| 摘要 |
A feed device for feeding laundry pieces (10) to a calender (12) comprises a cross-member (1) arranged transversely above a feeder conveyor (11) and rotatable in steps of 180 DEG about its axis (33) in the clockwise direction. The cross-member (1) supports a pair of grippers (2) and a pair of grippers (3) angularly displaced from each other by 180 DEG . The two grippers (2) or (3) of each pair being spaced apart from each other along the axis (33), the laundry piece (10) being supplied to the conveyor (11) either by grippers (2) or grippers (3). Each gripper (2 or 3) includes an upper clamping arm (14) spring-biassed in the clockwise direction against a shorter, lower clamping arm (13), the arm (14) carrying at its free end a roller (15). Thus, on rotation of the cross- member (1), each roller (15) contacts the conveyor (11) to press the leading edge portion of the laundry piece (10) between itself and the conveyor and to open the gripper (2 or 3) against the spring-bias of its arm (14) so that the laundry piece (10) is deposited on the conveyor (11). Drive means are provided on the cross-member (1) to enable the spacing between the two grippers (2) or (3) to be varied to permit the spreading of the laundry piece (10) held by the grippers and also to permit the holding of laundry pieces of different sizes, and further drive means are provided to enable the two grippers (2) or (3) to be positioned either centrally with respect to the midpoint of the axis (33) or displaced eccentrically towards one or the other end of the cross-member (1). <IMAGE> |
