Flatwork ironer

Abstract

The flatwork ironer comprises a heating cylinder (1), a plurality of conveying bands (2), defining said conveying bands (2) a plurality of zones in an introduction area of articles to be ironed, and a plurality of temperature sensors (3) of said heating cylinder (1), indication means for indicating at least one zone (5) of the conveying bands where the articles to be ironed must be placed according to the temperature detected by said plurality of sensors (3), wherein said indicating means are placed in said are for introducing the articles to be ironed. It permits to place correctly the articles to be ironed in the correct position not looking away from the introduction area.

Claims

1. A flatwork ironer, comprising: a heating cylinder, a plurality of conveying bands, defining said conveying bands a plurality of zones in an introduction area for introducing articles to be ironed, and a plurality of temperature sensors of said heating cylinder, indication means for indicating at least one zone of the conveying bands where the articles to be ironed must be placed according to the temperature detected by said plurality of sensors, characterized in that said indication means are placed in said introduction area for introducing the articles to be ironed.

2. The flatwork ironer according to claim 1, wherein said indication means is a light emitted from a plurality of light emitters that light at least one zone of the conveying bands.

3. The flatwork ironer according to claim 2, wherein said light emitters are light emitter diodes (LEDs).

4. The flatwork ironer according to claim 2, wherein said light emitters are laser light emitters.

5. The flatwork ironer according to claim 2, wherein said light emitters are placed adjacent to the introduction area of said conveying bands.

6. The flatwork ironer according to claim 1, also comprising a visualization display indicating at least one zone of the conveying bands.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) For a better comprehension of that has been disclosed, some drawings are attached in which, diagrammatically and only as a non-limitative example, a practical embodiment is shown.

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a flatwork ironer according to the present invention; and

(3) FIG. 2 is a frontal view of the visualization display used in the flatwork ironer according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

(4) The flatwork ironer according to the present invention comprises a heating cylinder 1 and a plurality of conveying bands 2. Said conveying bands 2 define a plurality of zones where the articles to be ironed are placed in an introduction area. Said articles can be of any suitable kind, such as e.g. bed sheets or tablecloths.

(5) The ironing of the articles is done by the contact of said heating cylinder 1, which is at a high temperature, and the conveying bands 2. As the flatwork ironer according to the present invention is used, the temperature of the surface of the heating cylinder 1 changes by the ironing action. E.g. the articles can be humid, and their contact with the heating cylinder 1 makes the temperature in this zone to decrease.

(6) For obtaining the ideal ironing, the surface of the heating cylinder 1 must be at a suitable temperature. To this end, the articles must be introduced in the ironer changing the zones of the bands in the introduction area, because in other case part of the surface of the heating cylinder 1 would be too heat and other would be too cold.

(7) To avoid this, the flatwork ironer according to the present invention comprises a plurality of sensors 3, which detect the temperature of different zones of the heating element and inform the operator which zones of the bands are suitable for placing the articles to be ironed at each moment.

(8) According to the present invention, the flatwork ironer comprises indicating means placed in said introduction area so that the operator does not looks away from this introduction area.

(9) According to a preferred embodiment, said indicating means is light from light emitters 4. Said light emitters 4 provide lighting zones 5 of the conveying bands 2, as shown in FIG. 1.

(10) Said lighted zones 5 are preferably the zones where the articles to be ironed must be placed, even though according to the configuration of the ironer, it could differently, i.e. the zones where they must not be placed.

(11) Said light emitters 4 can be light emitting diodes (LEDs) or laser light emitters, or any kind of suitable light emitter.

(12) E.g. as shown in FIG. 1, said light emitters 4 can be placed aligned adjacent to the introduction area of said conveying bands 2, lighting said zones 5 directly.

(13) The flatwork ironer according to the present invention can also comprise a visualization display 6, shown in FIG. 2. This visualization display 6 is conventional, and it provides information about the zones of the conveying bands 2 that must be used and also other information related with the operation of the flatwork ironer.

(14) It must be pointed out that this visualization display 6 can be placed in any suitable position of the ironer, because it is not necessary that the operator looks at it continuously during the use of the ironer, as must be done currently.

(15) As cited previously, with the flatwork ironer according to the present invention the operator also places the articles to be ironed in the correct zone of the conveying bands 2, enhancing the productivity of the ironer, because the operator does not look away from the introduction are, providing an indication of the suitable zone of the conveying band 2, e.g. lighting it directly.

(16) Even though reference has been made to a specific embodiment of the invention, it is apparent for a person skilled in the art that the disclosed flatwork ironer is susceptible of numerous variations and modifications, and that all the cited details can be substituted by other technically equivalent ones, without departing from the scope of protection defined by the attached claims.