Abstract: Laundry items are spread out by input machines having loading stations with a belt conveyor. The laundry item is placed on a front region of the belt conveyor and pulled further onto the belt conveyor. It is necessary to smooth the laundry item upstream of the belt conveyor using a smoothing machine, which can hinder the pulling of the laundry item onto the belt conveyor. The invention provides a pivotable smoothing means which is in an inactive position for initially pulling the laundry item onto the belt conveyor and is pivoted into an active position only after the laundry item has been initially pulled onto the lower belt conveyor. The laundry item is placed on the smoothing means only after it has been initially pulled onto the lower belt conveyor. Thus, when the laundry item is initially pulled onto the lower belt conveyor, it is prevented from slipping down therefrom.

Abstract: Laundry items are spread out by a spreading device during which a front edge of the laundry item is stretched out. Subsequently, a front edge strip of the stretched-out front edge is transferred onto a depositing strip which deposits the edge strip onto a feed conveyor which feeds it to a mangle. This front edge typically has a residual sag. In larger laundry items, the depositing strip can collide therewith as it moves down under the edge strip, impairing the mangling quality. Making provision to space the depositing strip from the edge strip, prior to the movement under the latter, to an extent that the edge strip does not collide with the depositing strip as the latter moves down results in the depositing strip accepting the edge strip with a rectilinear front edge and then the laundry item is fed to the mangle and inserted into the latter.

Abstract: A laundry processing apparatus includes a wall defining a condensed water collecting space configured to collect condensed water. The wall has an opening hole that is open to communicate with an inside of a cabinet of the laundry processing apparatus and that is configured to open and close by an opening and closing unit. Therefore, when the laundry processing apparatus is not operated, the condensed water remaining in the condensed water collecting space is quickly removed by air inside the cabinet, and during drying operation or drainage operation, the opening hole is closed by the opening and closing unit, pressure leakage is prevented for a space where air flows or a space where the condensed water is pumped.

Abstract: A method that provides to partially automate the feeding of pieces of laundry to an insertion machine by steps which necessitate long distances to be traveled being performed manually. With large pieces of laundry such as, for example, tablecloths and bed sheets, for complete automation a large amount of space is required and the clamps holding corners of the pieces of laundry are required to travel long distances. To achieve this, it is provided to temporarily store the respective piece of laundry after it has been separated and before it is delivered to an insertion machine. It is furthermore provided that in a first corner of the piece of laundry is supplied or held ready by an automatic separator for an operator to manually locate the second corner of the piece of laundry. Partial automation can be achieved without the cycle time being adversely affected owing to manual handling processes.

Abstract: A method and device for feeding laundry pieces to a laundry treatment installation. Laundry pieces are fed to ironers by infeed machines. In practice, a front transverse periphery of a laundry piece is folded back on itself. In order to prevent this, infeed machines have stretching installations that have belt conveyors that lie on top of one another, one of which is briefly decelerated so as to unravel a front transverse periphery of the laundry piece that is folded back on itself. This deceleration decreases the infeed performance. One belt conveyor of the present stretching installation is at least temporarily driven at a faster speed to unravel a transverse periphery of the laundry piece that has potentially folded back on itself before the laundry piece runs into the ironer, increasing the infeed performance as it is no longer necessary for either of the belt conveyors to be decelerated.

Abstract: A method and device for supporting the isolating of pieces of laundry from a pile of laundry by means of an imaging apparatus. A further imaging apparatus serves for raising a front edge region of the piece of laundry onto the feed conveyor in an aligned manner. Furthermore, the gripping of corners or also edges, in particular the alignment thereof, can be detected by means of an imaging apparatus. The gripping and aligning of the pieces of laundry can be controlled or regulated by way of the positions and edge contours of the same which are determined by the imaging apparatuses. As a result, reliable, fully automated isolating of pieces of laundry and/or fully automated, targeted feeding of pieces of laundry to a folding machine or another such laundry subsequent handling apparatus is ensured.

Abstract: An automatic cloth spreading machine, that keeps the number of pieces processed even in the event of failure in handling, includes a separating device for separating pieces of cloth one by one from a mass of cloth made of a plurality of pieces of cloth by cloth handling devices, an edge locating device for locating an edge of each of the pieces of cloth having been separated one by one, a spreading device for spreading the piece of cloth, the edge of which has been located, and a discharging device for discharging the piece of cloth having been spread to a subsequent step. The separating device includes multiple units of cloth handling devices that perform the same process, and the multiple units of cloth handling devices simultaneously perform at least one of single- or multiple-step processes of separating pieces of cloth one by one from the mass of cloth.

Abstract: For washed laundry items, such as flat laundry items, that have been separated into singles, spread out and fed to a mangle or the like, for automating these processes a method and device for pulling the singles onto a belt conveyor with a front transverse edge region transversely to the feed direction. Using a guide means in front of the belt conveyor, a front transverse edge of the laundry item is aligned at right angles to the feed direction when being pulled. Once pulled on, the laundry item is centered with respect to the track center of the following transfer conveyor by the belt conveyor. From the belt conveyor the laundry item is placed on a following transfer conveyor where the front transverse edge of the laundry item is aligned at right angles to the feed direction and a sagging of the transverse edge of the laundry item is eliminated.

Abstract: The automatic supply of items of laundry to a feeding machine for supplying the items of laundry to a mangle requires the formation of adjacent corners of an edge of the item of laundry, which edge is to be spread upstream of the feeding machine, which hitherto has not been able to be achieved automatically with sufficient reliability. The invention brings the respective item of laundry into a U-shaped configuration before same is supplied to the feeding machine and, starting from said configuration, to stretch apart said item of laundry with a spreading device having a conveyor cascade. This reliably forms the adjacent corners of the edge, which is to be stretched out, of the item of laundry, said corners being required for automatically feeding the item of laundry into the feeding machine. A reliable automatic supply of the respective item of laundry to the feeding machine is therefore ensured.

Abstract: A cloth spreading apparatus has a spread the remainder of a piece of cloth to smooth out every wrinkle, without requiring a dedicated assistant worker, including: a conveyor belt receiving an upper side portion of a piece of cloth having been spread in a right-left direction, pulls the upper side portion rearward, sequentially pulls up the remainder from a middle to a lower side portion, and ejects the entire cloth rearward. Also, a wrinkle smoothing unit that smooths out wrinkles in the remainder while the conveyor belt pulls up the remainder. The wrinkle smoothing unit has a pair of wrinkle smoothing clamps that clamp right and left side portions of the remainder being pulled up by the conveyor belt, and wrinkle smoothing clamp moving mechanisms that move the clamps upward and apart from each other in the right-left direction while the cloth is pulled up by the conveyor belt.

Abstract: A composite panel tooling system may include a forming platform having a contoured surface configured to support a layup of composite material to form a contoured composite part. The system may further include a flexible carrier removably disposed on the contoured surface and comprising a frame, where the frame is configured to receive a set of double-sided vacuum grippers within a set of apertures defined within the frame, and where each double-sided vacuum gripper of the set of double-sided vacuum grippers is configured to connect to a pneumatic system to induce a vacuum on a first side of each vacuum gripper for gripping the contoured surface and on a second side of each vacuum gripper for gripping a surface of the contoured composite part after the contoured composite part has been formed.

Abstract: Provided is a cloth spreading apparatus in which a pair of feeder chucks are engaged with adjacent corners of a piece of cloth at a lowered position, and raise the cloth to a traversing position of spreading chucks; the pair of spreading chucks traverse to positions closer to each other to receive the adjacent corners of the cloth from the feeder chucks, and then traverse to positions farther away from each other to pull the adjacent corners so as to spread the cloth; an intermediate movable body receives, at an advanced position, an upper end portion of the spread cloth from the spreading chucks and retains the upper end portion, and then releases the upper end portion while moving to a retracted position so as to transfer the cloth onto a belt conveyor; and the belt conveyor carries out the cloth in a spread state, wherein the intermediate movable body has: a rear-facing surface that is a part of an upper surface between a front part and a sunken part located at a lower level than the front part, and that e

Abstract: To provide a cloth spreading device capable of operating stably. The cloth spreading device includes: introduction chucks 21, 21 in a pair that grip corner portions of a cloth C; an up and down moving device 23 that moves the introduction chucks 21, 21 in a pair up and down; extension chucks 31, 31 in a pair that receive the cloth C from the introduction chucks 21, 21 in a pair and grip corner portions of the cloth C; and a transversely moving device 34 that moves the extension chucks 31, 31 in a pair transversely. The up and down moving device 23 is driven by an actuator permitting speed control and position control. Thus, an external factor does not cause large change in the operation of the up and down moving device 23 to achieve stable upward and downward moving operations of the introduction chucks 21, 21. The introduction chucks 21, 21 can be moved and stopped at will. This eliminates the need for a position sensor to achieve reduction in facility cost.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for a transfer operation of items of laundry to be automated by a handling device, which is designed for example in the form of a handling robot. Up until now, items of laundry have been transferred usually manually from a supply conveyor to loading conveyors of, for example, feeding machines. This is work-intensive and time-consuming.

Abstract: A textile spreader apparatus, comprising: a first spread carriage and a second spread carriage, each configured to respectively receive opposing corners of a leading edge of a textile and to respectively convey the opposing corners in substantially opposing directions toward an extended position, such that the leading edge of the textile travels along a predetermined path; a catch arranged in the predetermined path of the leading edge, such that the catch intercepts the leading edge; and a sensor configured to detect when the catch intercepts the leading edge, wherein the catch is configured to retract from the path of the leading edge upon the sensor detecting a pressure applied to the leading edge, exceeding a threshold, wherein the threshold is reduced as the first spread carriage and the second spread carriage convey the opposing corners toward the extended position.

Abstract: Items of laundry are fed to mangles by insertion machines, which have a spreading device with moveable spreading clips which spread out and center a front transverse edge of the item of laundry upstream of a feed conveyor. A plurality of loading stations are located upstream of the spreading device. The spreading clips retrieve an item of laundry from the loading stations, which, in the case of outer loading stations, requires long movement distances of the spreading clips, which reduces the cycle time of the insertion machine. The invention makes provision to transfer items of laundry from outer loading stations to transfer clips which move the items of laundry from the outer loading stations into the vicinity of the center of the feed conveyor, then transfer the item of laundry to the spreading clips in the center of the feed conveyor, thus reducing the travel distances of the spreading clips.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is an apparatus and a method for receiving and straightening four edge pieces of cloth, the apparatus having a machine direction parallel with a delivery direction of the straightened cloth, the apparatus comprising; at least three charger stations, each for receiving a piece of cloth and locating a pair of adjacent fore edge corners of the cloth, a set of spreader clamps for releasably receiving the pair of adjacent fore edge corners, at least two grippers, each for conveying the pair of fore edge corners from the charger station to the set of spreader clamps, where the grippers are configured to move along at least a portion of a first path transversally to the machine direction, wherein at least one central charger station has a first waiting location for the cloth with the corners being located, the waiting location being retracted opposite the machine direction from the set of spreader clamps away from the first path.

Abstract: A method and device providing that the corners of a respective laundry item are transferred one by one from a conveyor to spreading clamps of a pair of spreading clamps at the same position in each case. The respective conveyor therefore only requires a single circulatory track. Laundry items in commercial laundries are fed by at least one conveyor to spreading clamps of an input machine. In this case, each corner delimiting a front edge of the laundry item is held by a clamp of the conveyor. The respective conveyor is usually branched, in order for the corners to be transferred at the same time to the two spreading clamps of a pair of spreading clamps. Thus, the respective conveyor must have a branched track system with appropriate switches.

Abstract: A method and device for directly determining the region of the respective laundry item to be inserted into a clamp. In this way, it is possible to determine whether the clamp has actually been loaded with a laundry item and whether the region of the laundry item designated for this has also been properly inserted into the clamp. During the transport and the spreading out of laundry items being washed it is customary at commercial laundry establishments to hang the laundry items from clamps, which are transported further by a conveyor to various processing stations. It happens that the clamps may move away before having been loaded with the laundry item. This results in operational disruptions in most cases.

Abstract: A buffering device in an automatic cloth feeder that includes a cloth standby section which accumulates the cloth. There is provided a cloth supply section 11 that can supply a quantity of cloth exceeding a processing quantity of feeding so as to proceed with feeding in an automatic cloth feeder without congestion in the automatic cloth feeder performing a process in which the cloth is introduced to a feeding conveyor at a substantially central portion in a carrying direction, right and left trailing end portions are altered by crumpling the cloth from the right and left sides, the cloth is held in a deposition section, and the cloth is fed into a process. A cloth standby section 14 in which the cloth to be carried stands by temporarily is set at a preceding stage of a feeding conveyor 20 or at a following stage thereof.

Abstract: A clothes separating device and a clothes processing apparatus including the clothes separating device according to this disclosure are provided with a separator that operates to grip clothes in a washing tub and to separate, from the gripped clothes, another item of clothes entwined with the gripped clothes. In this manner, a user does not need to separate a plurality of individual items of clothes before folding the clothes. Hence, it is possible to provide the clothes separating device that contributes to reducing a burden of work related to laundry and a clothes processing apparatus including the clothes separating device.

Abstract: Items of laundry are fed from an input machine to a mangle or some other laundry-treatment arrangement. Operating personnel are employed to feed the input machine with the items of laundry. This is costly in terms of time and personnel. The invention makes provision for determining surface profiles of the items of laundry by means of imaging installations. From these surface profiles a location for the automatic gripping of the item of laundry or of a corner of same, and preferably also the position of the location or corner, is determined by electronic image processing, whereby the location or corner of the item of laundry can be securely gripped in an automatic and targeted manner. By virtue of the described measures, hitherto manual activities in front of the input machine can be easily performed in a reliable and fully-automatic mode.

Abstract: For the purpose of delivering a laundry item (10) to an ironer, the laundry item (10) is spread, by opposite corners of a lateral edge (20), by means of spreader clips (18, 19). In this case, deformations, or “ear formation” may occur at the corner regions (12, 13) of the laundry item (10) that are gripped by the spreader clips (18, 19). This “ear formation” is mostly irreversible, and in the long term results in damage to the laundry items (10). The invention creates a method and a device by which the laundry item (10) is delivered to an ironer in a gentle manner. For this purpose, at least one corner region (12, 13) of the laundry item (10) that is gripped by a spreader clip (18, 19) is captured by an imaging means as the laundry item (10) is being spread.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method and corresponding apparatus of transferring a piece of cloth (3) from a pair of spreader clamps (4,5) to a conveyor (1) via a transverse boom, where the piece of cloth is first suspended and straightened between the spreader clamps, then delivered to the transverse boom (8,9), and subsequently delivered from the transverse boom to the conveyor. Apart from that, a straightening of the fore edge of the piece of cloth is performed, seen in the direction of conveyance of the conveyor, after its delivery from the clamps to the transverse boom has been initiated, but before it is delivered to the conveyor.

Abstract: The invention refers to an ironing aid and a device for safekeeping of ironing aids for smoothing closed tubular items of clothing. The object was to propose a solution in the application of which a wire frame shaped ironing aid is an integral part of the aid for thermal smoothing of items of clothing and better handling is ensured. The object is achieved by their insertion in a profile bracket provided with an adhesion means. According to the invention, several ironing aids can be combined with a profile bracket, at least one of the ironing aids having a loop-like rounding at its end. Furthermore, one of the ironing aids can have a slight kink at a right angle to its planar extension (FIGS. 1/2).

Abstract: Laundry articles are spread out by input machines in front of a feed conveyor which feeds the spread-out laundry article to a mangle. The respective laundry article is previously fed by a transfer device to a draw-on device onto which the laundry article is drawn. In known input machines, relatively complicated transfer devices are provided. According to the invention, the transfer device is provided with a rectilinear conveying section ascending to the draw-on device. The laundry article is thereby transported to the draw-on device by the transfer device in the plane in which it is transferred to the transfer device. Such a transfer device needs to have only a simple set-up. Since the laundry article remains in the plane in which it is fed to the transfer device, it can be brought by the transfer device into a favorable initial position for being drawn reliably onto the draw-on device.

Abstract: The feeder comprises a spreader device 4, 5 that is configured for seizing two adjacent corners of a piece of laundry and for subsequently shifting the two adjacent corners away from each other, to the effect that a first side edge of the piece of laundry, which side edge is situated between the two adjacent corners, is straightened. By use of two conveyors 6, 11 for advancing the piece of laundry it is enabled that the piece of cloth is turned between the two conveyors whereby a higher productivity is obtained by use of the feeder due to it being necessary to reject fewer pieces of laundry due to misaligned introduction of the pieces of laundry into the feeder.

Abstract: A device for feeding, ironing, folding and stacking of linen, having a maximum depth of 2.500 mm, and when viewed in the depth direction thereof, being successively provided with a feeding unit for feeding a piece of linen to be ironed into the device, the feeding unit having detection and measuring means to measure the piece of linen, an ironing unit, having at least one ironing roll and, for each ironing roll, a heated chest for ironing the piece of linen, a folding unit for folding the ironed piece of linen, the folding unit being provided with a longitudinal folding portion located after the ironing mangle for longitudinally folding the ironed piece of linen, and a cross folding portion located below the ironing mangle for cross folding the ironed piece of linen, and a stacking unit located to the right or left of the device for stacking the folded linen.

Abstract: A feeding device for introducing a piece of linen to be ironed into an ironing unit by means of suction, the feeding device being provided with a suction shaft into which the piece of linen can be sucked and a top suction portion which is provided for sucking the piece of linen into the suction shaft, where the feeding device includes a blocking clamp which is provided to secure the item of linen in a clamping position, and which is arranged in the feeding device in such a way that there is located after the clamping of the item of linen a portion of this item of linen above this blocking clamp that can be sucked by the top suction portion into the suction shaft. An ironing device includes an ironing unit for ironing of linen and a feeding unit for feeding the linen to be ironed into the ironing unit.

Abstract: A method for operating two spreader clamps for receiving and holding in pairs pieces of cloth and for spreading out the pieces of cloth before they are delivered to a conveyor, that includes selecting whether the two spreader clamps first spread a piece of cloth about one of two outer centerlines of the conveyor for small-sized pieces of cloth or about a first centerline for large-sized pieces of cloth, feeding a piece of cloth to the spreader clamps, moving the two spreader clamps so as to be situated in relation to the centerline selected, initiating movement of the spreader clamps to either side of the centerline selected to spread the piece of cloth and ascertaining during the spreading about the centerline selected if the piece of cloth is a large-sized piece or a small-sized piece, wherein if an outer centerline is selected and it is ascertained that a piece is a large-sized piece of cloth, moving the two spreader clamps so that the piece of cloth is spread about the first centerline and if the first ce

Abstract: A cloth piece treating apparatus includes a spreading device for spreading a large area cloth piece, a press device, a folding device for folding the cloth piece into a predetermined small size and a cloth piece length measuring device having a cloth piece detector. The spread cloth piece is folded in the folding device on the basis of the length of the spread cloth piece. The cloth piece detector is disposed in the press device so that the horizontal length of a receiving conveyor of the folding device is minimized, whereby the total length of the cloth piece treating apparatus is shortened.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus (1) for feeding pieces of cloth to a device for treating clothes, said apparatus (1) comprising: one or more sets of spreader clamps (20) arranged to be moveable away from each other for straightening of a fore edge of said pieces of cloth and for delivering said piece of cloth to the conveyor (40). At least one set of spreader clamps is configured for performing a movement between a receiving (M) and a delivery (A) position, where the spreader clamps in the receiving position (M) have a first predetermined orientation relative to the conveyor (40); and wherein the spreader clamps (20) in the delivery (A) position have a second predetermined orientation, where the straightened piece of cloth is essentially in parallel with the conveyor (40). Hereby it is accomplished that the pieces of cloth can be received in the spreader clamps (20) from a random feeding position on the charger station (70).

Abstract: Items of laundry have to be stretched out by a spreading device (14) before they are inserted into a mangle or any other laundry treatment device. To this end, the spreading device (14) has spreading clips (15) which can be moved away from one another. In the case of relatively large items of laundry, the spreading clips (15) have to cover a relatively large distance in order to spread out the item of laundry. This reduces the insertion rate. The invention provides for the items of laundry to be preliminarily spread out before being passed to the spreading clips (15), so that the spreading clips (15) receive the item of laundry in a state in which it is already virtually spread out. The spreading clips (15) only have to cover a small residual distance in order to spread out the item of laundry completely. As a result, the spreading device (14) can spread out the item of laundry very quickly.

Abstract: An apparatus for feeding items of laundry to a mangle having loading clamps (27) arranged on conveyors (20) having endless toothed belts (21), the loading clamps (27) being driven in circulation, and if the respective toothed belts (21) are assigned a plurality of the loading clamps (27), the cycle times can be reduced.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method and corresponding apparatus of transferring a piece of cloth (3) from a pair of spreader clamps (4,5) to a conveyor (1) via a transverse boom, where the piece of cloth is first suspended and straightened between the spreader clamps, then delivered to the transverse boom (8,9), and subsequently delivered from the transverse boom to the conveyor. Apart from that, a straightening of the fore edge of the piece of cloth is performed, seen in the direction of conveyance of the conveyor, after its delivery from the clamps to the transverse boom has been initiated, but before it is delivered to the conveyor.

Abstract: A device for feeding, ironing, folding and stacking of linen, having a maximum depth of 2.500 mm, and when viewed in the depth direction thereof, being successively provided with a feeding unit for feeding a piece of linen to be ironed into the device, the feeding unit having detection and measuring means to measure the piece of linen, an ironing unit, having at least one ironing roll and, for each ironing roll, a heated chest for ironing the piece of linen, a folding unit for folding the ironed item of linen, the folding unit being provided with a longitudinal folding portion located after the ironing mangle for longitudinally folding the ironed item of linen, and a cross folding portion located below the ironing mangle for cross folding the ironed piece of linen, and a stacking unit located to the right or left of the device for stacking the folded.

Abstract: A separated article of laundry is dragged over a plurality of wheels or belts. The wheels or belts adjust the amount of overhang on each side, making an edge of the article more horizontal. A clamp clamps the edge and drags the article of laundry from the wheels or belts. Resistance, such as by a pinch arm, may assist in untangling the article of laundry as the article is dragged. Sensors adjacent the belts or wheels measure a size of the article of laundry. A folder adjusts based on the size. For example, the types of folds to be made, the placement of runners for folding, or the output sorting are adjusted. The folder may operate more efficiently by providing time for the folder to adjust to the size of the article of laundry prior to feeding from the spreader.

Abstract: An article is selected and spread from a load of articles. A first clamp moves along a run to remove an article. By changing orientation of the run, articles may be removed from different locations. A second clamp rotates while holding the article. The rotation generally flattens out the article. A third clamp grabs a portion of the article and further spreads the article. This process may detangle or untwist the article. The untwisted article is dragged over a belt. The belt adjusts the amount of overhang on each side. A plate lifts a resulting edge. The article is clamped at that edge and dragged over a roller. The roller moves into contact with a conveyor. The conveyor conveys the article to find a leading edge. The article is then conveyed in a spread position.

Abstract: In an apparatus at least two spreader clamps (10, 11) that are configured for receiving a piece of cloth from two pairs of conveyor clamps (16, 17) that belong to a charger station (14). Typically, three or more charger stations (14) are provided. The operator of the apparatus first assesses whether a given batch of pieces of cloth predominantly contains small-sized pieces of cloth, of which more can sit next to each other on the conveyor belt (6) of the apparatus, or large-sized pieces of cloth that may take up as much space as the full working width of the apparatus. If the apparatus is set to the batch of pieces of cloth predominantly containing small-sized pieces of cloth, the spreader clamps (10, 11) are operated such that, for each single piece of cloth in the portion, they are operated to first spread the clamps to each their side of a centreline for small-sized pieces of cloth.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus (1) for feeding pieces of cloth to a device for treating clothes, said apparatus (1) comprising: one or more sets of spreader clamps (20) arranged to be moveable away from each other for straightening of a fore edge of said pieces of cloth and for delivering said piece of cloth to the conveyor (40). At least one set of spreader clamps is configured for performing a movement between a receiving (M) and a delivery (A) position, where the spreader clamps in the receiving position (M) have a first predetermined orientation relative to the conveyor (40); and wherein the spreader clamps (20) in the delivery (A) position have a second predetermined orientation, where the straightened piece of cloth is essentially in parallel with the conveyor (40). Hereby it is accomplished that the pieces of cloth can be received in the spreader clamps (20) from a random feeding position on the charger station (70).

Abstract: Two paths parallel paths feed a common path. A clamp removes separate articles in each parallel path. Each path positions articles on opposite sides of a surface, such as a conveyor. In a back and forth motion, another clamp sequentially clamps the articles of laundry from the opposite sides and places each article on the surface. Another clamp extends through the surface to sequentially clamp the articles on a trailing edge. The clamp moves the articles linearly off the surface and rotates the articles onto another surface, such as a lower surface. On the other surface, the article is conveyed to a pick-up position. A pair of clamps drag the article by an edge onto a stacked position. The stack is adjusted in height to position the stack for receiving the next article.

Abstract: An apparatus and method to quickly, easily and temporarily secure fabric to an ironing board or the like to facilitate the removal of hair, lint, or other particulate matter which is adhered to the surface of the fabric. The fabric to be cleaned is positioned on an ironing board in the same manner as placing the fabric on the board for ironing. A pressure applying member is placed over the fabric to be cleaned, most commonly near the longitudinal end of the fabric. Each end of the pressure applying member is connected to a tension mechanism such as a spring or elastomeric cord. The other end of the tension mechanism is connected, in turn, to a connecting means such as a J-hook. When the connecting means are hooked over the far and near edges of the ironing board, the tension mechanism is pulled taut, forcing the pressure member down with sufficient force to hold the fabric in place against the pull of a vacuum or lint brush.

Abstract: A separated article of laundry is dragged over a plurality of wheels or belts. The wheels or belts adjust the amount of overhang on each side, making an edge of the article more horizontal. A clamp clamps the edge and drags the article of laundry from the wheels or belts. Resistance, such as by a pinch arm, may assist in untangling the article of laundry as the article is dragged. Sensors adjacent the belts or wheels measure a size of the article of laundry. A folder adjusts based on the size. For example, the types of folds to be made, the placement of runners for folding, or the output sorting are adjusted. The folder may operate more efficiently by providing time for the folder to adjust to the size of the article of laundry prior to feeding from the spreader.

Abstract: An article is selected and spread from a load of articles. A first clamp moves along a run to remove an article. By changing orientation of the run, articles may be removed from different locations. A second clamp rotates while holding the article. The rotation generally flattens out the article. A third clamp grabs a portion of the article and further spreads the article. This process may detangle or untwist the article. The untwisted article is dragged over a belt. The belt adjusts the amount of overhang on each side. A plate lifts a resulting edge. The article is clamped at that edge and dragged over a roller. The roller moves into contact with a conveyor. The conveyor conveys the article to find a leading edge. The article is then conveyed in a spread position.

Abstract: A laundry article is drawn by a tensioning conveyor with a tensioning gripper which has gripped said laundry article at a corner in a tensioning direction over a narrowing channel, the base of which is convex in the tensioning direction. Optical sensors arranged on the channel detect the rear end of the laundry article, which is then gripped by a clamping unit at the end thereof. A detectable edge which slides along a guide plate is aligned so that it is detected by a sensor on a first edge gripper which is then moved downwards along an approximately perpendicularly aligned pivot arm until the sensor detects the corner at the lower end of the edge. Subsequently, the pivot arm is swiveled to a horizontal transfer position, and the laundry article with the detected edge is placed on a removal conveyor, an impact edge being advanced.

Abstract: A laundry article is drawn over a support surface by a positioning gripper and is set down there so that the rearmost tip comes to rest on an edge plate and the remainder on a transverse conveyor which moves the laundry article to a corner gripping apparatus. The latter is then moved to the edge plate, optical sensors located above said edge plate registering edge points of the laundry article. The position of the corner is determined whereupon the corner gripping apparatus approaches the tip determined and a corner gripper is advanced from the gripping edge so that a lower jaw thereof grips under the edge plate. An upper jaw is then lowered onto the corner of the laundry article. The corner gripper is then withdrawn so that the corner is clamped between the upper jaw and the lower jaw of the corner gripper.

Abstract: A device for feeding essentially rectangular pieces of cloth to a feeder, comprising a conveyor on which pieces of cloth can be advanced in the direction of conveyance of the feeder, and on which, in front of the conveyor, there is configured a boom extending transversely of the direction of conveyance of the conveyor, and wherein the boom comprises a boom conveyor in the longitudinal direction of the boom configured for conveying the piece of cloth across the boom, and at the end of the boom, means are configured for transferring the piece of cloth from a feed conveyor to the boom, wherein the means for transferring the piece of cloth from the feed conveyor to the boom conveyor is configured such that it is able to turn the piece of cloth in an area between the feed conveyor and the boom conveyor.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for loading flat articles of clothing into a laundry processing unit is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a frame having an entrance opposite an end of a conveyor belt, at least one loading post controlled by an operator, with a first pair of clamps for an article of clothing, and a device for lifting the clamps until the article is transferred to a second pair of clamps associated with a spreader, including a pivoting arm supporting clamps connected to a slide slidably mounted on a tilted guide rail and rotation driving means of arm and translation driving means of slide serve to move clamps in a combined translation and rotation trajectory. The apparatus comprises further features adapted to produce relative movements and to adopt different positions with respect to frame in order to provide at least one operating mode and at least one transport mode.

Abstract: Two paths parallel paths feed a common path. A clamp removes separate articles in each parallel path. Each path positions articles on opposite sides of a surface, such as a conveyor. In a back and forth motion, another clamp sequentially clamps the articles of laundry from the opposite sides and places each article on the surface. Another clamp extends through the surface to sequentially clamp the articles on a trailing edge. The clamp moves the articles linearly off the surface and rotates the articles onto another surface, such as a lower surface. On the other surface, the article is conveyed to a pick-up position. A pair of clamps drag the article by an edge onto a stacked position. The stack is adjusted in height to position the stack for receiving the next article.

Abstract: A towel spreader is provided. A trailing corner is clamped to isolate an edge of a towel where the edge is either along a fold in a towel or along an outer extremity of the towel. The towel is then flattened in a single or two layers using motion and gravity while being held along the identified edge. The same or a different trailing corner is then rotated such that a back outer extremity edge of the towel is perpendicular with a direction of movement of a conveyor. By clamping the back edge while continuing to move a downstream conveyor and blow air on the towel, the towel is flattened out. The spread towel is then passed downstream for further processing, such as folding.