GB693351A - Improvements in and relating to laundry folding machinery - Google Patents

Abstract

693,351. Folding fabrics. MANLOVE, ALLIOTT & CO., Ltd., and BOAM, H. June 9, 1950 [July 25, 1949], No. 19534/49. Class 42 (ii). Articles delivered by an ironing machine to a folding machine are conveyed by a feed conveyer to a main conveyer on which folding is effected and which is driven continuously in one direction so as to convey the articles away from the feed conveyer at a speed greater than that at which they are delivered by the ironing machine so that it is ensured that successive articles received by it are spaced from each other. The folding machine may include the feed conveyer, the latter being driven at a lower speed than the main conveyer, and means being provided for pulling the articles off the feed conveyer at a speed faster than that of the feed conveyer. As shown, articles are fed from an ironer 12 to the main conveyer 10 of a folding machine, of the type shown in Specification 651,340, by a feed conveyer 16 comprising belts 18, 20 which feed the articles forward and upward and then downward and backward and are driven at the same surface speed as the delivery speed of the ironer. Conveyer 10 is driven at a higher speed than conveyer 16. A roller 26 forms a nip with the receiving end of conveyer 10 so that an article reaching the nip is advanced at the speed of conveyer 10 and is thus moved forward relative to the following article. Roller 26 may be replaced by a belt running around two rollers. The total length of belts 18, 20 must at least equal the length of the longest article to be folded, e.g. a 7 foot sheet. The ironer and folder may be driven independently, conveyer 18 being preferably driven by the ironer motor.