US1962661A - Laundry bag holding means - Google Patents

Description

June 1934- w. F. KRUSCHWITZ LAUNDRY BAG HOLDING MEANS Filed Jan. 10, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l R. Y. w m .E M W. U m 4 June 12, 1934. w E usc w z 1,962,661

. LAUNDRY BAG HOLDING MEANS Filed Jan. 10. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 12, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 9 Claims.

This invention relates to devices for handling bags in the processes of filling and moving and more particularly to the handling of bags used in laundry plants and the processes of handling the soiled and washed clothing.

In such laundries there are several systems, but this invention has special reference to the handling of goods which when received from each customer are sorted according to the kind,

each kind for each customer being placed in a separate compartment of a washing machine during the washing operation.

Such washing machines are generally cylindrical and are divided radially and axially. One type which I shall use for illustration is divided into three longitudinal sections by three radial partitions and each of these longitudinal sections is divided into eight lateral sections each of which has a door on the outside.

Each of these sections is to receive a certain amount of clothes or other material to be washed.

The washing operation may take one hour and at the end of that time, the twenty-four compartments must be emptied and the material taken to the next machine, which may be an extractor to extract the water, and these twentyfour compartments must then be filled with another lot of soiled material so that the washing can be repeated.

The emptying and refilling should be made as simple as possible so that little time will be wasted and the processes should be so balanced that the amount of wasted time and effort will be reduced to a minimum.

Broadly speaking my proces consists of using 2 trucks each with 4 bag holders all of such size and location that the 2 trucks can be pushed up to the washing machine, the compartment doors opened and each compartment emptied into a bag after which the trucks are moved away and the filled bags pinned and tagged and put in extractors by one man or crew during which time another man or crew is refilling the 8 empty compartments with soiled clothing. The cylinder of the washing machine is then turned to the next lot of 8 compartments, the trucks are moved up again with new empty bags which are filled and the process is repeated.

I prefer to use trucks with four or any larger even number of sections separated by parallel bag holding brackets, or other finger supporting means for sets of four bag holding fingers. The front and top of each section is preferably open and the fingers are arranged in sets or groups of four, each finger being at the corner of a rectangle and each sticking up above its supporting means, preferably sloping outward, and preferably spring pressed and stopped so as to slope outward.

My bag holding means may be used however on a stationary fixed frame, and I may use sets including any number of fingers either spring pressed or fixed.

The particular advantages of my construction are that when my bag supporting means are used on a truck, as the bag supporting fingers slope up and out, the truck can be pushed up close to the compartment door of a washing machine cylinder and because the bag supporting means are only a number of, preferably four, upwardly extending fingers, not only can empty bags be put in place instantly but full bags can be removed with great speed. Besides this, there is no danger of the bags slipping although nothing like pinching jaws are required.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a cylindrical washing machine some of the doors and compartments being shown as open and some as closed and one truck being shown in full lines up in position with part broken away to show the construction and another truck being shown in outline by dotted lines.

Fig. 2 a vertical sectional elevation substantially on the line 22 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow from the left.

Fig. 3 isa plan view of a truck on a larger scale showing the bag covers and showing one bag in position and with the other bag holding fingers free.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective showing in detail my preferred construction of a finger support, the fingers carried by it and the supporting stand for a cover pivot.

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation on an enlarged scale as viewed from the left on line 55 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged elevation as from the back or interior of an end finger attached to one of the sides of the truck.

Fig. 7 is 'a view from the left of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic plan view of a circular finger support with three fingers.

In the drawings A represents the fioor on which is permanently placed the cylindrical washing machine B of a well known type.

This is divided from end to end into three segmental compartments 1, 2, and 3 and each of these is divided into eight individual compartments indicated by 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18.

Each of these compartments has a suitable individual door 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118.

There may be other outside doors such as indicated by 8. The whole cylinder 9 is shown as revoluble with a shaft 7, all of the usual construction.

6 represents a motor which may be of the electric type which furnishes power.

- pivot and the axis of the The principal feature of my device is the movable truck C which as shown has the fioor 33 supported by suitable rollers 34-34, the back 32 and sides 30-31.

The top and what I will call the front are preferably open.

This truck 0 is of such size that it will extend in front of four compartments such as 11, 12, 13, 1e and preferably is divided into four parts as by means of the three brackets which include a horizontal arm 20 and a diagonal arm 21 suitably fastened to the back 32 and extending up and almost to the open front.

Each of these brackets carries at its front and at its back a finger support D.

Preferably each support D is carried by a threaded stud 24 shown as screwed into a coupling such as 124 on each end of an arm 20.

Each back support has a downwardly projecting arm 22 which has a screw hole 23 through which passes a screw 123 whereby the top of the supporting bracket arm 20 is fastened.

This arm 22 is preferably omitted from the front finger support D.

Each finger support D has a finger stop 25 and a bearing 29 for a horizontal pivot 59 shown as part of a finger F.

Each finger F preferably has a rounded tip which projects slightly outward at its upper free end and the stop 25 is in such position that a spring such as 60 which is shown as being looped at 61 around post 44 and thence as coiled at 62 around the shank 28 thence up and back and then around at 163 where it enters a hole such as 57 on the inner side of a finger F will tend to press the finger tips outward.

Each finger, therefore, slopes upward, and outward and its tip is free and movable in a vertical plane inward.

Each finger is much longer than its thick-. ness measured from front to back in said vertical plane and there is nothing except 163 along its upwardly and outwardly sloping inside face.

When the top 80 of a fiexible bag such as K is turned over the tip of a finger and the bag is dropped, its material will lie along said inside face and the pull of the weight of the bag or its contents will be parallel with and close to a radial line drawn through the centre of the finger.

This pull when the bag hangs free is almost on dead centre and therefore small. The pressure of the four springs, such as 60 on the fingers will therefore sustain a very substantial weight in the bag, but each finger can readily be released by pulling its tip inward at a tangent horizontally.

The result of this construction is that the tips 50-50 of the fingers F-F are normally pressed away from the inside of the truck. I will describe this as being normally spring pressed and stopped so as to slope outward By outward is meant towards the front or back of the truck or frame.

At each end 30 and 31 the finger supports D are carried in a slightly different way.

Each is supported by a plate such as through which are the bolt holes '71 for the bolts 72.

Each finger F of the ends is the same as the others being pivoted in a holder D similar to the others except that it is made integral with a plate '70.

It has a suitable stop 25 and the finger spring 160, at one end is bent and bears against the top of plate 70 while it is coiled at 162 around the finger support D and thence extends up and around at 163 where it enters a suitable hole 57 in the back of finger F.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 5 with this construction I can hang two or more empty bags such as K2, K3 on the two back fingers of each compartment and at the same time can spread the mouth of a bag K1 which is to be filled over these two bag fingers as well as the front fingers thereby leaving the back open and in position to be filled, while the two other bags are in reserve.

The top or mouth of each bag is turned over and around the tip of each finger as shown in Fig. 7 and the bag is held firmly in place.

The parallel finger supporting means are the sides 80, 31, brackets 20, 21 and the finger supports D, D.

When putting a bag in place, it is bent over the two fingers farthest away from the operator and the bag mouth is pulled towards him, to the position shown in Fig. 7 at the right, until the opposite edge of the mouth can be bent over the two fingers nearest the operator. When released, all four fingers spring outward to a position nearly normal shown in Fig. 5, adjusting themselves to the size and elasticity of the bag.

.In releasing each bag, the process is reversed and as the pull is at a tangent to the are made by the tips 50, 50, little force is required. The tips 50 preferably bend or curve and project a little outward, sothat when the fingers resume their normal upward and outward slope, as shown at the left in Figs. 4, 5 and '7, the weight of the bag pulls towards the pivot, almost if not quite on dead center or beyond, and the fingers therefore do not tend to yield or pivot inward. Each bag is therefore firmly held while being filled, but can quickly and easily be put in place or removed by pulling the mouth horizontally or tangentally inward so that each tip 50 points upward or inward when the bent over part of the mouth slips off.

The open front between the fingers F, F at the free ends of arms 26, 2e permit the filled bags to be slid off the truck instead of being lifted up.

With the construction of my resilient or spring pressed fingers, bags of different sizes at the mouth can be used on the same set of fingers and the position of the fingers, especially those at the front, sloping outward allows the truck to. be pushed up very close to the washing machine B as shown in Fig. 2 thus carrying one edge of the bag so close to the opening of a cornpartment that there is very little opportunity for anything to slip down between the bag and the cylinder.

This is important because if only a single small article drops on the floor it is likely to become soiled and cause a great deal of trouble before it is again clean and replaced with the other articles of the same customer.

I may use a small board such as M shown in Fig. 2 to bridge the gap and prevent the possibility of such a loss.

In order to prevent articles from any par ticular compartment in the washing machine from accidentally getting into the wrong bag, I prefer to use the pivoted covers G, G, each provided with pivot pins such as 46 which enter the pivot sockets 45 in the standards 44 which are provided between the first and sec- 0nd and third and fourth sections as shown in Fig. 1.

These covers G are imperforate and can be instantly swung over from the first or third compartments to the second or fourth and thence back again so that while emptying any particular compartment of the washing machine, the mouth of each bag adjoining the one being filled is covered and any mixing of the goods is, therefore, avoided.

In Fig. 8, I show a circular finger support 81 which supports the three fingers F, F, F whereby the mouth of a bag such as K is held open in triangular form as shown.

It is obvious that I can use various other types of finger supports and can use any number of fingers of my design from three to four and more if it is desired so to do.

It is also obvious that my finger supports and fingers either on a movable truck or an immovable rack can be used for holding open the mouths of various types of bags such, for instance, as mail bags, provided the bag is of such material that the rim of the mouth can be turned outward and over the tips of the fingers.

The members 60 and 160, instead of being springs may be rigid, and the fingers F, F may stand up straight as shown in Fig. 8, instead of sloping outward.

I claim to be the first to provide bag holding means including a frame and finger supporting means forming part thereof or attached thereto, together with bag holding fingers, either rigid or resilient, which extend up at any angle from the finger supporting means. More specifically I claim to be the first to provide upwardly and outwardly sloping, spring-pressed fingers with upper ends free to move in a vertical plane and still more specifically, I claim to be the first to arrange such fingers on a rectangular frame particularly a truck frame in rectangular formation, the rectangles being positioned side by side.

I claim:

1. The combination with a movable truck; of a plurality of finger supports alined and spaced sideways on and carried by said truck; a plurality of sets of four bag holding fingers the two fingers on each side being pivoted at the bottom to a finger support, each finger being spring pressed and stopped so as to normally slope upward and outward; together with a cover so pivoted to finger supports that it can move in a half circle sideways to cover sets of fingers on either side.

2. The combination with a movable truck; of a plurality of finger supports alined and spaced sideways on and carried by said truck; and a plurality of sets of four bag holding fingers the two fingers on each side being pivoted at the bottom on a horizontal pivot to a finger support, each finger being much longer than its thickness and being spring pressed and stopped near its pivot so that it normally slopes upward and outward and its tip is free and movable in a vertical plane inward there being no obstruction between the inside faces of each finger and its pivot and the inside faces of the opposite finger and its pivot.

3. The combination with a frame; of a plurality of finger supports alined and spaced sideways on and carried by said frame; and a plurality of sets of four bag holding fingers the two fingers on each side being pivoted at the bottom on a horizontal pivot to a finger support, each finger being much longer than its thickness and being spring pressed and stopped near its pivot so that it normally slopes upward and outward and its tip is free and movable in a vertical plane inward there being no obstruction between the inside faces of each finger and its pivot and the inside faces of the opposite finger and its pivot.

4. In a bag holding device, the combination of finger supporting means; with a plurality of bag holding fingers each pivoted at the bottom on a horizontal pivot to a finger support and each finger being much longer than its thickness and being spring pressed and stopped near its pivot so that it normally slopes upward and outward and its tip is free and movable in a vertical plane inward there being no obstruction between the inside faces of each finger and its pivot and the inside faces of the opposite finger and its pivot.

5. In a bag holding device, the combination of finger supporting means; with a plurality of bag holding fingers each pivoted at its bottom on a horizontal pivot to a finger support and each finger being much longer than its thickness and being spring pressed and stopped near its pivot so that it normally slopes upward and outward and its tip is free and movable in a vertical plane inward there being no obstruction between the inside faces of each finger and its pivot and the inside faces of the opposite finger and its pivot.

6. The combination with a supporting frame; of a plurality of parallel finger supporting means which extend from back to front of and are carried by said frame; and a plurality of sets of four bag holding fingers which extend up from said finger supporting means; together with a cover so pivoted at front and back of one side edge to finger supports that it can swing in a half circle sideways to cover part of the space between one or the other of adjoining sets of fingers.

7. The combination with a supporting frame; of a plurality of parallel finger supporting means which extend from back to front of and are carried by said frame; and a plurality of sets of four bag holding fingers which normally extend up free from said finger supporting means there being no obstruction between the inside faces of each finger and its pivot and the inside faces of the opposite finger and its pivot.

8. The combination with a movable truck; of finger supporting means carried by said truck; and a plurality of bag holding fingers which normally extend up free from said finger supporting means there being no obstruction between the inside faces of each finger and its pivot and the inside faces of the opposite finger and its pivot.

9. In a bag holding device, the combination of finger supporting means; with a plurality of bag holding fingers each pivoted at the bottom on a horizontal pivot to a finger support and each finger being much longer than its thickness and being spring pressed and stopped near its pivot so that it normally slopes upward and outward and its tip is free and movable in a vertical plane inward such tip extending slightly outward from the body of the finger there being no obstruction between the inside faces of each finger and its pivot and the inside faces of the opposite finger and its pivot.

WILLIAM FREDRICK KRUSCHWITZ.

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