The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 18, 2000
Filed:
Mar. 06, 1998
Abstract
Items of laundry (11) released from a washing machine as a pile of laundry (10) have to be separated before they can be processed further. The aim is to automate this separating procedure. Known methods for automating the separating of items of laundry (11) are still inadequate. According to the invention, the items of laundry (11) are grasped successively by a gripper (23), are lifted up and taken over by a transfer means (24) which transports the respective item of laundry (11) through a gap (29). The gap (29) of the transfer means (24) ensures that only individual items of laundry (11) can be transported on further by the transfer means (24) and a force which is required for completely pulling out the respective item of laundry (11) from the pile of laundry (10) can be exerted on the item of laundry (11). As a result, reliable separating of items of laundry (11) from a pile of laundry (10) is ensured.