US3521389A - Attachment for flatwork ironer - Google Patents

Description

Julyz1,197ol b.D.MAzzo| LA 3,521,389

ATTACHMENT FOR FLATWORK IRONER Filed June so, 1969 s sheets-sheer 1 l, 'd'1' |22 l INVENTOR. y, ..1 a ,g1 DAN D. MAzzoLLA '1L-.,420 y BY j Avg NEY July 21, 1970 D. D. MAzzoLLA ATTACHMENT FOR FLATWORK IRONER 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 30, 1969 v INVENTOR DAN D. MAZZOLLA AToR/NEY FIGQS .July 2.1, 1970 Y p. D. MAzzoLLA 3,521,389.

ATTACHMENT FOR FLATWORK IRONER Filed June 50, 1969 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 -l/vvE/vToR FIG. '0 DAN D. MAz'zoLLA BY f ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,521,389 ATTACHMENT FOR FLATWORK IRONER Dan D. Mazzolla, 2464 Raleigh Drive, York, Pa. 17402 Filed June 30, 1969, Ser. No. 837,432 Int. Cl. D06f 67/04 U.S. Cl. 38-143 8 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A smoothing and feeding attachment for a atwork ironer comprising frame means adapted to be connected to the feed end of an industrial-type ironer immediately in front of the transverse row of feed belts thereof and including a pair of friction belts of substantial width supported with the upper courses thereof substantially horizontal and approximately in the same plane as that of the upper course of the feed belts, said friction belts extending from approximately the mid portion of the row of feed belts toward the outermost feed belts at opposite sides of the ironer frame and being driven in directions to move the upper courses of the friction belts away from each other to slidably engage beneath flatwork pieces being fed to the ironer so as to stretch the same transversely. An elongated relatively narrow suction box is mounted immediately in front of the forward edge of said friction belts and preferably extends downward at an angle from said forward edge of said friction belts to place a longitudinal drag upon flatwork pieces while being pulled into the ironer by the feed belts. A plurality of auxiliary nip rollers are supported by overhead frame means including links extending downward to support each auxiliary roller in firm frictional contact with the forward feed end of said feed belts to enable relatively narrow pieces of ilatwork to be fed by said attachment mechanism to an ironer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention essentially comprises an improvement over feeding and smoothing arrangements respectively shown in applicants prior Pat. Nos. 3,145,491, dated Aug. 25, 1964 and 3,287,838, dated Nov. 29, 1966. In both of these prior patents, sets of spiral rollers were considered to be necessary at the time these patents were obtained for purposes of spreading fiatwork pieces transversely while a longitudinal drag was placed upon the pieces by the suction means shown in said patents.

In Pat. No. 3,287,838, a pair of transversely movable friction belts were also mounted between the spiral rollers and the feed apron, primarily to engage and spread the trailing ends of iiatwork pieces as soon as they had left the spiral rollers and immediately before being contacted by the feed belts. It will be seen from the drawings of said prior patent that the upper surfaces of the friction belt means were substantially within a plane extending between the upper surfaces of the nearest spiral roller and the feed belts. In view of this, it was the principal function of said friction belts to engage only the very trailing end portion of each flatwork piece after it had disengaged the nearest spiral roller, whereby the trailing end at least momentarily fell directly upon the surfaces of the friction belts immediately before engaging the feed apron and passing under the conventional nip rolls. Hence, said friction belts had little, if any, spreading effect upon the main areas of ilatwork pieces being fed to an ironer. l

The structures of both of these prior patents embodied an inherently unsatisfactory operating condition in that 3,521,389 Patented July 21, 1970 ice the entire space between the forward edge of the suction box in each of the structures and the forward feed end of the feed belts was of appreciable extent, generally being of the order of about 18". This situation required operators, two of whom are stationed respectively adjacent opposite sides of the feeding attachment, to transversely stretch the leading end of a ilatwork piece and while holding the same in their fingers, reach across the above-described feeding mechanism and quickly place said leading edge upon the forward feed end of the row of feed belts so that the leading end of the atwork piece was instantly engaged by the nearest nip roller. The trailing portion of the ilatwork piece was then engaged by the various elements of the feeding and smoothing attachment. In using such equipment, this relatively extensive reach which was required of operators has been a constant source of complaint and in order to obviate the diculty, the structure comprising the present invention was finally devised.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is the principal object of the present invention to provide feeding and smoothing attachment means adapted to be mounted immediately adjacent the forward feeding end of the feed apron of a standard type of industrial ironer and the entire width of all elements of the attachment in a direction parallel to the path of movement of the atwork pieces thereover is substantially shorter than the corresponding dimension in the attachment devices described and claimed in applicants prior patents referred to above.

This objective has been achieved by completely eliminating the spiral rollers and by making two important changes in the functioning elements of the attachment, namely, by using friction belts of substantially greater width than those employed in the previous attachments and by placing the trailing end of the suction box which is nearest the friction belts at a lower level than the substantially horizontal surface of the upper courses of the friction belts since it has been found that these two features provide ample transverse spreading of the flatwork piece as well as longitudinal stretching thereof which is performed by the suction box.

It is another object of the invention to mount the suction box by means of adjustable diagonal slots formed in the side members of the supporting frame to permit the suction box to be adjusted respectively as to angularity of the perforated upper surface over which the flatwork pieces pass so as to impose a drag thereon longitudinally, and also to dispose the trailing edge of the suction box at a desired level with respect to the friction belts.

It is a further object of the invention to provide supplementary or auxiliary roller means comprising a plurality of relatively short nip rollers which are supported by suitable overhead frame means in a manner to dispose said rollers immediately adjacent the forward feeding end of the feed belts of an industrial ironer to adapt the smoothing and spreading mechanism of the attachment comprising the extension to be used effectively to smooth and spread atwork pieces of very substantially less width than the entire width of the ironer, said overhead frame means independently supporting said auxiliary rollers so that they may be swung upwardly and rearwardly into inoperative position when use thereof is not desired.

BRIEF DESCRPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exemplary side elevation, broken between the ends thereof to foreshorten the View and illustrating a feeding and smoothing attachment mounted adjacent the feed belts of the ironer in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the smoothing and feeding attachment shown in FIG. 1 and also illustrating the forward end of the feed belts of the ironer shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical elevation of the structure shown in FIG. 2 as seen on the line 3-3 thereof.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional elevation of part of the mechanism shown in FIG. 2 as seen on the line 4-4 thereof.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary end view of the suction box and its supporting means in the attachment as seen on the line 5--5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary top plan view showing a portion of the frame means for supporting the rollers for the friction belts.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary f-ront elevation of the frame means shown in FIG. y6.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary vertical sections view of the frame means shown in FIG. 7 as seen on the line 8-8 thereof, the same being on a larger scale than used in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary front elevation of one end of the feed belts of the ironer shown in FIG. l and illustrating several of the auxiliary nip rollers in engagement with the feed belts.

FIG. l0 is a fragmentary, vertically foreshortened view of the mechanism shown in FIG. 9 which is illustrated on a larger scale than in said figure, said view showing in phantom the idle position of the auxiliary nip rollers wherein they rest against a fragmentarily illustrated portion of the upper part of the ironer.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged fragmentary front view of one end of one of the auxiliary nip rollers shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS lFor purposes of facilitating an understanding of the present invention, certain essential features of an industrial ironer such as illustrated in exemplary manner in FIG. 1 are set forth as follows. A base frame l10l supports a hollow steam chest 12 which furnishes the heat by which atwork pieces are smoothed and dried as they pass along the undulating upper surface of the steam chest 12 within which a series of ironing rolls 14 are mounted rotatably. Various series of tapes and belts or aprons 16 and 18, which move in the directions of the various arrows illustrated in FIG. 1, support the flatwork pieces for movement through several courses relative to the heated steam chest 12 in order to provide adequate drying of the pieces.

Adjacent the feed end of the ironer, a stationary guide bar 20 is mounted which, in conjunction with a main feed roll 22, supports a row of feed belts 24 which, as will be seen from FIGS. 2 and 9 in particular, are web belts of equal width and length. A plurality of stripper tapes 26 pass along the upper surface of steam chest 1,2, beneath the lowermost surfaces of the ironing rolls 14 and around the innermost finger 'roll 28 and a plurality of guide rolls 30 for purposes of insuring stripping of the flatwork pieces from the ironing rolls 14, A series of the stripper tapes 28 are provided at transverse spacings of about 10 o-r 12", for example.

A forward nger roll 32 also is normally provided to ride upon the upper surface of the feed belts 24, in front of the rearward finger 28. Under normal practice, when operators are feeding flatwork pieces to the structure just described, which comprises the essential features of a conventional industrial-type ironer, the leading edge of the atwork piece is stretched transversely by a pair of operators who then introduce the stretched leading edge to the upper surface of the feed belts 24 and beneath the forward finger roll 32 which then commences to pull the Hat-work piece into the ironer for passage beneath the ironing rolls `14. The operators then normally proceed to stretch the opposite edges of the flatwork piece transversely while it slides through their fingers in feeding direction, until the t-railing edge passes beneath the finger roll 32. The operators then reach for another flatwork piece but, in doing so, several seconds of time elapse which results in a substantial space occurring between successive flatwork pieces and this decreases the productive capacity of the ironer.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide feeding and smoothing mechanism immediately forward of the feeding end of the feed belts which is of such nature that when the operators stretch the leading edge of a flatwork piece transversely and pass it beneath the forward nger roll 32, the mechanism automatically transversely and longitudinally stretches the remaining portion of the flatwork piece while the operators may reach for the next flatWor-k piece and have it ready to place the leading edge upon the feed belts as soon as the trailing end of the preceding piece appears as it passes over the mechanism of said feeding and smoothing attachment. This greatly increases the productive capacity of the ironer without unduly increasing the efforts of the operators. Further, as explained in detail in said aforementioned prior patents, the number of operators required to pre-arrange flatwork pieces for engagement by the pair of operators referred to above is greatly reduced.

As indicated hereinabove, the present invention primarily comprises an improvement over the feeding and smoothing attachment structures comprising the subject matter of applicants prior Pat. Nos. 3,145,591 and 3,287,838. Details of said improvements are set forth hereinafter and are illustrated in the drawings. Such details and the manner in which they afford such irnprovement are discribed as follows.

The attachment comprising the present invention consists of a pair of opposite side members 34 which are maintained in spaced relationship by transverse frame means 36. Also, the side member 34 are braced by vertical channels 38 or the like comprising part of the frame mechanism which is arranged to be mounted, for example, between the forwardly projecting end members 40 of the ironer which extend from the base frame 10 as shown in FIG. l..

Transverse frame means 36, best shown in FIG. 6, comprise a pair of strip-like plates 42 which a-re braced against vertical exure by cross-members 44 and a lower transverse strut 46. The strip-like plates 42 support therebetween two pairs of rollers 48. Each of said pair of rollers is supplemented by a third, lower roller 50 which is mounted between the lower pair of transverse struts 46. The opposite ends of the shafts which support the rollers 50 are mounted in slots 52 in order to provide limited but adequate vertical adjustment of the rollers in order to tension endless friction belts 54 which extend around a pair of the upper rollers 48 and one of the lower rollers 50. The belts, in front View, define triangular patterns as is shown in FIG. 3

The upper surfaces of the upper courses of the belts 54 are preferably substantially within the plane of the upper surface of the feed apron 24 as can be visualized from FIG. l. Also, each of the third, lower rollers 50 are independently and respectively driven by motors 56, see FIG. 3, which are connected by means of appropriate drive belts 58 to sheaves 60 connected to the rollers 50. The motors 56 operate in opposite directions so that the upper courses of the belts 54 move respectively in opposite directions away from each other as shown by the arrows in the upper portion of FIG. 3. Preferably, the motors 56 are supported on suitable plates 62 which are hingedly or otherwise flexibly connected, for example, to the side members 34 of the frame means, whereby the weight of the motors 56 maintain the driving belts 58 tensioned with respect to the driven sheaves 50.

As shown in exemplary manner at the left-hand end of FIG. 2, the outer surfaces of the friction belts 54 are molded to provide adequate gripping means. The exemplary illustration shown in FIG. 2 is an attempt to represent a flat pyramid-type of gripping design arranged in regularly spaced relationship across the entire surface of the belt. Any other appropriate type of adequate friction surface may be used.

In contrast to the transverse friction belts shown in prior Pat. 3,287,838, the belts 54 of the present invention are substantially wider than the friction belts in the mechanism covered by said patent and the trailing edge 64 of each belt 54, as shown in FIG. 2, is as closely adjacent the forward end of the feed belts 24 as possible without interfering with the operation thereof. By way of example and not restriction, the belts 54 are at least 4 in width and depending upon the type of material to be fed thereby, it is possible to employ belts of even greater width such as up to approximately 5". The pattern of friction surface provided on the belt also is a factor in determining the width of the belt. Unlike the plurality of transverse stretching and smoothing means in the prior patents referred to above, the entire transverse stretching of the atwork pieces in the present invention is accomplished solely by the pair of belts S4 and therefore adequate area of friction surfaces on said belts is essential, the same being substantially greater than the corresponding area provided by the belts in said aforementioned Pat. 3,287,838.

Immediately forward of the friction belts 54 is a suction chest or box 66. Said box preferably is made from sheet metal and is approximately rectangular in cross-section as best shown in FIG. 4. The so-called working face 68 of the box 66 is perforated substantially throughout its length, as can be seen from FIG. 2. Such perforations also extend for a suitable distance in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of box 66, which is the direction of movement of ilatwork pieces over the working Aface 68, as readily can be seen from FIG. 4.

The perforations preferably are in the form of slots 70. The opposite ends 72 of the box 66, as shown in FIG. 5, preferably abut the inner surfaces of the side members 34 of the frame means and the box 66 is adjustably positioned with respect to said frame means by the following mechanism. Suction is provided through either a flexible hose 66 or a rigid tube leading from a fan or blower 67 to the box 66, being connected thereto midway of the length, for example. The blower 67 is powered by a motor 67 and discharge from the blower is into a lintcatching bag 67". Thus, it Will be seen that not only is ilatwork smoothed by 2-way stretching as described herein, but it also is rendered largely lint-free. For hospital use in particular, this is highly beneficial, as well as lessening need for dusting in hotels and dormitories, as well as anywhere that sheets are used.

The side members 34 are each provided with a supporting slot 74, the slots 74 in the respective side members being parallel to each other and similarly located in said members. Simple connecting means may be employed in the form of bolts 76 which extend through the slots 74 and engage any suitable threaded means connected to the end members 72 of box 66, such as a nut 78. As shown in FIG. 5, said nuts may be welded to the inner surfaces of the ends 72. The principal purpose of mounting the suction box or head 66 so that it may be adjustable relative to the frame means is to permit positioning the trailing edge 80 of the working face 68 of suction box 66 at a level a predetermined desired distance below the upper surface of the friction belts 54 which is substantially within the horizontal plane of the upper course of the feed belts 24 as can be best seen from FIG. 4.

By the foregoing arrangement, it will be seen that as the exemplary atwork piece 82 moves from said trailing edge of the working face 68 of suction box 66 onto the leading edge of friction belts 54, a longitudinal drag will :be placed upon the ilatwork piece while the flatwork piece also is positively subjected to the full frictional surfaces of the upper courses of the friction belts 54 in such manner that they might exert maximum efficiency relative to spreading and stretching the ilatwork piece transversely. Further, such adjustable mounting of the suction box 66 permits the angularity of the same and especially of the working face 68 thereof to be disposed at the angle of greatest efficiency and comfort to the operators. Accordingly, after the operators have stretched the leading edge of the flatwork piece transversely and have introduced it between the feed belts 24 and the forward finger roll 32, it is only necessary for the operators to quickly drape the trailing end 84 downwardly from the suction box 66 as shown in exemplary manner in FIG. 4. After this, the feed belts 24 rapidly pull the flatwork piece 82, such as a sheet, bedspread, tablecloth, or the like, continuously into the ironer while the belts 54 effectively smooth and spread the piece transversely and the suction 'box 66 places a longitudinal drag thereon to stretch and smooth the ilatwork piece longitudinally and also enable the belts 54 to produce maximum transverse spreading thereof.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that a double smoothing and spreading action of substantial magnitude is imparted automatically and simultaneously to the ilatwork pieces respectively at right angles to each other, that is, transversely and longitudinally. This may be accomplished at high speeds such as of the order of 120 ft. or more per minute. Meanwhile, the operators are free to reach for the leading edge of the next sheet and arrange it in position to quickly insert it between the feed belts 24 and forward feed roll 32 as soon as the trailing edge of the preceding flatwork piece leaves the transversely moving friction belts 54. Passage of the atwork pieces over the upper face of suction box y66 affords an excellent opportunity for inspection for stains, tears and the like.

To enable the flatwork smoothing and feeding attachment comprising the present invention to be adapted effectively for use with flatwork pieces which are substantially narrower than the full width of the feed belts 24, for example, such as towels, pillowcases, napkins, diapers, etc., attention is directed to the auxiliary nip rollerarrangement shown somewhat diagrammatically in FIG. 1 and in detail in FIGS. 9-11. Extending upward from the opposite sides of the frame of the ironer which supports the opposite ends of guide bar 20, for example, is a pair of exemplary vertical members l86 Which may be angle irons.

The frame which supports the lower ends of the vertical members 86 may be the same one that also supports the U-shaped guide members 88 in which the bearings for the opposite ends of the forward nger roll 32 are mounted for limited vertical movement with respect to the upper surface of the feed Ibelts 24. Said feed belts move around the main feed roll 22, guide 'bar 20, and guide roller 90, as shown in FIG. l0. Suitable adjusting means 92 threadedly engages each bearing 94 for the main feed roll 22 in order that such adjustability may permit the feed belts 24 to be suitably tensioned.

Extending transversely between the upper ends of the vertical members 86 is a horizontal bridge member 96 which also may be an angle iron and appropriate brackets at the opposite ends thereof enable the same to be secured to the upper ends of members 86. Extending forwardly fromV the bridge member 86- are pairs of short arms 98 which also may comprise angle irons. The arms 98 are provided adjacent the outer ends thereof with holes through which pivot bolts 100 extend to pivotally connect supporting links 102 thereto. The links 102 may be formed `from simple strips of metal of uniform size and the lower ends thereof are iitted with bearings 104 which support the opposite ends of shafts 106 on which relatively short auxiliary nip rollers 108 are mounted for free rotation.

The preferred operative position of the links 102 is as illustrated in FIG. l0` in full lines, wherein it will be seen that the auxiliary nip rollers 108 are substantially directly vertically above the main feed roll 22 which supports and drives the feed -belts 24. The contact between the nip rollers 10S and feed belts 24 drives the rollers in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 10 so as to provide adjacent the forwardmost end of the feed belts 24 a nip within which the leading edge of relatively narrow atwork pieces are placed so as to be carried to the ironer thereby. Due to the fact that the links which support the nip rollers 108 extend downwardly and forwardly from their pivots 100, it can be seen that a sort of wedging action is induced by the arrangement to provide firm pressing contact of the nip rollers 108 against the upper surface of the feed apron 24 on the main feed roll 22.

Normally when the ironer is being used to press relatively narrow flatwork pieces of the type described above, the speed of the ironer as well as the feed belts 24 is substantially slower than when much larger flatwork pieces such as sheets and the like are 'being fed to the ironer. If desired, under such-circumstances, the motors 56 which drive the belts 54 also may be stopped during such operation, although it is preferred that the blower, not shown, which is connected suitably to the interior of suction box 66, continue to operate so as to place longitudinal tension upon the narrower ilatwork pieces referred to, while the operator tends to manually spread the atwork pieces transversely.

When larger flatwork pieces such as sheets and the like are to be fed to the ironer by the mechanism comprising the present invention, the auxiliary nip rolls 108 may be left in the operative position shown in full lines in FIG. 10, if desired. However, it is not necessary or essential that they be employed in this manner and, if desired, they may be pivotally moved upwardly and somewhat rearwardly to the exemplary foreshortened dotted line position thereof shown in FIG. l0. In such position, for example, the nip rollers 108 rest against the forward face of the upper portion 110 of the conventional ironer housing or hood. Such hood normally encloses the upper part of the ironer and especially the ironing rolls 14 and the stripper tapes 28 so as to confine the heat rising therefrom and enable the same to be carried from the ironer by suitable ducts, not shown.

To facilitate the assembly and any necessary disassembly of the frame means and particularly the portions thereof which support the belts 54, suitable exemplary means shown in FIGS. 6-8 is provided. For example, a relatively short vertical bracket plate 112 may be welded along one edge to the inner face of side member 34 as best shown in FIG. 8. The ends of the forwardmost plates 42 and struts 46 are suitably welded to the opposite ends of a vertical plate 114. By means of a pair of bolts 116, the plate 114 is firmly connected to the bracket plate 112 which will accurately position the side members 34 and vertical channels 38 thereon relative to each other at opposite ends of the frame. While thus positioned, the ends of the rearmost upper and lower plates 42 and struts 46 may be welded to the inner faces of the side members `34. Also, as shown in FIG. 3, horizontal floor anchor plates 118 may be welded or otherwise suitably iixed to the lower ends of the vertical channels 38 and side members 34 for connection to appropriate threaded anchors 120 embedded in the tioor 122, for example.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in its several preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the precise details herein illustrated and described since the same may be carried out in other ways falling within the scope of the invention as illustrated and described.

I claim:

.1. A smoothing and feeding attachment for a tlatwork ironer provided with ironing rolls and a row of feed belts at the entrance of said ironer provided with a nip roll engaging the upper surface thereof rearwardly of the front feed end of said feed belts, said attachment comprising frame means adapted to be mounted adjacent the forward end of said feed belts and extending between opposite sides of said ironer, relatively wide friction belt means comprising a pair of endless friction belts supported by said frame means in a manner to dispose the upper surfaces of the upper courses of said friction belt means horizontally and at a level no lower than the plane of the upper surface of said feed belts and closely adjacent the front feeding edge of the same, said upper courses of said friction belt means being mounted upon rollers for movement respectively in opposite directions away from each other and toward the sides of said ironer, power means connected to at least one roller of each friction belt to drive the same substantially at equal surface speeds, hollow suction head means extending between the opposite ends of said frame means and mounted closely adjacent the forward edges of the upper courses of said friction belts and having a working surface of limited width extending forwardly from said friction belts and perforated longitudinally across substantially said entire working surface, the edge of said surface nearest said belts being at least slightly lower than the upper courses of said friction belts, and suctiongenerating means connected to said suction head means and operable to create suction through the perforations in such working surface thereof, whereby a flatwork piece to be ironed may have the leading edge thereof stretched transversely and applied to said feed belts and nip roll and said friction belt means automatically will spread and stretch the piece transversely while the suction head means imposes a drag on the piece longitudinally and thereby presents to the ironer a atwork piece smoothly stretched in all directions throughout the entire area thereof.

2. The ironer attachment according to claim 1 further including adjustable means connecting the opposite ends of said suction head means to said ends of said frame means to permit variations in the level of said head means relative to the plane within which the upper courses of said friction belts are disposed for operation.

3. The ironer attachment according to claim 2 in which said adjustment means comprises slots extending angularly in the ends of said suction head means, and bolts supported by said ends of said frame extending through said slots to secure said ends of said suction head means in desired adjusted position relative to the forward edges of said friction belts.

4. The ironer attachment according to claim 3 in which said suction head means comprises a hollow box having end members and said slots in said ends being parallel to each other and extending substantially diagonally relative to the edges of said ends.

5. The ironer attachment according to claim 1 further including a plurality of additional auxiliary nip rollers respectively shorter than the nip roll which engages said feed belts and spaced longitudinally relative to the front feed end of the feed belts they are adapted to engage, said auxiliary nip rollers being mounted for free rotation to engage and be frictionally driven by said feed belts, whereby atwork pieces substantially narrower than the full width of the row of feed belts may be fed to said ironer by said attachment mechanism.

6. The ironer attachment according to claim 5 further including individual depending support means for each of said auxiliary rollers.

7. The ironer attachment according to claim `6 in which said individual support means for said auxiliary rollers comprise pairs of similar links pivotally connected at the upper ends thereof to overhead frame means, said links extending downwardly from their pivots and a limited distance forwardly toward the foremost front end of said feed belts, whereby said auxiliary rollers are capable of exerting substantial pressure upon the atwork pieces passing between said auxiliary rollers and said feed belts.

8. The ironer attachment accordng to claim 7 in which said overhead frame means comprise pairs of short horizontal arms, said links being pivotally connected to the outer ends of said short horizontal arms, whereby said links and the rollers carried thereby may be pivotally moved to overhead inoperative position when use of the auxiliary rollers is not required and when in said inoperative position said links extending slightly rearward from a -vertical position so as to remain in said inoperative position by gravity.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Mazzolla 38-143 Evans 38--143 Myers 38-143 Benjamin 38-143 X Henry 38-143 Weir 38-143 10 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner C. V. LARKIN, Assistant Examiner

Images