GB2089859A

GB2089859A - Apparatus for the Folding of Laundry Articles

Info

Publication number: GB2089859A
Application number: GB8138398A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1980-12-20
Filing date: 1981-12-21
Publication date: 1982-06-30
Also published as: DK148921C; DK549981A; GB2089859B; DE3048309A1; FR2496725A1; DE3048309C2; FR2496725B1; DK148921B

Abstract

Apparatus for the folding of laundry articles W, W1 has gripping devices 11, 12 located in a first rolling and folding station above a belt conveyor 10. The gripping devices 11, 12 can be moved in timed sequence in an endless path one after the other from a laundry article supply position 25 into a folding position 26 located at a distance therefrom and back to the supply position. The leading edge of a laundry article is gripped tightly in a device 11 or 12 by means of a gripping plate 18 pivoted on a stop member 19. After the movement of the gripping devices into the folding position 26 the remaining part of the laundry article is conveyed further below the folding position, for the purpose of carrying out a first folding operation in a folding line which is at right angles to the conveying direction of the conveyor 10. The position 25 of the gripping devices is located in front of the guide roller 27 for the belt conveyor 10 at the infeed side. The distance A of the folding position 26 from the guide roller 27 in the conveying direction of the conveyor 10 is such that the section of the belt 10 located therebetween creates such a great resistance to backward movement of a laundry article in contact with the latter partially (front part) that the laundry article is held stationary and that two gripping devices 11, 12 are arranged at a distance apart corresponding to the distance of the folding position from the supply position. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for the Multiple Folding of Laundry Articles The invention relates to an apparatus for the multiple folding of laundry articles, in particular for folding small laundry articles, with gripping devices located in a first rolling and folding station above a belt conveyor device, which can be moved in timed sequence, in a revolving manner one after the other from a laundry article supply position to a folding position located at a distance therefrom and back into the supply position and in which the leading edges of the laundry articles are gripped securely in the gripping devices by means of gripping plates on stop members and after the movement of the gripping devices into the folding position, the remaining part of the laundry article is conveyed further under the folding bridge, for the purpose of carrying out a first folding operation in a folding line at right angles to the conveying direction of the belt conveyor.

In a known apparatus of the afore-mentioned construction (German GM 1 935 519, Figures 4 to 6), three gripping devices are arranged one behind the other staggered by an angle of 1200 on a horizontal shaft which is able to rotate in timed sequence. The shaft located above and in the path of the conveying section of the belt conveyor is able to rotate in timed sequence with the gripping devices through respectively 1200 so that one of the three gripping devices is respectively in a laundry article supply position, in a folding position and in a waiting position. The folding bridge constructed in this way is located in the path of the conveying section of the belt conveyor and seen in the conveying direction of the latter, is located considerably behind the front end of the belt conveyor. The apparatus is intended to be set up following an ironer or the like.The laundry articles to be folded are accordingly supplied mechanically both to the apparatus as well as to the gripping devices of the latter, for which purpose so called lifting means are provided below the belts of the belt conveyor and in front of the supply position of the gripping devices, for lifting the belts. If the apparatus is set up separately and in the case of a manual supply of laundry articles to the latter, for example so called dry articles or laundry articles consisting of mixed fabrics. in particular in the form of small articles (hand towels, serviettes andthe like), which do not need to be ironed, the laundry articles are placed manually on the moving belts of the belt conveyor.Since the orientated feeding of the laundry articles to moving belts causes problems and the feeding of the next laundry article can only take place when the previously fed laundry article has been conveyed completely away from the feeding region, this apparatus is not particularly well suited for folding the aforementioned laundry articles.

It is the object of the invention to propose an apparatus of the afore-described construction, which is more suitable than the known apparatus for folding non-ironed laundry articles to be fed manually, in particular those in the form of small laundry articles, such as for example hand towels and serviettes.

The solution of this object is contained in the characterising part of claim 1.

Due to the construction of the apparatus according to the invention it is possible to feed the leading edge of the laundry article manually directly into one of the gripping devices, to grip same positioned between the gripping plate and the stop and immediately after the movement of this gripping device into the folding position, to feed the leading edge of a further laundry article into the second gripping device which is then located in the supply position and to grip the latter in a positioned manner.The manual, positioned feed of the leading edge of the laundry article into the gripping device and the possibility of being able to carry out gripping of the next laundry article directly after the movement of the first gripping device into the foldng position without expensive mechanisms, leads to an improvement of the operator's method of operating the apparatus and of the quality of folding. A further advantage of the invention consists in that the laundry articles are supplied to the next folding station with a spacing which is always the same and of adequate dimensions, due to which the latter can be folded without problems for the second time in the same manner or, however, can be folded at right angles thereto.

Advantageous developments of the invention as regards the feed of the latter are contained in claims 2 to 6, in which case the measures according to claims 3 and 4 are also of particular advantage from the industrial safety point of view.

By these measures, any injury to the operator 5 fingers is reliably prevented during the positioned gripping of the leading edge of the laundry article in the gripping device.

Further advantageous features of the invention are described hereafter with reference to one embodiment illustrated diagrammatically in the drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through the first folding station with gripping devices located in the supply and folding position, Figure 2 is an enlarged illustration of the gripping device in the supply position of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a plan view of the mechanical actuating device for the gripping devices in the folding position of Figure 1, to an enlarged scale.

The reference numerals in the drawing designate: A=distance (of the folding position 26 from the guide roller position 27) W,W1 laundry articles 1 0=belt conveyor 1 2=gripping devices (of the rolling folding device) 1 3=chain drive 14,1 5=chain wheels (of position 13) 1 6=chain (of position 13) 17=arrow (driving direction of position 13) 18=gripping plate (of positions 11,12) 19=stop member (of positions 11,12) 20=hinge 21 =stop profile (of position 19) 22,23=brackets (in the case of positions 18,19) 24=tension spring 25=supply position (of positions 11 ,1 2) 26=folding position (of positions 11 ,1 2) 27=guide roller (of position 10) 28=arrow (conveying direction of position 10) 29=working cylinder 30=leverbar 31,32=light barrier (photocells) 33,34=limit switch (sensor) 35=switching cam (at position 13) 36,37=shafts (of position 13) 38=side (of position 10) 39=side (of position 16) 40=side wall.

The part of the apparatus illustrated in the drawings consists firstly of the belt conveyor 10 and two gripping devices 11,12. The gripping devices 11,12 are arranged between and by their end on two chain drives arranged parallel to each other. Of these chain drives, the drawings show only the chain drive 13 arranged on the left with respect to the conveying direction of the belt conveyor, with the two chain wheels 14,15 and the chain 16. The chain drive 13 is mounted and is able to be driven in timed sequence in the direction of arrow 17 by means of members and devices known per se but of which only the shafts 36,37 are shown in the drawings, on which the chain wheels 14,1 5 are mounted.Each of the two gripping devices 11 r1 2 consists essentially of a gripping plate 18 and a stop member 19, in which case the gripping plate 18 is mounted by means of a hinge 20 on the stop member 19 produced from an L-shaped sectional member. The stop member 19 has an elastically yielding stop profile 21, for example in the form of a rubber tube, a brush strip or the like. Located on the gripping plate 18 and the L-profile of the stop member 19, respectively on the rear side and at the side ends of the latter are brackets 22,23 and tension springs 24 are attached to the latter for holding the gripping plate 18 and stop member 19 together.

The laundry article supply and folding position (25 respectively 26) of the gripping devices 11,12 fixed by the position of the chain wheels 14,15 of the chain drive 13 are arranged with respect to the belt conveyor 10 so that the supply position 25 is located in front of the guide roller 27 of the belt conveyor 10 at the infeed side and the folding position 26 is so far from this guide roller 27 in the conveying direction (arrow 28) that the belt section located therebetween (distance "A") creates such great resistance to rearwards movement of a laundry article W1 in contact with the latter partially (front part) that this laundry article is held in a stationary manner or cannot slide down rearwards from the belt conveyor 10 as a result of the weight of the rear part of the latter hanging down over the guide roller 27.

The force of the two tension springs 24 of a gripping device 11 or 12 is chosen so that on the one hand the grip of the gripping plate 18 and stop member 19 can be easily overcome when the gripping plate 18 is pushed manually downwards, however that on the other hand an adequategnpping action is achieved for the feeding operation of the laundry article. Other springs may naturally also be used in place of tension springs 24.

Removing the grip of the gripping plate 18 and stop member 19 in the folding position 26 is carried out mechanically. For this purpose, a pneumatically operated working cylinder 29 is provided on the side wall 40 of the apparatus and a leverbar 30 is provided (Figures 1 and 3). The arrangement of the working cylinder 29 as well as the construction of the leverbar 30 may naturally be other than those illustrated.

Moreover, the apparatus illustrated only partly has all other parts and devices which are known per se, which are necessary for operating the latter, such as for example an electrical control device with scanning devices in the form of light barriers 31,32 and limit switches 33,34. The light barriers 31,32 located in the supply position 25 serve in particular for scanning the movements of the operator's hands in the region of the gripping devices 11 ,1 2 and for ascertaining the occupied condition of the latter. The limit switch 33 located in the region of the upper side 38 of the belt conveyor 10 serves for controlling the working cylinder 29 and thus for controlling the opening movement of the gripping device 11 or 12 in the folding station 26. The limit switch 33 is actuated by the laundry article (W1) located on the side 38.

The limit switch 34 provided in the region of the upper side 39 of the chain 1 6 serves for stopping the drive of the chain drive 13. The limit switch 34 is actuated by the switching cam 35 attached to the chain 16. The movement of the gripping device 11 or 12 from the supply position 25 to the folding position 26 is controlled by the light barriers 31,32 and the limit switch 33.

The belt conveyor 10 and the chain drive 13 are preferably driven by only one electric motor, however, a clutch which is known per se can be provided in the drive of the chain drive. The rotational speeds of the belt conveyor 10 and chain drive 13 are preferably identical.

The apparatus illustrated operates as follows: the operator for the apparatus picks up the laundry article W to be folded (Figure 1), for example a hand towel, at the two front corners, speads out the front edge of the latter and pushes it into the gripping device 11 located in the supply position 25 whilst simultaneously pushing the gripping plate 18 downwards so that the latter is positioned and bears against the positioning edge of the latter. This operation as well as the subsequent withdrawal of the operator's hands and thus the gripping of the front edge of the laundry article W in the gripping device 11 takes place during folding of the laundry article W1 gripped previously in the same manner in the other gripping device 12.If the light barrier 32 indicates that the laundry article W is in the gripping device 11, the light barrier 31 indicates that the operator has withdrawn his hands from the gripping device 11 and the limit switch 33 indicates that the rear edge of the previously inserted laundry article W1 has been conveyed beyond the latter, then the drive of the chain drive 13 is automatically started and thus the gripping device 11 with the laundry article W is moved from the supply position 25 into the folding position 26 and the gripping device 12 is moved from the folding position 26 into the supply position 25, in which case the end of the movement is initiated by actuation of the limit switch 34 by means of the switching cam 35 arranged on the chain drive 13. However, before the aforementioned movement of the gripping devices 11,12, the mechanical opening of the gripping device 12 located in the folding position 26 and initiated by the limit switch 33 likewise takes place, in order to place the front edge of the laundry article W1 in an overlapping manner on the rear edge of the latter.

Claims

1. Apparatus for the multiple folding of laundry articles, in particular for folding small laundry articles, with gripping devices located in a first rolling and folding station above a belt conveyor device, which gripping devices can be moved in timed sequence in a revolving manner one after the other from a laundry article supply position into a folding position located at a distance therefrom and back to the supply position and in which the leading edges of the laundry articles are gripped tightly in the gripping devices by means of gripping plates on stop members and after the movement of the gripping devices into the folding position the remaining part of the laundry articles is conveyed further below the folding bridge, for the purpose of carrying out a first folding operation in a folding line which is at right angles to the conveying direction of the belt conveyor, wherein the laundry article supply position of the gripping devices is located in front of the guide roller for the belt conveyor at the infeed side, the distance of the folding position of the gripping devices from the guide roller for the belt conveyor at the infeed side in its conveying direction is such that the section of the belt located therebetween creates such a great resistance to backward movement of a laundry article in contact with the latter partially (front part) that the laundry article is held stationary and that two gripping devices are arranged at a distance apart corresponding to the distance of the folding position from the supply position.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the two gripping devices are arranged between and with their ends on chain drives arranged parallel to each other and able to be driven in a revolving manner in timed sequence.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each gripping device comprises gripping plates and stop members able to be pressed one against the other by means of spring force for the purpose of gripping the edge of the laundry article.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein at least in the supply position the spring force can be overcome by pressing manually on the gripping plate for the purpose of introducing the edge of the laundry article between the gripping plate and the stop member.

5. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the spring force of the gipping devices in the folding position of the same can be overcome by mechanical pressure on the gripping plate for the purpose of releasing the gripped edge of the laundry article.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a working cylinder with the interposition of a leverbar serves for overcoming the spring force mechanically.

7. Apparatus for the multiple folding of laundry articles, substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.