US1699059A - Laundry appliance - Google Patents

Description

I ttouwgl E. E. FRI-:Y Er Al.

LAUNDRY APPLIANCE Jan. 15, 1929.

Filed Feb. 6, 1926 Patented Jan. 15, 1929.

llNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELMER E. FREY, OF HOLLYWOOD, AND JOHN GRIESINGER, OF LOS ANGELES, CALI- FORNIA; SAID FREY ASSIGNOR TO SAID GRIESINGER.

LAUNDRY APPLIANCE.

Application led February 6, 1926. Serial No. 86,481.

This invention relates to laundry appliances and pertains more particularly to the means whereby fabric articles that are to be laundered or otherwise cleaned are supplied with an identification tag.

In the system of tagging disclosed in the copending` application ofV ElmerE. Frey, filed October l5, 1924, Serial No. 743,737, a plurality of carriers is provided and a series of identification tags is detachably mounted on each carrier. The tags on the same carrier bear like identification symbols and the tags on different carriers hear different identitication symbols. The carriers are suitably supported over or adjacent to a marking table, where the articles tofbe laundered or cleansed are placed and the marking tags are secured to the articles, those articles belong-- ing to one customer being supplied With tags of the same series. After the articles have been attached to the tags and the tags removed from the carrier, the carrier is taken to the sorting or distributing room and there suitably sorted. W'hen the tagged articles have been laundered or cleaned, they are taken to the sorting or distributing room and the tags with the articles attached thereto are attached to the carrier from which they were removed by the marker, Then the articles are released from the tags and this release is accomplished in various Ways according to the type of carrier tag employed.

There are two very important considerations in the tagging of fabric articles. One is to make provision for securing the tag in such manner that it will not become detached from the article during thel operations of laundering or cleaning the article. Another consideration is that the tag must be constructed and secured so as to avoid tearing the fabric article. To these, a third consideration may be added, and that is that the tag must have very little Weight so as to insure against its tea ing very delicate fabrics to which it may be attached.

An important object of the present invention is to accomplish the foregoing by a relatively simple construction.

Another important object of the invention is to construct the different carriers and the tags that belong thereto so vthat only those tags that belong to a specified carrier can be attached thereto, thus avoiding the attaching to the carrier of a Wrong tag, in case the distrilmter should fail to properly read the identiiication mark on the tag, or in event of identilication symbols being purposely omitted 'from the tags and carriers.

Another important object is to provide for keeping accurate count of the number of tags removed from and returned to the carriers so as toy provide a perfect check Without the necessity of the distributer counting the tags.

Another object is to provide for positive locking of the clamping members in clamping position so as to insure against the fabric article becoming accidentally detached from the tag, as would be liable to occ r if spring latching were resorted to. Y

A further object is to effect the latching and unlatching of the clamp by a relative rotation between the carrier and tags.

Other objects and advantages Will appear in the subjoined detailed description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention Fig. l is a longitudinal View of a laundry appliance constructed in accordance with the provisions of this invention, only a few of the tags being shown on the carrier. The marking ltable to Which the carrier is attached, is indicated in broken lines.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of Fig. l from the right thereof.

Fig.` 3 is an inverted plan View of the right end portion of Fig. l, showing the counter.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged'front elevation of one of the tags.

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation on the line indicated by 5--5 of Fig. 4, the carrier rod being indicated in dotted lines. The tag is shown in clamping position in full lines and broken lines indicate some of the parts in the positions that they occupy When the tag is unclamped from the fabric article.

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a plurality of carrier rods 0f different cross-sectional form, and mounted thereon a plurality of latches having orifices corresponding in cross sectional shape to the carrier rods on which they are adapted to slide.

Referring to the drawings, a carrier is indicated in general by the character 7 and attached to said carrier is a series of tags indicated at 8. The tags 8 are of like construction Aand the series may consist of any desired number.

The carrier 7 comprises an arm 9 having suitablemeansat one end to attach it to a support such, for example, as a marking table,

indicated in broken lines at ci in Fig. 1. This attaching means, in this instance, is in the form of a el-clamp 10 provided with a thumbscrew 11. This term of clamp is well understood inthe art relating to clamps,v and, therefore, needs no further description. rlhe arm 9 is provided near its opposite ends with eyes 12 which are adapted to slidably engage a supporting conveyor or rod, not shown. in a manner already known in this art so that the articles retained by the tags engaging the carrier may be simultaneously carried from one station to another by sliding of the carrier along such rod.

Attached by screws 18, or other suitable means, to the arm 7, adjacent to the clamps 10, is a rod 14, and it is to be understood that the rods of diiierent carriers, preterably, will be of ditlerent cross-sectional shapes. ln Fig. 1 the rod 14 is square in cross-section and in Fig. 6 are illustrated a number ot cross-sectional shapes which may be employed. lt is to be noted that regardless ot the cross-sectional shape ot the rod it should have at least one flat tace. rl`he rod 14 is preferably slightly tapered at its tree end as indicated at 1 5. The rod 14 slidably supports the tags 8 mentioned above and each ot said tags is constructed 'as follows:

A flat member 16 ot sheet met-al is pr vided with a circular orifice 17 in which rotatably mounted a latch member 18. Flanges 181 on thelatch member engage the opposite rfaces ot the member 16 to hold the latch member in place. The latch member is provided with oriiice'ot a shape corresponding to that ojt the cross section ot the rod 14 with which it is associated. 'The latch member may be otherwise movably mounted within the scope of some ot the appended claims. The latch orifice 19 in Fig. 4 is square and the oriiices in the latch members illustrated in Fig. 6 are ot shapes to correspond with the cross-sectional shapes ot the rods with which said latches are associated. 1n any event a portion ot theinargin ot the latch `oriice is straight. The only difference between the series oit tags belonging to one carrier and the series ot tags belonging to another carrier is in the shape ot the orifice in the latch men'iber. lt will be evident from this that it is impossible to confuse or interchange the tags associated with one carrier with those associated with another Hinged at 20 to the member 16 is a flat clamping member 21 ot sheet metal, an ear or ears 22 ot the member 21 projecting be.- hind the member 16 to limit backward movement ci the member 21. The ears 22 engage the member 16 when the members 16, 21 are substantially in alignment, and thus prevent collapse ot said members rearwardly, or to the right in Fig. 5. To limit movement of the member 21 in the opposite direction, said member is provided on its trent tace with an outwardly projecting abutment 23 adapted, when the member 21 is collapsed, to the broken line position in Fig. to enter an oritice 24 in the member 16. The abutment 2,3 expands toward the member 21 so that the side edges of the abutment will engage the side edges of the orifice 24 when the members 16, 21 are almost at a right angle to one another. The abutment 23 extends across the hinge 20 and in front ot the member 16.

l/V hen the members 16, 21 are substantially straight, the tree end ot' the abutment 23 is spaced sufficiently from the orilice 24 to permit a projecting vfinger 25 ot the latch member 18 to be interposed between said oriiice and the abutment, thus to project-beneath the abutment and hold the members 16,21 in the straight position. Rotation of the vlatch member 18 clockwise in Fig. 4 is limited by a stop or shoulder 251 on t e abutment 23.

lt will be evident from the foregoing that rotation of the tag` members 16, 21 clockwise about the rod 14 from the vert-ical position shown in Fig. 4 will eliect release of the member 21 trom the latch member so that the member 21 can be moved into the broken line position shown in Fig. 5. lt follows that latching ot the member 21 will be eii'ected by rotation ot the tag members 16, 21 countercloclrwise about the rod 14.

- rllhe front tace. of the clamping member 21 is provided with a transversely extending groove 26, preterably curved so that it is convex toward the outer or tree end ot member 21. rllhe open side ol the groove is turned away from the hinge in this instance. rl`he groove 26 is adapted to the intermediate portion ot a second clamping member 27. The portion et the clamping member 27 that engages in the grooves 26, preferably is curved to correspond-with tne curvature ot' said groove, and, when the members 16, 21 are straight, the member 27 preferably liesI quite close to the bottom wall et the. groove 26 so that, when a portion ot' a fabric article is placed over the groove 26 and the member 27 is engaged within the groove, said fabric` will be iirmly clamped between the member 27 and the bottom wall ot the groove. lt will be understood trom the foregoing that collapse of the members 16, 21 forwardly, or to the lett in Fig. 5, is prevented by the latch member 18.

The member 27 is inovably mounted on the member 16, in this instance, hinged at 271 at its ends to said member 16, and in this instance, said member 27 is :termed ot wire. Constructing the member 27 et wire makes it somewhat resilient so as to yield more or less according'to the thickness ot the fabric that is clamped in the tag and the wire, being ot circular cross-section, can do no injury to the Jfabric.

@nthe tree end ot the arm 9 is mounted a counter constructed as follows: Rotatably mounted on the arm 7 is a disc 28 having char-V acters 29 on itsperipheral face. In this instance t-he shank 31 of one of the eyes 12 contates in a bearing projecting trom the un- ,Y

der face ot' the arm 9.

The shaft 34 is provided with an actuating toothed member 36 which operates in a plane parallel and adjacent to the rod 14 so that when the 8 are slipped on and ott' ot the rod 14 said tags will engage and'rotate the toothed member 36. In this particular in sence, it may be assumed, for example, that there are -t'orty characters 29 and t-hat the gear ratio is such that the member makes eight revolutions to one revolution ot the disc 28. It may also be assumed, for example, that the actuating member 36 has live teeth or fingers. Secured to the arm 7 is an arrow 37 with which the characters 29 are adapted to register as the disc 28 is turned. In this instance the number of characters 29 and the spacing thereoil on the disc are such that a titth of a turn o'l the toothed member 36 rotates the disc 28 a distance corresponding to the spacing ot the characters 29 so that, when a tag 8 is placed on the tapered outer end of the rod 14 and shifted inwardly on said rod it will etect rotation of the disc 28 by an amount corresponding to the spacing of the characters 29. The rotation of the disc will be in the same direction as the rotation of the actuating member 36 and the series of characters 29 reads from lett to right. In this instance. the characters 29 are the numbers from 1 to 4t) inclusive and they read from right to lett on the disc so that when the disc is set with the arrow registering with the number the number of tags removed from the carrier will be registered by the turning of the disc through one-fortieth of a revolution for each tag removed. Thus, for example, if eighteen tags are removed, 18 will appear opposite to the arrow 37.

In removing the tags it is not necessary for the marker to note the number 4ot tags removed, as indicated by the disc, but, when the tags are replaced on the carrier by the distributor, the disc will be inspected by such distributor in order to make sure, without having to count the tags, whether or not all of the tags have been returned to the carrier and, it"Y they have not, how many are missing so that a search can be made for the articles missing from the assortment of articles belonging to a single customer.

It is advisable that the disc be locked while the carrier is being ltransferred from the marking table to the 'sorting room to preventthe disc from being accidentally turned, and to effect locking, we provide the bearing 35 with a bracket 38 to which is pivoted a linger 39 adapted to be swung into the space between two adjacent teeth ot the member 36 to prevent rotation of said member, or to be swung upwardly away from the member 36 so as to permit rotation of said member.

The invention described above operates as follows:

Let itbe assumed that the carrier 7 is clamped to the marking table a, that there are as many tags 8 on the rod 14 as is indicated by the numbers 29 on the disc 28, that the number 40 on the disc 28 registers with the arrow 37, and that the tags project horizontally from the bar 14 with their clamping members 27 in open position as shown in F ig. l of the drawings.

The soiled articles to be cleansed belonging to one customer will be dumped on the table a and the marker will attach an article to the tag that is nearest to the tapered end 15 of therod 14 by placing a marginal portion of the article over the groove 26 in the clamping member 21 and the marker will then close the clamping member 27 to cause its intermediate portion to engage within the groove 26 and he will rotate the tag downwardly through an angle of 90 on the rod 14 to the positionshown in solid lines in lig` 5, thus securely latehing the member 21 against swinging on its hinge 20. The

marker will then slip the tag with its attached article along the rod 14 past the member 36 and oft of said rod, thus effecting a partial rotation of the member 36 which in turn causes the member 1 on the disc to register with the arrow 37. The other articles belonging to the same customer will be similarly attached to others of the tags 8 and said tags will be removed from the rod 14, thus causing the disc 28 to register the number of tags removed from the rod. As the articles belonging to the one customer are thus tagged they will be deposited in a suitable receptacle for transportation to the laundering apparatus in which they will undergo the usual laundering operations, and the carrier from which the tags have thus been detached will be transferred from the marking table to the sorting or distributing room where it will be placed on a conveyor rod, not shown, that extends downwardlyy to the distributing table. After the tagged articles have passed through the laundering operations they will be brought to the distributor who is stationed at the upper end of the conveyor rod mentioned above and the distributor will grasp the tags attached to the articles and, while holding the tags vertically, will slip said tags, with the articles attached thereto, upon the rod 14. As each tag is moved inwardly along the rod 14 it encounters a tooth of the member 36 and operates said member so as to turn the disc 28 backward. When all of the tags that have formerly been removed from the rod 14 have been returned to said rod the arrow 37 will register with the number l0 on the disc. After the distributor has placed on the carrier vall of the tags that 'she iinds belonging to said carrier, she will inspect the disc 28 to learn whether or not all of the tags have been replaced.V It the arrow point-s to any number besides elfi, for example, such number will indicate to the distributor the number of tags. that are missing, whereupon the distributor willhave'a search instituted for the missing tags with their attached articles, thus insuring that the customer will have all of his pieces ot laundry returned to him.

Then all ot the'tags that belong to the carrier have been returned thereto with their attached articles, the distributor places the carrier upon the upper end of the conveyor mentioned above with the eyes l2 engaging said conveyor. The carrier will slide down the conveyor to the distributing table where a distributor will turn the tags 8 through an angle ot 900 so as to release the members 21, whereupon the distributor will pull the articles in a direction to cause the member 2l to swing on its hinge, thus disengaging the clamping member 27 from the groove so as to release the article.v After the articles are thus released from the tags, said tags are ready to be clamped upon other articles that are to be cleaned and, accordingly, the carrier with which said tags are associated will be returned to the marking table.

lt will be readily understood that the counter actuating member 36 and the finger 39 constitute one form of means for releasably retaining the tags on the carrier. This is an advantage when the carrier is sliding down the conveyor rod, mentioned above, from one station to another, or is being transported in any other manner while the tags are mounted thereon.

`We claim: i

1. l laundry appliance comprising a rod having a tlat side, and a tag provided with means to releasably hold a fabric article, said means including a rotatable latch member having an orifice of the saine shape as the cross section ot the rod to accommodate said rod.

2. A laundryT appliance comprising a rod, a. pair ot pivotally connected clamping members cooperative to releasably hold a fabric article between them, and a latch member movably connected with one 01" the clamping members and engageable with the other Aclamping member to hold the second clamping member in clamping position, sait latch member engageable by the rod and released by rotation of the clamping Imembers about the rod. l

3. fr laundry appliance comprising a rod, a pair ot pivotally connected clamping members cooperative to releasably hold a fabric article between them, and a latch member rotatably connected with one of the clamping members and engageable with the other clamping member to hold the second clamping member in cla-mping position, said latch member engageable by the rod ancL released by rotation of the clamping members about the rod.

4l. A laundry appliance comprising a rod, and a tag having pivotally connectedv clamping means and slidably engaging the rod, the clamping means having a latch member to hold the clamping means closed and operated by motion ot the tag about the rod in one direction or the other to operate the latch into position to hold or release the clai'nping means.

5. it; laundry appliance comprising two members hinged together', means on one member movable into a position to engage with the other member to hold said members against collapsing in one direction from an extended. position, means on one ot the members engageable with the other member to hold said members against collapsing in the opposite direction from an extended position, and a third member movably mounted on one ot the tiret mentioned members and adapted to be locked to the other ot' the first mentioned members Yvhen the first mentioned means are in said position.

6. A. n.undrj.Y appliance comprising two members hinged together, means on one member movable into a position to engage with the other member to hold said members against collapsing in one direction from an extended position, means on one ot the members engageable with the other member to hold said members against collapsing in the opposite direction from an extended position, and a third member hinged to one of the iirst Vmentioned members and adapted to be locked to the other of vthe first mentioned members when the first mentioned means are in said position.

Y. laundry appliance comprising two members hinged together,one ot the members having a groove, a clamping member movably mounted on the other member and engageable in the groove when the first mentioned members are in one position, one ot' the iirst mentioned members having an outwardly projecting abutment and a. latch member movably mounted on the other oi the first mentioned members and adapted when moved to one position to project beneath. the abutment.

8. A laundry appliance comprising two members hinged together, one oi the members having a groove, 4a clamping member Ahinged to the other member and engageable in the groove when the first mentioned members are in one position, one of the first mentioned members having an outwardly projecting abutment, and a latch member movably mounted on the other of the rst men- Sii members and adapted when turned sition to project beneath the. abutment, a portioned members and adapted when moved to one position to project beneath the abutment.

9. A laundry appliance comprising two members hinged together, one of the members having a groove, a clamping member movably mounted on the other member and engageable in the groove when the first mentioned members are in one position, one of the first mentioned members having' an outwardly projecting abutment, and a latch member rotatably mounted on the other or' the first mentioned members and adapted when turned to one position to project beneath the abutment.

10. A laundry appliance comprising two members hinged together, one oi the members havin@ a groove, u clamping member movably mounted on the other member and engageable in the groove when the irst mentioned members are in one position, one of the irst mentioned members having an outwardly projecting' abutment, and a latch member having orifice andA rotatably mounted on the other of the i'irst mentioned one potion of the margin or" straight.

11. A laundry appliance comprising two members hinged together, one of the members having a groove and one of the members having an ear projecting behind the other member, a clamping member movably mounted on the member devoid of t-he groove and engageable in the groove when the irst mentioned members are in one position, one ot the first mentioned members having an abutment extending across the hinge and in front of the other member, and a latch member movably mounted on the last mentioned member and adapted when moved to one position to project beneath the abutment.

12. A laundry appliance comprising two members hinged together, one of the members having a groove, a clamping member movably mounted on the other of the iirst mentioned members and having a portion of circular cross section engageable in the groove when the iirst mentioned members are in eX- tended position, means to prevent movement of the lirst mentioned members in onevdirection from said position, and means to releasthe oriiice being ably hold the lirst mentioned member from movement in the opposite direction from said position.

13. A laundry appliance comprising two members hingedfxtogether, one of' the members having a groove and the open side of the groove being turned away from thel hinge, a clamping member movably mounted on the other oi'f the lirst mentioned members engageable in the groove when the first mentioned members are in extended position, means to prevent movement of' the lirst mentioned members in one direction :trom said position, and means to releasably hold the tirst mentioned members from movement in the opposite direction from said position.

14. A laundry appliance comprising two members hinged together, one of the members having a groove, a clamping member ot wire movably connected at its ends with the other of the first mentioned members and having its intermediate portion engaging in the groove when the iirst mentioned members are in extended position, means to prevent movement ot the first mentioned members in one direction from said position, and means to releasably hold the iirst mentioned members from movement in the opposite direction from said position.

15. A laundry appliance comprising two members hinged together, one ot the members having a groove, and the open side of the groove being turned away from the hinge, a clamping member of wire hinged at its ends to the other of the tirst mentioned members and having its intermediate portion engaging in the groove when the lirst mentioned members are in extended position, means to prevent movement of the first mentioned members in one direction from said position, and means to releasably hold the first mentioned members from movement in the opposite direction from said position.

16. A laundry appliance comprising a carrier, tags detachably mounted on the carrier, rotary means to releasably retain the tags on the carrier, and a releasable means to prevent rotation of the tag-retention means.

Signed at Los Angeles, Calif., this 28 day of January, 1926.

ELMER E. FREY. JOHN GRIESINGER.

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