Patent GB-657291-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to laundry and other presses
IPC: D06F71/10
Filed: 1945-11-09
Abstract: 657,291. Fluid-pressure presses. BROWN & GREEN, Ltd., and GUDGEON, R. P. Nov. 9, 1945, No. 30045. [Class 122(iii)] Also in Group VIII] A laundry or other press comprises a plurality of tables or dies mounted on a carrier and moved unidirectionally by fluidpressure operated means along a circular path away from and towards a press head or fixed die in a cycle of operations consisting in moving one table or die from beneath the press head or fixed die after retracting it from engagement therewith, moving a further table or die into position beneath the press head or fixed die, and raising this table into pressing engagement with the press head or fixed die. each cycle of operations being initiated and automatically completed upon one operation only of a single control. As shown in Fig. 1, two tables are carried by arms 16 on a shaft 15 which is rotated to bring the tables in turn beneath the fixed head. The ram 3 for raising and lowering a table relatively to the fixed head is engaged by a plunger 1 which works in a vertical cylinder 2. having a continuous supply of compressed air at its upper end. When the ram cylinder 3a is exhausted at the end of a pressing operation, the plunger 1 moves downwardly so as to uncover a port 4 in the cylinder 2 and permit compressed air to pass through a pipe 5 to a cylinder 6, Fig. 2, for actuating the shaft 15. A piston 7 in the cylinder 6 incorporates a rack 8 for driving the shaft 15 through gearing 10-14 including a pawl 11 and ratchet 12 and a second piston 9 moving in a cylinder 17 of smaller diameter than the cylinder 6. As the piston 9 is advanced in its cylinder, the increase of pressure in the latter causes a breather valve 19 to close a normally-open compressed air inlet pipe 18 and thereby provide a build-up of pressure to cushion the drive. The control of the ram 3 is by a piston 29, Fig. 1, working in a cylinder 30 having a compressed air inlet 32 at one end and an intermediate connection through a pipe 33 to the ram cylinder 3a. The outer end of the piston 29 carries a head 34 with a rotatable roller 35, and the piston is normally held in retracted position to cut off supply to the ram cylinder by a lug 36, which engages the head 34 and is mounted on a pivoted lever 37 urged upwardly by a spring. When a table arrives in position under the fixed head, a screw 46 on the underside of a cam plate 27 on the table arm 16 depresses the lever 37 so as to disengage the lug 36 from the head 34 and allow the piston to move outwardly to permit a spigot on the roller 35 to enter a recess in a second plate 28 on the table arm 16; this outward movement of the piston also causes air to pass through the pipe 33 to the ram cylinder. The lug 36 is so placed that the roller 35 is first engaged by the cam plate 27, thereby urging the piston rearwardly against fluid pressure to cushion the rotation of the tables. As the ram 3 rises in its cylinder to press the operative table against the fixed head, the plunger 1 is also raised so as to cut off the cylinder 6 to the supply of compressed air through the pipe 5 and connect it instead to the exhaust 24. When the pressure in the cylinder 6 falls, the compressed air supplied at 18 to the cylinder 17 returns the pistons 7, 9 and rack 8 to their original positions until arrested by a stop 25. In a modification, the positive drive of the tables occurs for only a part of their movement to an extent determined by an adjustable stop 22, Fig. 2, which contacts the piston 9, this drive being sufficient to carry the tables through the rest of the swing. Each cycle of operations is initiated by a foot-operated lever 42 which acts through a lever 41 to move the piston 29 to connect the pipe 33 and ram cylinder 3a to exhaust, and is stopped with a table in pressing engagement with the fixed head.