TROUSER TREATMENT DEVICE AND CORRESPONDING TROUSER HOLDER

Abstract

A trouser treatment device including a trouser supply module including transport for transporting each of the trousers from an entry to a supply exit, an opening module of the waist of one of the trousers, arranged in the trouser supply module, and a transport module with fastening clamps that hold the trousers with the waist open by the waist and that carries the trousers from the supply exit to a trouser holder of a work station with a processing device and a rotation element able to rotate the trouser holder according to a vertical axis. The trouser holder includes, on each leg, an outer rod and an inner rod, which deploy sideways, and a third rod, arranged between the other two, which is deployed forward or backward.

Claims

1-17. (canceled)

18. Trouser treatment device, comprising: [a] a trouser supply module, where each pair of trousers is manually insertable by an operator and is retainable by a waist of the trousers and hangs vertically, [b] a work station with a trouser holder and a processing device, where said trouser holder has two legs able to lodge inside legs of said trousers, where each leg defines a longitudinal axis, where said trouser holder has a front part, corresponding to a front part of the trousers, and a back part, where each one of said legs has an inner edge, proximate to the other leg, and an outer edge, opposite said inner edge, and [c] a transport module with fastening clamps able to hold by the waist said pair of trousers, said transport module being able to transport said pair of trousers from said supply module to said trouser holder.

19. Device according to claim 18, wherein said work station has two trouser holders and in that said transport module is able to transport said pair of trousers from said supply module to any of the trouser holders.

20. Device according to claim 18, wherein said supply module comprises transport means for transporting each of said trousers from a supply entry to a supply exit and in that said transport module is able to transport said pair of trousers from said supply exit to said trouser holder.

21. Device according to claim 18, wherein said work station comprises rotation means able to rotate said trouser holder according to a vertical axis or, if said work station has two trouser holders, rotation means able to rotate said trouser holders according to a vertical axis.

22. Device according to claim 18, further comprising an opening module of the waist of one of said trousers, arranged at said trouser supply module, and wherein said transport module with fastening clamps is able to hold by the waist said pair of trousers with an open waist.

23. Device according to claim 20, further comprising an opening module of the waist of one of said trousers, arranged at said trouser supply module, and wherein said transport module with fastening clamps is able to hold by the waist said pair of trousers with an open waist, and the opening module is arranged at said supply exit.

24. Device according to claim 23, wherein the opening module comprises needles for the opening of said waist.

25. Device according to claim 23, wherein said opening module comprises pneumatic means able to open said waist by vacuum.

26. Device according to claim 22, wherein said opening module is arranged at said supply entry.

27. Device according to claim 20, wherein said transport means comprise a closed loop circuit and a plurality of transporting units, each of said transporting units comprising an opening module that includes two fingers able to be positioned inside the waist of the trousers, where the distance between both fingers is adjustable.

28. Device according to claim 18, wherein said trouser holder comprises a top support structure, with a fixing area of an upper part of trousers, and from which said two legs extend, and where each leg comprises a front flat face and a back face and a hollow space therebetween where an outer rod and an inner rod are lodged, where the lower edges of said outer and inner rods are attached to a deployment mechanism of said rods able to deploy them towards the outside and the inside, respectively.

29. Device according to claim 28, wherein said trouser holder comprises a third rod arranged between both rods and a deployment mechanism of said third rod able to deploy said third rod towards the front or towards the back.

30. Device according to claim 18, wherein said trouser holder comprises adjustment means, able to adjust said fixing area of an upper part of the trousers, that comprise a servomechanism.

31. Device according to claim 18, wherein said transport module comprises a robotic arm having said fastening clamps, said robotic arm being able to transport said pair of trousers from said supply module to said trouser holder.

32. Device according to claim 18, wherein said processing device is a laser device, a chemical treatment device or a mechanical abrasion device, and preferably is a laser device.

33. Device according to claim 19, wherein said supply module comprises transport means for transporting each of said trousers from a supply entry to a supply exit, and said transport module is able to transport said pair of trousers from said supply exit to any of the trouser holders.

34. Device according to claim 19, wherein any of said trouser holders comprises a top support structure, with a fixing area of an upper part of trousers, and from which said two legs extend, and where each leg comprises a front flat face and a back face and a hollow space therebetween where an outer rod and an inner rod are lodged, where the lower edges of said outer and inner rods are attached to a deployment mechanism of said rods able to deploy them towards the outside and the inside, respectively.

35. Device according to claim 34, wherein any of said trouser holders comprises a third rod arranged between both rods and a deployment mechanism of said third rod able to deploy said third rod towards the front or towards the back.

36. Device according to claim 19, wherein any of said trouser holders comprises adjustment means, able to adjust said fixing area of the upper part of the trousers, that comprise a servomechanism.

37. Device according to claim 19, wherein transport module comprises a robotic arm having said fastening clamps, said robotic arm being able to transport said pair of trousers from said supply module to any of the trouser holders.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0040] Other advantages and characteristics of the invention can be seen from the following description, in which, without any limiting character, some preferred embodiments of the invention are described, with reference to the accompanying drawings. The figures show:

[0041] FIG. 1, a table with a timeline of process times.

[0042] FIG. 2, a perspective, schematic view of a first device according to the invention.

[0043] FIG. 3, a top plan view of a first alternative of supply module.

[0044] FIG. 4, a perspective view of a head of an opening module.

[0045] FIG. 5, a bottom perspective view of fastening clamps of a transport module.

[0046] FIG. 6, a front elevation view of the fastening clamps of FIG. 5.

[0047] FIG. 7, a perspective view of a trouser holder.

[0048] FIG. 8, an enlarged, partial view of the top part of the trouser holder of FIG. 7.

[0049] FIG. 9, a perspective view of the lower part of a leg of a trouser holder, with the three rods (outer rod, inner rod and third rod) folded.

[0050] FIG. 10, a side elevational view of the leg of FIG. 9 with the third rod unfolded.

[0051] FIG. 11, a front elevation view of the leg of FIG. 9 with the outer rod and the inner rod unfolded.

[0052] FIG. 12, a perspective view of a second device according to the invention.

[0053] FIG. 13, a perspective view of a third device according to the invention.

[0054] FIG. 14, a perspective view of a second alternative of a supply module.

[0055] FIG. 15, a perspective view of a transporting unit of the supply module of FIG. 14.

[0056] FIG. 16, a perspective view of the transporting unit of FIG. 15, with both fingers in the waist of a pair of trousers, where the moving finger is in a retracted position.

[0057] FIG. 17, a perspective view of the transporting unit of FIG. 16, with the moving finger in an extended position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0058] The following embodiments have been based on a particular case where the processing device is a laser device. While being a preferred option, it has to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular case where the processing device is a laser device. As has been stated before, the invention also covers cases in which the processing device is performing any other processing to the trousers as, for example, chemical processing or mechanical abrasion processing.

[0059] FIG. 1 shows a table with a timeline of process times. For each step (item no.) it is specified which element within the system performs the step (operator, transport module, trouser holder, laser device), a brief description of the operation, its duration (in seconds), which is the previous step that must be carried out, the possible overlap, the step starting time and the step ending time.

[0060] FIG. 2 shows a schematic perspective view of a first trouser laser treatment device according to the invention. The device comprises a trouser supply module 1, which is fed with trousers by an operator (not shown in the Fig.) through a supply entry 2. The trousers are transported by transport means 3 to a supply exit 4. In the transport means 3 a plurality of trousers can be accumulated, allowing for the creation of a reservoir that guarantees the regular arrival of trousers to the supply exit 4. A transport module 5, composed of a robotic arm 6 having fastening clamps 7 at its end, can pick trousers from the supply exit 4 and take them to a work station 8 in which there are two trouser holders 9. The work station 8 also has a laser device 34 that will treat the trousers arranged at the trouser holders 9. Once a pair of trousers has been treated, the treated trousers are taken to an exit station. This can be done by the transport module 5 or simply through a conveyor belt (or similar device) put below the trouser holder and allowing that the treated trousers fall to the conveyor belt thanks to the gravity force (or any other pushing or pulling device).

[0061] The supply module 1 (see also FIGS. 3 and 4) has a supply entry 2 wherein the operator can introduce the waist of the trousers between two conveyor belts 11 and 12. Rollers 13 drag and guide the two conveyor belts 11 and 12, each of which rests on one side of the waist of the trousers, dragging it along with it, and transporting it from the supply entry 2 to the supply exit 4.

[0062] The opening module 14 of the waist of the trousers is located at the supply exit 4. It comprises two needle units 15, each positioned at one side of the waist of the trousers arranged at the supply exit 4. Each of the needle units has a head 17 that can be moved between a contact position, wherein the head 17 is in contact with the waist of the trousers, and an opening position. When a pair of trousers, arranged at the supply exit 4, has to be opened by the waist (i.e., before the fastening clamps 7 hold the trousers, and precisely to facilitate that the fastening clamps 7 can hold better the trousers by the waist) the heads 17 approach towards the trousers, each on one side of the trousers, until reaching the respective contact positions. Next, needles 16 extend, arranged on the face of the head 17 in contact with the trousers. The needles 16 extend at a non-zero angle with respect to the movement direction of the head 17 and are driven into the waist. Then the heads 17 are each removed to their open position and, thanks to the needles driven into the fabric, each head 17 carries with it the part of the waist with which it is in contact. In this way, the perimeter of the waist of the trousers is open and easily accessible for the fastening clamps 7. While in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 the opening module 14 has two needle units 15 (one at each side of the trousers), other preferred solutions are possible, as for example with two needle units 15 at each side of the trousers.

[0063] The transport module 5 comprises a robotic arm 6 having fastening clamps 7 (see FIGS. 5 and 6) at its end. The fastening clamps 7 comprise two arms 18 with two clamps 19 in each of them.

[0064] Each of the trouser holders 9 (see FIGS. 7-11) comprises a top support structure 20, with a fixing area 21 of the upper part of trousers. In the fixing area 21 there are stops 22 for correctly positioning the waist of the trousers. The support structure 20 also has adjustment means 23 that allow adjusting the width of the fixing area 21, so that it can adapt to different sizes of the trousers to be treated. To this end, a servomotor 24 acts on a mechanism 25 that allows to adjust the distance between the stops 22 to the different sizes of the trousers. The support structure 20 also has rotation means 26 able to rotate the trouser holder 9 according to a vertical axis.

[0065] Each trouser holder 9 has two legs 27, for each of the trouser legs. The trouser holder 9 has a front part, corresponding to the front of the trousers, and a back part, and each of the legs 27 has an inner edge, next to the other leg 27, and an outer edge, opposite the inner edge. Each leg 27 comprises a flat front face and a flat back face and a hollow space therebetween where an outer rod 28 and an inner rod 29 are lodged, where the lower ends of the outer 28 and inner 29 rods are attached to a deployment mechanism 30 which deploys them towards the outside and towards the inside, respectively.

[0066] The trouser holder 9 additionally comprises a third rod 31 arranged between both rods 28 and 29 and a deployment mechanism 32 of said third rod 31 that deploys it toward the front of the trouser holder 9.

[0067] The three rods 28, 29 and 31 (also known as sabers) are made of very flexible material that allows the stretching of the trousers on the outside and inside by means of an automatic process. So that the trousers can be placed in the trouser holder 9, it is necessary that the rods 28, 29 and 31 are “folded”, that is, they are located on both sides of the two flat faces. When the pair of trousers is located inside the trouser holder 9, first, the third rod 31 is deployed and then the outer rod 28 and the inner rod 29 are deployed and the third rod 31 is retracted. As the rods are of a flexible material but at the same time with a specific hardness it is possible for the rods to open the trousers but to adapt to their shape and size in such a way that they open the trousers correctly and do not deform their clothing.

[0068] In FIG. 12 a preferred embodiment of a device according to the invention is shown. The device comprises a trouser supply module 1 and an opening module 14 of the waist of one of the trousers, as described above. Next to the supply exit 4 there is a transport module 5, as described above, and two work stations 8, each of them as described above. That is, the trouser supply module 1 and the opening module 14 serve to supply trousers to two work stations 8. In this way a single device, fed by a single operator, can double the production capacity of treated trousers.

[0069] In FIG. 13 another preferred embodiment of the invention is shown. In this case, the device has a single supply module 1 that supplies trousers to six work stations 8. To this end, the device is organized in three blocks, each of them comprising two transport modules 5 and two work stations 8 (each block is, therefore, similar to the embodiment of the previous section). To supply the three blocks, the supply module 1 has transport means 3 that have a branch 33, so that the trousers introduced by the supply entry 2 are taken to three supply exits 4, each of them with its corresponding opening module 14 of the waist of one of the trousers. Each of the supply exits 4 is in each of the blocks and serves to supply trousers to the two transport modules 5 of each block. However, the supply module 1 has a single supply entry 2 fed by a single operator, whereby the production capacity per operator is greatly increased.

[0070] FIGS. 14 to 17 show another alternative of a supply module 1. The supply module has a supply entry 2 and a supply exit 4 united by transport means 3 that include a closed-loop circuit 35 and a plurality of transporting units 36 that are loaded with trousers by an operator at the supply entry 2. The transporting units 36 are carried from the supply entry 2 to the supply exit 4, unloaded by the transport module 5 at the supply exit 4, and carried back again to the supply entry 2 through the closed loop circuit 35. Each transporting unit 36 comprises an opening module 14, that includes two fingers 37 and 38 to be positioned inside the waist of the trousers, one at each of the lateral ends of the waist of the trousers. One of the fingers 37 is fixed to the transporting unit 36 and the other finger 38 can be moved along the transporting unit 36 (from a retracted position to an extended position) until the waist of the trousers is completely extended. A spring 39 makes an elastic force that tries to separate the moving finger 38 from the fixed finger 37, so that the waist of the trousers is maintained in a tensioned state. The thickness of the fingers 37 and 38 maintains both sides of the waist separated enough so that the waist perimeter is easily accessible for the fastening clamps 7 of the transport module 5. Once the fastening clamps 7 have picked up the waist of the trousers, a mechanism pushes the moving finger 38 back so that the waist is no more in a tensioned state and the transport module 5 can carry the trousers to the work station 8.