NL8204376A - Unit for treating used tarpaulins - lifts, winds, then lowers each into bath, raises whilst brushing, spraying and winding, then folds - Google Patents

Abstract

The installation is intended for individually cleaning and folding tarpaulins (e.g. 6 m long, 5 m wide, weighing 20 kg) such as used for covering rolling mill products during storage and transport. It comprises a disentangling station where each tarpaulin is lifted, damaged tarpaulins separated and undamaged tarpaulins presented to a cleaning station. Here, each tarpaulin is wound (via dummy tarpaulin with hooks) lengthwise on a horizontal drum, then lowered down a laterally opened duct into a cleaning bath and rewound to raise it between rotating brushes, spray nozzles and wipers in the now closed duct. The cleaned and largely dry tarpaulin is now laterally gripped halfway its length and again lowered over a transverse folding bar from which further lateral grippers on swivel arms transfer it to a folding table (RH side) having one 180 deg. swivelable surface on one side and two such surfaces on the other side of a fixed surface to fold the width (e.g. 5 m) into four equal portions (i.e. 3 m x 1.25 m). Used for cleaning and folding tarpaulins used as cover during storage and transport of e.g. rolling mill prods. The installation facilitates and speeds-up a labour-intensive operation which normally requires heavy manual handling.

Description

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DEVICE FOR CLEANING AND FOLDING A SHEET

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The Applicants name as inventors: J

Henrik Jan STOL in Nieuwe Niedorp -Johannes VERMEIJ in Heiloo 5 Jan PALTHE in Heemskerk and

Willem Jan VAN DEN BRINK in Aerdenhout

The invention relates to a device for piece by piece cleaning and folding of tarpaulins, which are supplied in a heap in a dirty and disordered manner.

10 After using tarpaulins to cover rolling mill products during transport storage, the carpets are returned, reducing the number of carpets in circulation, reducing investment and providing a better overview of the quality of the tarpaulins . Before the rugs are reused, they should be globally cleaned and systematically folded. Overall, in this context, means that spotless cleaning is not required, the tarpaulins may, under normal use, give off dirt on the product to be covered. Systematic folding in this context means that the fold should be such that during folding out when the appliance is put into use, it is not necessary to slide the cloth over the product. A wrap fold is preferred. This concerns plastic tarpaulins with dimensions of approximately 5 by 6 meters and a weight of approximately 20 kg.

The object of the invention is to provide a device for the stated purpose with which a large number of tarpaulins can be treated per day without requiring much manpower and in which also seriously damaged tarpaulins can be selected in advance.

The device according to the invention is characterized by: - a detangling tip,. ^ *.

to - vertically pull up one sheet from the pile of covers; 35 - this cloth visually for defects, such as cracks, etc.

/ 2 8204376 * '- ···· V * «' · '... . · ··. '· >> £. · - 2 - HO 297 to be inspected and, if necessary, isolated, which detangling station comprises a column motor rotatable boom which can be rotated through an angle of more than 180 ° and the end of which is provided with an eye through which a nylon cable attached to the column runs, the free end of which carries a hook for the covering to be pulled up; the sheet being presented after turning the boom to: - a cleaning station, for .10 - partially winding the sheet lengthwise; .

- subsequently lowering it into a liquid-filled space in order to wet the covering sheet; 15 - and to pull it vertically out of the liquid and pass it along cleaning, spraying and wiping means, the cleaning station comprising a long rotatable winding drum from which the cloth is hung, a vertical narrow and wide shaft 20 and an immersion tray located below it, the horizontal axis of the drum is parallel to the width of the shaft and the shaft near the lower end is successively provided with a set of wipers, a set of spray pipes and a set of rotating brushes, the brushes and wipers of which can be moved apart, all this in such a way that they do not hinder the lowering of the still dry, but dirty cloth, and come into effect on both sides of the cloth when it is pulled vertically out of the immersion tray by the winding drum, and - a folding station , 30 to - fold the fold-dry, rectangular cloth first along and then across, in quarters; consisting of the take-up drum, a pair of lateral gripping first clamps engaging the center of the hoisted garment to fold longitudinally of the garment and a set of second clamps to make a double U-fold longitudinally and a transverse folding mechanism in the form of a horizontal / 3 8204376 F -HO 297. * * elongated folding table, on which it is placed longitudinally in double U-folded cloth by the second clamps, and the top consists of four parts of the same size, one of which is a fixed shelf and three are foldable with transverse axes of rotation , who take turns turning the overlying part of the cloth into a wrap fold.

For safety reasons, the nylon cable is attached to the column in the detangling station by an overload protection device that shuts off the motor when the applied tensile force becomes too great when the boom is turned.

The take-up drum is provided with a dummy cloth which is detachably attached to the drum and which has a number of hooks at the bottom edge at the same distance as the sailing stockings in the cloth to be hung. The hooking is done by hand.

These hooks are automatically unlocked when the folding station comes into operation.

The dirt released in the immersion tank is for the most part heavier than the liquid and sinks to the bottom in a separated part of the space filled with liquid - called the settling tank.

In the cleaning station, the spray pipes are fed with the aqueous cleaning liquid present in the settling tank. These spray pipes are in constant operation.

The brushes have a direction of rotation such that a downward pull is exerted on a sheet between them.

In the folding station, the folding table is provided with a ramp at each end to spread the arms of the set of second clamps that lay the carpet on the table by such a distance that the sag in the double U-folded cover when laying down. gene on the folding table is pulled out.

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The four parts of the folding table are chamfered near the rotary axes to allow the sheet to sag slightly on the spot there by its own weight, so that a fold is more easily created there when folded up.

The folding parts of the folding table are driven by an elastic coupling with the rotary axis, so that when the drive is stopped, the folding part that is in motion still bounces a bit and the sheet receives an extra push.

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To save weight, the top of the folding table is hollow, while this top is also perforated to prevent the cover from sticking.

The cover sheet which ends up in the wrapping fold on the fixed tray sheet can be removed there by hand. According to a variant of the invention, the tray of the folding table cannot be fixed, but can be provided with two folding parts, which can fold about rotary axes in the longitudinal direction of the folding table, in order to discharge the cloth sideways. It is then recommended if a belt conveyor is arranged next to and parallel to the folding table to remove the folded covering sheet.

If, upon visual inspection, an offered covering sheet proves not to be too dirty, it is possible to operate the device according to the invention in such a way that the lowering of the covering in the immersion tray is omitted and that the covering is immediately passed through. folded transversely. In other words, the program step of treating the cloth in the cleaning station is then skipped.

The device will be explained in more detail below with reference to the drawing.

Fig. 1 shows a top view of the arrangement used.

Fig. 2 and 3 show the detangling station in side and. back view again.

Fig. 4 and 5 show the cleaning station in vertical section 25 resp. in rear view again.

Figures 6, 7 and 8 show the longitudinal folding mechanism in different views, Figure 8 showing a top view of a detail.

Fig. 9 shows the transverse folding mechanism in side view, of which FIG. 10 is a front view.

Fig. 11 is a plan view of a variant of the transverse folding mechanism. _.

The top view according to Fig. 1 shows the feed in a tray 1 of the tarpaulins, which are deposited on a heap 2, from where they are marked with *. . - 35. are offered to the cleaning installation 4 by means of the detraining system 3. Any torn cloths are immediately deposited in the rejection bin 5 for subsequent repair elsewhere.

After cleaning and folding, the rugs are discarded at 6.

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The detangling station 3 shown in Figs. 2 and 3 comprises a vertical column 7 which carries at its upper end a motor-rotatable boom 8 which can be swiveled over an angle of more than 180 ° and is slightly inclined, as can be seen from Fig. 3. The end of the boom 8 is provided with an eye 9 through which a nylon cable 10 attached to the column 7 can pass. The free end 11 of the cable carries a hook 12 with which the operator 13 can pull up one of the covers 14 when the boom 8 swings up. The cable 10 is initially pulled at twice the speed of the boom 8 until the highest point of the boom is reached, after which the cable 10 is placed over the shaft 15. A counterweight 16 is provided beyond the pivot 15 of the boom. The nylon cable 10 is attached to the column 7 by means of an overload protection 17 (so-called strip pulling protection) which switches off the motor if the pulling force exerted during boom rotation 8 (eg.

more than 80kg.). A fence 18 may be provided around the foot of the column 7 for protection.

The cleaning station shown in Figs. 4 and 5 includes a porous frame 20 on which a horizontal drum 21 can rotate around which a dummy cloth 22 is wrapped. The dummy cloth 22 is, for instance with mueketon hooks, detachably attached to the drum 21 and is provided on the bottom edge 23 thereof with a number of hooks 24 at the same mutual distance as the sailing stockings in the cloth to be hung on this dummy cloth 22. From these hooks 24 the cloth (14) pulled from the jop 2 can be hung on the dummy cloth 22 by means of the de-cluttering device 3 and subsequently rolled onto the drum 21 as far as necessary. Below the frame 20 is a vertical shaft 25 opening into a space 26 filled with an aqueous cleaning liquid 27. The space 26 has an inclined bottom and is divided by a suspended vertical bulkhead 26a into a submersible basin (under the shaft 25) and a settling tank 26b.

The shaft 25 contains a number of wipers 28, nozzles 29 and rotatable brushes 30 and consists of two parts which can be moved apart so as not to hinder the lowering of the cover 14 according to the path 31. The nozzles in the spray pipes 29 are fed with the aqueous contained in the settling tank 26b. . »8204376/6 6 HO 297 cleaning fluid 27 and are in constant operation. The liquid is sucked through an immersion pad 29a about 25 cm below the liquid level and pumped to the nozzles 29. The dirt released in the dipping tray is for the most part heavier than the liquid and moves via the inclined bottom under the partition 26a to the settling tray 26b for removal from time to time.

In order to be able to carry out maintenance repairs to the various parts, a running platform 32 is mounted on and around the reservoir 26.

The cloth is lowered into the immersion tray in order to bring it into good contact with the cleaning liquid 27. The cloth is then drawn vertically between the brushes 30 rotating according to the arrows P1 and P2 on the dummy 22, the spray pipes 29 being in operation and the wipers 28 on both sides of the cloth exert an effect on the cloth in such a manner that it leaves the shaft 25 as dry as possible.

The cloth thus generally cleaned should now be folded, first using the clamps and clamping arms arranged on the gantry frame 20, the details of which are shown in Figures 6, 7 and 8.

The length dimension (= 6 meters) of the covering sheet 14 wound partly over the winding drum 21 over a known length distance is known, so that, by means of a pair, clips 33 engaging laterally on the center of the cloth known in that position. the rug can be folded. The bracket 34 to which the clamps 33 are attached is moved backwards while the drum 21 is unwinding simultaneously. When passing the hooks 24 with which the cover 14 is attached to the dummy 22, they are unlocked by means of the unlocking plates 35 and 36, the plates 36 of which have been moved to the plates 35 by cylinders 37. The garment comes to hang loose in U-yorm folded over a horizontal folding pipe 38a that is at a certain height in it. frame 20 is fitted. Meanwhile, a second set of clamps 38 on movable arms 39 pivoting about pivot points 40 and actuated by the cylinders 41 has risen (dotted position in FIG. 6) and takes over the cover in double U-folded condition. 7 8204376 7 HO 297 r '' r: '* l.

the folding table 42 (drawn in full in Fig. 6). The arms 39 are spread slightly upon laying under the influence of a ramp skate 43 arranged on each end of the folding table 42, which causes the arms to spread over such a distance that the sag in the double U-folded cover when laying on the folding table 42 pulled out. After laying down, the terminals (33 and 35, 36) return to their original position *

The sheet thus folded in the longitudinal direction now rests on a folding table 42, which can be seen in Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10. The folding table 42 has a horizontal top that consists of four equally sized parts 44, 45, 46, 47, of which one, namely 45, functions as a fixed shelf. The others, 44, 46 and 47 are foldable, with transversely placed rotary shafts 48, 49, 50 and associated drive cylinders 51, 52, 53. Elastic couplings are arranged between the respective shafts 15 and cylinders, around parts 44, 46 and 47 at allow the folding up near the end of the drive stroke to continue, giving the cloth on top an extra push. Near the pivot axes 48, 49 and 50, the parts are chamfered to allow the cloth to sag slightly there>> that the front fold is present. The folding parts are hollow to make them lighter, and the top is perforated to facilitate the release of the rug. Parts 47, 46 and finally 44 fold over the cloth in such a way that a wrapping fold is created. The following order of movement is indicated with summer numbers I, II and II, and it goes without saying that these parts 47, 46 and 44 to return the folding to their horizontal starting position.

In order to fold the carpet even narrower, in a modification, the shelf 45 cannot be fixed, but can be divided and foldable, • with rotation axes 53, 54 in the longitudinal direction of the table 42, as shown in Fig. 11. Thus, a narrower package can be obtained with this, which can be thrown sideways on a belt conveyor 56 arranged adjacent to and parallel to the table to discharge the thus folded cover 55 (see arrow).

The device is under the control of push button boxes 57 (fig. 4 «i 5), in which the sequence of the different operations is programmed in the different stations.

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If the adhered cloth is not too dirty, the device can optionally be used in such a way that the program step of treating the cloth in the cleaning station is skipped.

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w. * «. 3204376/9

Claims (14)

An apparatus for piece by piece cleaning and folding of tarpaulins which are supplied in a heap in a dirty and disordered manner, characterized by: 5. a detangling station, for - one vertical pull-up from the pile of tarpaulins; . . - visually inspect this cloth for defects, such as cracks, etc., and, if necessary, to separate it, which coitwar station comprises a column with a motor-rotatable boom, which can be rotated through an angle of more than 180 ° and the end of which is provided with an eye through which a nylon cable attached to the column passes, the free end of which carries a hook for the cover to be pulled up; wherein, after the boom has been rotated, the cover is presented to: - a cleaning station for - coiling the cover partially lengthwise; . * - subsequently lowering it into a liquid-filled space in order to wet the tarpaulin; - and pulling it vertically out of the liquid and passing it along cleaning, spraying and wiping means, the cleaning station comprising a long rotatable winding drum from which the cloth is hung, a vertical narrow and wide shaft and an immersion tray located underneath, the horizontal axis of the drum is parallel to the width of the shaft and the shaft near the bottom end is successively provided with a set of 30 wipers, a set of spray pipes and a set of rotating brushes, the brushes and wipers of which can be moved apart, all this such that they do not interfere with the lowering of the still dry, but dirty cloth, and act against both sides of the cloth when it is pulled vertically out of the immersion tray by the winding drum, and • / 10 8204376 ' '10 HO 297' i - a folding station, to - fold the fold-dry, rectangular cloth first along and then transversely, quarterly; 5 consisting of the take-up drum, a pair of first clamps engaging the center of the raised cloth and a pair of second clamps to produce a longitudinal double U-fold, and a transverse folding mechanism in the form of a horizontal elongated folding table, on which the longitudinally in 10 double U-folded cloth is placed by the second clamps, and the top sheet consists of four equally sized parts, one of which is fixed as a fixed sheet and three of which are foldable with transversely arranged rotation axes. fold the lying part of the cloth into a wrap fold. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that in the detangling station the nylon cable is attached to the column by means of an overload protection which switches off the motor when the pulling force exerted during rotation of the boom becomes too great. 3. Device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the winding-up drum is provided with a dummy cloth which is attached releasably to the drum and which is provided on the bottom edge with a number of hooks at the same distance as the sailing stockings in the tarpaulin to be hung. Device as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the hooks 25 are unlocked when the folding station comes into operation. 5. Device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that in the cleaning station the spray pipes are fed with the aqueous cleaning liquid present in the settling tank. • * ·. .... *. · 6. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the spray pipes 30 are in constant operation. / 11 8204376 F -------- Fri -m - * 11 HO 297 * i 7. Device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the brushes have a direction of rotation such that a downward pull is exerted on an intermediate cover lying between them. 8. Device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that in the folding station the folding table is provided at each end with a ramp skate around the arms of the set of second clamps which lay the cloth on the table over such make sure that the sag in the dice U-folded sheet is pulled out when placed on the folding table. 9. Device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the four parts of the folding table are chamfered near the rotary axes in order to allow the sheet to sag there slightly by its own weight there. 9 HO 297 • "*. - 10. Device as claimed in claims 1 and 9, characterized in that the folding parts of the folding table are driven via an elastic coupling to the axis of rotation. V. 1 « 11. Device as claimed in claims 1 and 9, characterized in that the top of the folding table is hollow and perforations are provided. 12. Device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the tray 20 of the folding table can be made in two folding parts, which can fold about rotary axes in the longitudinal direction of the folding table, in order to discharge the cloth sideways. 13. Device as claimed in claim 1 or 12, characterized in that a belt conveyor is disposed next to and parallel to the folding table to discharge the folded covering sheet. 1 1 "·. . "·" "! Method for using the device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the program step of treating the cloth in the cleaning station is skipped. . . 8204376