Mitsubishi Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Watakyu Shingu Co., Ltd.

Atsushi Ueda

Toshio Hattori

Hisashige Ichimoto

Hidetoshi Ishihara

Koichi Ishida

A method for spreading thin soft rectangular articles such as cloths, unwoven cloths, paper sheets, plastic sheets, etc. (generally called 'rectangular sheets') is disclosed. A part of a first side of a rectangular sheet including one corner of a rectangular sheet is suspended in the air as held nearly horizontally by gripping the corner and another point on the side by grippers which are slidable on a horizontal rail. Accordingly, a second side of the rectangular sheet including the one corner is made to hang down nearly vertically. Then the lowermost end of the second side is gripped by another gripper that is movable vertically along a vertical rail. Except for the one corner, the initially held part of the one side is released, and the rectangular sheet is held with the two adjacent corners at the opposite ends of the second side gripped by two grippers which are movable on the rail. By separating these two grippers on the rail, the rectangular sheet can be spread out to be ready for the next processing step. If necessary, a part of the horizontal rail is tiltable so that the hanging second side can be held precisely vertically for facilitating the gripping of the lowermost end of the second side by the gripper on the vertical rail.

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Kyoto, Japan

Hisashige Ichimoto