US1834365A - Laundry ironing and pressing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 1, 1931. 'A, ADAMS 1,834,365

LAUNDRY IRONING AND PRESSING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 26., 1928 IN V EN TOR.

ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 1, 1931 r- FIC E FATE - ARTHUR, H. ADAMS, or LA GRANGE, ILLINOIS, AssIGNO TO TROY LAUNDRY MA- CHINERY COMPANY, nc, F new YORK, N. Y.,YA CORPORATION on DELAWARE LAUNDRY IRoNIivG AND rnnssnve nrrARA'rUs Application filed January 26, 1928. Serial No. 249,684.

This invention relates to laundry apparatus and in particular to laundry ironing machines employing heated ironing surfaces and cooperating ironing rolls.

In ironing machines of the above noted character it is the usual practice to provide the ironing roll with a resilient padding in order that varying thicknesses of garments may be properly ironed. Heretofore this padding has taken the form of either layers of compressible fabrics such as felt, canvas, cork or the like, or paddings using metal resilient members such as springs, shavings or o the like have been employed. However,

even with paddings of the spring type it has been found necessary to cover the padding with a layer of cloth fabric to bridge the spaces between the springs or in order to give uniform resiliency to the padding, and

also to prevent the garments from coming into contact with the padding proper. It has been found in practice that these prior paddings employing a cloth or fabric covering have the serious disadvantage of being absorbent, and in the case of felt pads, after continued use, the pad mats or hardens with resultant charring and requires frequent replacement, which process is laborious and time-consuming. Furthermore with resilient paddings employing fabrics it has been necessary to provide special means for drying out the padat relatively frequent intervals, either by means of blowers or suction apparatus or even by special heating means.

' In the case of ironing machines of the fixed steam chestand cooperating roll type this disadvantage is to a degree ameliorated by allowing the damp garments to come in contact with only a portion of the ironing roll, so that the roll is used for actual ironing during only a relatively small portion of each rotation, the remaining 'part of each rotation enabling the roll'padding to become parvtially dry. As a result of this arrangement it has been the practice to provide for each ironing machine a plurality of successively effective ironing rolls and a corresponding number of heating chests in order that any one roll padding may not have to absorb an undesirable amount of moisture from the damp garments.

Accordingly it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an ironing machine of the heated chest and cooperating roll type, wherein damp garments may be completely ironed by using fewer rolls than has heretofore been found practicable.

It is another object of the invention to provide an ironing machine which can be manufactured economically, assembled readily, and achieves substantially equally efficient results as ironing machines employing a greater number of rolls and heating'chests.

A feature of the invention pertains to the combination of a novel resilient padding and a heating chest in an ironing machine, whereby the structure of the padding is such that the chest may surround the major portlon of the ironer roll without affecting the resiliency of the padding.

A still further feature has reference to a heating chest for a laundry ironing machlne which is adjustable to suit the ironing roll with which it is to be used. 7

Another feature is concerned with-the combination of a roll having a resilient padding and a chest having a metal plate ironing surface preferably of non-corrosible material.

Other'features and advantages not specifically enumerated will be apparent after a consideration of the following description and the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows a sectional view of a portion of an ironing machine embodying a padded ironing roll and adjustable heating chest according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the portion of the machine shown in Fig. 1 with the guiding plates removed.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a portion of an ironing machine employing cast steam chests of known type and embodying the inventive concept.

For the purpose of enabling a clear understanding to be attained of one mode of practising the invention the same is disclosed as applied to an ironing machine of that construction which is familiarly'known as a flatwork ironer. The machine comprises a roll 1 which is preferably constructed of thin material providing substantially no obstruction to the passage of steam or vapor therethrough, for example, a strong wire netting wrapped in the form of a cylinder may be employed, or the roll may take the form of a lattice or grill-like metal structure, the object being to provide a base for the roll padding which offers minimum of obstruction to the passage of steam or vapor. This base or roll may be mounted on a plurality of spiders 2 at intervals along the length of the roll for supporting said roll and imparting radial strength thereto. Spiders 2 are appropriately fastened to the shaft 3 for rotation therewith, said shaft being mounted in suitable bearings and connected to a source of motive power for driving the shaft and roll at the required speed.

Roll 1 is provided with a resilient padding and covering preferably of the character disclosed in copending application Serial No. 245,180, filed January 7, 1928. Said padding comprises in the main a convoluted spring 4 having the individual convolutions permanently skewed or inclined at an angle to the spring axis. The skewed spring is wrapped helically around the surface of the roll 1 and has its ends fastened to prevent unwinding. A covering 5, preferably of very fine mesh metallic cloth wrapped around'the spring padding and the ends of the covering are united in any suitable manner, the preferred covering and manner of uniting the ends being disclosed in application Serial No. 245,180, filed January 7, 1928, to which reference may be had for further description. As pointed out in said application it may be desirable to employ more than one layer of spring padding in which case there will be alternate layers of springs 4 and coverings 5 superposed upon each other. The outstanding features of this type of spring padding are first, thatit may be designed to give any desired resiliency by proportioning the size and spacing of the spring convolutions. Second, it does not require the use of thick cloth or fabric coverings which absorb moisture and become matted. Third, it is highly pervious and offers substantially little obstruction to the passage of steam or water vapor therethrough. Fourth, it is non-absorbent and capable of conducting enough heat from the steam chest to prevent condensation on its interior. As a result of ti ese characteristics it is possible to make use of nearly the entire periphery of the padded roll for the ironing operation. Accordingly, as shown in Fig. 1, there is provided a heating chest that surrounds the greater part of the periphery of the ironing roll 1. While any well-known form of heating chest may be employed, it is preferbale to employ a chest of the general structure as that disclosed in co-pending application Serial No. 249,683, filed January 26, 1928. However, various modifications must be made in order to adapt such a chest for use in accordance with the invention. As shown in Fig. 1, the chest comprises an ironinn; face 6 of sheet metal preferably non coi'rosible and capable of assuming and retaining a high polish, for example that metal sold under the trade name Monel. This plate is formed to the general curvature of the roll 1 and is of sufficient length and width to surround nearly the entire peripheral surface thereof. Attached to the rear or non-iron ing face of plate 6 is a heating unit comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending pipes 7 connected, preferably in series, by appropriate manifolds represented by the U- bends 8, it being understood that the pipes are so interconnected and disnosed as to conform to the curvature of plate 6; The assembled heating unit is then united by a good thermal conductor to plate 6, this union being preferably effected by tack-welding each pipe to plate 6 through the intermediary of bronze or similar metal.

The inlet end 9 of the heating unit or coil is connected to a source of heating fluid such as steam under pressure, while the opposite end 10 is closed. The lowermost pipes are connected to a suitable trap 11 to permit any condensation within the pipes to drained by gravity. The number and size of the pipes making 'up the heating coil may be determined by the amount of heat that must be transferred to the roll and padding in order to vaporize any moisture that may tend to collect therein and also in accordance with the degree of resistance to temperature changesthat may be required of the heating chest as a whole.

In order to increase this resistance the heating unit may be enclosed within a casing comprising the flexible metal plate 12 of the same general shape as the plate 6 and having its ends securely attached to the longituoinally extendingchannel bars 13 which are preferably welded at their lower ends to the rear of plate 6. The chest formed by plates 6-and 13 and the channel members 15 may be packed with any suitable well known heat insulating materials 14 such, for example, asasbestos and the lateral ends of the chest closed to hold the packing by turning down the ends of plate 12, or in any other suitable manner.

Rigidly attached to the main frame of the machine and extending longitudinally thereof in the rear of members 13 are bars 15 through which pass the chest adjusting screws 16. These screws pass loosely through members 15 and are provided with fiat ends 17 and nuts 18 for holding the screws in their adjusted position. Nuts 19 and 20 are also provided for holding the adj usting screws in their adjusted position with respect to bars 15. Thus, by looseningnuts 19 and 20 and turning screw 16 the chest may be drawn more tightly around the roll. Heretofore in ironing machine employing a stationary heating chest it has been the practice to form the chest out of cast iron or similar heavy metal with a longitudinal bore for p the heating fluid. Such chests are expensive to manufacture, must be accurately machined, are of very great weight, and liable to become warped when subjected to wide temperature variations. A chest such as that shown in the drawings being made from relatively thin sheet metal is inexpensive and light in weight. Furthermore, such a chest while in place about the ironing roll may be adjusted according to the degree of pressure required for ironing simply by turning the members 16.

In operation the roll is rotated in the direction of the arrow and the garments are fed in at the left preferably by an apron conveyer to the roll which carries them around at the same time that they are subjected to heat and pressure. If desired, suitable guide plates 21 and 22 may be provided to prevent the entering garments interfering with those leaving the ironer. Because of the close proximity of the heating unit to the actual ironing surface 6 and because of the nonabsorbent character of the padding 4: the said padding is at all times maintained at a sufficiently high temperature to cause any moisture that may be liberated from the garments to be vaporized, whereupon such vapor passes freely into the interior of the roll which may be closed at the ends to prevent chilling and condensation. It will be noted that the garments are carried around by the roll in such a direction as to most efficiently utilize the heat from the steam coil. That is, the end 10 of the coil being closed, the steam which is forced into the coil will have a temperature gradient which is maximum at the point of entry of the garments, and minimum at the end 10 where the garments emerge, thus enabling the heating means to be most effective where it is required, similarly to the counter flow idea in the art of boiler construction.

Fig. 3 shows another embodiment of the invention employing a plurality of separate cast steam chests of the conventional type. While only two sections of chest are shown in this figure it is obvious that any other number of sections may be employed so long as the chests when in position surround as much of the roll as is consistent with convenience of feeding and removing the garments from the ironer. As shown in Fig. 3, the roll 1 is of the same character as the roll of Fig. 1 and is provided with the same resilient padding l and covering 5. The upper section 9.3 and lower section 24 of the. steam chest are economizing in floor space because if a single.

chest is employed which surrounds the great 7 or part, of the ironing roll it would be neces:

sary to place the roll in position endwise.

While in the .-drawings only that portion of anf ironing machine has been disclosed which is'necessary to anunderstanding of I the invention, it will be understood that the details of mounting the steam chests and rolls, etc. may be such as are well known to the art. Various changes may be made from the exact embodiment shown without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, for example, instead of using steam as the heating fluid any other efficient heating fluid may be employed. Similarly while in the drawing the steam chest is shown as surrounding almost 90% of the peripheral surface of the roll it will be understood that the relative sizes of the roll and steam chest may be varied somewhat, the essence of the invention residing in the cooperation which exists between the efficient heating characteristics of the steam chest and the novel padding whereby a much greater portion of the roll may be surrounded than has heretofore been found practicable.

What I claim is: r

1. In combination a steam chest for an ironing machine having a sheet metal wall of a non-corrosible metal capable of retaining a high polish, a heating pipe coil unit united by materials of high thermal conductivity to the said wall, and means for adjusting the curvature of said wall.

2. In an ironing machine, an ironing roll,

a non-absorbent uniformly permeable resilient padding for said roll and a continuous metal ironing surface surounding the major portion of said roll.

3. An ironing machine in accordance with claim 2 wherein the padding is entirely metallic.

l. An ironing machine in accordance with claim 2 wherein the roll surface which supports the padding, is of perforated metal.

5. In an ironing machine, an ironing roll, a non-absorbent permeable resilient padding for said roll and a continuous metal ironing surface enclosing the major portion of said roll.

6. In an ironing machine, an ironing roll comprising a hollow perforated cylinder having a non-absorbent permeable, resilient padding, and a continuous metal ironing surface surrounding the major portion of the surface of said roll.

7. In an ironing machine, an ironing roll comprising a perforated cylinder having a non-absorbent, permeable, resilient padding, and a continuous steam chest completely enclosing the major portion of the periphery of said roll.

8. An ironing machine inaccordance With claim 7 wherein the resilient padding is constructed of metal of high heat conductivity and has mass enough to hold suificient heat received from said chest to prevent the condensation of steam in saidpadding.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, this 21st day of January, 1928.

ARTHUR H. ADAMS.

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