Abstract: An apparatus for taking out laundry articles from a laundry pile by a pull gripper which is arranged for seizing one or more laundry articles in the laundry pile, and a lifting mechanism arranged for lifting the pull gripper and the minor batch of laundry articles clear above the pile. The lifting mechanism is arranged for conveying the pull gripper and the laundry articles to a position above a support, and the pull gripper is arranged for releasing the laundry articles above the support whereby the laundry articles are deposited on the support. The laundry articles are loosened from each other which facilitates the separation of the individual laundry articles from the pile. According to the invention the pull gripper is moved by the lifting mechanism as a restricted, guided movement by a combined vertical and horizontal movement whereby a more efficient loosening of the laundry articles is obtained as well as a higher degree of repetitive accuracy.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method of advancing substantially rectangular pieces of cloth to a cloth treatment apparatus, such as a rotary ironer, whereby the piece of cloth is initially spread out and advanced in its spread-out state and at a given rate of conveyance between a subjacent conveyor and a superjacent conveyor that abut on the subjacent conveyor; and whereby folded edges, if any, on the frontmost and/or the rearmost border(s) of the piece of cloth, seen in the direction of conveyance of the subjacent conveyor, are completely or partially straightened in the plane of the piece of cloth prior to the piece of cloth entering said cloth treatment apparatus.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for feeding substantially rectangular laundry articles to a laundry processing apparatus, wherein the laundry article can be positioned in a stretched, hanging and folded state across a bar, which is slidable between two opposed conveyor faces, which pull the laundry article off the bar with a fold so that the laundry article is quickly removed from the bar, thereby making it possible to quickly insert a new laundry article on the bar. A significantly increased productivity with a given number of operators can be achieved through the use of the method and the apparatus of the invention.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for feeding substantially rectangular laundry articles to a laundry processing apparatus, such as an ironing roller, comprising alignment of the rear edge on the laundry article to a predetermined angle with respect to the direction of feed on a conveyor face, on which the laundry article is conveyed with the rear edge stretched, the position of the rear edge with respect to the conveyor face being detected at a plurality of locations on the rear edge transversely to the direction of feed, following which the rear edge is braked locally with respect to the conveyor face as it passes a straight line having the predetermined angle with respect to the direction of feed. This ensures that the alignment of the laundry article in the feeder can take place during the continued feeding of the laundry article on the conveyor face, thereby reducing the throughput time for a laundry article in the apparatus.

Abstract: An apparatus for feeding flatwork to a laundry processing unit, for instance an ironing roller. The apparatus includes a conveyor belt at its front end and a spreading arrangement including a rail having a pair of carriages movable transversely to a longitudinal direction of the apparatus. The apparatus includes operator-activated insertion devices placed on the side of the rail opposite the belt. The carriages include drives for moving the carriages away from each other and clamps positioned symmetrically with respect to a middle of the belt. The insertion devices include elevators in which the article is inserted in a pair or clamps on a slide, movable along the rail. The flatwork articles are transferred from the spreading arrangement to the ironer by inserting the corners in the elevator clamps and transferring these to the carriage clamps which spread the flatwork and transfer this to the belt and into the ironer.

Abstract: An apparatus for feeding flatwork articles to a laundry processing unit, comprising a conveyor belt, at the front end of which flatwork articles can be transferred from a spreading arrangement comprising a pair of carriages running transversely to the longitudinal direction of the conveyor belt, each carriage being provided with a releasable clamp, into which a corner of a flatwork article is inserted, the pair of carriages provided with drives to move the carriages away from each other from a point opposite to the middle of the front end of the conveyor belt to an extended position, in which the upper edge of the flatwork article is spread out, transfer apparatus for the flatwork article to the front end of the conveyor belt, including a pair of rollers, one of which is movable from a retracted position under the upper roller of the conveyor belt and from an advanced position preferably in contact with the spread flatwork article at a short distance from its spread leading edge, and in which the other roller

Abstract: Folding apparatus for folding of flexible sheets, for example pieces of flatwork, being transported on a conveyor comprising parallel belts (1) and at which conveyor one or more folding stations are arranged for folding the sheets along a folding line being perpendicular to the direction in which the sheets are transported. The conveyor has a descending section at which in each folding station a friction roller (6) driven synchroneously with the conveyor is arranged, the direction of rotation being such that the upper side of the friction roller moves in the same direction as the conveyor, and in which folding station downstream the friction roller a collecting plate (8) is arranged with fingers (7) at the leading edge, which fingers in a first position of the collecting plate is introduced between the belts of the conveyor and in a second position is arranged to press against the underside of the friction roller (6). The folding apparatus is simple in construction and reliable in operation.

Abstract: Apparatus for spreading and feeding articles of flatwork such as sheets to an ironing machine and comprising a conveyor over which a beam with two movable clamps is arranged. The clamps are adapted to grip the article at two corners and to move apart to draw the upper edge of the article tight. The beam is stationary in order to simplify construction. Between the beam and the conveyor is a movable plate, onto which the upper edge of the article is transferred and from which plate the article is transferred to the conveyor by a movement of the plate in the moving direction of the conveyor.