A METHOD AND AN APPARATUS FOR THE PROCESSING OF LAUNDRY ITEMS

The present invention relates to a method for the processing of clean/washed rectangular laundry items (5), comprising the steps of receiving and holding on to one corner (2) of each laundry item (5) by a movable clamp (52) of a laundry item transfer mechanism (50), draping, by means of said clamp (52), a length (L) of a side (6, 7) of the laundry item (5) adjacent to said one corner (2) over clamping jaws (63, 65, 73, 75) of two clamping devices (60, 70), by inserting said clamp (52) into a gap (400) between opposite jaws (63, 65, 73, 75, 64, 66, 74, 76) of said two clamping devices (60, 70), followed by a relative movement between said clamp (52) and said clamping devices (60, 70), holding on to said side (6, 7) of said laundry item (5) by said clamping devices (60, 70), and releasing said corner (2) from said clamp (52), locating two adjacent corners (1, 2; 3, 2) of said laundry item (5) by sliding at least one of said two clamping devices (60, 70) along said side (6, 7), to move said two clamping devices (60, 70) away from each other, then advancing said laundry item (5) held by said clamping devices (60, 70) in a first machine direction (D1), preferably with a trailing portion (T) of said laundry item (5) lying against a receiving surface (80), and then optionally carrying out an alignment of said laundry item (5) relative to said receiving surface (80) by a movement of said two clamping devices (60, 70) relative to one another along said first machine direction (D1).