Patent GB-706093-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to laundry folding machines
Inventor: BANCROFT GEORGE LEWIS
IPC: D06F89/00
Filed: 1950-06-26
Abstract: 706,093. Folding fabrics. MANLOVE, ALLIOTT & CO., Ltd. July 3, 1951 [June 26, 1950; Dec. 7, 1950; March 17, 1951], Nos. 15920/50, 30003/50 and 6460/51. Class 42 (2) In a laundry folding machine of the kind in which the leading edge of an article is lifted and held while the following part travels along on a conveyer beneath, the formation of "dog-eared" corners on the folded article is prevented by the provision of a lifting plate which extends across the full width of the conveyer so as to support the article over the whole length of its leading edge. The lifting plate lies close to the upper rim of the conveyer and is situated (a) as. in Fig. 1, so that the leading edge of an article is deposited on to it as the article is fed towards the conveyer from the ironer, or (b), as in Fig. 5, so that the leading edge is deposited on to it as the article is fed by the conveyer over a series of ramps which project upwards through spaces between the bands of the conveyer. As shown, Fig. 1, a lifting plate 38 extending across the whole width of the machine is carried by arms 36 pivoted at 34 and is located in a gap between a curved feed plate 30, leading from an ironer 10, and the first section 12 of a conveyer 12, 121 comprising laterally-spaced bands 24. Interruption by the leading edge of an article of a light beam, passing from a lamp 50 through an opening 54 in plate 30 to a photo-cell 52, operates through a time-delay control to swing plate 38 upwards so as to clamp the leading edge of the article against a fixed rod 48. The remainder of the article then passes beneath plate 38 on to conveyer 12, and the passage of the trailing edge of the article over opening 54 causes plate 38 to release the leading edge so as to substantially coincide with the trailing edge. A second fold is imparted to the article by a. second plate 38<1> similar to 38 located in the gap between the conveyer sections 12, 12<1>; in this case control is effected by a rod 62 which depends between adjacent bands of conveyer 12 and is swung about its pivot 64 by the passage of an article so as to bring a mask 66 into the path of a light beam from a lamp 521 to a photo-cell. The twice-folded article is delivered on to a table 67. In an alternative arrangement, Fig. 5, a single conveyer 12 is used ; the first edge-lifting operation is effected by a lifting plate 68, extending over the whole width of the machine, on to which the leading edge of the article is guided by fixed ramps 78 projecting upwardly between the conveyer bands, and the second lifting operation is effected similarly by a plate 68<1> co-operating with ramps 78<1>. In both arrangements, the feed shoe 30 can be replaced by a conveyer preferably made up of spaced bands. A control device as at 62 can be used with the feed plate or conveyer instead of that shown. Instead of co-operating with a fixed rod, the lifting plates 38, 38<1>, 68, 68<1> could form one jaw of a clamp movable as a whole after closing of its jaws. Specification 651,340 is referred to in the second and third Provisional Specifications.