A mobile vehicle that is self-contained and equipped to wash firefighter gear at the firefighter's station. The vehicle would be on a dispatched network and be activated after an incident, and for scheduled cleanings on a regular basis; the vehicle having the required equipment to clean all contaminated gear by use of a sonic cleaner, extractors, dryers, and an ozonator. The process includes monitoring the life of the gear and decontaminating the gear in accordance with the gear manufacturer's recommendations. Gear that has been cleaned is reassembled, wrapped, sealed and placed back into a fireman's station, giving the firefighter the assurance that their firefighting gear was cleaned, sanitized, and serviced per the manufacturer's recommendations.

A device for the automatic loading of hangers in an apparatus for ironing shirts or similar items includes a storage configured to support a plurality of hangers and an arm comprising a gripping and releasing. The arm is movable between a first position and a second position. In the first position, the gripping and releasing end is close to the storage to pick up or receive a hanger from the storage, and in the second position, the gripping and releasing end is placed above the manikin placed upstream of a loading station of the apparatus, to release the hanger, previously picked up, into the seat of the manikin.

A laundry sorting and evaluation system includes a housing having an opening and defining a laundry path. First and second platforms are positioned within the housing, each operably connected to a motor. First and second cameras are respectively associated with the platforms and are configured to acquire at images of an item of laundry on each of the first and second platforms. A controller is configured to receive the images and produce an evaluation of a condition of the item of laundry based upon the received images.

Devices, systems, and methods for autonomously sorting dirty laundry articles into batched loads for washing are described. For example, an autonomous sorting system includes an enclosed channel including a stationary floor extending between an inlet end and an outlet end of the channel, a plurality of arms disposed in series along the enclosed channel for selectively grasping at least one of the plurality of deformable articles in sequence. The system includes an outlet orifice adjacent the outlet end through which each separated deformable article exits the enclosed channel upon release by the terminal gripper of the one of the plurality of arms, and one or more conveyors disposed adjacent the outlet end configured for receiving thereon a plurality of bins for collecting for washing together two or more articles of the plurality of deformable articles released through the outlet orifice having a common sensor-detected one or more characteristics.

Devices, systems, and methods for autonomously sorting dirty laundry articles into batched loads for washing are described. For example, an autonomous sorting system includes an enclosed channel including a stationary floor extending between an inlet end and an outlet end of the channel, a plurality of arms disposed in series along the enclosed channel for selectively grasping at least one of the plurality of deformable articles in sequence. The system includes an outlet orifice adjacent the outlet end through which each separated deformable article exits the enclosed channel upon release by the terminal gripper of the one of the plurality of arms, and one or more conveyors disposed adjacent the outlet end configured for receiving thereon a plurality of bins for collecting for washing together two or more articles of the plurality of deformable articles released through the outlet orifice having a common sensor-detected one or more characteristics.

Aspects of the present disclosure involve an apparatus, systems, and methods for providing intelligent laundering alerts. Example embodiments involve an intelligent garment tag that may be affixed to garments, and may store and provide information about the garment to which it is affixed. The information stored thereon describes various aspects of the garment including color, fabric, and laundering information. The intelligent garment tags further include an alert component for providing laundering alerts (e.g., a flashing or colored light, a warning noise, or a vibration) based on, for example, garment color compatibility or laundering device (e.g., washing machine or clothes dryer) compatibility.

Aspects of the present disclosure involve an apparatus, systems, and methods for providing intelligent laundering alerts. Example embodiments involve an intelligent garment tag that may be affixed to garments, and may store and provide information about the garment to which it is affixed. The information stored thereon describes various aspects of the garment including color, fabric, and laundering information. The intelligent garment tags further include an alert component for providing laundering alerts (e.g., a flashing or colored light, a warning noise, or a vibration) based on, for example, garment color compatibility or laundering device (e.g., washing machine or clothes dryer) compatibility.

A method that facilitates the automatic identification of the long edge or the short edge of the item of laundry by determining the lengths or the angles of the edge areas of the item of laundry extending from a lower corner of the item of laundry. It may be derived from the determined angles or lengths of the edge areas whether the respective edge area belongs to the long edge or to the short edge of the item of laundry. With this information, a targeted transverse or longitudinal feed of rectangular items of laundry may be carried out to a downstream inserting machine. The fully automated feeding of items of laundry to, for example, an inserting machine is carried out in a targeted way with either the long edge of the item of laundry extending transversely to the feed direction or the short edge extending transversely to the feed direction.

A method that facilitates the automatic identification of the long edge or the short edge of the item of laundry by determining the lengths or the angles of the edge areas of the item of laundry extending from a lower corner of the item of laundry. It may be derived from the determined angles or lengths of the edge areas whether the respective edge area belongs to the long edge or to the short edge of the item of laundry. With this information, a targeted transverse or longitudinal feed of rectangular items of laundry may be carried out to a downstream inserting machine. The fully automated feeding of items of laundry to, for example, an inserting machine is carried out in a targeted way with either the long edge of the item of laundry extending transversely to the feed direction or the short edge extending transversely to the feed direction.

The present disclosure provides a system for tracking usage and provenance information for one or more garments in the from of a set of one or more tags or “logbooks”, each intended to have an associated garment. Each tag is embossed with a set of information to facilitate easy recording and tracking of provenance and usage information related to the associated garment for later reference.