DESCRIPTION Technical Field This invention relates to an industrial pressing machine incorporating an improved drive arrangement for driving the upper press in the vertical direction, and an electronic control device for controlling all of the presser operations.

More specifically, the invention relates to an industrial pressing machine of the type which comprises a lower smoothing form adapted to receive a garment to be pressed, an upper press, and one or more side smoothing forms, as well as an upper press drive arrangement which includes at least one cylinder having its piston connected to the upper press.

The invention further relates to an industrial pressing machine of the type which comprises at least one lower smoothing form adapted to receive a garment to be pressed, an upper press, and one or more side smoothing forms, as well as an electronic control device.

The invention relates, particularly but not exclusively, to an industrial machine for pressing garments provided with a neck, and a neck-opening or shoulders, and the following description will refer to this field of application for convenience of illustration.

Background Art As is well known, an industrial pressing machine comprises basically a frame having a lower smoothing form mounted therein which is adapted to receive a

garment to be pressed, and comprises an upper smoothing form, also termed the"press", as well as one or more side smoothing forms or presses.

In particular, in pressing machines--i. e. machines designed for"ironing"garments provided with a neck, neck-opening or shoulders, such as jackets or coats-- the lower smoothing form comprises a trunk dummy which is easy to invest with the garment for a correct pressing.

Industrial pressing machines conventionally come equipped with an up/down drive for the upper presses, as schematically shown in the annexed Figure 1.

The up/down drive, generally indicated at 1, of conventional upper presses employs one or more cylinders 2 which may be air-or oil-operated, or combined cylinders. These cylinders are usually mounted orthogonally above the upper press 3 with the free ends of their pistons connected drivingly to the press for a downward or pushing stroke and an upward or pulling stroke respectively.

In particular, in a pressing operation, the upper press 3 is pushed downwards by the pistons, and upon completion of the pressing cycle or for an occasional break in the cycle, pulled back upwards by the pistons.

The cylinders 2 are usually provided with a plurality of supporting rods, indicated at 4 in Figure 1, which lie parallel to one another and to the moving direction of the piston, so as to keep the up/down movements of the upper press pistons constantly guided in direction.

The cylinders 2 and the supporting rods 4 are connected

together through suitable slide means 5 provided with elastic dampening means.

The rods 4 may be made of a variety of materials, and their shape and dimensions vary from one model to another of the industrial pressing machines currently available on the market.

These rods, however, tend to be deflected during the downward stroke of the upper press 3 because the support provided by the slide means 5 is confined to a small fraction of their length. This liability of the rods to deflect may turn into a serious problem where the lower smoothing form and the upper press have deeply set shapes, it being necessary that their profiles match within a few millimeters for a correct pressing process.

Thus, the rod deflection renders a quality pressing of garments difficult to obtain.

In addition, by having the cylinders 2 placed above the upper press 3, the pressing machine 1 is given increased bulk in the vertical direction, such that the machine must be dismantled for the transport. In their fully assembled state, in fact, these machines exceed the height limits for the transport as standard cargo in containers, by road or air, normally used for their transport.

Conventional industrial pressers further include provisions for adjusting the pressure force of the upper press 3 against the lower form. This is usually set manually, as by means of pressure adjusters or the like devices, whose operation may be arranged to depend on the pressing step duration through an automatic

control unit, specifically a computer associated with the pressing machine.

Quite often, in order to produce a quality pressed garment, the machine operator is to manually operate a number of controls for changing the smoothing pressure during the pressing step.

To avoid the need for manual adjustment, a prior approach consists of changing, specifically increasing, the smoothing pressure evenly throughout the pressing step. However, with this automatic control, the machine operator is still required to set the maximum pressure manually. Also, an automatic control of linearly increasing pressure type renders the pressing machine inefficient from the standpoint of its execution time to smoothing pressure ratio.

In a like manner, conventional industrial pressers are equipped with steam and air blow or exhaust regulators, provided for all (upper, lower, side) smoothing forms.

These steam and blow or exhaust air regulators can be implemented in the forms of electric, pneumatic or mechanical valves.

Here again, the steam and blow or exhaust air are to be controlled manually: the machine operator is to manually open or shut off the flows of steam and blow or exhaust air into and out of the smoothing forms, whenever the type of fabric changes.

In conventional industrial pressers, the automatic control device only sets, in practice, the steaming, exhausting and blowing times, usually at constant values or by mechanical adjustment according to manual selections made by the machine operator.

In addition, the machine operator is to manually select a desired pressing program for a given garment, either in compliance with directions issued by the company, or based on his past experience with a specific fabric composition and garment model.

Thus, the pressing quality is allowed to depend on the operator's own knowledge of the fabrics and their processing, which increases the risk of errors from inexperience or chance.

At the end of a pressing cycle, it is common practice to reckon a machine throughput (in relation to the machine operator). This is currently done by a product inspector who counts manually the number of garments pressed.

Certain large-size pressing machines are equipped with a manual or automatic piece counter which is connected to the presser for up-counting at each movement of the machine. In this case, the product inspector is to check periodically the piece counters of the pressing machines and report the readings for each machine in his care.

This reckoning of the throughput by the product inspector represents at all events a substantial expenditure of time.

Furthermore, no provisions are made for automatically recording the types of the pressed garments on a given pressing machine, so that the product inspector is compelled to check the batches of pressed garments or, at least, the job orders of all his machines.

Also manually processed is the paperwork (made

necessary by possible modifications or for file- keeping) involved in recording the pressing programs of the machines, which are currently put down in writing by the machine operators with the possible aid of pre- printed sheets.

In everyday practice, machine operators tend to dodge the task of fully recording the pressing programs on paper because of the excessively long time that this operation takes. Missing periodical records may result in loss of information which could become vitally needed, especially on the occurrence of machine failures.

The underlying technical problem of this invention is to provide an industrial pressing machine of improved design from the standpoint of bulk dimensions and automation of the pressing cycle, which machine has such structural and functional features as to overcome the drawbacks with which prior art industrial pressers are beset.

Disclosure of Invention The idea of this invention is that of reducing the overall size of the pressing machine by moving the cylinder (s), driving the upper smoothing form or press, either to one side of said press or to a location below it.

Another idea behind this invention is that of improving the pressing machine performance by the use of a single electronic control device for all the pressing steps, so as to enhance the automation of the presser operation and optimize its timing and setting, as well as the reliability of the presser production records

and its simplicity of management.

Based on this idea, the technical problem is solved by an industrial pressing machine of the type which comprises a lower smoothing form adapted to receive a garment to be pressed, an upper press, and one or more side smoothing forms, as well as a drive for driving the upper press which includes at least one cylinder having its piston rigidly connected to the upper press, characterized in that said at least one cylinder is mounted at one side of or below the upper press.

The problem is further solved by an industrial pressing machine of the type which comprises a lower smoothing form adapted to receive a garment to be pressed, an upper press, and one or more side smoothing forms, as well as an electronic control device, characterized in that it comprises a proportional control system effective to selectively control, through the electronic control device, the smoothing pressure of the upper press with respect to the lower smoothing form and the amount of steam and/or blow or exhaust air associated with each of the smoothing forms.

The features and advantages of the industrial pressing machine according to the invention will be apparent from the following description of an embodiment thereof, given by way of non-limitative example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of Drawings In the drawings: Figure 1 shows an upper press lifting arrangement according to the prior art;

Figure 2 shows an industrial pressing machine according to the invention; Figure 3 shows an upper press lifting arrangement according to the invention; Figure 4 is a detail view of the lifting arrangement of Figure 3; Figure 5 shows schematically a proportional control system associated with the industrial pressing machine according to the invention; Figure 6 shows schematically the proportional control system of Figure 5 connected to additional apparatus of the industrial pressing machine according to the invention.

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention Referring to the drawings, in particular to Figure 2, generally shown at 10 is an industrial pressing machine according to the invention.

The industrial pressing machine 10 comprises a lower smoothing form 11 adapted to receive a garment 12 to be pressed, and an upper smoothing form 13, also referred to as the upper press, and one or more side smoothing forms or presses.

In particular, Figure 2 shows the upper press 13 in contact with the garment 12 suitably fitted to the lower smoothing form 11 for pressing.

The industrial pressing machine 10 of this invention incorporates a drive arrangement, generally indicated at 14 in Figure 3, for driving the upper press 13 in

the upward and downward directions.

The drive 14 employs one or more cylinders 15 which are mounted, substantially parallel to one another, to the rear of the industrial pressing machine 10, on one side of or below the upper press 13, rigidly with the framework of the pressing machine. The cylinders 15 comprise corresponding pistons 15'rigidly connected to the upper press 13.

In this layout, the upper press 13 is respectively pulled downwards and pushed upwards with the movement of the cylinders 15 by the pistons 15'.

In particular, during a pressing step, the upper press 13 is moved down by the pull exerted by the pistons 15', and at the end of a pressing cycle or for breaks in the working cycle the upper press 13, is moved back to an upward rest position by the push exerted by the pistons 15'.

Advantageously in this invention, the cylinders 15 and pistons 15'associated with the upper press 13 can be housed within an upper case 13'or side case 13''of the industrial pressing machine 10, thereby to significantly reduce the overall height of the machine without increasing its bulk in the horizontal direction. The new layout for the upper press 13 makes the industrial pressing machine 10 easier to transport, in some cases even in its assembled state.

The pistons 15'associated with the upper press 13 are also provided with slides 16, moving inside suitable slideways 17 to keep the vertical (up/down) travel of the pistons 15'guided.

Advantageously in this invention, each slideway 17 has a U-shaped cross-section, so as to hold its corresponding slide 16 securely at each of the piston 15'positions. Furthermore, the slideway 17 may be C- shaped with its edges suitably turned in to embrace the slide 16.

This configuration of the drive 14 reduces the risk of bending the slideways 17, thereby improving the general quality of the pressing operations on the machine, even in the critical instance of smoothing forms made with a peculiar shape.

In particular, the slideway 17 shown in Figure 3 has first 17a and second 17b legs parallel to each other and associated with first 16a and second 16b slides, these slides being connected to the piston 15'by a suitable connecting means 18.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 3, this connection means 18 comprises a horizontal beam 19 rigidly connected to the upper press 13 and provided with appropriate fittings for the insertion of a horizontal rod 20 thererethrough.

The horizontal rod 20 is hinged on a free end 21 of the piston 15'and provided with a suitable spring means 22.

By being hinged on the free end 21 of the piston 15', the horizontal rod 20 effectively facilitates the assembly of the industrial pressing machine 10 according to the invention.

Furthermore, in the embodiment shown in Figure 3, the cylinder 15 is suitably positioned at equal distances

from the slideways 17.

Advantageously in this invention, each slide 16 is provided with ball bearings 23, more clearly shown in Figure 4, to lengthen the wear intervals of the industrial pressing machine 10 of this invention.

In summary, the drive 14 according to the invention for the upper press 13 is reliable, and easily installed.

In addition, by having it located at one side or below the press, the drive can be housed within the upper 13' or side 13"case of the upper press 13, as shown in Figure 2.

The industrial pressing machine 10 further comprises to advantage an electronic control device 24 for controlling all of the pressing operations.

In particular, the electronic control device 24 of this invention controls at least one proportional electropneumatic valve 26 for setting the smoothing pressure of the upper press 13 with respect to the lower smoothing form 11.

The machine operator can select, as by means of a keyboard 25 connected to the electronic control device 24, one or more desired pressures (for example, expressed in fractions and multiples of a Bar, from 0.1 to n Bars), and their operational periods.

The electronic control device 24 generates a pressure control signal to the valve 26, which will convert it to a proportional pneumatic signal corresponding to the desired pressure.

The industrial pressing machine 10 of this invention is, therefore, equipped with a proportional control

system 27, shown schematically in Figure 5, which comprises the valve 26 controlled by the electronic control device 24, and can control the cylinders 15 regardless of whether air-or oil-operated, or a combined type.

Advantageously in this invention, the proportional control system 27 also allows the amount of steam and blow or exhaust air to be selected for each of the (upper, lower, side) smoothing forms.

Similarly as the setting of the smoothing pressure, the machine operator can select, using the keyboard 25 connected to the electronic control device 24, a desired amount of steam and/or blow or exhaust air, in a free, independent manner of the pressing program.

The electronic control device 24 generates a steam/blow or exhaust air control signal to the valve 26, which valve will then convert it to a proportional pneumatic signal corresponding to the desired amount of steam/blow or exhaust air.

The proportional control system 27 can control steam, exhaust and blow valves of any types.

Advantageously in this invention, an optical bar code reader 28 may be associated with the electronic control device 24, as shown schematically in Figure 6. In this way, a specific pressing program for every fabric can be selected automatically and preset for a specific fabric composition and processing according to a bar code applied at the time of manufacturing the garment involved. By using the optical bar code reader 28, the ratio of errors during the pressing step can be reduced and the overall quality of the process improved.

For the purpose, it would be advisable to use, for the standard articles processed by a company, the same bar codes as have been adopted for other operations, such as their manufacture, handling and transport. In this case, the electronic control device 24 could be connected to a central processor capable of managing all the company's operations.

In actual practice, the electronic control device 24 can be used to also process individual bar codes applied to special production garments.

Finally, it is advantageously possible, with this invention, to associate a stationary or portable printer 29 with the electronic control device 24, again as shown schematically in Figure 6. Thus, the product inspector would be enabled to produce, instantaneously at any time, printed evidence of the throughput of each of the pressing machines in his care.

The printer 29 could also provide printouts of the pressing programs stored, or being stored, in a pressing machine according to the invention. The pressing program printing operation may be put in direct charge of the product inspector, so as to relieve the machine operator of this task.

Furthermore, the electronic control device 24 may be arranged to provide a count of the number and type of pressed garments, thereby to make a manual check of each machine throughput unnecessary for the product inspector.

Finally, it is advantageously possible, with this invention, to connect the electronic control devices 24 of all the company's pressing machines to a central

processor, arranged to receive, print, and optionally process, the production information, as well as the pressing programs of the whole lot of the company's pressers, for production planning or monitoring purposes.