. The vertical position detection sensor 27 is provided with
Lifting / lowering member 21 with respect to a normal reference position when the weight of balance 1 and fingers 25 and balance support means 23 are balanced.
For detecting the vertical movement of the sensor, for example, an appropriate sensor such as an optical position detection sensor or a potentiometer can be used.

According to the above construction, the finger 25 of the lifting gripper 17 is used to move the cloth 5 such as a towel.
In a normal state when the user does not hold the
The vertical position of the elevating member 21 is detected by the vertical position detecting sensor 27 as being located at the reference position. When the cloth 5 such as a towel is gripped, the cloth 5 is moved from the reference position.
Therefore, the vertical position detection sensor 27 can also detect whether or not the fabric 5 is being gripped.

When the detection value (detection position) of the lowering position of the elevating member 21 is lower than the detection position when one cloth 5 is gripped, it is assumed that two or more cloths 5 are gripped by the fingers 25. In this case, only one piece of the cloth 5 can be grasped by releasing the grasp of the cloth 5 once and re-gripping the cloth 5 in this case. Further, the vertical position detection sensor 2
When the lifting position of the lifting member 21 is higher than the reference position, the lifting gripper 17 is lowered when the lifting gripper 17 is lowered by the operation of the actuator 13.
Abuts on the fabric 5 in the container 7 and stops descending.

Therefore, when the lifting gripper 17 is lowered by the operation of the actuator 13 to hold the cloth 5 in the container 7 and lift it, the lifting gripper 1 is used.
1 has dropped to a position where it can grip the cloth 5 (cloth 5
Or not when the fabric 5 is lifted, it is possible to know whether it is one grip or two or more grips.

A squeezing means 31 is provided for narrowing the cloth 5 lifted from the container 7 to a desired thickness by the lifting gripper 17 which is moved up and down by the operation of the vertical movement actuator 13. 5 is provided with a lower end detecting means 33 for detecting the lower end.

More specifically, the squeezing means 31 functions to restrict the spread of the fabric 5 lifted by the lifting gripper 17 and to narrow the fabric 5 to some extent. The throttle member 35 is provided. The aperture action member 35 is only required to have an aperture function, and may not necessarily be cylindrical or ring-shaped, but may have a semi-circular cross section or the like. It is properly attached to 3S.

The lower end detection means 33 is lifted by the lifting gripper 17 and
To detect the lower end of the cloth 5 narrowed by
For example, it comprises a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and detects the lower end of the cloth 5 by detecting that the light shielding by the cloth 5 is released when the lifting gripper 17 is raised.

When the lower end detecting means 33 detects the lower end of the fabric 5, the vertical movement actuator 13
The lifting of the lifting gripper 17 due to the operation of is stopped. At this time, since the dimension from the lower end of the throttle action member 35 to the lower end detecting means 33 is always constant,
The dimension from the squeezing action member 35 to the lower end of the fabric 5 in a state where the lifting is stopped is always substantially constant.

As described above, the cloth 5 in a state where the lifting is stopped
An extruding member 37 for horizontally pushing out the lower end of the squeezing member is provided so as to be able to advance and retreat with respect to a position below the squeezing member 35. That is, a horizontal movement actuator 39 such as an air cylinder is provided in the side frame 3S between the throttle means 31 and the lower end detection means 33, and the horizontal movement actuator 39 is capable of reciprocating horizontally. The pushing member 37 is attached to the tip of a horizontal operating rod 41 such as a piston rod.

The pushing member 37 has only to have a function of horizontally extruding a portion of the cloth 5 protruding downward from the squeezing action member 35 and supporting it on the upper surface, and a supporting surface for supporting the cloth 5. (Top) is a simple plane,
The support surface is a concave or convex surface having an axis in the advance / retreat direction of the pushing member 37, or the upper surface is provided with flange portions on both sides in a direction perpendicular to the advance / retreat direction of the pushing member 37 so that the upper surface is concave. Various configurations such as a formed configuration can be adopted.

With the above structure, when the horizontal movement actuator 39 is operated to move the pushing member 37 forward and forward from the retracted position to the position of the imaginary line shown in FIG. 1, the lower end portion of the cloth 5 in a state where the ascent is stopped. Is pushed horizontally and the pushing member 3
7 is supported on the upper surface (support surface). At this time, since the dimension from the squeezing action member 35 to the lower end of the cloth 5 is always substantially constant, the lowermost end of the cloth 5 when lifted by the lifting gripper 17 is the pushing member 37.
Will be located at a substantially constant position on the upper surface of the.

In order to spread the cloth 5, a first clamp 43 which can hold the lower end (tip) of the cloth 5 on the pushing member 37 and can be freely suspended, and a position close to the first clamp 43 A cloth-spreading clamp 45 (see FIG. 3) which can hold the cloth 5 and is relatively close to and separate from the first clamp 43 is provided.

More specifically, an elevating actuator 47 such as an air cylinder is mounted on the upper frame 3U.
In FIG. 7, the first clamp 43 is appropriately attached to the lower end of an elevating / lowering operating member 49 such as a vertically movable piston rod. The first clamp 43 is only required to be horizontally extruded by the pushing member 37 and to be able to grip the tip of the cloth located on the pushing member 37.
For example, an appropriate configuration such as a configuration similar to the above-described lifting gripper 17 or a general robot hand having a plurality of fingers can be adopted, and thus a detailed description of the configuration of the first clamp 43 is omitted. .

The cloth spreading clamp 45 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5A, when the first clamp 43 holds and suspends one end (one corner) of the cloth 5 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6B. The lifting actuator 51 movably mounted on the upper frame 3U is attached to the lower end of a vertically moving member 53 such as a vertically movable piston rod.

The cloth spreading clamp 45 is provided with the first
Any structure may be used as long as it can hold a part of the cloth 5 at a position close to the clamp 43, maintain the holding state of the part of the cloth 5, and move while sliding with the cloth 5. Like the lifting gripper 17, it is also possible to adopt a configuration having a pair of fingers that can be opened and closed freely. However, in this example, in order to simplify the configuration, the suction port 54 is used.
The cloth spreading clamp 4 by a suction pipe provided with
5 is constituted.

In order to move the cloth spreading clamp 45 toward and away from the first clamp 43, the lifting actuator 51 is moved to the upper frame 3U in the horizontal direction in FIGS. It is freely attached. In order to move the elevating actuator 51, a sliding actuator 55 such as an air cylinder is mounted on the upper frame 3U. In this actuator 55, a reciprocating member 57 such as a reciprocally movable piston rod is provided. It is connected to the lifting actuator 51.

Therefore, the slide actuator 5
5 by operating the lift actuator 51
2 and 3 can be reciprocated in the left and right directions, and the cloth spreading clamp 45 can be moved in a direction in which the cloth spreading clamp 45 approaches and separates from the first clamp 43. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6A, when the first clamp 43 holds and suspends one end of the fabric 5, the fabric spreading clamp 45 is brought close to the first clamp 43, After a part of the fabric 5 is sucked at a position close to the first clamp 43 by the suction action of the suction port 54, the fabric spreading clamp 45 is moved to the first position while maintaining the suction state.
6B by separating from the clamp 43.
As shown in FIG. 5, the cloth 5 can be expanded in the width direction.

As shown in FIG. 6 (B), the state where the cloth 5 is spread is set by the first clamp 43 to one of the quadrangular cloths 5.
One of the corners is held, and an arbitrary position in the width direction of the cloth 5 is held by the cloth spreading clamp 45. The cloth 5 is suspended with the vertical direction as the longitudinal direction. As described above, when the fabric 5 is suspended with the up-down direction as the longitudinal direction, the corners in the longitudinal direction adjacent to the corners of the fabric 5 held by the first clamp 43 (FIG. Lower right corner in B))
And a second clamp 59 for suspending the cloth 5 so that the longitudinal direction of the cloth 5 is horizontal.

More specifically, in order to spread the fabric 5 so that the longitudinal direction of the fabric 5 is horizontal, the first clamp 43 is provided on the opposite side of the fabric spreading clamp 45 with the first clamp 43 interposed therebetween. The base side of the turning arm 61 is mounted on the upper frame 3U so as to be horizontally turnable at a predetermined distance in the horizontal direction. The turning arm 61 is horizontally turned (turned) by an appropriate turning actuator 63 (see FIG. 2) such as a servomotor or the like. The second clamp 59 is attached to the lower end of a vertically moving member 67 such as a piston rod vertically moved by the vertically moving actuator 65 so as to be vertically rotatable. is there. The vertical rotation of the second clamp 59 is performed by a suitable rotary actuator 69 such as a motor or a rotary solenoid provided at the lower end of the vertical moving member 67.
(See FIG. 5).

The second clamp 59 is provided with a pair of fingers 69 which are opened and closed by an actuator such as a small air cylinder to grip the cloth 5, and the second clamp 59 is A fabric sensor 71 for detecting whether or not the fabric 5 exists between the pair of fingers 69 is provided. The cloth sensor 71
Is provided with, for example, a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and detects the presence or absence of the cloth 5 between the fingers 69 by detecting the irregular reflection of light projected from the light emitting element to the cloth 5 by the light receiving element. .

The horizontal dimension from the center of rotation of the rotating arm 61 to the first clamp 43 is equal to the horizontal dimension from the center of rotation to the second clamp 59, and this dimension is equal to the longitudinal length of the cloth 5. It is provided equal to half the length in the direction. Therefore, the first clamp 43
The distance between the first and second clamps 59 is the same as the length of the fabric 5 in the longitudinal direction, and the center of the fabric 5 in the longitudinal direction substantially coincides with the center of rotation of the rotating arm 61.

Therefore, as described above, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, one corner of the cloth 5 is held by the first clamp 43, and the cloth 5 is spread by the cloth spreading clamp 45, and the cloth 5 is suspended so that the longitudinal direction of the cloth 5 becomes the vertical direction. At one time, the turning actuator 6
3 to rotate the rotary arm 61, and a second clamp 59 provided at the tip of the rotary arm 61 so as to be vertically movable.
Will be close to the first clamp 43.

As described above, in a state where the second clamp 59 is brought close to the first clamp 43, the second clamp 59 is turned horizontally as shown in FIG. A state in which one vertical edge of the fabric 5 is positioned between a pair of fingers 69 provided (see FIG. 5).
, The second clamp 59 is gradually lowered. Then, the presence / absence of the fabric 5 is detected by the fabric sensor 71 provided in the second clamp 59, and when the absence of the fabric 5 is detected, the lowering is stopped, and then the second clamp 59 is raised at a low speed and the fabric sensor 71 is detected. When the fabric 5 is detected by the
By stopping the rising of the clamp 59, the lower corner of the fabric 5 and the second clamp 59 can be positioned in a corresponding state.

When the second clamp 59 is provided with a plurality of fabric sensors 71, one (upper) fabric sensor 71 detects the fabric 5 when the second clamp 59 is lowered.
By stopping the lowering of the second clamp 59 when the other (lower) cloth sensor 71 detects that there is no cloth, the corners of the cloth 5 and the second clamp 59 can be positioned in a corresponding state. Things.

As described above, when the lower corner of the suspended fabric 5 and the second clamp 59 are in a corresponding relationship, the corner of the fabric 5 is gripped by the second clamp 59 and raised. When the rotating arm 61 is rotated back to the original position to bring the second clamp 59 farthest from the first clamp 43, the cloth 5 is moved to the first and second clamps at adjacent corners in the longitudinal direction. Gripped by 45, 59,
As shown in FIG. 6 (C), the fabric 5 is in a state of being spread horizontally so that the horizontal direction is the longitudinal direction.

As described above, the cloth 5 is folded in two from the state where the cloth 5 is spread so that the longitudinal direction is horizontal, and then the cloth 5 is folded in four in order to fold the cloth 5 in the folded state. The first and second pressing bars 73 and 75 for pressing a portion serving as the center of folding of No. 5 are provided movably up and down.

More specifically, on a lower frame 3L provided on the frame main body 3, a turning shaft 77 (FIG. 1) is located at an intermediate position between the first clamp 43 and the turning center of the turning arm 61. ) Is provided so as to be rotatable, and a horizontal turning member (swing plate) 79 which can be turned horizontally is integrally provided above the turning shaft 77. A rotary gear 81 is provided integrally with the revolving shaft 77, and a pinion gear 85 rotated by a motor 83 (see FIG. 3) such as a servomotor mounted on the lower frame 3L is provided on the rotary gear 81. It is engaged.

Accordingly, by appropriately controlling and rotating the motor 83, the turning member 79 can be turned horizontally in an appropriate direction.

The first holding bar 73 is vertically movable via a horizontal pivot 89 on a bracket 87 provided in the vicinity of the distal end of the revolving member 79, that is, vertically movable from a substantially horizontal state to a vertical state. A first presser bar up / down actuator 9 including an appropriate actuator such as an air cylinder for vertically moving the first presser bar 73;
1 is mounted on the turning member 79.

Similarly, a bracket 87 provided near the center of rotation of the turning member 79 is connected to the second
The presser bar 75 is vertically movable, that is, rotatable from a substantially horizontal state to a vertical state.
5 to move up and down the first presser bar 9
A second presser bar vertical actuator 93 similar to 1 is mounted on the turning member 79.

The axis of the second presser bar 75 when it is in the vertical state substantially coincides with the axis of the turning shaft 77, and the first presser bar 73 is
In the case where the first holding bar 73 is located at a lower position on the base side of the first holding bar 73, the shaft center when the first holding bar 73 is vertical
Is almost the same as the turning center of

Therefore, as described above, the first and second
As shown in FIG. 6C, when the cloth 5 is spread horizontally by the clamps 43 and 59, the first presser bar vertically operating device 91 is operated to move the first presser bar 73 in a substantially horizontal state. When it is rotated vertically, it comes into contact with and presses one side of the fabric 5 at an intermediate position between the first and second clamps 43 and 59.

As described above, the first and second clamps 43, 5
When the first pressing bar 73 is pressed against the central portion in the longitudinal direction of one side surface of the cloth 5 expanded by the rotation of the cloth 9, the turning actuator 63 is driven to rotate the rotating arm 61. By moving the second clamp 59 close to the first clamp 43, the fabric 5 is folded in two so as to surround the first pressing bar 73 as shown in FIG.

As described above, when the rotating arm 61 is rotated to bring the first and second clamps 43 and 59 close to each other, and the cloth 5 is folded into two so as to surround the first pressing bar 73. By operating the second presser bar up / down actuator 93 to bring the second presser bar 75 in a substantially horizontal state into a vertical state, the longitudinal center of one side of the folded fabric 5 as described above is obtained. After pressing against the part
When the rotary member 3 is driven to rotate the rotary member 79 about the rotary shaft 77, the first holding bar 73 moves to the first and second clamps 4.
It turns to 3,59 side. Therefore, the double-folded fabric 5 rotates so as to surround the second presser bar 75 and is folded into four as a whole (FIG. 7).
(B)).

In order to carry out and stack the fabric 5 folded in four as described above, a transfer arm 95 (see FIG. 2) is movable at an appropriate position on the upper frame 3U.
That is, it is provided so as to be able to turn horizontally. The transfer arm 95 is operated by a transfer actuator 97 such as a motor, for example. A lifting actuator 99 such as an air cylinder is mounted at the tip of the transfer arm 95. A transport clamp 1 capable of gripping the upper center of the cloth 5 folded in four at the lower end of a vertically movable member 101 such as a vertically movable piston rod in the elevation actuator 99.
03 is provided.

In order to stack the four-folded fabric 5 transported by the transport clamp 103, a loading table 105 (see FIG. 1) for laminating the fabric 5 is vertically moved within the moving range of the transport clamp 103. It is movably provided. The loading table 105 is moved up and down by an up / down actuator 107 such as an air cylinder. The up / down movement position is stacked on the loading table 105 by an optical sensor (not shown) provided at a predetermined height position. When the uppermost part of the cloth 5 is detected, the lowering is stopped, and the uppermost part is always at a predetermined position.

According to the above configuration, the cloth 5 is
After being folded, the transfer arm 95 is moved to the position shown in FIG.
9, the transport clamp 103 is lowered, the upper center of the four-folded fabric 5 is gripped, and as shown in FIG. The bars 73 and 75 are relatively extracted. Thereafter, the transfer actuator 97 is operated to move the transfer arm 9.
5, the transfer clamp 103 is connected to the loading table 105.
Then, the fabric 5 is moved to the side and stacked on the loading table 105.

With the above configuration, the folding device 1
In the above, when the cloth 5 in the container 7 is automatically lifted by the lifting gripper 17 and the lower end detecting means 33 detects the lower end of the cloth 5, the lifting of the lifting gripper 17 is stopped and the horizontal actuator 39 is moved. The lower part of the squeezing member 35 of the fabric 5 is horizontally pushed out by the pushing member 37 by operating.

Then, when the pushing member 37 is pushed out,
When the first clamp 43 is lowered by the operation of the raising / lowering actuator 47 and the leading end, which is the lower end of the cloth 5 on the pushing member 37, is gripped, the first clamp 43 is raised and the lifting gripper is lifted. 17 is released. When the first clamp 43 is stopped at a predetermined position, the cloth spreading clamp 45 is moved by the operation of the slide actuator 55.
3 and a part of the fabric 5 is held by the fabric spreading clamp 45 (see FIG. 6A).

Then, when the cloth spreading clamp 45 is separated from the ground clamp 43 and the cloth 5 is spread in the width direction, the turning arm 63 is turned by the turning actuator 63.
Is rotated to bring the second clamp 59 close to the first clamp 43, and the second clamp 59 is positioned by the elevating actuator 65 in correspondence with the lower end of the fabric 5,
The lower edge of the fabric 5 is gripped near the corner (see FIG. 6B). Thereafter, the second arm 59 is moved away from the first clamp 43 by rotating the rotating arm 61 in the opposite direction, and the height position of the second clamp 59 is raised to the same height position as the first clamp 43. Or the first
By appropriately adjusting the height position of the first and second clamps 43 and 59, for example, by lowering the clamp 43 to the same height as the second clamp 59, the cloth 5 is suspended so that the longitudinal direction is horizontal. (See FIG. 6C).

Thereafter, in a state where the first pressing bar 73 is raised to abut against one side surface of the central portion of the fabric 5 in the longitudinal direction and is pressed, the second clamp 59 is relatively moved so as to approach the first clamp 43 again. , The fabric 5 is folded in two so as to surround the first holding bar 73 (see FIG. 7A). In this manner, after the fabric 5 is folded in two, the second presser bar 75 is raised to abut on the longitudinal center of one side surface of the two-folded fabric 5, and the first presser bar 73 is pressed. First and second clamps 4
By relatively turning in the direction approaching 3, 59, the two-folded fabric 5 is folded in four so as to surround the second pressing bar 75 as a whole (see FIG. 7B).

When the cloth 5 is folded in four, the transfer arm 95 is moved to position the transfer clamp 103 above the cloth 5, and then the transfer clamp 103 is lowered. Then, by gripping and lifting the upper center of the four-folded fabric 5, the first and second holding bars 73 and 75 are relatively extracted from the four-folded fabric 5 (see FIG. 8A). ).

Thereafter, the transfer arm 95 is moved to move the transfer clamp 103 to the loading table 105 side, and the loading of the four-folded fabric 5 on the loading table 105 is repeated, whereby the inside of the container 7 is The fabrics 5 can be lifted one after another, automatically folded in four, and sequentially stacked on the loading table 105 (see FIG. 8B).

When the amount of the fabric 5 is small, the first and second clamps 43 and 59 can be used to manually hold both ends of the fabric 5, and then the fabric 5 can be folded into four. It is something.

[0057]

As will be understood from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically lift the fabric in the container and automatically fold it into four folds. It can solve the problem. On this occasion,
Since the fabric 5 is folded in a four-folded state in a suspended state, unlike a case where the fabric 5 is folded by an opposed belt conveyor as in the preceding example, an accident such that the fabric is caught in the belt conveyor does not occur. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory front view schematically and conceptually showing a folding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory plan view schematically and conceptually showing a folding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory side elevational view schematically and conceptually showing a folding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a lifting gripper.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of an operation of spreading the fabric in the width direction and an operation when the lower end is gripped by the second clamp.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory view of a process of spreading the cloth and suspending the cloth horizontally.

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory view of a step of folding a horizontally suspended fabric into two and four folds.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view of a step of transporting and laminating a four-folded fabric.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Folding device 5 Cloth 7 Container 11 Gripper device 17 Lifting gripper 25, 69 Finger 31 Squeezing means 33 Lower end detecting means 37 Pushing member 43 First clamp 45 Cloth spreading clamp 55 Sliding actuator 54 Suction port 59 Second clamp 61 times Moving arm 71 Cloth sensor 73 First press bar 75 Second press bar 77 Rotating shaft 79 Rotating member 83 Motor 91 First press bar vertical actuator 93 Second press bar vertical actuator 95 Transport arm 103 Transport clamp 105 Loading table

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Yoshihisa Miyamoto 3-33-1, Arakawa, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo Shirakonai Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shigemitsu Hayashi 3-3-13-1 Arakawa, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo Shirako Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 3F108 AA06 AB01 AC10 BA02 BA03 BA07 CA02

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A longitudinally adjacent corner of a quadrilateral fabric is gripped by first and second clamps and the fabric is held in an expanded state, and then one side of the fabric in the longitudinal direction is held. A central portion is pressed by a first pressing bar, and the first and second clamps are rotated around the first pressing bar so as to relatively approach each other so as to surround the first pressing bar. After the fabric is folded in two, a central portion of one side of the folded fabric is pressed by a second press bar, and the first press bar and the first and second press bars are centered on the second press bar. Wherein the cloth is folded so as to surround the second presser bar so as to surround the second presser bar, thereby folding the cloth into four. 2. A first and a first method for gripping adjacent corners in the longitudinal direction of a quadrilateral fabric and holding the fabric in an expanded state.
A second clamp, a first press bar for pressing a central portion in a longitudinal direction of one side surface of the cloth held by the first and second clamps, and the cloth surrounds the first press bar; A second presser bar that presses at least one of the first and second pivots about the first presser bar and presses a central portion in a longitudinal direction of one side surface of the folded fabric, The second to fold the fabric in four
The first press bar and the first and second clamps are provided so as to be relatively rotatable around the second press bar so as to surround the press bar. Folding device for towels etc. 3. The folding device for towels and the like according to claim 2, further comprising a transport clamper for gripping the fabric folded in four and transporting it to the next step.