JP2003220300A - Folding device for each kind of cloths - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically discriminate a kind of cloths and to fold them so as to control a finish dimension by a method adapted to the various kinds of cloths. <P>SOLUTION: The kind of cloths is discriminated by detecting discriminative factors such as the interval from the front end to the rear end of the cloths S and the thickness of the cloths moving at a fixed speed by a carrier 14 by discrimination means A, B..., and a plurality of folding parts 31, 32, 33... for folding the cloths are operated according to the discriminated result. After folding in a longitudinal direction in common to coexisting cloths, folding into two required for large-sized cloths and French folding required for small-sized cloths are performed and thus the final finish dimension is controlled. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is for washing clothes, such as sheets and wrapping cloth, in which cloths of different sizes are mixed,
It relates to a device for folding after drying.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Laundry products handled in the so-called linen supply industry include sheets and wrapping materials collected from inns, hotels and the like. Wrapping cloth is a name for a futon cover, and it is an envelope-shaped wrapping cloth that completely wraps the entire futon and a frame that is used mainly for hangings, with one side covering the entire surface and the other side covering only the edges. Including the so-called wrapping cloth, the sheets are naturally larger than the wrapping cloth in the planar shape. It is considered that sheets and wrapping cloths have similar uses, and that it is a cloth with few problems even if they are subjected to washing and the like at the same time. If the sheets and wrapping cloth can be mixed and processed, a folding device can be used. Is advantageous because it can be shared.

When sheets and wrapping materials are mixed and processed, a difference in size between them becomes a problem. Since the sheets are larger than the wrapping cloths as described above, if the same folding process is performed for the wrapping cloths, the finished dimensions of the wrapping cloths become too small, and the individual products are separately loaded. This is because the stacking portion of the conventional device that performs Therefore, conventionally, the folding method is changed between larger sheets and smaller wrapping cloths, which causes the necessity of a dedicated processing line for each. Documents related to the present invention include JP 2001-113100 A and JP 8-323100 A.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its object is to automatically discriminate various kinds of cloths and adapt them to various kinds of cloths. The method is to fold to control the finished size. Another object of the present invention is to provide a folding device for each type of cloth, which can share a folding part.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention uses a discriminating factor such as the distance from the front end to the rear end of cloth or the thickness of cloth which is moved at a constant speed by a conveying device. By detecting by the identification means, various types of cloth are identified, and according to the identification result, a plurality of folding parts for folding the cloth are operated, and after the vertical folding common to the mixed cloth, It takes the means of performing the double fold required for large cloth and the French fold required for smaller cloth, and thereby controlling the final finished size.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The folding apparatus for clothes according to the present invention folds various kinds of cloths such as sheets and wrapping cloths, that is, cloths having different types and sizes, after washing and drying. At this time, it is possible to identify the type of cloth and control the finished size, for example, for the purpose of almost uniform alignment.

[0007] Various kinds of cloths such as sheets and wrapping cloths are moved by the conveying device when they are put into the folding line, and are folded in the process of movement. The type of the cloth is discriminated by the discrimination means while detecting the discrimination factors such as the distance between the front end and the rear end of the cloth and the thickness of the cloth while the cloth is moving at a constant speed. The interval from the front edge to the rear edge of the cloth can be grasped by counting the number of pulses and measuring the passage time. However, there is no need for length measurement. The thickness of the cloth can be grasped by detecting the movement of the contactor in contact with the cloth in the thickness direction and the amount of distortion. In this case, it is not necessary to calculate the absolute value. The front and rear can be thought of as the cloth movement direction. The identification means includes all kinds of sensors and the like.

After obtaining the identification result of the cloth, the folding part which should be involved in the actual folding among the plurality of folding parts can be operated in a desired mode according to the identification result. That is, according to the present invention, the longitudinal folding, which is common to the sheets and the wrapping cloth, is performed, and then the two-fold and the smaller cloth required for the sheets which are the larger cloths. The French folds and folds required for wrapping materials are controlled, and the final finished dimensions are almost the same. The folding timing in the folding portion is calculated from the detection result of the identifying means, and the folding point, the folding timing, etc. are determined so as to be suitable for the double folding or the French folding.

More specifically, for example, in the example of FIGS. 1 and 14, two sheets are arranged in the longitudinal direction, that is, in the length direction with respect to the sheets.
Repeat twice to make a quarter length, then
The standard method is to fold it in the lateral direction, that is, in the width direction, three times to make a width of 1/8. Since the wrappings are smaller than the sheets, they are ⅙ of the width because they are formed by a method called French fold in which the subsequent two-fold folding in the lateral direction is stopped once and then folded in one third. Therefore, when the length is L and the width is W, the size of the finished product is L for sheets.
/ 4 × W / 8, and for wrapping cloth, L / 4 × W / 6, which are almost the same size. Thus, it becomes possible to fold cloths of different sizes into finished products having almost the same size, and sort them in the loading section.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The folding apparatus according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the entire apparatus of the first embodiment. The apparatus includes a vertical folding section 11 for folding the cloth S into a vertical fraction and a vertically folded cloth S in the horizontal direction. It is composed of a horizontal folding section 12 for folding it in a fraction, and the vertical folding section 11 and the horizontal folding section 12 are arranged so as to be orthogonal to each other. The cloth S is placed in the input section 13 as shown in FIG.
After being loaded in the direction shown in FIG.
Thus, the vertical folding unit 11 and the horizontal folding unit 12 are moved, and finally the stacking unit 15 is reached through each folding process.

The transport device is provided from the first conveyor 14-1 having the loading section 13 to the final conveyor 14-11 belonging to the stacking section side, and the cloth S is folded while moving by these conveyors. . Part of the conveyor also serves as a folding device, and the first vertical folding unit 21
Uses the first conveyor 14-1, the second conveyor 14-2, and the first vertical folding knife 23, and the second vertical folding unit 22 uses the second conveyor 14-2, the third conveyor 14-3, and the second conveyor 14.
A vertical folding knife 24 is used.

The first horizontal folding section 31 uses the fifth horizontal conveyor 14-5 and the sixth horizontal conveyor 14-6 located below the fourth belt conveyor 14-4 and the first horizontal folding knife 35. The second horizontal folding unit 32 uses the sixth conveyor 14-6, the seventh conveyor 14-7, and the second horizontal folding knife 36. The third lateral folding portion 33 for the sheets is the eighth
The conveyor 14-8, the ninth conveyor 14-9, and the third horizontal folding knife 37 are used. Reference numeral 38 denotes a guide for the third lateral folding.

The French fold for the wrapping cloth is performed by changing the folding point in the moving direction of the cloth to be subjected to the second lateral fold and the third lateral fold, and therefore the sheet and the wrapping cloth are distinguished from each other. It is provided in the lateral folding section 12. As an identification means, in order to detect the widthwise position of the side edge of the cloth S that has entered the lateral folding section 12, a small cloth (wrapping cloth)
And a sensor B for large cloths (sheets) are arranged. The cloth S is shown in FIG. 2 in a state in which the center in the lateral direction (width direction) is supplied so as to match the position of the first lateral folding knife 35.

In FIG. 2, the fourth belt conveyor 14-
When the wrappings on the sheet 4 come to the position detected by the sensor A, the sensor A is turned on and at the same time, the pulse measurement is started (FIG. 2A), and the first horizontal folding section 31
When the lateral folding is started and the side edge of the wrapping material comes off the sensor A, the sensor A is turned off and the pulse measurement ends (FIG. 2 (b)). As a result, the measured value is compared with the pulse count value that is input in advance, and the cloth S is a cloth cloth,
Is identified as When the cloth S that has entered is sheets, the sensor B operates in the same manner to identify. What is measured is not limited to the pulse but may be the sensor on / off time. As described above, it is possible to distinguish the sheets from the frame wrapping cloth and the whole wrapping cloth by detecting the thickness of the cloth S as well. In addition,
2 (a) and 2 (b), the sheets and the wrapping cloth are shown and folded in an overlapping manner, but it is for convenience of explanation for the two kinds of large and small cloths and need not be overlapped for measurement.

Folding by the device shown in FIG. 1 proceeds according to the procedure shown in FIG. That is, the cloth S that has been subjected to the washing and drying steps without being sorted into the present apparatus is folded in four vertically, that is, the length in the vertical direction after undergoing two vertical folding steps in the vertical folding section 11. It becomes L / 4 and enters the lateral folding section 12 in this state (state of FIG. 2A). The cloth S stops on the fourth belt conveyor 14-4, the sensor B is turned on, and then the first horizontal folding knife 35 moves to the fourth position.
The cloth S is folded toward the first lateral folding section 31 below the belt of the belt conveyor 14-4 (FIG. 3), and the sensor B is used.
Pulses until the cloth S comes off are counted to identify that the cloth is sheets.

The identification result is sent to the second lateral folding section 32 and the third lateral folding section 32, and they take a folding posture for sheets. In the state of FIG. 3, that is, when the first laterally folded cloth reaches the sensor C of the eighth conveyor, the position of the half of the cloth with the sensor B is determined. Then, the cloth S is folded toward the second lateral folding section 32, and the second laterally folded cloth S is moved to the third lateral folding section 33 by the seventh conveyor 14-7 (FIG. 4).

During this movement, the second laterally folded cloth passes through the sensor D and the sensor E in order, and reaches the half of the numerical value calculated from the detection results of both the sensors D and E to the ninth conveyor. 14-9 advances the 2nd laterally folded cloth. After that, the ninth conveyor 14-9 reverses, at the same time, the third folding knife 37 folds the cloth toward the third folding section 33, and the ninth conveyor 14-9 reverses and folds the cloth laterally into three. Ends (Fig. 5). At this time,
The width of the cloth such as the sheets is W / 8, and the length is L / 4 because it is the same as that at the time of leaving the vertical folding section 11. The cloth S that has undergone the folding process is sent to the stacking unit 15, stops on the one of the opening and closing plates 39-1 and 39-2 that is designated for the sheets, and then opens and closes. When the plate 39-1 is opened, it is dropped on the carry-out conveyor 16-1 (FIG. 1).

When the cloth S is a wrapping cloth, the sensor A is turned on, the first horizontal folding operation is performed at the first horizontal folding section 31, and the wrapping cloth is identified in the meantime. From the identification result, the posture for folding the wrapping cloth is taken (FIG. 6).
After the folding by the first lateral folding unit 31, when the cloth reaches the sensor C of the eighth conveyor, the position of two-thirds of the cloth (the position of 1/3 of the rear side) is divided between the sensor C and the sensor C. Then, the eighth conveyor 14-8 is moved to a position where it is brought out to the second folding section 32, and when it reaches the folding point, the second conveyor 14-8
When the folding knife 36 is at the position of two-thirds, the cloth is folded into the second lateral folding section 32, and the folded cloth is the seventh conveyor 1
It moves to the 3rd horizontal folding part 33 by 4-7 (FIG. 7).

By passing through the sensor D and the sensor E during the movement, the second laterally folded cloth is detected, and up to a half of the numerical value calculated from the detection result,
The ninth conveyor 14-9 feeds sequentially. Thereafter, the ninth conveyor 14-9 reverses, and at the same time, the third horizontal folding knife 37 folds the cloth toward the third horizontal folding section 33, whereby the French fold in which the edge of the cloth is inside It ends (Fig. 8). At this time, the width of the wrapping cloth is W / 6, and the length remains L / 4 from the time when it exits the vertical folding section 11, is this the same as the sheets? It seems to be a little large, but since the original shape of the wrapping cloth is smaller, the sheets folded in three horizontally and the wrapping cloth folded in French are almost the same size. The cloth that has undergone the folding process stops on the opening / closing plate 39-2 which is designated in advance for the wrapping cloth, and when it opens, it is dropped onto the carry-out conveyor 16-2.

9 to 13 show a second embodiment of the folding device according to the present invention, which is different from the first embodiment described above.
Folding unit 32 and conveyor 14-1 separated therefrom
The configuration of the third folding portion 33 having 2 is different.
Also in the case of the second embodiment, when folding is performed, the cloth S enters the lateral folding section 12 in a state of being folded in four vertically, and is identified by the sensor A or B at the first folding section 31. The process is the same as in Example 1 up to the point where one horizontal folding is performed.

FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 show lateral folding for the cloth S identified as the sheets. When the cloth S that has passed through the first horizontal folding unit 31 reaches the eighth conveyor 14-8, the second horizontal folding guide 40 once rises diagonally to send the cloth S to the ninth conveyor 14-9, and the sensor The ninth conveyor 14-9 is rotated forward until the half position of the cloth indexed from the detection results of B and C comes to the second horizontal folding section 32, and when the folding point is reached, the ninth conveyor 14-9 goes back and forth. The conveyor 14-9 reverses its rotation, and the second horizontal folding knife 36 folds the cloth into the second horizontal folding section 32, and sends the cloth as it is to the third horizontal folding section 33 on the twelfth conveyor 14-12 (FIG. 10). . In the third horizontal folding section 33, the half position of the cloth is indexed by the data detected by the sensors D and E, and when the half position reaches the folding point, the third position is reached.
The cloth is folded into the third lateral folding section 33 by the lateral folding knife 37 (FIG. 11). As in the first embodiment, the cloth S that has been laterally folded is sent to the stacking section and sorted.

In the cloth S identified as the wrapping cloth, the cloth that has passed through the first horizontal folding section 31 reaches the eighth conveyor 14-8, and the second horizontal folding guide 40 once rises obliquely to cloth. Sent to the 9th conveyor 14-9, the position of the two-thirds of the cloth determined from the detection results of the sensors A and C (rearward 1/3)
Position) has reached the second horizontal folding section 32, the ninth conveyor 14-9 is reversed, the second horizontal folding knife 36 folds the cloth into the second horizontal folding section 32, and the third horizontal folding section is used as it is. 33 (FIG. 12). At the third horizontal folding section 33, the half position of the cloth is indexed by the data detected by the sensors D and E, and when the half position reaches the folding point, the third horizontal folding knife 37 is used to move the cloth to the third horizontal position. Fold it into the folding part 33 (FIG. 13). As a result, the fabric is finished as a finished product of French folding with the edge inside. The folded cloths are sent to the stacking unit 15 and sorted.

As described above, according to the present invention, when cloths that have been washed and dried, but not sorted, are put into the folding device from the ironer in the previous step, the types are identified and instantly folded. You can change the method.
For this reason, even in the existing folding device, it is not necessary to perform a large-scale repair such as the replacement of the folding part, and it can be easily implemented by adding the cloth identifying means and adding or changing the control system for each folding part. .

[0024]

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION Since the present invention is constructed and operates as described above, it is possible to automatically discriminate the types of various kinds of cloth in which different sizes are mixed, and the most suitable for various kinds of cloth. With the adapted method, it is possible to control the final finished size and fold to obtain a finished product that matches the desired finished size, and also the folding part can be shared even if the folding method is different. Therefore, there is an effect that the facility investment is small.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 (a) is a side view showing a first embodiment of a folding device for different types of cloth according to the present invention. (B) The front view seen from the left except for the vertical folding portion in FIG.

FIG. 2 (a) is an explanatory diagram 1 of an identification unit. (B) Explanatory drawing 2 of an identification means.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a first horizontal folding unit of sheets.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a second horizontal folding unit for sheets.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a third lateral folding portion of sheets.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the first lateral folding section of the packaging material.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of the second lateral folding portion of the packaging material.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of the third lateral folding portion of the packaging material.

FIG. 9 is a front view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a second horizontal folding unit for sheets.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a third lateral folding portion of sheets.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory view of the second lateral folding portion of the packaging material.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of the third lateral folding portion of the packaging material.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart relating to a folding process in which different-sized cloths are mixed by the type-specific folding device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 Vertical folding section 12 Horizontal folding section 14-1 to 14-12 Conveyor as a transfer device 31 First horizontal folding section 32 Second horizontal folding section 33 Third horizontal folding section 35 First Horizontal Folding Knife 36 Second Horizontal Folding Knife 37 Third Horizontal Folding Knife 38 Third Horizontal Folding Guide 40 Second Horizontal Folding Guide A, B, C, D, E Sensor as detection means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A device for folding clothes, such as sheets and wrapping cloth, in which various kinds of cloth are mixed after washing and drying, which is moved at a constant speed by a conveying device, and is a front end to a rear end of the cloth. The type of cloth is identified by detecting the identification factors such as the space to the cloth and the thickness of the cloth by the identification means, and the plurality of folding parts for folding the cloth are operated according to the identification result. , Common longitudinal folds for mixed fabrics, then double fold required for larger fabrics and French fold required for smaller fabrics, and thereby the final finished size Folding device for each type of fabric, which is characterized by making it possible to control. 2. The identifying means has a plurality of sensors for detecting the position of the side edge of the cloth that has entered the folding portion in the moving direction, and the sensor turns on when any of the cloth is detected. It becomes possible to count the number of pulses or count the seconds until the cloth comes off the sensor and turns off, and the count value or the count value and the count value or the count value previously input. The folding device according to the type of cloth according to claim 1, which has a configuration for identifying the type of sheets and wrapping cloth in comparison with.