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.

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.

Laundry pieces are to be gripped at various locations in laundries. This is labor-intensive. For this purpose, efforts are being made toward automating the gripping of laundry pieces. A camera has previously been used for this purpose. The automatic gripping of laundry pieces is implemented by way of a plurality of cameras, in that a plurality of cameras simultaneously record image data of respective laundry pieces to be gripped. On account thereof, the cameras always provide exploitable image data of the relevant laundry piece even when one camera is momentarily obscured, for example, or is defective or the viewing direction of a camera is not directed toward the face of the laundry piece. Image data of the laundry piece can always be generated by virtue of the plurality of cameras, said image data enabling a handling installation to automatically grip the laundry piece in a reliable manner.

Laundry pieces are to be gripped at various locations in laundries. This is labor-intensive. For this purpose, efforts are being made toward automating the gripping of laundry pieces. A camera has previously been used for this purpose. The automatic gripping of laundry pieces is implemented by way of a plurality of cameras, in that a plurality of cameras simultaneously record image data of respective laundry pieces to be gripped. On account thereof, the cameras always provide exploitable image data of the relevant laundry piece even when one camera is momentarily obscured, for example, or is defective or the viewing direction of a camera is not directed toward the face of the laundry piece. Image data of the laundry piece can always be generated by virtue of the plurality of cameras, said image data enabling a handling installation to automatically grip the laundry piece in a reliable manner.

A method and apparatus that makes provision for a length of a transverse edge of a laundry item to be spread out to be measured upstream of a spreading device, to be precise preferably from above. It is thereby possible to individually determine the length of the transverse edge for each individual laundry item before the laundry item is situated in the spreading device. The length dimension of the transverse edge determined upstream of the spreading device can then be used to move apart the spreading clamps of the spreading device in a targeted and controlled manner in order to spread out the transverse edge in as gentle a manner as possible.

A method and apparatus that makes provision for a length of a transverse edge of a laundry item to be spread out to be measured upstream of a spreading device, to be precise preferably from above. It is thereby possible to individually determine the length of the transverse edge for each individual laundry item before the laundry item is situated in the spreading device. The length dimension of the transverse edge determined upstream of the spreading device can then be used to move apart the spreading clamps of the spreading device in a targeted and controlled manner in order to spread out the transverse edge in as gentle a manner as possible.

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.

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.

A cloth transfer apparatus allows a cloth to be attached to a traveling clamp efficiently without waste even when a corner of the cloth to be attached to the traveling clamp is specified. The cloth transfer apparatus includes: a plurality of independent traveling clamps; and a transfer rail circulating through a supply unit where a corner of the cloth is attached to the traveling clamp and a discharge unit where the cloth is delivered from the traveling clamp and allowing the traveling clamps to independently travel. In the supply unit: a branch point that allows the transfer rail to branch into a first supply rail and a second supply rail and a merge point that allows to the branched first supply rail and second supply rail to be merged.

The feeding device comprises a pair of clamp assemblies (3) arranged to grasp corner portions of two contiguous corners of a flatwork textile article (30) and to move along transverse guides in opposite directions to spread the flatwork textile article (30) for depositing it on a feed conveyor. Each clamp assembly comprises a main clamp (6) supported on a main support (5) and having a pair of main jaws (7) providing a first frictional force, and a secondary clamp (9) supported on a secondary support (8) and having a pair of secondary jaws (10) providing a higher second frictional force. The secondary support is movable relative to the main support between a position adjacent to the main clamp and a position distanced from the main clamp to reduce an article protruding corner portion (31) remaining at a first side (S1) of the main jaws (7) in a closed position.