CARRIAGE FOR HANDLING LAUNDRY

Abstract: This invention relates to carriage for handling laundry which is used at hotels, hospitals or the like the carriage comprising a chassis being provided with one or several shelves on which clean articles are transported and delivered from a laundry. The carriage (10) is shaped so that it can be used as a cleaning carriage by applying one or several releasable sections (11, 12) to the carriage the section or sections being intended to support the remaining articles which are necessary to accomplish the cleaning work.

Description: This invention relates to a carriage for handling laundry which is used at hotels, hospitals or the like the carriage comprising a wheel supported chassis being provided with one or several shelves on which clean articles are transported and delivered from the laundry. Such carriages are previously known and are called roll-cages. These roll-cages are transported into a storing room at the hotel or the hospital and the cleaning staff picks the linen which is to be used during the cleaning round to a special cleaning carriage which is moved to the different rooms for cleaning the rooms and for exchanging towels and linen. Also a garbage sack, soaps, cleaning agents and the like are carried these articles beeing stored in particular containers and storing compartments on the cleaning carriage. The carriage also supports a sack in which the dirty laundry is thrown. Thus, the drawback when handling laundry with the known roll-cages is that the handlings is time-consuming since it is necessary to reload the linen from the roll-cage to the cleening carriage. The purpose of this invention is to eliminate this reload procedure thereby creating a more flexible handling system for the laundry. Another purpose is to save space by eliminating the need for a special cleaning carriage. This is achieved by a device as it is defined in the following claims. The preamble of claim 1 is based on GB-A-1522 774. FR-A-1015 877 describes a carriage comprising a wheel supported chassis, on which a plate, sack, cage, crate or cupboard is mountable. One embodiment of the invention will know be described with reference to the accompanying drawings where Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a carriage according to the invention with associated sections. Figs. 2 and 3 are perspective views of the locking means connecting the carriage with the sections in an open and in a closed position. Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the connecting means between the sections and the cleaning carriage och Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a detail of the carriage. As appears from figure 1 the carriage comprises a middle section in the form of a carriage 10 and two releasable sections 11 and 12, the carriage and sections assembled forming a complete cleaning carriage. The carriage 10 comprises a box-like pipe frame with sidewalls 13 and 14. These sidewalls are formed by threads which are drawn between the pipes in the frame. Between the sidewalls there are several thread shelves 15 as well as a bottom 16. The threadshelves 15 are releasably supported on a U-shaped profile 17 which is secured to the sidewall 13 and 14 and each shelf is formed out of two such shelves 15 which are placed beside each other. Thus these shelves can be taken away from the carriage and then be placed vertically in holders 18 on the pipe frame in order to form walls of the carriage. These holders for instance comprise a sheet metal which is bent in a way as shown in figure 5. The purpose of this arrangement will appear from the following. The carriage is supported at the corners by pivot wheels 19. The sections 11 and 12 both comprise a tube frame with a lower horizontal part 20 and can upwards extending vertical part 21 the horizontal part being provided with several wheels 22. The two sections however differ from each other since one section 11 has a sack holder 23 for a garbage sack and for a sack for laundry and a tool support 24 for different types of working tools such as mops, brushes or the like whereas the section 12 support several thread baskets 24 for storing different types of consumption articles for instance soaps, schampoo, cleaning agents and so on. The shown section 12 at its upper part also has a flat shelf 26 on which notebooks can be placed. The sections 11 and 12 as well as the carriage 10 have cooperating fastening means being in the form of lugs 27 with holes which are attached to the sections and shafts 28 attached to the carriage by means of which lower part of the sections can be moved to engage the side wall of the carriage 10. Moreover at the upper part of the sections 11 and 12 there is a locking means 29 which is shown in detail in Figure 2 and 3. The locking means 29 comprises a yoke formed by means of a bent bar 30 which is turnable fastened by two lugs 31 at the upper horizontal part 32 of the pipe frame of the section. The ends of the bar 30 are formed as hooks 33 whereas the central part of the bar has a handle 34 by means of which the bar can be turned. Moreover there is a further handle 35 which is fastened to the horizontal part 32 of the tube frame of the section in order to operate the pipe section. The device is used in the following way. Clean linen is transported from the laundry on the carriage 10 and is protected by a releasable cover not shown. When the carriage arrives to a place where the linen is to be used the sections 11 and 12 are connected to the side walls of the carriage by inclining the section so that the holes of the lugs 27 engages the shafts 28 of the carriage. Then the section is raised and the handle 34 is moved inwards towards the carriage. This means that the wheels 22 are lifted from the floor and the hooks 33 engage the horizontal part of the pipe frame on the walls 13 and 14 respectively the sections being locked to the carriage. The carriage is now ready to be used as a cleaning carriage. When the carriage has been emptied form linens the shelves 15 are pulled out and placed vertically in the holders 18 whereby an upwardly open carriage is created. In this carriage the sack with laundry is placed and the two sections are released and the carriage is returned to the laundry. In the same way a new carriage can be prepared for the continued work. By using the carriage described above the handling of clean linen and laundry is considerably facilitated at the same time as the need for conventional cleaning carriages is eliminated. It is of course obvious that any kind of suitable locking means could be used to fix the sections to the carriage. For instance the sections could at their lower part be provided with a central fork-line element for engaging the lower horizontal part of the tube frame. The upper part of the side wall of the carriage could be provided with a hook-line element which is turnable about a horizontal axis and when acted on by the section is lifted automatically. When the section has reached its vertical position the upper part of the pipe frame of the section enters a support on the carriage and the hook falls down behind the pipe thereby locking the section to the carriage.

Claims: Carriage for handling laundry in hotels, hospitals or the like, the carriage comprising a wheel-supported chassis (10) provided with one or more shelves (15) on which clean articles are transported and delivered from a laundry, said shelves being removable to form side walls of the chassis to allow transportation of dirty laundry, characterized in that the carriage further comprises one or more sections (11, 12), said carriage and said sections having corresponding means (27, 28, 29) designed to allow releasable attachment of said section(s) to said chassis, and that said section(s) is provided with means (23, 24, 25) for supporting tools and/or articles for cleaning work, whereby with said section(s) attached to the chassis the carriage can be used as a cleaning carriage. Carriage according to claim 1, characterized in that the lower part (20) of the sections (11, 12) is horizontal and continues into a vertical part (21) to be fastened to the carriage, the vertical part supporting sack holders (23), tool holders (24), thread boxes (25) or the like for the remaining articles. Carriage according to claim 2, characterized in that the lower horizontal part (20) supports one or more wheels (22). Carriage according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sections (11, 12) and the carriage (10) have one or more cooperating fastening means (27, 28) which are placed at the lower part of the carriage and the section, respectively, and a locking means (29) which is placed at the upper part of the sections. Carriage according to claim 4, characterized in that the locking means (29) comprises a yoke (30, 33) attached to one of the sections (11, 12) or the carriage (10), the yoke by means of a handle (34) being turned so that it engages the carriage or the section, thereby locking the section to the carriage.

Inventors: ANDREEN, GUNNAR BERTHEL
Applicants: S. BERENDSEN AB
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B62B3
IPC codes: B62B3, D06F95, A47L13