Patent GB-1159722-A (GB)
Title: Laundry Folding Device.
Inventor: WEIR HENRY JOHN
IPC: D06F89/00
Filed: 1966-01-31
Abstract: 1,159,722. Folding sheets. H. J. WEIR. 27 Jan., 1967 [31 Jan., 1966], No. 4266/66. Heading D1S. A folding device comprises a belt conveyor 13 so arranged that a sheet may be laid on the upper run thereof and conveyed thereby without contact from above, there being a clearance above the upper run which allows the sheet to be so laid and so conveyed without such contact; means for hanging a sheet to be folded in front of, parallel and adjacent the conveyor 13; and means for acting upon a hanging sheet along a proposed horizontal fold line to lay the sheet on the upper run so that it is conveyed therealong with the fold line leading. In one embodiment, Figs. 1 and 2, the device comprises a folding table 1 having a longitudinal slot 2 at the centre thereof and a plurality of narrow conveyor belts 3 running over the surface thereof driven by a roller 4. A sheet which has already been folded transversely twice is received by the belts 3 and the leading edge thereof engages the operating arms of microswitches 6 and then the operating arm of a microswitch 7 and the arrangement is such that the drive to the roller 4 is stopped as soon as the trailing edge of the sheet leaves the switches 6. If the sheet is too long to be cross-folded and the leading edge thereof operates microswitches 8 before the trailing edge clears the microswitches 6 then the folding mechanism is inhibited and the sheet is removed manually. When the bands 3 are arrested, the centre line of the sheet which lies directly above the slot 2 is depressed downwardly by an air blast from a perforated pipe 9 connected through a valve (not shown) to a compressed air reservoir 10. The air blast urges the centre of the sheet into the nip of counter-rotating rollers 12, Fig. 2, which draw the sheet downwards so that it hangs therefrom. The conveyor 13 comprises a number of narrow belts inclined slightly upwardly and passing around rollers 14, 15. An auxiliary feed roller 14a covered with a friction material is geared to the roller 14 by a chain and sprocket gearing 14b. A rectangular folding plate 16 is hinged at its upper edge 17 and is coupled at its lower edge to the piston arm 18 of a pneumatic ram 19 hinged to the bed of the device. The plate 16 is deflected about its hinge to the position 16a at such a time that the halfway line of the sheet as folded by the rollers 12 is engaged by the lower edge of the plate 16 and deposited on the conveyor 13 which draws the sheet to effect the fold. The plate 16 returns to its rest position when the lower part of the sheet clears a photocell and lamp arrangement 25. The timing for the actuation of the ram 19 is effected by an arrangement of the kind described in Specification 1,081,871, signals for the operation being obtained from microswitches 23 mounted on the reservoir 10 and the arrangement 25. In modifications (not shown), a stationary guide may be substituted for either of the rollers 14 or 15 provided that the remaining roller is driven and the plate 16 may be replaced by a plate substantially parallel to the upper run of the conveyor 13 or a bar movable parallel therewith and arranged to be projected forwardly to effect the fold. In a further embodiment, Fig. 7, a multilane cross-folder has a folding table 32 with three longitudinal slots 33 beneath each of which there are provided folding rollers 34 and a conveyor 35. The first cross-fold is effected by a blade 36 pivotable to a position 36a by a pneumatic ram 38. The second cross-fold is effected by an air blast from a tube 39. The cross-folded sheets are conveyed onto a common delivery table 40. The folder may be used as a single lane machine and only the central folding station is used or as a two lane machine using the outer folding stations only.