Cloth-blank-stacking Apparatus

Abstract

A stacking apparatus for cloth blanks successively fed, one-at-a-time, into a stacking station. Each blank is deposited on horizontally movable opposing members, then in closed position at the station. Another pair of opposing members, arranged for vertical movement, then close from clearance positions upon the deposited blank, the upper member to hold the cloth blank and the lower member to receive the same when the horizontally movable members are withdrawn from beneath the blank.

Description

The present invention relates generally to cloth handling apparatus, and more particularly to an improved cloth blank stacking apparatus.

The handling of cloth presents problems because of its frictional adherence to any support surface along which it is moved, as well as other peculiarities which make it an extremely difficult material to handle. Thus, there is an unsolved need to provide production equipment for handkerchiefs, scarves, or other such cloth blanks, with stacking apparatus which can effectively receive these blanks and move the same into a stacked condition. For example, it is not readily possible to effectively scrape cloth off of a transporting surface, nor can the cloth be readily picked up, carried, and deposited in a smooth condition on a stack. It is undoubtedly for this reason that presently available stacking apparatus is unduly complicated both in construction and mode of operation.

Broadly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved stacking apparatus for cloth blanks overcoming the foregoing and other shortcomings of the prior art. Specifically, it is an object to achieve cloth blank stacking through the cooperating movements of stacking members which each are characterized by simplicity of construction and operation such that the resulting apparatus is similarly easy to construct and operate.

A stacking apparatus demonstrating objects and advantages of the present invention includes, at a stacking station, initially closed horizontally oriented members on which the blank is easily deposited. Then, a holding member descends from above, in holding contact against the blank while a support platform moves up from below to a blank-receiving position below the blank-supporting members. While the blank is held against lateral movement, the supporting members are stripped from beneath the blank causing the vertical deposit thereof onto the support platform. A repetition of this cycle results in a desired stack buildup on the platform.

The above brief description, as well as further objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be more fully appreciated by reference to the following detailed description of a presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative embodiment in accordance with the present invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a stacking apparatus in accordance with the present invention having external portions broken away to better illustrate internal structural features thereof;

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view of a stacker with the end wall removed to better illustrate internal structural features; and

FIG. 3 is a partial end elevational view similar to FIG. 2 in which positions of movement of the various parts of the stacker are illustrated in full line and phantom line perspective.

Reference is now made to the drawings wherein there is shown a stacking apparatus, generally designated 10, demonstrating objects and advantages of the present invention. Apparatus 10 includes three major or significant operating mechanisms which cooperate with each other to effectively and efficiently cause stacking of cloth blanks 12 which may be handkerchiefs, scarves or like items. The cooperation of these major parts of the apparatus 10 is primarily in the direction of movement in which they operate relative to each other to achieve stacking. Thus, as will be described in greater detail subsequently herein, apparatus 10 includes a conveyor 14 effective to move a succession of blanks 12 along a feed path 16 to a stacking station, generally designated 18, which is located at the discharge end of the conveyor 14. The second major component of the apparatus 10 consists of a pair of cloth blank supporting members 20 and 22 which are operatively arranged for opening and closing movements relative to each other in the direction 24 which, as clearly indicated in FIG. 1, is transverse to the feed direction 16 of the conveyor. The third major component of apparatus 10 consists of an opposing pair of members 26 and 28 (see FIGS. 2 and 3), which are movable also through opening and closing movements relative to each other but in a direction 30 which is transverse to, or 90.degree. out of phase with, the previously noted direction of movement 24 of the cloth blank supporting members 20, 22. The manner in which the parts moving in the just noted directions 16, 24 and 30 relative to the stacking station 18 to produce effective stacking of cloth blanks 12 at that station will become more obvious as the description proceeds.

The conveyor 14, as clearly indicated in the drawings, in a preferred form consists of an endless belt 32 entrained about spaced-apart supporting rollers, one end roller 34 being illustrated, such that longitudinal movement of the belt 32 effectively defines the feed path 16 along which successively deposited cloth blanks 12 are carried to the stacking station 18.

Located at the stacking station 18 is a generally rectangular unit 36 which, as best shown in FIG. 2, has an upper, generally rectangular opening 38 into its interior compartment 40. Operating in the opening 38 are the previously noted cloth blank supporting members 20, 22, each of these members being connected via a piston rod 42 to an appropriate pressure air-operated air cylinder or piston (not shown). As a consequence, members 20, 22 are powered by pressure air, in a well understood manner, through opening and closing movements 24 relative to the opening 38 during operation of the stacking apparatus 10. Specifically, conveyor 14 is intermittently operated so as to deposit the cloth blanks 12, one at a time, on the cloth blank supporting members 20 and 22 in closed position in the opening 38. It should be readily appreciated that this deposit is achieved by the movement of the conveyor 14 in the feed direction 16 during which the leading edge 44 of the blank 12 is projected onto the closed members 20 and 22 and urged fully across these members by virtue of continued movement of the conveyor 14. To facilitate movement of each cloth blank 12 to its deposited position on the members 20 and 22, as illustrated in phantom perspective in FIG. 1, the members 20 and 22 have appropriate low friction surfaces. After the deposit of a cloth blank 12 on the closed members 20 and 22, or possibly even just prior to or during this deposit, the previously noted member 28, which is the cloth stack supporting member of the apparatus 10, is moved from a clearance position below the closed members 20, 22, as illustrated in full line in FIG. 3, into its upper position adjacent these members, as illustrated in phantom perspective in FIG. 3. To this end, member 28 includes a horizontally oriented platform 46, a piston rod 48 and a pressure-air-operated piston or air cylinder 50 having an appropriate connection, as at 52, to a source of pressure air. Operating in a well understood manner, the cloth stack supporting member 28 is urged through closing movement 30 upon the undersurface of the members 20, 22 and will partake of an extent of movement in that direction until there is abutment of the platform 46 or of the top of a cloth stack 12 supported thereon, whichever is the case, against the undersurface of members 20, 22. When this abutment occurs, there will be a buildup of pressure in the air motor 50 which in a well understood manner, is effectively used to terminate operation of the air motor 50 and thus hold the platform in a position adjacent the closed members 20 and 22.

Simultaneously with closing movement 30 of the cloth stack supporting member 28, as just described, there is closing movement of the previously noted opposing member 26, which is the cloth blank holding member of the apparatus 10. Specifically, member 26 includes a depending elastomeric or other suitably fabricated holding element 54 and is urged from a clearance position above the stacking station 18 through movement 30 into a lowered position in holding contact, as at 56, with a cloth blank 12 in position on the closed members 20 and 22. To this end, the holding element 54 is connected via a piston rod 58 to an appropriate air motor or cylinder (not shown).

With the cloth blank 12 held along line contact 56 in its medial area, the mode of operation of the apparatus 10 then contemplates the urging of the members 20 and 22 through withdrawing movement away from each other in the direction 24. It should be readily appreciated that this results in the deposit of the cloth blank 12 through the opening 38 onto the adjacently positioned horizontally oriented platform 46. This is illustrated in FIG. 2, in which it is also illustrated that holding element 54, under appropriate biasing pressure, maintains its holding contact on the cloth blank 12 until actual deposit of this blank is made onto the platform 46 or onto the cloth stack 12 previously built up on the platform, whichever is the case. That is, the cloth blank holding member 26 after making initial contact with the cloth blank 12 is capable of additional downward movement 60 which is approximately equal to the height of the members 20 and 22.

After deposit of the cloth blank 12 on the platform 46, this platform is withdrawn to its starting clearance position below the opening 38 while the holding element 54 is withdrawn in an opposite direction into its elevated clearance position. The cloth blank supporting members 20, 22 are then urged from their open positions through closing movement 24 closing the opening 38 and thereby placing the apparatus 10 in condition for the next cycle of operation which commences with the feeding of the next successive blank 12 by the conveyor 14 to the stacking station 18. It should be readily appreciated that repetition of the moving parts of the stacking apparatus 10 through the stacking movement sequence as described herein will result in a buildup of a cloth blank stack 12 on the platform 46. Ultimately this buildup reaches an extent where it is desirable to remove the stack 12 from the interior of the unit 36. This removal is facilitated by the provision of a hinged panel 62 which when opened, as illustrated in FIG. 2, readily permits access to the cloth stack 12 on the platform 46.

A latitude of modification, change and substitution is intended in the foregoing disclosure and in some instances some features of the invention will be employed without a corresponding use of other features.

Claims

What we claim is:

1. A stacking apparatus for successively fed cloth blanks comprising a conveyor means for transporting said succession of cloth blanks along a prescribed feed path to a stacking station, a first pair of opposing horizontally movable cloth blank supporting members operatively arranged at said stacking station for generally horizontally oriented opening and closing movements relative to each other in directions transverse to said feed path, and a second pair of an opposing vertically movable cloth blank holding member and a cloth stack supporting member operatively arranged at said stacking station for generally vertically oriented opening and closing movements relative to each other in directions transverse to said cloth blank supporting members in accordance with a prescribed stacking movement sequence, said stacking movement sequence including closing movement from above of said cloth blank holding member into holding contact against a cloth blank in position on said closed cloth blank supporting members, closing movement from below of said cloth stack supporting member into a position adjacent said closed cloth blank supporting members, and opening movement of said cloth blank supporting members from beneath said cloth blank resulting in the deposit of said cloth blank on said adjacently positioned cloth stack supporting member, pressure air means for actuating said cloth blank supporting members, said cloth blank holding member and said cloth stack supporting member through said stacking movement sequence, and control means operatively associated with said cloth stack supporting member to terminate said upward closing movement thereof in response to a pressure buildup in said pressure air means, whereby each successive position of said cloth stack supporting member is determined by the abutment of the top of said stack of cloth blanks against said closed cloth blank supporting members.

2. A stacking apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said conveyor means is an endless belt operatively arranged to discharge cloth blanks successively positioned therealong on said closed cloth blank supporting members.

3. A stacking apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein said cloth blank holding member is operatively arranged to contact the medial area of each said cloth blank and remains in said contact during withdrawing opening movement of said cloth blank supporting members from said area of contact, whereby said withdrawing opening movement is effective in causing the deposit of said cloth blank in a substantially smoothed-out condition.