Supports: racks – With trackway
Patent
1998-01-07
1999-04-27
Gibson, Jr., Robert W.
Supports: racks
With trackway
211113, A47F 500
Patent
active
058970045
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL AREA
The present invention relates to a product carrier for use during internal transport and the treatment of garments in, for example, laundries, whereby the garments are hung up on hangers at a hanging station and moved forward on a rail. The product carrier is carried by the rail and the hangers are hung up into this and not onto the rail. The invention also relates to a method for internal transport of hangers.
PRIOR ART
In laundries and similar arrangements where garments and clothes are to be treated the garments or the clothing are usually hung up on a hanger, either at the beginning of the treatment or at a stage during the treatment, for example after the washing and drying. The hanger in its turn is hung up onto a transport arrangement, comprising a product carrier and a rail or the like. The hangers are transported to further treatment stations, such as "finishing treatments", comprising steamwetting of the clothes, blowing of the clothes to straighten out creases etc., and finally to the sorting and packing station for delivery to the customers.
In large laundries which, for example, wash garments for hospitals, larger companies and the like a very large number of garments are washed every day. These garments shall be subjected groupwise to different treatment and they shall also be sorted in different groups for different customers. To enable this to be done quickly, easily and without excessive costs or errors, electronics have been used and the movement of the garments is guided after the washing and the drying on the transport rail by means of a guiding system, for example a computer. One condition for the transport of the hangers to be able to be guided by a computer to the different treating stations and unloading stations is that the computer knows which garments are present on the transport track and where they are to be transported. The hangers are usually hung up in a product carrier which moves on the rail and both the hangers and the product carrier are therefore in most, or at least in some cases, marked in some way so that they can be identified by the computer or information regarding the hanger and the product carrier is manually entered into the computer so that it knows the position of the hanger.
Hangers, product carriers and garments can be marked with bar codes or even with a radio frequency identification or the like. The garments belonging to large customers are advantageously usually marked once and for all and the marking comprises identification of the customer, what article is marked, which person in the client company uses the article, etc. The marking can comprise only one or a few details of such information. The garments may also be completely unmarked. The marking which then further is needed to enable the computer to guide the garment is then mostly carried out manually at the hanging station.
An example of an apparatus of prior art is disclosed in DE-A-3 834 576
THE TECHNICAL PROBLEM
Systems such as those described above usually work well and they do not require too much manual work. However, some manual handling occurs, especially in relation to hanging up all the hangers provided with the garments into the product carrier and removing these hangers at the end station. An automatic method and an automatic arrangement for carrying out these operations have therefore long been desireable.
THE SOLUTION
According to the present invention a product carrier for use during internal transport of hangers in, for example, laundries has been brought about, which product carrier comprises an elongated rigid element, for example a rod, having suspending arrangements in the shape of rolls or the like intended to hang on a rail and which carries a fastening device for a hanger, which product carrier is characterized in that the fastening device comprises a slot which in the hanging position of the product carrier is downwardly open for insertion of a hanging hook of a hanger, and a pivotable lock in the slot, which lock is intended to lock and carry the
REFERENCES:
patent: 3785474 (1974-01-01), Nakamoto
patent: 3921814 (1975-11-01), Solomon
patent: 4664267 (1987-05-01), Clark
patent: 5076446 (1991-12-01), Simmerman et al.
Hansen Anders L.
Neugebauer Karl
AB Metric Interconveyor
Gibson , Jr. Robert W.
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