Patent ID: 7245988
Filing Date: 2007-07-17
Classification: D06F,G06Q

Abstract:
1. A laundry inventory management system for allowing a user to conveniently and efficiently select garments for transfer, comprising, in combination: a structure having an electrical source and plurality of surfaces, the surfaces comprising a floor and a ceiling and a plurality of walls; a garment on a hanger, the garment having an indicia coupled thereto; a computer system having a program to store in memory and retrieve from memory inputted specific locations; a pair of trolley rails fabricated of a rigid material and having a generally round hollow tubular configuration, each of the rails having an upper surface and a lower surface and an inner surface and an outer surface, with each of the rails having a plurality of rail supports to couple the rails to a surface of the structure; a trolley being electronically coupled to the computer and electronically coupled to the electrical source, the trolley having a generally rectilinear configuration with a right end and a left end an upper surface and a lower surface and four edges there between, the edges comprising two pairs of parallel edges, the lower surface of the trolley having a shuttle track coupled thereto, with the right and left end of the trolley having a plurality of rail wheels to couple the trolley to the rails with the rail wheels being rotated by an electrical motor to move the trolley back and forth along the length of the rails; a pneumatic power source; a shuttle being electronically coupled to the computer and electronically coupled to the electrical source, the shuttle being coupled to the pneumatic power source with the shuttle having a pneumatically operated dual-cylinder switch-back drive for moving the shuttle back and forth along the length of the shuttle track, the shuttle having an indicia reading means to allow the trolley to move to an exact location along a rail with the indicia reading means being coupled to the computer, the shuttle having a pick-up gripper coupled there to, the gripper having a pneumatically driven motor being coupled thereto and powered by the pneumatic source, with the gripper being coupled to the computer, the shuttle having a hanger spreader; a electrical conductive means to couple the electrical source and the trolley electrical motor, the conductive means also coupling the shuttle and the electrical source; and a computer program which enters a specific location of a garment hanger and the program stores the location of the garment hanger and the program can recall the location of the garment with the program assigning a specific location as defined by a specific indicia to each garment hanger location, the program controlling the movement of the trolley to the specific indicia and then moving the shuttle in a direction to move to the specific location, with the gripper engaging the garment hanger at the specific location and the trolley then returning the garment hanger to an assigned location.