JPH07144100A - Empty hanger continuous feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Objective] An object of the present invention is to provide an empty hanger continuous supply device capable of promoting automation and reducing costs by being incorporated into an automated laundry line. [Structure] A plurality of empty hangers are stored in the stock section in a stacked state. The entire stock section can be lifted and lowered by a lifting device. Further, above the stock part, only the uppermost empty hanger is adsorbed and held by the suction operation of the suction cup arranged at the tip of the telescopic rod to move closer to the locking part of another device, and the suction cup An arm portion is provided for releasing suction holding of the empty hanger by stopping the suction operation. Further, the control of the elevation control of the elevation device and the operation control of the arm portion is performed by the control device. Further, a height sensor that sends a height detection signal of the uppermost empty hanger to the control device is provided on the side of the stock portion.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an empty hanger continuous feeder suitable for use in an automated laundry line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the current laundry industry, in order to reduce costs, the laundry is collected in one place, and the washed laundry is automatically distributed to each sales office until it can be delivered. An automated line has been established. That is, laundry that is collected and washed in one place, for example,
Laundry items such as Y-shirts and blouses are automatically hung on empty hangers moving on the laundry line, and are automatically packaged together with the hangers by the packaging device and then passed through the laundry distribution device to the designated sales office. It will be distributed in the future.

[0003]

However, even in the above-mentioned automated laundry line, the operation of supplying an empty hanger to the line must be performed by grasping the empty hanger and supplying it to a predetermined position on the line. Since it had to be done in the first place, it was the current situation that it relied on the manual work of workers. Therefore, in order to promote automation and further improve cost reduction, it is desired to develop a device that automatically supplies empty hangers to an automated laundry line. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an empty hanger continuous supply device capable of promoting automation and reducing costs by being incorporated into an automated laundry line.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An empty hanger continuous feeding device of the present invention is a stock section for accommodating a plurality of empty hangers in a stacked state, a lifting device for lifting and lowering the entire stock section, and a stock section. The suction operation of the suction cup disposed at the tip of the telescopic rod above the table causes only the uppermost empty hanger to be adsorbed and held and moved closer to the locking part of another device, and the suction operation of the suction cup is stopped to stop the empty hanger. Of the arm to release the suction and hold of the device, a control device to control the lifting and lowering of the lifting device and the operation of the arm, and the height detection signal of the uppermost empty hanger, which is arranged on the side of the stock part. The device is characterized by comprising a height sensor for sending to the device.

[0005]

According to the empty hanger continuous feeding device of the present invention, the height position of the empty hanger at the uppermost stage of the plurality of empty hangers housed in the stock section is always set to the height sensor. It has been detected. When the height of the uppermost empty hanger is low, the entire stock portion is intermittently raised by the lifting control of the control device, and the uppermost empty hanger is set to a predetermined height. On the other hand, the suction surface provided at the tip of the telescopic rod of the arm part sucks and holds the holding surface of the uppermost empty hanger set to a predetermined height, and then the arm part that holds the empty hanger reaches the locking part. The empty hanger is supplied to the locking portion by moving and releasing the suction operation of the suction cup. As a result, the automated continuous supply operation of empty hangers can be performed.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an empty hanger continuous feeding device of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The empty hanger continuous supply device 1 of the present embodiment has a stock section 3 for accommodating a plurality of empty hangers 2 ..., an elevating device 4 for performing an intermittent ascending operation of the stock section 3, and a stock section 3 arranged above the stock section 3. The height position of the uppermost empty hanger 2 of the arm 5 that is installed and holds only one hanger 2 and supplies it to a predetermined position of the automation line, and the empty hanger 2 stored in the stock 3. The height sensor 6 is a device including a height sensor 6 and a control device 12.

As shown in FIG. 1, the empty hanger 2 has a suspension portion 8 formed above the center of a shoulder portion 7 extending horizontally to the left and right, and guide portions 9 are formed at both left and right ends of the shoulder portion 7, respectively. Is a hanger in which a lower guide portion 31 is formed in parallel with the shoulder portion 7 between the guide portions 9 and 9. A holding surface 10 that is a flat surface is provided below the suspension portion 8.

The shirts 11 are suspended on the empty hanger 2, and the left and right sleeve portions 12 and the side portions 13 are folded to the back side in conformity with the guide portions 9, 9 of the hanger 2 to have an elongated shape. The packaging is finished by covering the tubular packaging bag from above.

As shown in FIG. 2, the stock section 3 has a hanger storage base 3a for accumulating and storing empty hangers 2 ...
And the device body 1 hanging from the lower surface of the hanger storage table 3a.
four guide rods 3b that slidably engage with a,
It is composed of four hanger guide rods 3c ... Fixed to the upper part of the apparatus main body 1a, penetrating a part of the hanger housing base 3a and standingly provided on the upper part. And empty hanger 2
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 (a), ... Are stored on the hanger storage base 3a in a state in which the inside of the four hanger guide bars 3c slidably abuts. Further, one end of an elevating rod 4a of an elevating device 4 extending in the vertical direction is rotatably connected to the lower surface of the hanger accommodating table 3a.

The elevating device 4 is composed of the elevating rod 4a having an external thread, and a drive motor 4b for elevating the hanger accommodating table 3a by rotating the elevating rod 4a in the forward and reverse directions. Then, the drive motor 4b rotates the elevating rod 4a in the forward and reverse directions when an operation signal is sent from the control device indicated by reference numeral 30 in the figure, and moves the hanger housing base 3a up and down to a predetermined position. There is.

Further, the arm portion 5 is arranged on the upper part of the column 13 standing upright along the side portion of the apparatus main body 1a. The arm portion 5 includes an arm drive motor 14, a rotary shaft 15 that rotates about an axis by the drive of the arm drive motor 14, a cylinder portion 16 connected to the tip of the rotary shaft 15, and a cylinder rod of the cylinder portion 16 ( (Expandable rod) 16a and a suction cup 17 attached to the tip thereof. That is, the arm drive motor 14 rotates the rotary shaft connected to the shaft about the axis by supplying air from an air drive source (not shown). Due to the rotation of this rotating shaft, the cylinder part
It moves from the vertically downward state shown in FIG. 3 (a) to the horizontal direction shown in FIG. 3 (b). Further, the cylinder portion 16 includes
An air drive source is connected, and the cylinder rod 16a performs an advancing operation and a retreating operation up to a predetermined stroke by the air supply from the air driving source. Further, an air pipe 18 communicating with the inside of the suction cup 17 provided at the tip of the cylinder rod 16a is connected. At the other end of the air pipe 18, there is a suction cup control unit 19 which can bring the inside of the suction cup 17 into a substantially vacuum state by a suction operation and can also bring the inside of the suction cup 17 into a positive pressure state by supplying air. It is arranged.

The height sensor 6 includes an optical transmitter 6a disposed on a stand 20 standing upright on the opposite side of the support 13 with the apparatus body 1a interposed therebetween, and the support 1 having the same height as the optical transmitter 6a.
3 and a light receiving portion 6b arranged in the third position. The height sensor 6 is specifically a device that uses a photoelectric tube, a photocell, a phototransistor, and the like, and includes an optical transmitter 6a.
The light incident from the optical receiver 6b toward the optical receiver 6b is received.
Is detected by the controller 3 and the amount of change in the light is used as a detection signal.
Send to 0. Then, the control device 30 determines, based on the detection signal from the height sensor 6, whether or not the uppermost empty hanger 2 has risen to a predetermined height, and the uppermost empty hanger 2 reaches the predetermined height. When it is not raised and is lower than that position, an operation signal is sent to the drive motor 4b to intermittently raise the hanger housing base 3a.

A pair of limit switches 21a and 21b are provided on the lower side of the support column 13 at a predetermined interval in the vertical direction. When the rising edge of the hanger housing 3a comes into contact with the contact of the upper limit switch 21a, the detection signal of the limit switch 21a is transmitted to the control device 30.
To the hanger storage table 3 under the control of the control device 12.
a is descending. When the edge of the descending hanger housing 3a comes into contact with the contact of the lower limit switch 21b, the limit switch 21
The detection signal of b is sent to the control device 30, and the descent of the hanger housing base 3a is stopped by the control of the control device 30.

Next, the empty hanger supply operation of the present apparatus 1 having the above-mentioned configuration will be described. First, the height sensor 6 detects the height position of the uppermost empty hanger 2 among the empty hangers 2 ... When the control device 30 receives the detection signal from the height sensor 6 and sends the operation signal to the drive motor 4b when it determines that the empty hanger 2 at the uppermost stage has not risen to the predetermined height and is still low. , The hanger accommodating table 3a is intermittently lifted to set the uppermost empty hanger 2 to a predetermined height.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), the cylinder rod 16a is advanced by supplying air to the vertically downward cylinder portion 16 to move the cylinder rod 16a.
The suction cup 17 at the tip of is contacted with the holding surface 10 of the empty hanger 2 set to a predetermined height. Then, the sucker control unit 19
Perform a suction operation, the inside of the suction cup 17 is brought into a substantially vacuum state via the air pipe 18, and the suction cup 17 is held by the holding surface 10.
Hold by adsorption. Next, the cylinder part 16 holding the empty hanger 2 retracts the cylinder rod 16a by supplying air, and lifts the empty hanger 2 apart from the other empty hangers 2 ...

Next, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), air is supplied to the arm drive motor 14 to rotate the rotary shaft 15 by approximately 90 °, and the cylinder portion 16 is oriented horizontally. Then, by supplying air to the cylinder portion 16, the cylinder rod 16a holding the empty hanger 2 is advanced to engage a part of the empty hanger 2 with the locking portion 26.
Then, the suction cup 1 is supplied by the air supply from the suction cup control unit 19.
The inside of 7 is brought into a positive pressure state, the suction on the holding surface 10 of the suction cup 17 is released, and the empty hanger 2 is locked by the locking portion 26 of the automation line.
Supply to. The height of the uppermost empty hanger 2 accommodated in the hanger accommodating table 3a becomes lower than a predetermined height when the locking portion 26 is supplied to the empty hanger 2, but the height sensor 6 detects the height. The control device 30 intermittently raises the hanger accommodating table 3a and sets the empty hanger 2 at the uppermost stage to a predetermined height. After that, the empty hanger 2 is continuously supplied to the locking portion 26 by repeating the above operation.

According to the empty hanger continuous supply device 1 of this embodiment, the empty hangers 2 at the top of the plurality of empty hangers 2 ... If the height position is constantly detected by the height sensor 6 and the height of the empty hanger 2 is low, the control device 30
The entire hanger storage table 3a is intermittently raised by the drive control of the drive motor 4b to set the uppermost empty hanger 2 to a predetermined height, while the uppermost empty hanger 2 set to a predetermined height is The holding surface 10 and the arm portion 5
The suction cup 17 provided at the tip of the cylinder rod 16a is sucked and held, the empty hanger 2 is moved to the locking portion 26 by the rotation of the rotating shaft 5b and the advance of the cylinder rod 16a, and the suction hanger 2 is released to suck the empty hanger 2 Since it can be supplied to the locking portion 26, an automated continuous supply operation of empty hangers can be performed.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the empty hanger continuous feeding device of the present invention. The same components as those shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. The empty hanger continuous supply device of the present embodiment is provided with a rotary drive motor 28 capable of intermittently rotating the column 13 around the axis. Reference numeral 29 in the drawing is a motor support base. The device of this embodiment configured as described above can obtain the same effects as those of the device shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and can greatly expand the movement radius of the arm portion 5, so that It is also possible to dispose the supply destination (locking portion 26) of the hanger 2 at a position apart from the apparatus instead of being near the arm portion 5 as shown in FIG.

2 and 4, the stock portion 3 is shown integrated with the apparatus main body 1a.
The present invention is not limited to this. For example, a plurality of cassette-type holders accommodating a plurality of empty hangers 2 ...
When the remaining amount of ... Is exhausted, another holder may be arranged to be movable up and down on the apparatus main body 1a.

[0020]

As described above, in the empty hanger continuous feeding device of the present invention, the height position of the empty hanger at the uppermost stage of the plurality of empty hangers stored in the stock section is set higher. If the height of the empty hanger is constantly detected and the height of the empty hanger is low, the entire stock part is intermittently raised by the lifting / lowering control of the lifting / lowering device by the control device so that the empty hanger at the uppermost stage has a predetermined height. While setting
The suction surface of the uppermost empty hanger set to a predetermined height is suction-held by the suction cup installed at the tip of the cylinder rod of the arm section, and then the arm section moves to the locking section to suck the suction cup. Since the empty hangers can be supplied to the locking portion by releasing, the automated continuous supply operation of the empty hangers can be performed. Therefore, in the laundry automation line, empty hangers can be continuously supplied to a part of the line without requiring an operator, and automation can be promoted and cost reduction can be achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an empty hanger according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of an empty hanger continuous supply device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation of the arm unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the empty hanger continuous supply device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Empty Hanger Continuous Supply Device 2 Empty Hanger 3 Stock Part 3a Hanger Storage Stand 4 Lifting Device 4a Lift Bar 4b Drive Motor 5 Arm Part 6 Height Sensor 10 Holding Surface for Empty Hanger 13 Strut 14 Arm Drive Motor (Arm Part) 15 Rotation Shaft 16 Cylinder part 16a Cylinder rod (expandable rod) 17 Sucker 26 Locking part (locking part of other device) 30 Control device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A stock unit for accommodating a plurality of empty hangers in a stacked state, an elevating device for elevating and lowering the entire stock unit, and an upper end of the telescopic rod disposed above the stock unit. An arm portion that suction-holds only the uppermost empty hanger by the suction operation of the suction cup and moves it closer to the locking portion of another device, and releases the suction-holding of the empty hanger by stopping the suction operation of the suction cup, A control device that controls the raising and lowering of the elevating device and an operation control of the arm part, and a height sensor that is disposed on the side of the stock part and that sends a height detection signal of the uppermost empty hanger to the control device. An empty hanger continuous feeding device characterized by being provided.