Linen sorter with a conveyor mounting individual linen pickers

{
  "publication_number": "US4036365A",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "A",
  "title": "Linen sorter with a conveyor mounting individual linen pickers",
  "abstract": "A method, system, and attachment for conveying sorting articles, such as laundry or the like whereby each article is grasped by one of a plurality of separated pickers mounted on a conveyor and moved vertically past a detector which identifies the article and causes it to be dropped to fall into the proper one of a plurality of containers over which the pickers then move with the grasped article suspended below the picker. Each article preferably includes as a part thereof a quantity of each of a number of different materials of the type which each produce secondary radiation at a characteristic energy lever when X-ray, gamma or other radiation impinges thereon, the combination of materials forming a code uniquely identifying the article.",
  "claims": [
    "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.",
    "2. A system as in claim 1, wherein each picker means includes means for detecting when multiple articles are grasped and releasing said multiple articles to fall back into said hopper prior to movement past said source when said multiple articles are detected.",
    "3. A system as in claim 1, wherein said articles grasped hang vertically below said picker means and move vertically past said source.",
    "4. A system as in claim 3 further including a plurality of separated article containers each defining one of said locations and wherein said conveying means includes means for conveying said picker means, with grasped articles hanging vertically therefrom, over each of said containers.",
    "5. A system as in claim 4, wherein said containers each receive like articles.",
    "6. A system as in claim 1 wherein said articles are pieces of laundry and including a plurality of said pieces.",
    "7. 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.",
    "8. A system as in claim 7, wherein said source is Americium 257.",
    "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, 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.",
    "10. 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.",
    "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 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.",
    "12. 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.",
    "13. A system as in claim 12, wherein each tag is formed of thermoplastic material.",
    "14. 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.",
    "15. A system as in claim 14, wherein said picker means further includes a pair of grasping arms having ends extending beyond said open end and means pivotably mounting said arms for movement between a withdrawn position and a position grasping said article.",
    "16. 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.",
    "17. 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.",
    "18. 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.",
    "19. Apparatus for grasping an article for conveyance comprising: 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 grasping of a multiplicity of articles when said one pin pivots greater than a predetermined distance.",
    "20. Apparatus as in claim 19, further including a pair of grasping arms having ends extending beyond said open end and means pivotably mounting said arms for movement between a withdrawn position and a position grasping said article.",
    "21. Apparatus as in claim 19, wherein said article is a piece of linen and including said article."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The invention relates to a system and method in which articles such as laundry or the like are conveyed past a detector, and subsequently sorted.\n\nMany industrial and process situations occur in which it is necessary to separate, identify, count, tabulate and/or sort different types of articles which are presented to a given location. One way to accomplish this function is to station one or more workers who visually differentiate articles as they are presented singly or in batches and either manually or with the aid of machinery place the articles in different locations or en route to different locations according to a desired sorting program. However, manual or machine aided sorting of this type has a number of obvious drawbacks.\n\nFirst, the job is a tedious and often difficult one requiring exactness, a high degree of dexterity and intelligence, but one in which the pay is usually low and the working conditions undesirable. Accordingly, it is often difficult to attract and hold workers who can satisfactorily perform these operations. Further, the speed at which human workers can separate, recognize an article, count, tabulate, and cause its proper routing is limited.\n\nThe handling of large numbers of individual different types and pieces of used, dirty laundry returned to a linen supply or a central plant for cleaning is a particularly complicated problem. Laundry is usually received in large sacks or other containers from each customer.",
  "cpc": [
    "D06F 93/00",
    "B07C 5/3412",
    "D06F 95/00",
    "Y10S 209/937"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B07C 5/34",
    "D06F 93/00",
    "D06F 95/00"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Burlington Industries Inc"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Howard Rosenfeld"
  ],
  "filing_date": "1975-04-18",
  "publication_date": "1977-07-19",
  "grant_date": "1977-07-19",
  "priority_date": "1975-04-18",
  "application_number": "US-56957075-A",
  "family_id": "24275980",
  "cited_by_count": 86,
  "citations": [
    "US3313941A",
    "US3373869A",
    "US3438489A"
  ]
}