Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
AUTOMATIC ~AGGING MACHINE
The present invention relates in general to bagging
machines, and, more particularly, to automatic garment
bagging machines.
In many industries, particularly in the manufacture
of new garments, garments are enclosed in a bag of plastic-
type material before being given to a customer.
The bags are generally formed from lengths of flex-
ible material which is stored on a reel and withdrawn as
required. The bag must be severed from the web of fle~ible
material and sealed about the garment. Often such steps are
partially, or wholly, performed by hand. Hand operations
during a bagging step are time consuming and wasteful.
A further drawback to presently known devices is the
inefficient manner in which the bags are sealed. The known
devices use hot pins to melt -the flexible material and thus
weld the material layers together. Melting plastic using hot
pins yenerates smoke and odors and produces carbon which
builds up on the pins. The carbon and plastic
thus eventually builds up on the pins to a level which makes
those pins unusable. At this point, the pins must be cleaned
or replaced which requires machine downtime and is thus
expensive. Such pin cleaning and/or replacement is also
costly in terms of labor, materials and the like. Therefore,
a bagging machine which avoids the problems associated with
- hot pin bag sealing elements will represent an advance in the
art.
Yet another drawback to presently known bagging
machines is the high power consumption thereof. These
machines often require 20 to 30 amps and 220 volts to operate.
Such high power consumption is costly and was~eful. Thus,
there is need for a bagging machine which has low power
requirements (less than 10 amps at 110 volts~.
Still another drawback to presently known bagging
machines is the non-self-adjusting nature thereof. Thus,
any misalignment of the garment with respect to the machine
elements, or the machine elements with respect to each
other, may create serious problems and even require shutdown
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of the machine, which, as above-discussed, is expensive.
Thus, there is need for a garment bagging machine
which is fully automatic and which is efficient and reliable
in operation.
The bagging machine of the present invention is
fully automatic. The machine bags garments on hangers of
all types and automatically measures the garment, cuts a
bag and seals that bag.
The machine is operated without the use of electric
motors, and accordingly, efficiently ancl effectively perorms
the bagging operation.
The machine includes a carriage drive mechanism
which has an actuating cylinder and means for converting the
linear motion of an actuating cylinder rod to rotary motion.
The rotary motion is converted into linear motion of a
pulldown mechanism and is used by a spreader mechanism to
pull flexible material into position. A sealer and cutoff
mechanism is operated to seal the material and cut off a
length of materia] from the web of material. A sequence
control regulates operation so that the bag is ~inally
positioned after the sealing operation.
The sealing operation is performed using hot, low
pressure air forced from the heating chamber through a
plurality of small holes against the flexible material to
melt that material into small hole configurations. A very
clean, strong seal is effected. No elements will become
carbon covered, no smoke or odor will be generated, and
overall savings in time and money will be produced.
Garment bag length is automatically set by the
machine according to garment length. An infrared pulsating
reflective scanner is focused diagonally of the pulling
mechanism, and the garment itself actuates the scanner.
When the garment ceases interrupting the light, the sequence
control is actuated to initiate the stopping of the pulldown
mechanism, and to initiate the sealing and cutoff mechanisms.
Material is spread and fed in a very precise manner
by a spreader mechanism which includes a plurality of meshed
gears. The spreader mechanism includes a plurality of
resilient support rolls which permit the spreader to float so
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that a web is always efficiently spread without danger of
damage thereto. Furthermore, this floating feature enables
the spreader to be self-adjusting as to position. Thus,
misalignment of a garment, or other machine elements, are
accommodated by the floating spreader. In this manner, the
spreader accommodates misalignments and does not require
machine shutdown in all cases.
The machine also includes a garment hanger mechanism
which is universally free, so that, any misalignment of the
garment with respect to elements of the machine can be
accommodated without re~uiring machine shutdown.
The machine of the present invention is operated
without the use of electric motors. In the preferred
embodiment, four air cylinders are used: one to drive the
pulldown mechanism; one to operate the cutoff and sealing
mechanism; and two small air cylinders used on gripping
jaws of the pulldown mechanism. The use of pneumatic cylin-
ders in place of electric motors permits the machine
embodying the teachings of the present invention to operate
20 on 110 volts and less than 10 amps, as compared to 20 to 30
amps at 220 volts for prior art mechanisms. The savings in
power consumption related areas are evident from these
figures. Thus, machine operation is efficient, reliable and
exact, as well as being fully automatic.
The invention is described further, by way of illus-
tration, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in
which:
Figure 1 is a front elevation of a garment bagging
machine according to one embodiment of the present invention
in a ready configuration;
Figure 2 is a sectional view of the garment bagging
machine of Figure 1 taken along line 2-2 of Figure l;
Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the garment
bagging machine of Figure 1 in a configuration after a garment
is bagged and ready for removal;
Figure 4 is a sectional view of the garment bagging
machine of Figure 3, taken along section line 3-3 of Figure 3;
Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the garment
bagging machine of Figures 1 and 3 from one side;
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Figure 6 is a side elevational view of the garmen-t
bagging machine of Figures 1 and 3 Erom the other side;
Figure 7 is a front elevational view of a hot air
chamber used with the garment bagging machine of Figures 1
and 3;
Figure 8 is ~ sectional view taken on line 8 8 of
Figure 7 showing the flow of air used to seal a bag in the
garment bagging machine of Figures 1 and 3;
Figure 9 is a perspective view of the spreader
assembly used with the bagging machine of Figures 1 and 3;
Figure 10 is a perspective view of the sealing and
cutoff assembly used with the bagging machine of Figures 1
and 3; and
Figure 11 is a perspective view of the pulldown
mechanism used with the bagging machine of Figures l~and 3.
Referring to the drawings, an automatic garment
bagging machine M comprises a cabinet 10 which includes a
front section 12 to which left and right side doors 14 and
16, respectively, are hingeably connected. The cabinet
includes a base 18 which is supported on a support S by
adjustable legs 20. ~ control panel 22 is mounted on the
inside surface of right side door 16. The control panel
includes a plurality of remote control buttons 24, switches
26 and light indicators 28 for controlling and regulatiNg
operation of the machine M.
A garment G to be bagged is supported by a hanger H
on a garment hanger mechanism 30 which includes a depending
arm unit 32 and a horizontally extending hook 34. The
garment bags are formed from a tubular web of flexible heat
sealable material 40, ~or example, polyethylene. As shown
in Figure 5, the web of material 40 is unwound from a
supply spool 42 rotatably mounted on the machine cabinet 10
by a shaft 44. The spool 42 is mounted on the shaft in the
usual manner for replacement, and the like, and the shaft
is attached to the rear 46 of the machine cabinet 10 by a
pair of mounting hrackets 48 and includes a brake 50 for
stopping the movement thereof. The material 40 is the usual
garment bag type material which can be heat sealed and
severed, as will be discussed below.
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As shown in Figure 5, the garment bagging operation
is driven by a drive assembly D which is connected to a
sliding drive block 60 slidably mounted within the cabinet
10. The slide drive block 60 is connected to a pulling
assembly P best shown in Figures 11, 2 and 4, The pulling
assembly P clamps a free edge of the web and pulls the web
` over and around a garment G during operation of the machine.
- A spreader assembly S, best shown in Figures 9, 2 and 4,
is mounted within the cabinet 10 to spread the ,web into a
bag forming tube as the pulling assembly P pulls the web
around a garment as best indicated in Figures 2 and 4.
A sealing and cutoff assembly C, best shown in
Figures 10, 2 and 4, severs lengths of material from the
- web to form the garment bags which are used in this art.
: 15 The sealing and cutoff assembly is mounted in the cabinet
10 above the garment hook 30 as shown in Figures 2 and 4.
The sealing assembly is shown in detail in Figures 7 and 8.
The drive assembly includes a carriage drive
cylinder 70 pivotally mounted at a lower erld thereof to the
base 18 of the cabinet by a bracket 72. The cylinder extends
upwardly from the bracket 72 and has an actuating rod 74
telescopingly received in the cylinder 70 and extending
outwardly thereof at the top end of the cylinder. The cylin-
der is fluid operated by a fluid such as air, and fluid
lines 76 and 78 are suitably attached at one end thereof to
the cylinder and at the other end thereof to a fluid control
valve 80. A fluid source line 84 is connected at one end
thereof to the control valve 80 by a fitting 82 and at the
other end thereof to a fluid supply and storage means (not
shown).
The actuating rod 74 is coupled to the drive block
60 by a stub shaft 86 and a coupling 88 and moves that block
up and down in a guideway 90 defined by guide tracks 92
mounted on the inside of cabinet 10 and a switch trip block
94 mounted on the drive block 60.
A pulley 96 is rotatably mounted on the drive block
60 by a shaft 98 located near the lower end of that block.
A sprocket 100 is rotatably mounted on the drive block 60
by a shaft 102 located near the upper end of that block.
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A leader cable 110 is trained around pulley 96 and
is attached to an anchor 112 located adjacent the lower end
of the cylinder 70. The cable 110 is preferably aircraft
cable or the like, and has a first ascending reach 114 from
the anchor 112 to the pulley 96, a descending reach 116 from
the pulley 96 to a guide pulley 118 mounted on the lower side
of the base 18, and a second ascending reach 120 from the
pulley 118. The cable is attached to one end of a drive
chain 122 at the top of the second ascending reach 120.
The drive chain 122 is trained around a drive sprocket
130 which is mounted on a carriage drive shaft 134 which is
rotatably mounted on the cabinet 10. The drive chain thus
includes a first ascending reach 136 and a first descending
reach 138 on opposite sides of the drive sprocket 130. The
drive chain is trained around the sprocket 100 on the drive
block 60 and has a second ascending reach 140 and is connec-
ted to an anchor 142 located near the top of the cabinet 10.
The anchor 142 includes a bracket 144 and an eye-bolt 146
attached to the chain 122.
As the rod 7~ is reciprocated by the drive cylinder
70, the drive block 60 reciprocates as indicated by ar.rows
DM in Figure 5 from $he full line position to the phantom
line position. As the drive block reciprocates, the drive
chain reaches 138 and 140 shorten and the reach 136 lengthens
a corresponding amount. This reach length change of the
drive chain causes the drive sprocket 130 to rotate thereby
rotating the carriage drive shaft 134. As will be discussed
below, rotation of the drive shaft 134 moves the pulldown
mechanism and the spreader assembly, thus operating the
bagging machine M.
The pulldown assembly P includes a cage 150 formed
by rectangular outer carriage blocks 154 and 156 connected
together by spanner bars 160, 162, 164 and 166 located near
the corners of the blocks 154 and 156. The cage 150 extends
across the cabinet 10 so that each of the blocks 154 and
156 is located on one side of the cabinet corresponding to
the doors 14 and 16, respectively. Each carriage block
includes a pro~ection 170 to which carriage drive chains 174
and 176 are attached. As shown in Figures 2 and 4, the
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carriage drive chains extend upwardly from the carriage
blocks and are trained around carriage drive sprockets, such
as drive sprocket 178 shown in Figure 4. The carriage drive
sprockets are fixedly mounted on the carriage drive shaft 134
for rotation therewith.
The other ends of the carriage drive chains are each
attached to one end of carriage control cables 182 and 184,
respectively. The carriage control cables are trained around
cable pulleys, such as pulley 186 shown in Figure 4, to be
located near the bottom of the cabinet beneath base 18. The
other ends of the control cables are attached to the bottom
of the carriage blocks 154 and 156 by hook bolts 188 and
190, respectively.
As the drive shaft 134 is rotated by the drive
lS chain 122, the carriage drive chains 174 and 176 are moved.
Clockwise rotation (as seen in Figure 4~ of the drive shaft
134 lengthens descending reach 194 of the carria~e drive
chain 176 and shortens ascending reach 196 of that drive
chain by a corresponding amount. Correspondingly, control
cable 182 moves around the pulley 186 so that descending
reach 198 shortens while ascending reach 200 thereof
lengthens by a corresponding amount. The cage 150 thereby
is moved downwardly from the Figure 2 position to the
Figure 4 position. Counterclockwise movement of the drive
shaft 134 re~erses the movement.
The pulldown assembly P includes a pair of gripping
jaws 220 and 222 each located adjacent a carriage plate.
Each gripping jaw includes a mounting plate 226 having a
rectangular base 228 through which the spanner bars extend
so that the bases are attached to the carriage blocks. An
ear 230 projects upwardly from each mounting plate and has
an elongate slot 234 defined therein. Mounting blocks 236
are located adjacent the sides of the slot, and a transverse
block 238 is located near the top of each ear. A swing arm
250 is swingably mounted on each projection beneath the slot
to cover the slot as indicated by the arrows 252 in Figure
11. A patch of friction material 254 is located on the
swing arm for gripping the flexible web. A corresponding
patch of friction material 256 is also located on each ear
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230, A pair of swing arm actuating mechanisms 260 are
mounted on the carriage and include channel racks 262 mounted
on the mounting plates to provide bases upon which molmting
brackets 266 are mounted. A pneumatic actuating cylinder
270 is swingably mounted on each mounting plate by the
mounting brackets. The cylinders 270 include actuating rods
274 which reciprocate into and out of the cylinders. A yoke
coupling 276 is attached to each actuating rod and is coupled
to a connecting rod 278 which extends th:rough the correspon-
ding slot 234 to be connected to a swing arm 250. Theconnecting rods are pivotally attached to the mounting
blocks 236 by pivot pins 279. The cylinders 270 are pneu-
matically actuated via lines 280 and 282, and movement of an
actuating rod swings the attached swing arm 250 toward or
away from the projecting ear via the pivotally mounted
connecting rod. Actuation of the cylinders 270 causes the
s~ing arms 250 to clamp the friction material 254 against
a corresponding projecting ear 23a as indicated by arrows
252. It is noted that the linear motion of the carriage
2Q drive cylinder actuating arm 74 is converted into rotary
movement of the various gears and sprockets so that the
motion of the carriage drive cylinder actuating arm is
converted into motion of the drive assembly in a two to one
relation. Thus, a ten inch (25 cm~ movement of actuating
rod 74 results in a twenty inch (50 cm) movement of the
pulling assembly.
As will be discussed below, the operating sequence
of the bagging machine is controlled so that the gripping
jaws 220 and 222 clinch the web of material 40 and pull
that material down over a garment, then release that
material so that a bagged garment can be remoYed from the
cabinet 10.
An infrared pulsating reflective scanner ~ is
mounted on the pulldown assembly to move therewith. The
scanner R includes elements 286 and 288 mounted on the
mounting plates 22Ç to be focused diagonally downward and
rearward of the cabinet. That is, for example, as viewed
from the front of the machine, from the upper right rear
corner to the lower le~t front corner thereof. Other
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diagonal orienta-tions can also be used, as long as the
focus is diagonally transversely and longitudinally of the
cabinet.
The scanner R senses the presence of a garment and
produces a si~nal upon the absence of a garment. Thus, as
the pulldown assembly pulls a web of material past the end
of a garment, the scanner R generates a signal to be used in
setting bag length. The pulldown step can be stopped at any
time after the scanner signal is generated to set the
length of the bag with respect to the garment length. An
adjustable signal delay means can be associated with the
scanner R to set the further length of material pulled
after the garment bottom is sensed by the scanner. As will
be discussed below, at the instant the pulldown assembly
reaches the final pulldown location, the sealing mechanism
is actuated to seal the web and the cutoff mechanism is
actuated to cut off the bag. The diagonal focus of the
scanner permits the scanner to be used with garments of
unusual shape, such as nightgowns haviny an hourylass
shape producted by a belt tied about the waist thereof.
The spreader assembly S is located near the top
of the cabinet 10 and includes a support base 300 which is
comprised of a pair of U-shaped channel brackets 302 and 304
coupled together by connector plates 306 and 308 to form a
platform. A plurality of rolls 310 are rotatably mounted on
a pair of mounting plates 312 and 314 to be horizontally
disposed. The rolls 310 rotate in a horizontal plane as
indicated by the arrows 320 in Figure 9.
A spreader bar 330 is attached to the base 300 and
includes a pair of horizontally disposed base bars 332 and
334 connected to the undersurface o~ the base 300 and
located to be in spaced parallelism with each other. A
pair of adjustable end guides 336 and 338 are each in the
form of an inverted U and are integrally attached to
opposite ends of the bars 332 and 334 to be in spaced
parallelism with each other. The adjustable nature o~ the
end guides allows adjustment for different widths of
flexible material tubing. The spreader assembly is situated
in the cabinet 10 so the planes containing the spreader end
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guides are transverse of the cabinet as shown in Figures 2
and 4.
A pair of adjustable spreader bars 342 and 344 are
pendantly supported on the base bars 332 and 334 by support
cables 346 attached at each end of each spreader bar. The
cables 346 are preferably nylon.
The garment hanger mechanism 30 has the depending arm
32 attached at the upper end thereof to the adjacent side
edges of the channel brackets 302 and 304 by a bolt 347 to
hang downwardly from the spreader assembly. The hanger arm
is attached to the channel brackets in a universal manner,
and thus can be swung in any direction. The universal
freedom of the hanger mechanism 30 permits the hanger to
accommodate any garment orientation without endangering ma-
chine operation. The bolt 347 attaches a first bar 348 tothe spreader base 300 to be pivotal in a first plane
essentially perpendicular to the planes of the end guides
336 and 338. A yoke 34~ is located on the lower end of the
top bar and a yoke pin 350 pivotally connects the top end of
a lower bar 351 to the lower end of the top bar 34~. The
lower bar is pivotal in a second plane which is essentially
perpendicular to the first plane thereby defining a second
degree of freedom to the hanger mechanism 30. The lower
end of the lower bar 351 is offset and a hanger plate 352
i5 pivotally attached to the lower end of the lower bar 351
by a pivot pin 353. The hanger plate is thus pivotal in a
plane essentially parallel to the first plane and adds a
third degree of freedom to the hanger mechanism 30. The hook
34 is mounted on the hanger plate 352. A garment hanger ~
is supported on the hook 34. The multi-degrees of freedom of
the hanger mechanism permits that mechanism to accommodate
misalignment of the garment with respect to the elements of
the bagging machine M.
A pair of resilient spreader support rolls 354 and
355 are located to support the rolls 310 and to thereby form
nipper gaps 356 through which the web of material 40 is
received. The resilient nature of the rolls prevents damage
to the flexible material. The support rolls 354 and 355 are
pinned to shafts 360 for rotation therewith. The shafts 360
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have drive gears 362 and 364 attached at one end thereof
(see Figure 6). The drive gear 362 is located adjacent drive
sprocket 178 to be driven thereby. A plurality of intermedi-
ate sprockets 366 and 368 are intermeshed with each other and
with the drive gears 362 and 364 so that rotation of the
drive sprocket 178 drives the drive gears 362 and 364 in
synchronism with each other thereby driving the support rolls
354 and 355 and rolls 310. The gears 362 through 368 are
preferably constructed of material that need not be
lubricated, such as, "D~LRIN" (Trademark). For a rotation
of the drive sprocket 178 in a clockwise direction as
viewed in Figure 6, the support rolls 354 and 355 rotate as
shown by the arrows 372 and 374 thereby pulling the web of
material downwardly and inwardly as indicated in Figures 2
and 4.
By having the rolls 310 rest on the support rolls
354 and 355, the spreader assembly can float from left to
right and vice versa, and thereby automatically adjust itself
to any orientation, so that the sealer i8 self-adjusting.
~s is also shown in Figures 2 and 4, the web of
material is fed upwardly in reach 380 over first guide roll
382, then horizontally in reach 334 over second guide roll
386, and then opened by the spreader mechanism S. The
opened ends of the web are fed through nips 356 toward the
pulldown assembly which has the gripping jaw projecting ears
located in planes which are essentially parallel to the
spreader end guides 336. The spreader bars 342 and 344
contact inner surface I of the web at selected times to
force the web into a spread configuration.
The cutoff and sealer assembly C is mounted immediate-
ly subadjacent the spreader assembly S. The cutoff and
sealer assembly C includes a hot air chamber 360 defined by
a plurality of walls 362, 364, 366 and 368 (see Figure 7),
as well as top wall 370 and bot-tom wall 372. A pair of
35 elongate slots 376 and 378 are defined in the top wall 370,
and a pair of return rods 380 and 382 are accommodated
therein. The return rods are attached to the top wall 370
at the undersurface thereof, as bv a flexible joint or the
like, (not shown), and undergo pivotal motion as indicated by
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the arrows 384 in Figure 1~ The return rods contact the
end edges of the slots to mo~e the chamber 360 forward and
rearward. The lengths of the slots, if desired, can be used
to define lost motion to produce a timing gap.
The return rods have rings 386 on the upper ends
thereof and these rings encircle an oscillating rod 390 for
movement therewith. The oscillating movement of the rod 390
therefore induces the pivotal motion of the rods ~or moving
the cutoff and sealer assembly. The rod 390 is connected at
one end thereof to a crank 392 which, in turn, is connected
to a clevis 394 by a pivot pin 396. The pivot pin 396 is
received in one of a plurality of holes 398 defined in one
end of the crank 392. The motion of the oscillating rod
390 is determined according to which of the holes 398
receives the pivot pin connected crank. The clevis 394 is
connected at one end of an actuating rod 400 of a pneumatic
cylinder 402 (see Figure 6). Operation of the cylinder
reciprocates the yoke which moves the crank and oscillates
the rod 390 to move the hot air chamber.
The hot air chamber includes a chassis 406 which
comprises an angle bracket 408 mounted on the bottom wall
372 and having a lower wall 410 depending downwardly from
the bottom wall~ A pair of upper guide rollers 414 are
mounted on the end walls of the chamber 360 and a pair of
25 lower guide rollers 416 are mounted on wall 410. The guide
rollers contact appropriate guide tracks 420 ~see Figure 4)
to support and guide the hot air chamber 360. ~ovement of
the hot air chamber is in a direction indicated by the arrow
424 in Figure 10 when the motion of the crank is toward the
upper left of Figure 10.
A heating element 430 is attached to the chamber to
heat the air inside that chamber and a control box 432 is
also mounted on the chamber. The heater 430 is preferably a
600 watt, 110 volt element. A temperature control switch
can also be located within the control box 432. An airflow
control valve can also be included in the control box.
A pressure plate assembly 440 is mounted to coopera-
te with the hot air chamber. The pressure plate assembly
440 includes a pair of mounting rails 442 resting on support
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rolls 444 which are fixed by shafts 446 -to cabinet 10 to
support the pressure plate assembly. As shown in Figures 4
and 10, a return spring 448 is connected to the mounting
rail 442 and to the inside of the cabinet 10. The spring 448
biases the pressure plate assembly in a direction opposite
that shown by arrow 450 in Figure 10 to return the pressure
plate to a repose position.
The pressure plate assembly includes a pair of
triangular end plates 454 mounted on the rails 442 to extend
upwardly therefrom. A rear backing plate 456 is connected at
each end thereof to one of the end plates and has an inner
surface 45g and a top edge 460. The backing plate 456 is
preferably aluminum.
A pair of U-shaped channel mounts 462 and 464 are
mounted on the backing plate inner surface to be in spaced
parallelism with each other and with the top edge 460. The
channel mounts are mounted to open toward the hot air cham-
ber, and pressure pads 466 and 468 are mounted within the
channel mounts to extend outwardly thereof toward the hot
air chamber as shown in Figure 10. The pressure pads are
preferably sponge rubber, or the like. Upon closing the
cutoff and sealing assembly C, the pads 466 and 568 abut
the chamber wall 368 capturing the flexible material there-
between.
The pressure plate and the hot air chamber are
interconnected by a pair of cables 470 each of which has one
end thereof connected to the hot air chamber by a bracket 472
and an eye-bolt 474, and the other end thereof connected to
one end of the end plates by an eye-bolt 476. Each cable is
trained around a fixed pulley 478. Movement of the hot air
chamber in the direction of arro~ 424 as induced by the
oscillating rods lengthens top reach 480 of the cable thereby
shortening the bottom reach 482 thereof. Such movement
causes the pressure plate assembly to move toward the hot
air chamber to form the aforementioned abutting contact
between the pressure pads ~66 and 468 and the hot air chamber
wall 372 thereby capturing the material therebetween.
Return movement of the pressure plate assembly is induced by
the return spring 448, and such movement causes the cable
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470 to move the hot air chamber away from the pressure plate
assembly.
The assembly C includes a cutoff mechanism 500
comprising a pair of fixed mounts 502 and 504 mounted on the
hot air chamber top wall 370 and the pressure plate top edge
460, respectively, to be on opposite ends of the assembly C.
A pair of swivel mounts 506 and 508 are rnounted on the ends
of a hot air chamber top wall and pressure plate top edge
~hich are opposite the fixed mounts. A pair of tension
10 springs 510 and 512 are each connected at one end to the
swivel mounts and at the other end to spring retaining posts
514 and 516. The electrically resistive heating wires 520
and 522 are mounted on the mounts to sway it diagonally from
left to right of the assembly C as seen and indicated in
15 Figuxe 10. The slanting nature of the wires 520 and 522
produces a knife cutoff of the flexible material. Potential
is applied across the wires at the mounts to heat those wires.
The heated wires effect the cutoff o a bag, and the springs
510 and 512 can be used to adjust the position of the wires.
A fan i5 located internally of the hot air chamber
and is controlled via control box 432. The fan forces air
across the heating element 430 to be heated thereby. A
plurality of air holes 53Q are definea in the chamber front
wall 368 and, as shown in Figure 8, the hot air flows through
these holes outwardly of the chamber in a direction indicated
by arrows 532 in Figure 8. The flexible material is trapped
in front of the holes by the pressure pads 466 and 468. The
hot, low pressure air forced through holes 530 against the
flexible material melts that flexible material in small hole
configurations 534. Since there are two layers of flexible
material 536 and 538, the peripheral edges 54Q and 542 of
the holes 534 melt together to form a bond or spot weld 546
between the two layers thereby forming a very strong seal.
As above-discussed, using heated air to effect the
bag seal is clean, low cost and effective, especially as
compared to the means used by prior art devices.
The operation of the cutoff and sealing assembly C
is sequenced to effect sealing and cutoff when the flexible
material has been pulled down to a predetermined position
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with respect to a ~arment. The lost motion feature produced
by the slots 376 and 378 can, if desired, provide a sequencing
step to permit the sealed bag to be forced over the hanger H,
as the sealing occurs above the hanger as indicated in
Figure 4. Thus, at a lower position of the pulldown assembly,
the sealing assembly is actuated to seal th~ web together and
the cutoff assembly is actuated to cut off a length of
material from the web to thereby form a bag. The pulldown
mechanism then continues the pulldown portion of the sequence
in a second pulldown step, and the sealed bag is pulled down
over the hanger. As indicated in Figure 7, the air holes 530
are arranged so the material is not sealed in the area of the
hook B of the hanger H thereby facilitating the aforementioned
operation.
Referring to Figure 6, the drive sprocket 178 has a
brake 550 and a clutch 552 associated therewith The clutch
552 is a one-way clutch which disengages the drive sprocket
178 from the drive shaft 13~ during return movement of the
pulldown assembly 50 that the flexible material is not
"unwound" from the loaded position shown in Figure 2 duriny
the movement of the pulldown assembly from the Figure 4
position back to the Figure 2 position. The brake 550 is
fluid operated by a fluid system, such as air or the like.
The fluid system includes an air hose 554 connected at one
end thereof to ~he brake means 55Q and at the other end
thereof to a control valve 558 via a coupling 560. A control
unit 562 controls operation of the valve 558. The valve 558
controls operation of the brake 550. The sealer drive
cylinder 402 is fluid operated and a fluid control valve 566
is mounted on the cabinet 10. The fluid from a source is
conducted to the valve 566 via a coupling 568, and to the
cylinder 402 via lines 570 and 572. A sealer shutoff control
valve 576 is mounted on the cabinet 10 to be controlled
according to movement of the crank 392 and, hence, the
oscillating rod 390.
The pulldown assembly is controlled by a control
valve mechanism 580, and the cutoff wire voltage is controlled
by control mechanism 582.
Overall sequence of operation is controlled by control
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regulator 586 which includes circuit elements, timing
mechanisms and the like usual to circuit control means.
The elements of the regulator 586 required to effect
electronic control of the mechanical elements of the machine
M will be known to those skilled in the art from the
discussion presented herein, and thus no detailed description
of these elements will be presented.
The machine M also includes an air supply 590, a
regulator 592, an oiler 594 and a filter 596 mounted thereon.
These elements are connected with each other and with
appropriate ones of the above-discussed elements as will be
apparent to those skilled in the art from reading the
present disclosure.
The sequence of operation is apparent from the fore-
going, and will now be described briefly with reference toFigures 1 to 5. A garment G is loaded either by hand or
automatically, as desired, into the cabinet in Figure 1 and
hung from hanger H in the usual manner. The pulldown
assembly P is in the topmost position in Figure 1. Appro-
priate buttons and controls from panel 22 are operated, andthe sequence of operation is initiated. The drive cylinder
70 is actuated to move the carriage drive block 60, thereby
rotating the carriage drive sprocket 130 and the carriage
drive shaft 134. Rotation of the drive shaft 134 causes
rotation of the drive sprocket 178, which causes rotation
of the meshed pinions 362 to 368. Rotation of the meshed
pinions 362 to 36g rotates support rolls 354 and 355 which
feeds material 40 from the supply spool 42. The spreader end
guides cause separation of the web sides into the tube
configuration of Figure 2.
The gripping ~aws 220 and 222 are actuated to grasp
the edges of the tube and form an open end of the tube. The
gripping jaws clasp the tube so the puller assembly can pull
that tube downwardly into the position shown in Figure 3.
Rotation of the drive sprocket 178 causes the pulldown
assemhly P to move from the Figure 2 position toward the
Figure 4 position.
When the scanner R senses the bottom end of a garment,
a signal is generated, and the sequence controller 5~6 causes
~3 3~
17
the sealing assembly C to be actuated when the pulldown
assembly is in a predetermined position with respect to the
garment, such as, for example, a few inches below that
garment bottom, or the like. The sealer assembly cylinder
402 is actuated to oscillate the rod 390 and force the hot
air cham~er and the pressure plate assemblies together as
shown in Figure 4. The cutoff assembly is also actuated to
cut the sealed section of tube from the remainder of the web.
As is also shown in Figure 4, the sealing occurs
above the hanger. Hence, the operation is completed by
pulling the sealed bag down over the hanger. Thus, the
pulldown assembly completes the cycle thereof in ~our steps:
pulldown, pause, second travel (or second pulldown), then
return to the Figure 2 position. The timing of the pause
step can be set in the regulator 586, or by gearing, or by
the afore-discussed lost motion sequencing. The timing
sequence of the controller is initiated and keyed by the
scanner mechanism R.
After completion of the just-described pulldown
step, inward travel of the sealing and cutoff assembly
mechanisms is initiated. The sealer seals the f]exible
material by forcing hot air which has been pre-heated above
the melting point of the flexible material through holes 530
and through the material. It has been noted that cutoff of
the hag from the length of material occurs above the hanger,
a preset second down-travel movement of the puller mechanism
takes place after the sealing assemblies have heen moved
apart. After the sealing step, the hot air chamber and the
pressure plate are moved apart, and the spreader bars 342
and 34~ help force the web apart into the tubular conEigura-
tion shown in Figure 2 which will be used for forming the
next garment bag. An up-button is pushed after removal of
a bagged garment~ and the above discussed steps are repeated
for the next garment.
After the final pulldown step, bagging of the garment
is completed, and the pulldown assembly is returned to the
Figure 2 position. The bagged garment can then be removed
from the machine by hand, or automatically, as desired.
As afore-discussed, a one-way clutch, or the like, is used
~3~Z4~
18
to permi-t the drive sprocket 178 to move in the retrograde
direction while keeping the flexible material positioned and
ready for another bagging sequence. The brake 50 ean also be
used to control movement of the flexihle material off of the
supply spool, and the brake 550 can be used to control
movement of the drive sprocket 178.
~ safety switeh 5~2 can be included to prevent
o,verrun by the carriage drive block, ancl other safety mechan-
isms ean also be ineluded to prevent unclesirable operation
of the maehine M. By proper setting of the seanner meehanism
R, the sequence controller 586, selection of sprockets and
the like, any length of bag or proportions thereof ean be
selected.
In summary of this disclosure, the present invention
comprises a bagging machine whieh automatically encloses a
garment in a bag of heat-sealable material. Modi~ications '~
are possible with,in the scope of the invention.
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