Apparatus for feeding and spreading pieces of cloth
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing spread feeder apparatuses for laundry do not fully utilize the capacity of spreader stations due to time-consuming transportation of sheets from charger stations to spreader stations, limiting their operational efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus features multiple charger stations and grippers that manage cloth corners efficiently, with a central waiting location and conveyer belts to facilitate faster and more organized cloth delivery to spreader clamps, allowing for continuous operation and reduced tangling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple charger stations are used to increase feeding speed, then productivity is improved, but the spreader station capacity is not fully utilized due to transportation time
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces waiting locations at charger stations where laundry pieces are positioned in advance before being transferred to spreader clamps. This preliminary positioning allows the spreader station to be ready to receive laundry immediately when transportation arrives, eliminating idle time and fully utilizing spreader capacity while maintaining high productivity from multiple charger stations
2Productivity
If cloth is held at waiting location retracted from first path, then spreader clamp capacity is fully utilized, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The waiting locations are positioned retracted from the first path in a direction opposite to the machine direction, creating a spatial separation that allows cloth to be held without interfering with the main transportation path. This dimensional arrangement enables multiple cloths to be in transit simultaneously while maintaining a relatively simple apparatus structure
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is an apparatus and a method for receiving and straightening four edge pieces of cloth, the apparatus having a machine direction parallel with a delivery direction of the straightened cloth, the apparatus comprising; at least three charger stations, each for receiving a piece of cloth and locating a pair of adjacent fore edge corners of the cloth, a set of spreader clamps for releasably receiving the pair of adjacent fore edge corners, at least two grippers, each for conveying the pair of fore edge corners from the charger station to the set of spreader clamps, where the grippers are configured to move along at least a portion of a first path transversally to the machine direction, wherein at least one central charger station has a first waiting location for the cloth with the corners being located, the waiting location being retracted opposite the machine direction from the set of spreader clamps away from the first path.