Opuszenski, Theodore
| 1. | A device for stacking garments deposited on a worktable, comprising: a first conveyor belt assembly with first and second ends, said first conveyor belt assembly being positionable relative to said worktable so as to be able to move garments across the worktable from the second end where they are deposited, to the first end; a second conveyor belt assembly with first and second ends, said second conveyor belt assembly extending generally away from said worktable and being positioned at an angle to said first conveyor belt assembly, the first end of said second conveyor belt assembly being generally coaxial with said first end of said first conveyor belt assembly; a slide positioned generally parallel to said second conveyor belt assembly, said slide being attached to said worktable adjacent the first end of said first conveyor belt assembly, said second conveyor belt assembly engaging garments at the second end of said first conveyor belt assembly and moving them along said slide to discharge the garments at the second end of said second conveyor belt assembly; and a discharge device at the second end of said second conveyor belt assembly for discharging said garments in a uniform orientation to form a stack. |
| 2. | A device as in claim 1 wherein each of said conveyor belt assemblies having conveyor belts with a plurality of projections, said conveyor belts being located about a pair of rollers located, respectively, at the first and second ends, the rollers at the first ends of each conveyor belt assembly engaging a rotation means for rotating said engaged first rollers. |
| 3. | A device as in claim 2 wherein said engaged first rollers are coaxial. |
| 4. | A device as in claim 3 wherein said rotation means includes a DC motor and a gear assembly. |
| 5. | A device as in claim 1 wherein said first conveyor belt assembly is pivotable between first and second positions, said first conveyor belt assembly being adjacent to said worktable when in said first position and spaced from said worktable when in said second position. |
| 6. | A device as in claim 5 wherein when said first conveyor belt assembly is in said first position, said first conveyor belt assembly forms a substantially right angle with said second conveyor belt assembly. |
| 7. | A device as in claim 5 wherein said first conveyor belt assembly is pivoted by a pneumatic piston. |
| 8. | A device as in claim 1 wherein said second conveyor belt assembly forms an obtuse angle with said worktable. |
| 9. | A device as in claim 2 wherein said projections are formed of a resilient material. |
| 10. | A device as in claim 1 wherein said slide is formed of a resilient, lighttransmitting material. |
| 11. | A device as in claim 1 wherein said slide is attached to said worktable with at least one spring such that the distance between said slide and said projections will automatically adjust to variations in the thickness of said garments. |
| 12. | A device as in claim 1 wherein said discharge device comprises a deflector positioned to one side of the second end of said second conveyor belt assembly, said slide terminating just before the second end of said second conveyor belt assembly, and said deflector is curved toward and above said slide, such that said garments are directed uniformly over and away from said slide. |
| 13. | A device as in claim 1 further comprising a door means movable between opened and closed positions, said door means opening in the direction towards the worktable, said door means, when in the closed position, receiving garments lateral ly from said second conveyor belt assembly after contact with said discharge device, said door means allowing said garments to drop onto the stack without substantial rotation of said garment when moved into the open position. |
| 14. | A device as in claim 2 wherein a proximal end of said projections is wider than said belts, said proximal end forming a protective cover for said belts. |
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to stacking devices for gar ments. Specifically, the invention provides a belt system fo moving a garment from a sewing workstation and stacking th garments for the next phase of their manufacture.
While the mechanization of the garment industry is ove a century old, several operations in garment fabrication ar still performed by hand. For example, stacking pants afte completion at a sewing workstation is still done by hand Although this does not involve heavy lifting, manual stackin does require considerable effort, especially after a stack ha risen to a height of two or more feet. Over an entire day o stacking, worker fatigue and muscle strain become evident. This can seriously affect overall productivity and contribut to worker absence and increased healthcare costs.
This manual stacking operation has been necessary as n appropriate machines exist that will stack the pants in th proper orientation, for example, with the zipper facing up. Highly sophisticated and expensive robots could probabl perform the task, but in the garment industry, these robots ar simply not feasible at this time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to providing a automatic, mechanical stacking device for garments that will stack articles upon completion at a workstation.
It is an object of the invention that the stacking device automatically adjust to various thicknesses of material.
It is a further object of the invention that the garments be stacked in the proper orientation for the next production phase.
It is a further object of the invention that the stacking device be useful when an operator is sitting or standing.
It is a further object of the invention that the stacking device be selectably movable to a position that will not interfere with the sewing operation of the workstation.
It is a further object of the invention that the stacking device be easily manufactured and provide significant economic and ergonomic benefits for the garment industry. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a plurality of conveyor belt assemblies are attached to a worktable. Each assembly has two conveyor belts that share one common end axis. All of the conveyor belts are provided with a plurality of flexible cleats for engaging the garment. One of the belts in each assembly is movable between a position away from the worktable, and a position near the worktable, where the cleats can engage the garment and pull it toward the other belt. The other belt in each assembly is nearly vertical and is posi¬ tioned adjacent to a parallel slide. In operation, the garment is fed by the first belt into the space between the slide and the cleats on the vertical belt. These cleats engage the garment and move it up the slide. The garments are then discharged over the top of the slide so as to form a stack of garments with a common orienta- tion.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The foregoing and other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description of a preferred embodiment in conjunction with a review of the appended drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a pants stacker
apparatus according to the present invention;
Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view according t Fig. 1 and showing the movement of pants through the apparatus Fig. 3 is an even greater enlargement of the top of th slide mechanism of the apparatus of Fig. 1;
Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the cleats o a conveyor belt according to the invention; and
Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the rotatio mechanism of the apparatus of Fig. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
As shown in Fig. 1, the garment stacker of the presen invention is preferably attached to a pants sewing workstatio having a sewing machine 12 and a worktable 14. In th preferred embodiment, the stacker has three conveyor bel assemblies 16. Each assembly has a vertical conveyor belt 1 that forms a slightly obtuse angle with the worktable 14. Eac assembly 16 also has a pivotable conveyor belt 20 positione with one end near the bottom end of the vertical belt 18. Al of the belts 18,20 are supported by rollers 22,24 which engag the interior of the belts 18,20. Each belt 18,20 travels o two rollers, a free-wheeling roller 22 and a power roller 24.
The power rollers 24 are connected to a shaft 26, whic extends along the common axis of the power rollers 24. Th shaft extends into a rotation mechanism 28, which is preferabl a DC motor 30 with a gear box 32. The rotation mechanism 2 drives the shaft 26, which in turn drives the power rollers 2 so all the belts 18,20 move. The speed of the motor 30 can b adjusted to alter the rotation speed of the rollers 24 and th belts 18,20.
Also positioned on the shaft 26, although not rotatin with it, are support bearings 34, one on each side of eac power roller 24. Each support bearing 34 is attached to on end of a support plate 36. Each pair of support plates 36 i.e., two plates 36 on either side of a power roller 24, exten radially from the shaft 26 and rotatably suspend a roller 2 between their distal ends.
Attached to each conveyor belt 18,20, over the entire outer surface, are a plurality of resilient projections 38 (Fig. 4), extending normal from the belts 18,20. The projec¬ tions 38 can be any shape, but are preferably one inch-high tabs perpendicular to the direction of belt travel, and formed of a resilient material, such as foam plastic.
After a garment, preferably a pair of pants 40, has been sewn by the sewing machine 12, the garment is inserted at the distal end A of the pivotable belts 20 between the roller 22 and the worktable 14 (Fig. 2). The conveyor belts 20 are lowered toward the worktable 14 so the pants 40 are slightly compressed between the projections 38 of belts 20 and the worktable 14, thus causing frictional engagement with the projections 38 and the pants. On the face of the pivotable belts 20 adjacent to the worktable 14, the projections 38 move toward the power roller 24 when the rotation mechanism 28 is energized. This drags the pants 40 toward the vertical belts 18 along the path of arrow B.
Attached to one of the support plates 36 supporting each of the pivotable conveyor belts 20 is a piston rod 42.
Each piston rod 42 cooperates with a complementary cylinder 44, which is secured to a cross bar 46. The cross bar 46 comprises part of a frame assembly 48, which is mounted directly to the worktable 14. The cylinders 44 are preferably pneumatically- charged, and powered by an electronically controlled pneumatic source (not shown) . By charging and discharging the cylinders
44, the piston rods 42 cause the support plates 36 to pivot about the shaft 26. The pivotable conveyor belts 20 are thus alternated between a position where the projections 38 are near the surface of the worktable 14 and a position where they are away from the worktable 14. When the piston rods 42 are extended and the pivotable conveyor belts 20 are near the worktable 14, the pivotable belts 20 and the vertical belts 18 form a substantially right angle. The worktable 14 is preferably fashioned with a gentle slope downward in a direction along the pivotable belts 20.
This sloping worktable 14 terminates in the area C generally
below the power rollers 24 and has a spring slide 50 attache near its edge and extending upward, parallel to the vertica conveyor belts 18. The spacing between the slide 50 and th distal end of the projections 38 on the vertical belts 18 i minimal, but the slide 50 incorporates two features that allo the pants 40 to move along the slide 50, while maintainin frictional engagement with the projections 38 of the vertica belts 18. The slide 50 is preferably made of a slightl resilient material and is also attached to the frame assembl 48 with springs 52. Both of these features allow the slide t move away from the vertical belts 18 if the pants 40 are thick In addition, the resiliency of the projections 38 allows for wide range of material thickness.
To assist in the transition from the worktable 14 t the slide 50, the slide 50 is provided with a curved bottom either integrally molded or as an extra component. The slid 50 is preferably formed from a transparent, safety, scratch resistant material so that the pants 40 can be viewed at al times for control purposes. The pivotable conveyor belts 20 can also compensate fo variations in the thickness of the pants 40. When the belt are lowered, pneumatic pressure in the cylinders 44 i released. The weight of the belts 20 provides sufficien downward pressure to grip the pants 40, but the belts 20 ca still pivot up and down slightly, if necessary. The cleats 3 on belt 20 engage the pants and move them upwardly along th slide 50 to position D.
To aid in discharging the garment at the top of th slide 50 (position F), a curved deflector 54, as shown in Fig 3, is attached to the top of one of the two support plates 3 on each vertical conveyor belt 18. The deflector 54 prevent the pants 40 from traveling over the top of the vertical belt 18 and back to the worktable 14. The deflector 54 also keep the pants 40 in the proper orientation as they leave th vertical belts 18.
After the pants 40 have traveled past the deflector 54 they are discharged onto a trap door assembly 56 (position F i
Fig. 2). The assembly 56 is attached to the frame 48 and includes two trap doors 58 that open downward, allowing the pants 40 to drop down and form a stack of pants (position G). The assembly 56 is designed to keep the pants 40 in proper orientation for stacking by having the deflector 54 positioned laterally to the doors 58. This causes the pants 40 to slide across the doors 58, rather than being dropped or rolled onto them, and thus maintains its orientation. The trap doors 58 are controlled by a known pneumatic piston system. When the sewing machine 12 is in operation, a foot pedal 62 controls the selective connection of a pneumatic source to the cylinders 44, causing the pivotable belts 20 to pivot about the shaft 26 to form an acute angle with the vertical belts 18 (Fig. 1). This keeps any part of the stacker from interfering with the sewing operation until the pants 40 are finished at the sewing machine 12.
The length of the belts 18,20 and the support plates 36 and thus, the distance between the power rollers 24 and the rollers 22, can be adjusted during manufacture depending on the type of workstation and whether the operator sits or stands at the workstation.
In one embodiment of the invention, the proximal ends of the projections 38 form a covering for the conveyor belts 18,20, that is significantly wider than the belts 18,20. This covering serves as a protective shield at the juncture of the belts 18,20 and the rollers 22,24 to avoid having articles or the operator getting caught between them. The support plates 36 have substantially the same shape as the lateral cross section of the conveyor belts 18,20 to further protect the operator or articles from being caught in the rollers 22,24.
Since the rotation mechanism 32 and the pneumatic source connected to the cylinders 44 are electronically con¬ trolled, two disabling switches (not shown) can be incorporated into the stacker. The first switch is used as an emergency stop button, causing the entire stacker to stop. The second switch is used to stop or delay the stacker temporarily, while the operator examines the pants 40 as part of a normal inspec-
tion routine.
While the embodiment of the invention shown and described is fully capable of achieving the results desired, it is to be understood that this embodiment has been shown and described for purposes of illustration only and not for purposes of limitation. Other variations in the form and details that occur to those skilled in the art and which are within the spirit and scope of the invention are not specifi¬ cally addressed. Therefore, the invention is limited only by the appended claims.
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