Commercial laundry machine with improved loading hopper

Abstract

A commercial laundry machine having a loading hopper effective for substantially reducing loading time. The hopper has a relatively large effective passage area for communication with a front opening rotary drum of the laundry machine, and a splash door is pivotally mounted adjacent a front face of the machine housing for movement between a lowered closed position and an upwardly extending open position which neither reduces the effective passage of the hopper chute nor impedes the passage of launderable items directed through the chute. The laundry machine further includes an improved toggle actuated locking and sealing device for securing the hopper in sealed relation with the machine housing, and trunnion mounted hydraulic cylinders which are effective for more reliably and effectively pivoting the hopper unit through an arc greater than 90 degrees to its removed position.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates generally to commercial / industrial washing, drying, dyeing and like laundry machines, and more particularly, to a commercial laundry machine having a hopper that facilitates loading of launderable items into the machine prior to a laundry cycle. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Commercial / industrial laundry machines typically are large in size (i. e., 100 to 1200 pound in capacity)for laundering large amounts of items simultaneously. Apart from the actual laundering cycles, i. e. for example, the washing and extract cycles, a substantial amount of time is consumed in loading large quantities of items to be laundered into the laundry machine. As will be appreciated, the time consumed in loading the laundry machine restricts the actual operating time. Thus, the time associated with loading the laundry machine has a significant impact on the operational efficiency of the commercial laundry facility. [0003] One common method ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] It is an object of the present invention to provide a commercial laundry machine having a loading hopper designed to substantially reduce the loading time, and hence, substantially improve operating efficiency of the laundry machine. In this regard, a more particular object is to provide a commercial laundry machine having a loading hopper effective for reducing the loading time by more than half and for improving the overall machine productivity of the laundry machine by 25 percent or more.

[0010] Another object is to provide a commercial laundry machine as characterized above which is adapted for directing larger quantities of items into the laundry machine drum during loading. In this regard, it is an object to provide a commercial laundry machine in which the hopper is effective for receiving launderable items from much larger loading slings so as to reduce by up to 50 percent the number of slings that must be handled during loading of the laundry machine.

[0011] A further object is to provide a commercial laundry machine having a hopper with a splash door which when in an open position neither restricts the size of the access opening to the laundry machine drum, nor impedes movement of goods introduced into the hopper. A related object is to provide such a commercial laundry machine and hopper in which the splash door, in fact, facilitates direction of goods into the hopper and laundry machine drum.

Problems solved by technology

Apart from the actual laundering cycles, i. e. for example, the washing and extract cycles, a substantial amount of time is consumed in loading large quantities of items to be laundered into the laundry machine.

Unfortunately, the prior art arrangement disclosed in the aforesaid '772 patent does not appreciably shorten the loading cycle time.

Moreover, since typically as many as six 200 pound slings of launderable items can be required to fill a commercial washer, sequencing of the slings to the unloading position and directing the items into the laundry machine can be very time consuming.

Use of loading hoppers in conventional commercial laundry machines, furthermore, has been problem prone.

Items introduced into the hopper during loading can catch upon or fall behind the splash door, which can impede its operation.

Items also can hang up in the hopper and the splash door if water is not continually sprayed down the hopper to assist in moving the items into the drum, which can result in raising the liquid within the drum above the programmed level and necessitate a drainage cycle prior to start of washing.

Moreover, during the extract cycle of operation, i. e. the high speed spin cycle that forces liquid from laundered items following a wash cycle, the machine can experience extensive vibrations, particularly if the laundry load becomes out of balance.

Indeed, during the extract cycle, items rotating within the laundry machine can be exposed to forces up to 300 times gravity, While it is known to support the laundry machine on inflated bags during the extract cycle for better isolating the machine from the floor, since the hopper is mounted on the laundry machine, it still can be subjected to such severe vibrations as to cause structural failure to the hopper, or its support and actuating mechanisms.

Problems further have been incurred in maintaining the hopper in a securely closed and sealed condition against the laundry machine housing during the washing operation as is necessary in order to prevent leakage of the washing fluid.

Such cam actuated devices tend to over compress the gasket causing a permanent set.

The cams also can incur wear.

The combined effect is that over time the cam locking devices can develop a looseness to the extent that leakage about the door can occur and machine vibrations ultimately can cause the loose camming device to forcefully strike and break adjacently mounted proximity switches intended to monitor the locked condition of the hopper.

Since the loading hoppers of conventional laundry machines are relatively massive, problems further have been incurred in reliably raising the hopper to an unloading position following a laundry cycle.

While it is desirable to pivot the hopper at least 90 degrees away from the front face of the laundry machine so as not to impede the discharge of items during unloading, heretofore this has required costly and complex operating mechanisms.

For example, proposals for raising the hopper by means of large actuating cylinders mounted in front of the laundry machine impede access to the machine and movement of unloading conveyors in front of the laundry machine.

Efforts to locate actuating cylinders on the machine itself, and at locations that do not impede access to the machine or increase the floor footprint or height of the machine, have not been found to be effective or reliable in lifting and retaining the heavy hopper unit.

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