Linen sorter with a conveyor mounting individual linen pickers

Claim 1

A system for sorting articles at least some having attached as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation at a predetermined energy level in response to impinging radiation and which forms a code identifying the article comprising: a source of radiation, a plurality of picker means each including means for grasping and releasing an article, a hopper for receiving said articles, means for conveying each said picker means over said hopper so as to grasp an article therein and conveying an article grasped thereby randomly oriented past said source and thereafter past a plurality of article locations, a detector for receiving said secondary radiation and producing an electrical output signal indicating the material attached to said article and accordingly identifying the article, and means connected to said detector for causing each picker means to release a grasped article after movement past said source and detector at one of said locations in accordance with said output signal.

Claim 2

A system for sorting articles at least some having attached as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation at a predetermined energy level in response to impinging radiation and which forms a code identifying the article comprising: a source of radiation, a plurality of picker means each including means for grasping and releasing an article, a hopper for receiving said articles, means for conveying each said picker means over said hopper so as to grasp an article therein and conveying an article grasped thereby randomly oriented past said source and thereafter past a plurality of article locations, a detector for receiving said secondary radiation and producing an electrical output signal indicating the material attached to said article and accordingly identifying the article, and means connected to said detector for causing each picker means to release a grasped article after movement past said source and detector at one of said locations in accordance with said output signal.

Claim 8

A system for sorting articles at least some having attached as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation at a predetermined energy level in response to impinging radiation and which forms a code identifying the article comprising: a source of radiation, a plurality of picker means each including means for grasping and releasing an article, means for conveying said picker means and an article grasped thereby randomly oriented past said source and thereafter past a plurality of article locations, a detector for receiving said secondary radiation and producing an electrical output signal indicating the material attached to said article and accordingly identifying the article, and means connected to said detector for causing each picker means to release a grasped article after movement past said source and detector at one of said locations in accordance with said output signal.

Claim 9

A system for sorting articles at least some having attached as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation at a predetermined energy level in response to impinging radiation and which forms a code identifying the article comprising: a source of radiation, a plurality of picker means each including means for grasping and releasing an article, means for conveying said picker means and an article grasped thereby randomly oriented past said source and thereafter past a plurality of article locations, a detector for receiving said secondary radiation and producing an electrical output signal indicating the material attached to said article and accordingly identifying the article, and means connected to said detector for causing each picker means to release a grasped article after movement past said source and detector at one of said locations in accordance with said output signal.

Claim 11

A system for sorting articles at least some having attached as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation at a predetermined energy level in response to impinging radiation and which forms a code identifying the article comprising: a source of radiation, a plurality of picker means each including means for grasping and releasing an article, means for conveying said picker means and an article grasped thereby randomly oriented past said source and thereafter past a plurality of article locations, a detector for receiving said secondary radiation and producing an electrical output signal indicating the material attached to said article and accordingly identifying the article, said detector including a solid state, energy dispersive semiconductor X-ray sensor, means for producing a series of electrical output pulses at each of a plurality of energy levels, each associated with a quantity of different material and means for counting the number of pulses produced at each of said energy levels to determine whether a given material is present as part of said article, and means connected to said detector for causing each picker means to release a grasped article after movement past said source and detector at one of said locations in accordance with said output signal.

Claim 12

A system for sorting articles at least some having attached as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation at a predetermined energy level in response to impinging radiation and which forms a code identifying the article comprising: a source of radiation, a plurality of picker means each including means for grasping and releasing an article, means for conveying said picker means and an article grasped thereby randomly oriented past said source and thereafter past a plurality of article locations, a detector for receiving said secondary radiation and producing an electrical output signal indicating the material attached to said article and accordingly identifying the article, said detector including a solid state, energy dispersive semiconductor X-ray sensor, means for producing a series of electrical output pulses at each of a plurality of energy levels, each associated with a quantity of different material and means for counting the number of pulses produced at each of said energy levels to determine whether a given material is present as part of said article, and means connected to said detector for causing each picker means to release a grasped article after movement past said source and detector at one of said locations in accordance with said output signal.

Claim 13

A system for sorting articles at least some having attached as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation at a predetermined energy level in response to impinging radiation and which forms a code identifying the article comprising: a source or radiation, a plurality of picker means each including means for grasping and releasing an article, means for conveying said picker means and an article grasped thereby randomly oriented past said source and thereafter past a plurality of article locations, a detector for receiving said secondary radiation and producing an electrical output signal indicating the material attached to said article and accordingly identifying the article, said detector including means for producing an output signal indicating, from the number of pulses counted at at least one energy level, the number of articles passing said source at that time, and means connected to said detector for causing each picker means to release a grasped article after movement past said source and detector at one of said locations in accordance with said output signal.

Claim 14

A system for sorting articles at least some having attached as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation at a predetermined energy level in response to impinging radiation and which forms a code identifying the article comprising: a source or radiation, a plurality of picker means each including means for grasping and releasing an article, means for conveying said picker means and an article grasped thereby randomly oriented past said source and thereafter past a plurality of article locations, a detector for receiving said secondary radiation and producing an electrical output signal indicating the material attached to said article and accordingly identifying the article, said detector including means for producing an output signal indicating, from the number of pulses counted at at least one energy level, the number of articles passing said source at that time, and means connected to said detector for causing each picker means to release a grasped article after movement past said source and detector at one of said locations in accordance with said output signal.

Claim 15

A system for sorting articles at least some having attached as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation at a predetermined energy level in response to impinging radiation and which forms a code identifying the article comprising: a source of radiation, a plurality of picker means each including means for grasping and releasing an article, means for conveying said picker means and an article grasped thereby randomly oriented past said source and thereafter past a plurality of article locations, a detector for receiving said secondary radiation and producing an electrical output signal indicating the material attached to said article and accordingly identifying the article, said detector including means for counting the number of articles passing said source, and means connected to said detector for causing each picker means to release a grasped article after movement past said source and detector at one of said locations in accordance with said output signal.

Claim 16

A system for sorting articles at least some having attached as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation at a predetermined energy level in response to impinging radiation and which forms a code identifying the article comprising: a source of radiation, a plurality of picker means each including means for grasping and releasing an article, means for conveying said picker means and an article grasped thereby randomly oriented past said source and thereafter past a plurality of article locations, a detector for receiving said secondary radiation and producing an electrical output signal indicating the material attached to said article and accordingly identifying the article, said detector including means for counting the number of articles passing said source, and means connected to said detector for causing each picker means to release a grasped article after movement past said source and detector at one of said locations in accordance with said output signal.

Claim 17

A system for sorting pieces of laundry at least some having attached as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation at a predetermined energy level in response to impinging radiation and which forms a code identifying the article comprising: a plurality of laundry pieces, a source of radiation, a plurality of picker means each including means for grasping and releasing a piece of laundry, means for conveying said picker means and a piece of laundry grasped thereby randomly oriented past said source and thereafter past a plurality of piece locations, a detector for receiving said secondary radiation and producing an electrical output signal indicating the material attached to said piece of laundry and accordingly identifying the piece of laundry, means connected to said detector for causing each picker means to release a grasped piece after movement past said source and detector at one of said locations in accordance with said output signal, and a tag attached to each of said pieces of laundry incorporating at least quantities of first and second different materials.

Claim 18

A system for sorting pieces of laundry at least some having attached as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation at a predetermined energy level in response to impinging radiation and which forms a code identifying the article comprising: a plurality of laundry pieces, a source of radiation, a plurality of picker means each including means for grasping and releasing a piece of laundry, means for conveying said picker means and a piece of laundry grasped thereby randomly oriented past said source and thereafter past a plurality of piece locations, a detector for receiving said secondary radiation and producing an electrical output signal indicating the material attached to said piece of laundry and accordingly identifying the piece of laundry, means connected to said detector for causing each picker means to release a grasped piece after movement past said source and detector at one of said locations in accordance with said output signal, and a tag attached to each of said pieces of laundry incorporating at least quantities of first and second different materials.

Claim 20

A system of sorting articles at least some having attached as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation at a predetermined energy level in response to impinging radiation and which forms a code identifying the article comprising: a source of radiation, a plurality of picker means each including means for grasping and releasing an article, including a tube adapted for a pressure below atmospheric pressure and having an open end onto which said article is drawn, and held while said tube has a pressure below atmospheric pressure, first and second pins extending outwardly from said open end to engage said article, means for pivoting one of said pins to increase the distance therebetween, and switch means coupled to said one pin for producing a signal indicating a grasping of a multiplicity of articles when said one pin pivots further than a predetermined distance, means for conveying said picker means and an article grasped thereby randomly oriented past said source and thereafter past a plurality of article locations, a detector for receiving said secondary radiation and producing an electrical output signal indicating the material attached to said article and accordingly identifying the article, and means connected to said detector for causing each picker means to release a grasped article after movement past said source and detector at one of said locations in accordance with said output signal.

Claim 21

A system of sorting articles at least some having attached as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation at a predetermined energy level in response to impinging radiation and which forms a code identifying the article comprising: a source of radiation, a plurality of picker means each including means for grasping and releasing an article, including a tube adapted for a pressure below atmospheric pressure and having an open end onto which said article is drawn, and held while said tube has a pressure below atmospheric pressure, first and second pins extending outwardly from said open end to engage said article, means for pivoting one of said pins to increase the distance therebetween, and switch means coupled to said one pin for producing a signal indicating a grasping of a multiplicity of articles when said one pin pivots further than a predetermined distance, means for conveying said picker means and an article grasped thereby randomly oriented past said source and thereafter past a plurality of article locations, a detector for receiving said secondary radiation and producing an electrical output signal indicating the material attached to said article and accordingly identifying the article, and means connected to said detector for causing each picker means to release a grasped article after movement past said source and detector at one of said locations in accordance with said output signal.

Claim 23

A method of sorting textile articles or the like comprising the steps of: individually grasping and suspending each of said articles from a picker, passing, substantially one at a time, said articles, randomly oriented, at least some having as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation in response to impinging radiation, and which forms a code identifying the article past a source of said impinging radiation so that said secondary radiation is produced, impinging X-ray radiation onto said articles, detecting discretely each of the secondary radiations and producing a signal indicating the passing articles, and dropping said article at one of a plurality of locations in accordance with said signal.

Claim 24

A method of sorting textile articles or the like comprising the steps of: individually grasping and suspending each of said articles from a picker, passing, substantially one at a time, said articles, randomly oriented, at least some having as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation in response to impinging radiation, and which forms a code identifying the article past a source of said impinging radiation so that said secondary radiation is produced, impinging X-ray radiation onto said articles, detecting discretely each of the secondary radiations and producing a signal indicating the passing articles, and dropping said article at one of a plurality of locations in accordance with said signal.

Claim 25

A method of sorting textile articles or the like comprising the steps of: individually grasping and suspending each of said articles from a picker, passing, substantially one at a time, said articles, randomly oriented, at least some having as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation in response to impinging radiation, and which forms a code identifying the article past a source of said impinging radiation so that said secondary radiation is produced, detecting discretely each of the secondary radiations and producing a signal indicating the passing articles, including detecting energies of the X-rays emitted by said material, and dropping said article at one of a plurality of locations in accordance with said signal.

Claim 26

A method of sorting textile articles or the like comprising the steps of: individually grasping and suspending each of said articles from a picker, passing, substantially one at a time, said articles, randomly oriented, at least some having as a part thereof a quantity of at least one material which produces secondary radiation in response to impinging radiation, and which forms a code identifying the article past a source of said impinging radiation so that said secondary radiation is produced, detecting discretely each of the secondary radiations and producing a signal indicating the passing articles, including detecting energies of the X-rays emitted by said material, and dropping said article at one of a plurality of locations in accordance with said signal.

Claim 27

A system for conveying and sorting articles comprising: a plurality of picker means for each grasping and releasing an individual linen article, means for detecting and identifying each article, conveying means mounting said picker means at separated locations for moving said picker means along a path whereby said picker means grasp an article, carry that article past said detecting and identifying means and release that article, and control means connected to said detecting and identifying means and to said picker means to cause said picker means to release a grasped article at a location which varies as a function of the identity thereof.

Claim 28

A system for conveying and sorting articles comprising: a plurality of picker means for each grasping and releasing an individual linen article, means for detecting and identifying each article, conveying means mounting said picker means at separated locations for moving said picker means along a path whereby said picker means grasp an article, carry that article past said detecting and identifying means and release that article, and control means connected to said detecting and identifying means and to said picker means to cause said picker means to release a grasped article at a location which varies as a function of the identity thereof.