DEVICE FOR THE AUTOMATIC LOADING OF HANGERS IN AN APPARATUS FOR IRONING SHIRTS OR SIMILAR ITEMS AND APPARATUS COMPRISING SUCH DEVICE

Abstract

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.

Claims

1. Device for the automatic loading of hangers into an apparatus for ironing shirts or similar items, wherein the apparatus comprises: a conveyor (2); at least one manikin (3) mounted on the conveyor (2), wherein the manikin (3) is shaped to accept and support a shirt (4) or similar item to be ironed, wherein the manikin (3) has a seat (5) configured to accept a hanger (6); a loading station (7) for loading, on the manikin (3), a shirt (4) to be ironed; at least one ironing station (8, 9) for ironing the shirt (4) supported by the manikin (3); an unloading station (10) for unloading the ironed shirt (4) from the manikin (3); wherein the conveyor (2) is configured to carry the manikin (3) in succession to each of said loading (7), ironing (8, 9) and unloading (10) stations; the device (11) comprising: a storage configured to support a plurality of hangers (6); an arm (18) comprising a gripping and releasing end (19), wherein the arm (19) is movable between a first position and a second position; wherein, in the first position, the gripping and releasing end (19) is close to the storage to pick up or receive a hanger (6) from said storage; wherein, in the second position, the gripping and releasing end (19) is placed above the manikin (3) upstream of the loading station (7), to release the hanger (6), previously picked up or received, into the seat (5) of the manikin (3).

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the device (11) is operating in the unloading station (10).

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the storage comprises: a bar (16) having a terminal end close to the arm (18), wherein the hangers (6) are hung from the bar (16).

4. The device according to claim 3, wherein the bar (16) is a worm screw configured to bring the hangers (6) towards the terminal end by means of a rotation of said bar (16) around its own main axis.

5. The device according to claim 3, wherein the storage comprises: a separator positioned on the terminal end and configured to accompany a hanger (6) carried on said terminal end towards the gripping and releasing end (19) of the arm (18).

6. The device according to claim 5, wherein the separator is a slide (17) having a proximal end placed close to the terminal end of the bar (16) and a distal end opposite the proximal end.

7. The device according to claim 1, each of the hangers (6) comprises at least one metal portion and wherein the gripping and releasing end (19) of the arm (18) comprises at least one electro-magnet (21) configured to hold or release a hanger (6).

8. The device according to claim 1, comprising at least one sensor positioned at the arm (18) and configured to detect the presence of a hanger (6).

9. The device according to claim 8, wherein said at least one sensor comprises a first sensor (22) configured to detect the passage of a hanger (6) from the storage to the gripping and releasing end (19) of the arm (18) and a second sensor (23) configured to detect the presence of a subsequent hanger (6) on the terminal end of the arm (18).

10. The device according to claim 1, also comprising a reader (24) operating near the arm (18) and configured to read a tag (25) carried by each hanger (6) and comprising an identifier of said hanger (6).

11. The device according to claim 10, wherein the reader (24) is mounted on the gripping and releasing end (19).

12. The device according to claim 10, wherein the tag (25) is selected from the group comprising: an RFID tag, an NFC tag, a BLE beacon, a QR code, a bar code.

13. The device according to claim 12, wherein the reader (24) is an RFID, NFC, BLE reader, an optical reader or a camera.

14. Apparatus for ironing shirts or similar items comprising a device according to claim 1.

15. Apparatus according to claim 14, comprising: an electronic unit, wherein the reader (24) is operationally connected to the electronic unit; an auxiliary reader operationally connected to the electronic unit and configured to read an auxiliary tag carried by each shirt (4), wherein the auxiliary tag comprises an auxiliary identifier (4); wherein the electronic unit is configured to associate the auxiliary identifier of the shirt (4) with the hanger identifier (6); a pick-up device (12) operating in the unloading station (10), wherein the pick-up device (12) comprises a pick-up element (15) movable between a first position and a second position, wherein in the first position the pick-up member (15) engages with a hanger (6) carried by a manikin (3) placed in the unloading station (10) and combined with an ironed shirt (4), wherein the pick-up member (15) is movable away from the manikin (3) to carry the ironed shirt (4) hanging from the hanger (6) towards the second position.

16. The device according to claim 4, wherein the storage comprises: a separator positioned on the terminal end and configured to accompany a hanger (6) carried on said terminal end towards the gripping and releasing end (19) of the arm (18).

17. The device according to claim 16, wherein the separator is a slide (17) having a proximal end placed close to the terminal end of the bar (16) and a distal end opposite the proximal end.

18. The device according to claim 11, wherein the tag (25) is selected from the group comprising: an RFID tag, an NFC tag, a BLE beacon, a QR code, a bar code.

19. The device according to claim 18, wherein the reader (24) is an RFID, NFC, BLE reader, an optical reader or a camera.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0079] Such description will be set forth hereinbelow with reference to the enclosed drawings, provided as a non-limiting example in which:

[0080] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a top view of an apparatus for ironing shirts or similar items according to the present invention;

[0081] FIGS. 2 to 8 show a portion of an unloading station of the apparatus of FIG. 1 in respective operating steps.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0082] With reference to FIG. 1, reference number 1 overall indicates an apparatus for ironing shirts or similar items (e.g. T-shirts) in series, preferably used in the context of laundries. The apparatus 1 comprises a carousel conveyor 2 which can be rotated by pitches around its own vertical axis “Y” by means of a suitable motor, not illustrated. On the carousel 2, four manikins 3 are mounted which are per se of known shape and configured to support a shirt 4 or similar item (FIGS. 2 and 3) to be ironed.

[0083] Each manikin 3, better visible in FIGS. 4 to 8, is similar to a bust and comprises two shoulders and a neck. The manikin 3 also has a seat 5 configured to accept a hanger 6. The seat 5 is an opening made on the shoulders and on the neck. The hanger 6 may be a normal hanger made of metal wire provided with shoulders and with a hook.

[0084] The apparatus 1 comprises (FIG. 1) four stations arranged fixed around the carousel conveyor 2. In particular, the apparatus 1 comprises a loading station 7 for loading, on the manikin, a shirt 4 to be ironed; a first and a second ironing station 8, 9 for ironing the shirt 4 supported by the manikin 3; an unloading station 10 for unloading the ironed shirt 4 from the manikin 3. The conveyor 2 is configured to carry each manikin 3 in succession to each of said loading 7, ironing 8, 9 and unloading 10 stations, and keeping each manikin stopped in each station for a predetermined time period. Such stations have been schematically represented since they may also be of known type, and they are not further described herein. The first and the second ironing stations 8, 9 are configured to iron each shirt 4 by means of steam and/or hot air. In such stations, jets of steam and/or hot air are directed on the shirt, internally and/or externally, with the possible aid of tables which are pressed against portions of the shirt itself.

[0085] The apparatus 1 also comprises a device 11 for the automatic loading of the hangers 6 on the manikins 3. Such device 11 is positioned in the unloading station 10 and is operating in such unloading station 10 in order to load a hanger 6 on the empty manikin 3, after a preceding hanger 6 with an ironed shirt 4 hung thereon has been unloaded from the manikin 3. For such purpose, in the unloading station 10, a pick-up device 12 is also present and operating.

[0086] The pick-up device 12 (FIGS. 2-8) comprises a vertical column 13 having a guide 14 defining the closed path. The vertical column 13 has a lower end which terminates at an upper portion of a manikin 3 (when the latter is in the unloading station 10) and an upper end.

[0087] The guide 14 is defined by a groove which has a closed shape with a vertical outgoing section, a vertical return section parallel to the outgoing section, a lower connecting section and an upper connecting section. A pick-up member 15 defined by a pin exits projecting from the guide 14 and is moved along the guide by a motor 15A and possible other elements, not illustrated.

[0088] The pick-up member 15 can be moved along the guide 14 between a first position, a second position and a rest position.

[0089] In the first position, the pick-up member 15 is situated in the lower connecting section (FIG. 2) such that it can be engaged with the hook of a hanger 6 carried by a manikin 3 placed in the unloading station 10 and combined with an ironed shirt 4.

[0090] In the second position, the pick-up member 15 is situated in the upper connecting section (position not illustrated) such that it can be engaged with devices, not illustrated, and transfer the hanger 6 and the shirt 4 to such devices and move them away from the apparatus 1.

[0091] In the rest position, the pick-up member 15 is situated in a position placed on the return branch between the first position and the second position (FIGS. 4 to 7).

[0092] During operation, the pick-up member 15 is made to move without stopping for the first position and for the second position, while it is stopped in the rest position, as will be detailed hereinbelow.

[0093] The device 11 for the automatic loading comprises a bar provided with a groove or worm screw 16 (partially illustrated in FIGS. 2-8), oriented substantially orthogonal to the column 13 and having a terminal end directed towards said column 13. The worm screw 16 is configured to support a plurality of hangers 6 and carry them towards the terminal end by means of a rotation of the worm screw 16 around its own main axis, operated by a respective motor or actuator, not illustrated. The hooks of the hangers 6 are placed in the groove of the worm screw 16. The rotation of the worm screw causes the displacement of the hooks towards the terminal end. The worm screw 16 is therefore part of a storage and of a conveyor for the hangers 6.

[0094] The device 11 comprises (FIGS. 2 to 8) a slide 17 which has a proximal end arranged at the terminal end of the worm screw 16 and a distal end opposite the proximal end and directed downward. The worm screw and the slide are fixed, in the sense that they are not moved towards or away from the column 13.

[0095] The device 11 also comprises (FIGS. 5 and 6) an arm 18 comprising a gripping and releasing end/head 19 (FIGS. 2 to 8). The arm 18 comprises a linear actuator, e.g. pneumatic or electric, facing the worm screw 16 and provided with movable rods 20. The movable rods 20 carry the gripping and releasing end 19 and the actuator allows moving the rods 20 and the gripping and releasing end 19 between a first position and a second position.

[0096] In the first position (FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8), the gripping and releasing end 19 is close to the terminal end of the worm screw 16 to pick up or receive a hanger 6 from the storage. In the second position (FIGS. 5 and 6), the gripping and releasing end 19 is placed above the manikin 3 situated in the unloading station 10, to release the hanger 6, previously picked up, into the seat 5 of said manikin 3.

[0097] In the illustrated embodiment, the gripping and releasing end 19 is a plate intended to abuttingly receive part of the hanger 6 on its first face directed towards the distal end of the slide 17. The plate has a central portion adapted to receive the hook of the hanger 6 and two lower lobes adapted to receive part of the shoulders of the hanger 6. Each of the lobes carries a respective electro-magnet 21 configured for retaining or releasing a hanger 6. The two electro-magnets 21 protrude from a second face of the plate opposite the first face and are flush with said first face.

[0098] The device 11 for the automatic loading comprises a first proximity sensor 22 and a second proximity sensor 23, e.g. of capacitive type. The first proximity sensor 22 is directed towards the slide 17 and the second proximity sensor 23 is directed towards the terminal end of the worm screw 16. The first proximity sensor 22 is configured to detect the passage of a hanger 6 released from the terminal end of the worm screw 16 and which is moved along the slide 17 towards the distal end of the slide 17. The second proximity sensor 23 is configured to detect the presence of a subsequent hanger 6 carried on the terminal end of the worm screw 16.

[0099] The slide 17 performs the function of separator positioned on the terminal end and configured to accompany the hanger 6 carried on said terminal end towards the gripping and releasing end 19 of the arm 18.

[0100] The device 11 for the automatic loading comprises a reader 24 (better visible in FIG. 8) configured to read a tag 25 carried by each hanger 6. The tag 25 is, in the illustrated non-limiting embodiment, an RFID tag (Radio-FRequency Identification) contained in a small box coupled to the hanger 6 and placed below the respective hook. In other embodiments, the tag may be of different type, e.g. it may be an NFC tag (Near-Field Communication), a BLE beacon (Bluetooth Low Energy), a QR code (Quick Response) or a simple bar code. It follows that the reader 24 may be an RFID, NFC, BLE reader, an optical reader or even a video camera.

[0101] The reader 24 is mounted on the second face of the plate, between the two electro-magnets 21 (FIG. 8).

[0102] The tag 25 comprises an identifier which distinguishes each hanger 6 and the reader 24 is capable of reading such identifier.

[0103] The apparatus 1 also comprises an auxiliary reader, not illustrated, configured to read an auxiliary tag attached to each shirt 4. The auxiliary tag may be a paper tag with a bar code which contains an auxiliary identifier containing or connected to information relative to the shirt (e.g. the batch, the owner, etc.). The auxiliary reader is for example a portable reader that may be managed by the operator.

[0104] The apparatus 1 comprises an electronic unit, not illustrated, configured/programmed to manage the operation of the apparatus 1 itself. The electronic unit is operationally connected to the motor of the carousel conveyor 2, to the motor of the worm screw 14, to the motor 15A of the pick-up member 15, to the electro-magnets 21, to the sensors 22, 23 and to the reader 24, to the auxiliary portable reader, as well as to other elements of the apparatus that are necessary for the operation thereof.

[0105] During use, an ironed shirt 4, associated with a hanger 6 and arranged on a manikin 3, arrives at the unloading station 10 (FIG. 2). While the arm 18 is in the respective first position, the pick-up member 15, which was in the rest position, is carried downward along the return branch, it engages the hook of the hanger 6 and lifts it together with the ironed shirt 4 (FIG. 3), carrying the shirt 4 upward to the second position on the upper connecting section, where it releases the hanger 6 and the shirt 4, in order to then redescend and be brought back into into the rest position (FIG. 4). The pick-up member 15 therefore completes a continuous movement along a closed path and is newly stopped in the rest position.

[0106] At the second position, for example, the pick-up member 15 hangs the hook of the hanger 6 on a further slide and releases it. The hanger 6 with the shirt 4 slide towards a shirt storage, per se known and not further described herein.

[0107] In the unloading station 10, the device 11 for the automatic loading of hangers provides for loading a hanger 6 on the manikin 3, from which the ironed shirt 4 has just been picked up.

[0108] For such purpose, while the gripping and releasing end 19 is in its first position and the gripping member 12 is stopped in its rest position, the worm screw 16 is rotated up to bringing the hanger 6 placed on its terminal end to the slide 17. The hanger 6 slides on the slide 17 up to encountering the first face of the plate and the electro-magnets 21 which, once activated, retain it on the gripping and releasing end 19 (FIG. 4). The first sensor 22 detects the actual passage of the hanger 6 which slides towards the plate and the second sensor 23 detects the presence of the subsequent hanger 6 on the terminal end of the worm screw 16. The electronic unit activates the electro-magnets 21 when it receives the signal from the first sensor 22 and stops the rotation of the worm screw 16 when it receives the signal from the second sensor 23. In addition, the reader 24 reads from the RFID tag 25 the identifier (e.g. a numeric code) of the hanger 6 attached to the plate and transmits it to the electronic unit.

[0109] The electronic unit drives the actuator of the arm 18 which carries the gripping and releasing end/head 19 into its second position (FIG. 5) in which the plate is arrange above the seat 5 of the manikin 3 and then it deactivates the electro-magnets 21 so that the hanger 6 falls into the seat 5 (FIG. 6). The hanger 6 is housed in the seat 5 with its own hook that protrudes upward.

[0110] At this point, the arm 18 is brought back into its first position (FIG. 7) and the carousel conveyor 2 is rotated by a pitch (90°) so as to carry the manikin 3 provided with the hanger 6 into the loading station 7. In the loading station 7, the operator takes a shirt 4, for example from a pack or from a container, with the auxiliary reader he/she reads the auxiliary tag attached to the shirt 4, he/she positions the shirt on the manikin 3 and completes the possible further operations necessary for the subsequent ironing.

[0111] The electronic unit couples the identifier of the hanger 6 with that of the shirt 4 and saves them, for example, in a database in which also further information is contained relative to the shirt 4, such as for example the name of the client, the batch to which the shirt 4 belongs, etc. In this manner, in the further stations of the ironing apparatus or even downstream of the ironing apparatus (e.g. in a mechanized shirt storage), the shirt can be traced by only reading the tag 25 on the hanger 6.

[0112] The carousel conveyor 2 is rotated by a pitch (90°) so as to carry the manikin 3 provided with the hanger 6 and with the shirt 4 to be ironed into the first ironing station 8, in which a first ironing step is executed, and then into the second ironing station 9 in which a second ironing step is executed.

[0113] At the end of the second ironing step, the carousel conveyor 2 is rotated by a pitch (90°) to carry the manikin 3 provided with the hanger 6 and with the shirt 4 into the unloading station 10 where the cycle starts over again.

[0114] The above-described apparatus may also operate without the electronic unit coupling the identifier of the hanger 6 with that of the shirt 4 and/or with hangers 6 without tag 25.

[0115] In addition, in a simpler alternative embodiment, the device 11 is not provided with the reader 24 and the hangers 6 lack the tags 24. In addition, since the reader 24 is not present on the plate, the plate has smaller dimensions and there is only one electro-magnet 21 centrally positioned on said plate.

LIST OF ELEMENTS

[0116] 1 apparatus for ironing shirts or similar items in series [0117] 2 conveyor [0118] 3 manikins [0119] 4 shirt [0120] 5 seat [0121] 6 hanger [0122] 7 loading station [0123] 8 first ironing station [0124] 9 second ironing station [0125] 10 unloading station [0126] 11 device for the automatic loading of the hangers [0127] 12 pick-up device [0128] 13 vertical column [0129] 14 guide [0130] 15 pick-up member [0131] 15A motor [0132] 16 worm screw [0133] 17 slide [0134] 18 arm [0135] 19 gripping and releasing end [0136] 20 rods [0137] 21 electro-magnet [0138] 22 first proximity sensor [0139] 23 second proximity sensor [0140] 24 reader [0141] 25 tag