EP0262578A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Separating and feeding garment parts
Assignee: Levi Strauss and Co
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Filing: 1987-09-23
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2007-09-23
Abstract
Abstract Apparatus for the seriatim separation and feeding of garment parts from a shingled stack of the parts to a predetermined destination. Comprising the apparatus is a picker head containing a depending array of needles adapted to positively engage the leading edge of the uppermost part on the stack. The picker head is supported for arcuate motion in the course of effecting separation of the engaged first part, and is arcuately displaced at a high rate of acceleration to aid in overcoming the resistance to separation between the first and second parts in the stack. Following separation, the separated part is transferred to a second location at which the head is withdrawn from the transferred part. Operable concomitantly with part separation by the picker head is a hold down clamp for applying a predetermined downward force on the remaining stacked parts while a vacuum force is being applied from underneath for retarding this displacement in the course of the engaged part being separated.
Inventors
- 👤 Hubert Blessing
- 👤 Richard L. Harrington
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 11:45
CPC Classifications
B; B65; B65H; B65H3/00; B65H3/22; A; A41; A41H; A41H43/00; A41H43/02; A41H43/0228; B65H3/26; D; D05; D05B; D05B33/00; D05B33/006; D05B41/00
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 28
Claim 1
Independent Claim
111 words
Apparatus for the seriatim removal of parts of garment material from a shingled stack of the parts and feeding the removed parts to a predetermined destination, comprising: support surface means forming a support surface for supporting at least a portion of the stack including the parts to be removed from the stack at a predetermined position on said support surface; engagement means operative for effecting a gripping engagement with a first of the parts and imparting a rapid acceleration thereto for effecting removal of the engaged garment part away from a remainder of the stack; and hold down means operable for holding remaining parts while the engaged part is being removed.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
111 words
Apparatus for the seriatim removal of parts of garment material from a shingled stack of the parts and feeding the removed parts to a predetermined destination, comprising: support surface means forming a support surface for supporting at least a portion of the stack including the parts to be removed from the stack at a predetermined position on said support surface; engagement means operative for effecting a gripping engagement with a first of the parts and imparting a rapid acceleration thereto for effecting removal of the engaged garment part away from a remainder of the stack; and hold down means operable for holding remaining parts while the engaged part is being removed.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
51 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 1 in which said hold down means operably applies a clamping force against the engaged garment part and said engagement means when imparting the rapid acceleration to the engaged part effects removal of the engaged part from beneath the clamping force of said hold down means.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
24 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 2 in which the acceleration imparted by said engagement means is in the range of about between 20-40 g's.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
27 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 2 in which said engagement means is operative, to effect removal of the engaged part individually from the remainder of the stack.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
69 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 2 in which the parts of the stack are shingled in a paired relation of parts with each part of the paired relation being characterized by a surface friction on the top of the part different than the surface friction on the bottom of the part and said engagement means is operative for removing the paired parts from the stack in their paired relation.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
26 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 5 including separation means operative following removal of the paired parts to effect separation of the paired parts from each other.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
72 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claims 4 or 5 wherein said engagement means comprises a plurality of needle points terminating downwardly depending substantially coplanar in at least one predetermined picker array, support means to support the picker array for arcuate displacement, and actuating means connected to said support means for effecting arcuate displacement of said support means at said rapid rate of acceleration during removal of the engaged part from the remaining parts.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
53 words
Apparatus according to Claim 7 in which said actuating means comprises means engaging said support means in a relative lateral direction at a location removed from the displacement axis thereof and operable rapidly in the direction of part removal to impart a controlled acceleration rate to the picker array on said support means.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
31 words
Apparatus according to Claim 8 in which said actuating means also comprises a pneumatic piston/cylinder characterized as operatively responsive to differentials in pressure being applied to opposite ends of its cylinder.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
80 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 7 in which said support means is mounted on a carriage, there is included means to support said carriage to translate from a first location at which said picker array is operative to remove an engaged garment part away from the stack to a second location at which said picker array is operative to release the engaged garment part and there is included drive means for translating said carriage between said first and second locations.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
44 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 10 including retarding means operable concomitantly with said hold down means for applying a force to the remaining part of the stack to aid in retarding said stack remainder in the course of removing the engaged garment part therefrom.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
28 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 11 in which said retarding means comprises means for applying a vacuum force to the underside of the lowermost part on the stack.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
102 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 11 including conveyor means for advancing the stack parts to a disposal end at said first location, said support surface means is located at said first location and comprises a first support surface extending to the disposal end of said conveyor means, there is included a second support surface downstream of said first support surface and ramp means positioned intervening juxtaposed between said first and second support surfaces on which the leading edges of the conveyor advanced stack parts are arranged in a shingle stacked relation for seriatim removal by the picker array of said engagement means.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
52 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 13 in which said ramp means includes a plurality of apertures defined through the surface thereof, and there is included means effective to apply a vacuum pressure to the underside of said apertures in timed relation to the operation of said picker array by said actuating means.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
73 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 14 in which said ramp means includes first and second merging sections in which said first section extends from the vicinity of the disposal end of said conveyor means at an inclined angle relative to the plane of said first support surface and said second section extends integrally from said first section to a termination contiguous and substantially coplanar with the receiving end of said second support surface.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
54 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 15 in which said ramp means includes apertures through which vacuum can be applied and arranged in predetermined patterns in both said first and second sections and there is included recessed grooves defined in the surface of at least the first of said sections interconnecting the vacuum apertures therein.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
115 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 11 in which said hold down means includes a plurality of spaced apart plunger means supported extending upright substantially perpendicular to the surface plane of a shingled stack at said first location in the vicinity of the trailing edge of an uppermost garment part on the stack and operable between a first position disengaged from the uppermost part and a second position engaging the trailing edge of the uppermost part while applying a hold down force the next part immediately beneath the uppermost part for resisting the following force of the uppermost part on being removed therefrom and means for actuating said plunger means between said first and second positions.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
47 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 17 in which the magnitude of force applied by said hold down means against the trailing edge of the uppermost part of the stack effects a lesser surface friction therebetween than exists between the surfaces of the garment parts in the stack.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
47 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 18 in which the magnitude of force applied by said hold down means is sufficient to inhibit the trailing edge of stacked parts beneath the uppermost part from incurring rollover and following the uppermost part as the uppermost part is being removed.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
96 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 10 in which said support means also affords movement of the picker array toward and away from the feeding plane of the engaged garment part extending between said first and second locations and there is included means operable to effect movement of said support means in a vertical orientation substantially normal to said feeding plane between a first position at which the picker array is displaced from said feeding plane to a second position at which the picker array is adjacent to said feeding plane for engaging a garment part thereat.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
53 words
Apparatus according to Claim 20 in which said means for effecting movement of said support means between said first and second positions is operative at said second location to place said picker array at said first position and is operative at said second location to place said picker array at said first position.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
113 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 20 including second support surface means downstream from said first location and over which the engaged garment part is advanced after removal from the stack for feed transfer to said second location, said picker array is adapted to remain engaged with the engaged garment part in the course of being advanced over said second support surface means and said second support surface means includes a plurality of longitudinal grooves defined in the surface thereof at a location coincident with the travel path of the individual needle ends of the array for receiving the ends of said array penetrating the engaged garment part in the course of said feeding.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
41 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claims 1, 2 or 6 wherein the rate of acceleration imparted by said engagement means is sufficient to impose a tablecloth effect removal between the engaged and remaining garment parts of the stack at said first location.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
28 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 23 in which the force of the imparted acceleration is selected in correlation to the strength of the material comprising the garment parts.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
48 words
Apparatus in accordance with Claim 20 in which the rate of acceleration for imposing the tablecloth effect produces a separating force between contiguous superposed parts generated by the mass of the underlying part that effectively limits displacement of the underlying part relative to the overlying part being accelerated.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
24 words
Apparatus according to Claim 1 including conveyor means for transporting garment parts to a stacked relation on said support surface at said predetermined position.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
44 words
Apparatus according to Claim 26 in which said conveyor means comprises at least two conveyors serially arranged and there is included drive means for said conveyors operable for effecting a preselected differential rate of transport between the relative upstream and downstream of said conveyors.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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