CN109068844B - Method for removing bristles, device for removing bristles, method for manufacturing toothbrush, and device for manufacturing toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention aims to provide a method for removing bristles, which can inhibit poor quality and cost increase. The bristle removing method comprises the following steps: a detection step of detecting the position of the bristle tip of a defective bristle (20A) that exceeds a predetermined height in the height direction and the position in the length direction of the brush head; a first moving step of relatively moving the separated plurality of holding pieces (31) provided so as to extend in the width direction of the brush head portion in parallel to the bristle planting surface and longer than the width of the brush head portion and the brush head portion (18) based on the position of the bristle tips detected in the detecting step, and disposing the bristle tips between the separated plurality of holding pieces; a clamping step of moving at least one of the plurality of clamping pieces to clamp the hair tip at the 1 st position in the height direction by the plurality of clamping pieces; a 2 nd moving step of relatively moving the plurality of holding pieces holding the hair tips and the head part, and arranging the plurality of holding pieces holding the hair tips at a 2 nd position closer to the hair-setting surface (18a) than the 1 st position; a winding step of rotating the plurality of holding pieces holding the leading ends of the defective bristles around an axis intersecting the height direction at a position closer to the bristle surface than the 1 st position to wind the defective bristles around the outer peripheral surfaces of the holding pieces; and a 3 rd moving step of relatively moving the plurality of holding pieces around which the defective bristles are wound and the head part, and arranging the plurality of holding pieces around which the defective bristles are wound at a 3 rd position which is farther from the bristle-setting surface than the 1 st position.

Description

Method for removing bristles, device for removing bristles, method for manufacturing toothbrush, and device for manufacturing toothbrush

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method of removing bristles, a device for removing bristles, a method of manufacturing a toothbrush, and a device for manufacturing a toothbrush, and more particularly, to a method of removing bristles, a device for removing bristles, a method of manufacturing a toothbrush, and a device for manufacturing a toothbrush, which are preferably used when defective bristles (long bristles) of a toothbrush in which tapered bristles are implanted by flat plates are removed.

The present application claims priority to Japanese patent application No. 2016-076165, filed in Japan on 5/4/2016, and the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Background

Toothbrushes obtained by implanting tufts of bristles in a flat sheet have conventionally been produced through the following steps: a process of manufacturing a toothbrush main body including a head portion by injection molding or the like, a bristle implanting process of implanting tufts into a plurality of implanted holes formed in the head portion of the manufactured toothbrush main body by a flat sheet, a bristle cutting process of cutting the tips of bristles to adjust the height of the implanted bristles, and a tip end spheroidizing process of grinding the corners of the tips of the bristles, and the manufactured toothbrush is packaged and shipped after checking whether or not there is a bristle implantation defect or the like (patent document 1). Therefore, even if the height of the bristles implanted in the bristle implanting step is uneven, the height of the bristles can be adjusted to a predetermined height by the bristle cutting step.

In recent years, a toothbrush implanted with tapered bristles that easily enter between teeth has been used in a large amount (for example, refer to patent document 2). Since the tapered bristles are characterized in that the diameter of the bristle tip is reduced, it is not preferable to cut the bristle tip to be thicker in the conventional bristle cutting process for adjusting the height of the implanted bristles. Therefore, when using tapered bristles, the conditions for implanting the bristles are adjusted so that the height of the implanted bristles is uniform, and when defective bristles (long bristles) exceeding a predetermined height in the direction of implantation are generated due to implantation defects, the defective bristles are manually removed and removed. The defective bristles are removed manually by pinching them with a tool such as tweezers, but sometimes the defective bristles are broken and cannot be removed when the distal ends of the long bristles are stretched. Therefore, after the long hair tip is pulled by the tool, the long hair is pulled out to the outside of the outer periphery of the hair-planted surface in the pulled state, and then the pulling position is slid to the root of the long hair to perform the plucking operation with the root sandwiched therebetween. Since such an operation is required for each defective bristle, there is a problem that the cost is increased.

Patent document 3 discloses a device for extracting bristles from a toothbrush, which can extract bristles exceeding the outermost peripheral contour of the toothbrush across the entire outermost peripheral contour of the toothbrush, but has a problem that the removal of the bristles when the tapered bristles are implanted cannot be dealt with.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2002-199939

Patent document 2: japanese patent No. 3145213

Patent document 3: japanese patent laid-open No. Hei 7-155223

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a method of removing bristles, a device for removing bristles, a method of manufacturing a toothbrush, and a device for manufacturing a toothbrush, which can suppress poor quality and increase in cost.

Means for solving the problems

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of removing defective bristles, which are set at a predetermined height on a bristle setting surface of a head portion by a flat piece for removing bristles, which are set at the predetermined height in a toothbrush having tapered bristle tufts, and which are higher than the predetermined height, the method comprising: a detection step of detecting a position of a tip of the defective bristle exceeding the predetermined height in the height direction and a position in the brush head length direction; a first moving step of relatively moving the plurality of separated holding pieces, which are provided so as to extend in the width direction of the brush head portion in parallel with the bristle planting surface and are longer than the width of the brush head portion, and the brush head portion based on the position of the bristle tip detected in the detecting step, and disposing the bristle tip between the plurality of separated holding pieces; a clamping step of moving at least one of the plurality of clamping pieces to clamp the hair end at a 1 st position in the height direction by the plurality of clamping pieces; a 2 nd moving step of relatively moving the plurality of holding pieces holding the hair end and the brush head part, and arranging the plurality of holding pieces holding the hair end at a 2 nd position closer to the hair-setting surface than the 1 st position; a winding step of rotating the plurality of holding pieces holding the bristle tips around an axis intersecting the height direction at a position closer to the bristle surface than the 1 st position to wind the defective bristles around an outer peripheral surface of the holding pieces; and a placement step of relatively moving the plurality of holding pieces around which the defective brush staples are wound and the brush head unit, and placing the plurality of holding pieces around which the defective brush staples are wound at a 3 rd position which is farther from the bristle surface than the 1 st position.

Further, according to the method of removing brush hairs of the above-described one embodiment of the present invention, a ratio W1/W2 of a maximum width W1 of the holding piece in a direction of holding the hair end to a maximum width W2 of the holding piece in the height direction is 0.5 or more.

In the method of removing brush hairs according to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of holding pieces are rotated 1/2 turns or more around the axis in the winding step.

Further, according to the method of removing brush hair of one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of nipping pieces are rotated around the axis at a rotation speed corresponding to a speed of the relative movement between the plurality of nipping pieces and the brush head part in the 2 nd movement step.

In the method for removing bristles according to an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes a step of detecting again whether or not the defective bristles are at least at the predetermined height after the removing step.

According to the 2 nd aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toothbrush manufacturing method comprising: a bristle-planting step of implanting the tapered bristle tufts into a bristle-planting surface of the brush head portion at a predetermined height using a flat sheet; an inspection step of inspecting the tapered bristles implanted in the bristle implanting step; and a step of removing the defective bristles having a height exceeding the predetermined height by the bristle removing method according to claim 1 of the present invention.

According to the 3 rd embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a bristle extractor for extracting defective bristles exceeding a predetermined height in a toothbrush in which tufts of tapered bristles are implanted on a bristle implanting surface of a head portion by a flat piece for removing bristles, the bristle extractor comprising: a detecting section for detecting a position of the defective bristle tip exceeding the predetermined height; a plurality of holding pieces capable of holding the front end of the hair; a 1 st driving unit that drives at least one of the plurality of gripping pieces between a position where the hair end is gripped and a position where the gripping of the hair end is released; a 2 nd driving part for relatively driving the plurality of clamping pieces and the brush head part in the direction parallel to the bristle planting surface and the height direction; a 3 rd driving part which drives the plurality of clamping pieces to rotate around an axis crossed with the height direction to wind the defective brush hair on the peripheral surface of the clamping pieces; and a drive control unit for controlling the 1 st drive unit, the 2 nd drive unit, and the 3 rd drive unit based on a detection result of the detection unit to move the plurality of separated pinching pieces and the brush head unit relatively to each other and dispose the bristle tips between the plurality of separated pinching pieces, the bristle tip is held at the 1 st position in the height direction by the plurality of holding pieces, the plurality of holding pieces holding the bristle tip are arranged at the 2 nd position closer to the bristle surface than the 1 st position, and are rotated about an axis intersecting the height direction at a position closer to the bristle surface than the 1 st position, the defective bristle is wound around the outer peripheral surface of the holding pieces, and the plurality of holding pieces around which the defective bristle is wound are arranged at the 3 rd position farther from the bristle surface than the 1 st position.

Further, according to the above-described brushing device according to one embodiment of the present invention, the ratio W1/W2 of the maximum width W1 of the holding piece in the direction of holding the bristle tips to the maximum width W2 of the holding piece in the height direction is 0.5 or more.

Further, according to the above-described brushing device according to the one embodiment of the present invention, the drive control unit rotates 1/2 or more about the axis when the defective brush is wound around the outer peripheral surface of the gripping piece.

Further, according to the above-described brushing device according to the one embodiment of the present invention, in the process of arranging the plurality of holding pieces holding the hair end from the 1 st position to the 2 nd position, the plurality of holding pieces are rotated around the axis at the rotation speed corresponding to the speed of the relative movement between the plurality of holding pieces and the brush head part.

Further, according to the above-described brushing device according to the one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of holding pieces are provided so as to extend in the brush head portion width direction in parallel with the bristle surface and to be longer than the brush head portion width; the detection unit detects a position of the bristle tip in the height direction and a position of the bristle tip in the length direction of the brush head.

In the above-described bristle setting device according to one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of holding pieces have respective concave-convex shapes that engage with each other when the holding pieces are joined.

According to a 4 th embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a toothbrush manufacturing apparatus including: a bristle-implanting device for implanting the tapered bristle tufts into the bristle-implanting surface of the head portion at a predetermined height by using the flat sheet; an inspection device for inspecting the tapered bristles implanted by the bristle planting device; and a bristle removing device according to embodiment 3 of the present invention for removing defective bristles that exceed the predetermined height.

Effects of the invention

According to the present invention, poor quality and cost increase can be suppressed.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention, wherein (a) is a front view of a holder 31 of a brush removal device 30 disposed above a toothbrush 1, and (b) is a right side view.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the head portion 18 of the toothbrush 1 in the vicinity of one tuft.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram relating to driving of the holding piece 31.

FIG. 4 is a view showing the operation of the brush removal device.

FIG. 5 is a view showing the operation of the brush removal device.

FIG. 6 is a view showing the operation of the brush removal device.

FIG. 7 is a view showing the operation of the brush removal device.

FIG. 8 is a view showing the operation of the brush removal device.

FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of a toothbrush manufacturing apparatus 50.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing another form of the holding piece.

FIG. 11 is a front view showing another form of the holding piece.

FIG. 12 is a front view showing another form of the holding piece.

FIG. 13 is a front view showing another form of the holding piece.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments of a method of removing bristles, a bristle removing device, a method of manufacturing a toothbrush, and an apparatus for manufacturing a toothbrush according to the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 1 to 10. Hereinafter, a case of adopting the present invention will be described with respect to a toothbrush in which tapered bristles are implanted in a head portion.

The following embodiments are illustrative of one embodiment of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention, and may be modified arbitrarily within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. In the following drawings, the actual structure is different from the structures in scale, number, and the like in order to facilitate understanding of the structures.

[ method and apparatus for removing bristles ]

The bristle removing device will be described with reference to fig. 1 to 3. Fig. 1(a) is a front view of a holder 31 of a device for removing bristles 30 disposed above a toothbrush 1, and fig. 1(b) is a right side view of fig. 1 (a).

Although fig. 1 illustrates an example in which the holder 31 of the device for removing brush hairs 30 is disposed above the toothbrush 1, the holder 31 may be disposed below the toothbrush 1.

In the following description, the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush 1 is appropriately taken as the X direction, the width direction of the toothbrush 1 is taken as the Y direction, and a direction (thickness direction of the toothbrush 1) perpendicular to the X direction and the Y direction is taken as the Z direction.

First, a toothbrush (brush) 1 as a brush removal object from which bristles are removed by the brush removal device 30 will be briefly described. The toothbrush 1 includes: a handle body 10, and a brush part 22 formed of a plurality of tufts 12 implanted in the handle body 10. The handle body 10 includes: a rod-shaped handle portion (not shown in fig. 1), a neck portion 17 extending to a front end of the handle portion and being thinner than the handle portion, and a brush head portion 18 provided at a front end of the neck portion 17 and implanted with the plurality of tufts 12. The plurality of tufts 12 are implanted in the bristle-implanting surface 18a of the brush head portion 18.

As the material of the handle body 10, a hard resin such as polypropylene, polyacetal, or polybutylene terephthalate can be used. The overall length of the handle body 10 is about 100 to 200 mm. The brush head portion 18 is formed in a flat shape of 4 approximate quadrangles whose tops are cut off in a curved line. Regarding the size of the brush head part 18, the width is about 5 to 16mm, the length is about 10 to 33mm, and the thickness is about 3 to 5 mm.

The number of the implantation holes 23 may be, for example, 10 to 60. The diameter of the implantation hole 23 may be 1 to 3mm, for example. The planar shape of the implant holes 23 may be a polygon such as a circle or a quadrangle, and the arrangement pattern thereof may be a lattice, a cross, or the like.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the vicinity of one tuft in the head portion 18 of the toothbrush 1. Tuft 12 is formed by a plurality of tufts of tapered bristles 20. Tufts 12 are implanted into hair-setting surface 18a by a flat-sheet hair-setting method. Specifically, as shown in fig. 2, a plurality of tapered bristles 20 having tapered portions 21 at both ends thereof are bundled, a flat sheet 24 made of a metal sheet is folded in two, and the bundle 12 is implanted at a height (predetermined height) H from the implanted surface 18a by being driven into an implanted hole 23 formed in the implanted surface 18a of the head portion 18.

The tapered bristles 20 are provided with a tapered portion 21 that decreases in diameter toward the distal end, in a portion on the distal end side of the straight portion 19. The material of the tapered bristles 20 includes synthetic resins such as polyester, polyamide, and polyolefin, and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) is widely used. As a method of processing the tapered portion 21, a method of chemically treating the hair end of a monofilament made of PBT with strong alkali can be generally used. An example of the monofilament is a cylindrical monofilament having a total length of 31mm and a thickness of about 6 to 8mil (1 mil-0.025 mm) at the center.

The length H of the tapered bristles 20 (the length from the bristle surface 18a to the tip end of the bristles) when they are fixed by being folded into two and driven into the implantation hole 23 is, for example, about 10 to 12 mm. A typical tapered bristle 20 used in the toothbrush 1 has a sharp shape, a bristle tip diameter of 0.02mm, a taper length (length from the bristle tip to the start position of the taper shape) L of about 8mm, a diameter of 0.05 to 0.07mm at a position 1mm away from the bristle tip, and a diameter of 0.11 to 0.14mm at a position 3mm away from the bristle tip. Therefore, when long hairs of 1 to 3mm length generated by the flocking defects are pulled out, the assembly position is very thin, and the long hairs are torn off during assembly and pulling.

The bristle-implanting strength (bristle-fixing strength) of the tufts 12 in the toothbrush 1 is defined as the maximum tensile force that can be stretched as measured by a tensile tester in accordance with JIS S3016, and is 8[ N ] or more. In the toothbrush 1, the strength of the bristles is required to be higher than a certain level, and preferably higher. Therefore, it becomes more difficult to pull out the long bristles of the tapered bristles 20.

Returning to fig. 1, the brushing device 30 includes, as shown in fig. 1(a) and (b), a holding piece 31, a detection unit 32, a driving unit group 33, a brush holding unit (not shown) for holding the brush 18 of the toothbrush 1 from the surface opposite to the bristle-implanted surface 18a, and a drive control unit CONT. The holder 31 is disposed on the + Z side of the brush portion 22. The holding pieces 31 extend in the Y direction parallel to the bristle-implanted surface 18a in the width direction of the head 18, and are provided in pairs facing each other in the X direction. Each of the holding pieces 31 is formed such that: a semi-cylindrical shape having plane portions facing each other. When the holding piece 31 is joined by the flat surface portion, it may have a cylindrical shape with a diameter of 3.0mm as an example. The holding piece 31 is arranged in the following manner: is longer than the width of the brush head part 18 and covers the range in which the brush head part 18 is provided in the width direction. For example, when the maximum width of the brush head portion 18 is set to 15mm, the length of the holding piece 31 is set to about 30 mm. The clamping piece 31 may be formed of, for example, high-hardness chrome molybdenum steel.

The clamping piece 31 is movable in synchronization between a clamping position (see fig. 5(a)) in which at least one of the clamping pieces moves in the approaching direction and the planar portion is engageable and a release position (see fig. 1(a) and 4(a)) in which at least one of the clamping pieces moves in the separating direction and the clamping is released. In the present embodiment, the respective holding pieces 31 are described as being movable in the direction of approaching each other and in the direction of separating from each other, but may be movable in either direction relative to the other in the direction of approaching and separating. The pair of gripping pieces 31 are formed in a cylindrical shape when the flat surface portions abut against each other, that is, when they move to the gripping position. The holding piece 31 may be a cantilever support or a double-end support, and a double-end support structure is preferably used for more firm holding.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram relating to driving of the holding piece 31. The driving unit group 33 includes: a grip driving part (1 st driving part) 41, a horizontal driving part (2 nd driving part) 42, a rotation driving part (3 rd driving part) 43, and a height driving part (4 th driving part) 44. The driving unit group 33 is integrally controlled by the driving control unit CONT.

The clamping drive unit 41 moves the pair of clamping pieces 31 in synchronization in the X direction between the clamping position and the release position. The horizontal driving unit 42 moves the pair of holding pieces 31 and the head unit 18 (toothbrush 1) relatively in the X direction.

The rotation driving unit 43 rotates the pair of gripping pieces 31 around the center axis of the cylindrical shape in the state of the gripping position or the release position. The height driving unit 44 moves the pair of holding pieces 31 and the head unit 18 (toothbrush 1) relatively in the Z direction (height direction of the tufts 12).

Although the present embodiment describes the structure in which the pair of gripping pieces 31 are moved in the X direction by the driving of the horizontal driving section 42 and the pair of gripping pieces 31 are moved in the Z direction by the driving of the height driving section 44, the following structure is also possible: the brush head portion 18 (toothbrush 1) is moved in the X direction by the driving of the horizontal driving portion 42, and the brush head portion 18 (toothbrush 1) is moved in the Z direction by the driving of the height driving portion 44, or the pair of holding pieces 31 and the brush head portion 18 (toothbrush 1) are both moved in the X direction by the driving of the horizontal driving portion 42, and the pair of holding pieces 31 and the brush head portion 18 (toothbrush 1) are both moved in the Z direction by the driving of the height driving portion 44.

The detection unit 32 detects: among the tapered bristles 20, the tapered bristles 20 having a predetermined height and a predetermined length (hereinafter, referred to as defective bristles 20A) have an excess amount of bristle tips and a bristle tip position. The reference of the excess length of the defective bristle 20A may be, for example, 1mm or more. As shown in fig. 1(b), the detection unit 32 detects the defective bristle 20A from the + Y side, and detects the position of the bristle tip of the defective bristle 20A beyond the length reference in the X direction and the position in the Z direction, as an example. As a method of checking the position by the detection section 32, for example, a method of detecting the position in the X direction and a method of detecting the position in the Z direction of the defective brush 20A from the result of image processing of the image of the imaging brush section 22 or from the result of scanning based on the detection light along the brush section 22 (presence or absence of reflected light, presence or absence of received light at a predetermined position, or the like) may be used. The detection result of the detection unit 32 is output to the drive control unit CONT.

Next, a method of removing defective bristles 20A by the above-described bristle removing device 30 will be described with reference to fig. 4 to 8. In fig. 4 to 8, the detection unit 32, the drive unit group 33, and the drive control unit CONT are not illustrated.

First, after the toothbrush 1 is held by the brush head holding portion ((the brush head portion 18)), the detection portion 32 performs an imaging process or an optical scanning process for the held brush portion 22, and performs a detection process of the defective bristle 20A exceeding the excess length reference from the height H, and when the defective bristle 20A is detected, the detection portion 32 outputs the positional information of the bristle tip of the defective bristle 20A in the X direction to the drive control portion CONT.

When the position of the bristle tip of the defective bristle 20A in the X direction and the position information of the bristle tip in the Z direction are input, the drive control unit CONT controls the grip drive unit 41 to move the pair of gripping pieces 31 to the release position, and at the same time, to move the gripping pieces 31 at the position in the Z direction (hereinafter, referred to as the Z position) higher than the bristle tip of the defective bristle 20A so that the center positions of the pair of gripping pieces 31 coincide with the position of the bristle tip of the defective bristle 20A in the X direction (hereinafter, referred to as the X position), and then, as shown in fig. 4 a and b, controls the height drive unit 44 to move the gripping pieces 31 in the direction approaching the bristle setting surface 18a so that the excess bristle tip is positioned between the pair of gripping pieces 31 (1 st moving step). The position Z of the center of the holding piece 31 at this time is set higher than the height H so as not to contact the tapered bristles 20 other than the defective bristles 20A.

Next, the drive control unit CONT controls the clamping drive unit 41 to move the pair of clamping pieces 31 to the clamping position as shown in fig. 5(a) and (b). Thereby, the bristle tips of the defective bristles 20A are clamped between the pair of clamping pieces 31 at the 1 st position higher than the height H (clamping step).

Next, the drive controller CONT controls the height driver 44 to move the pair of holding pieces 31 holding the bristle tips of the defective bristles 20A to the 2 nd position closer to the bristle surface 18a than the 1 st position, as shown in fig. 6(a) and (b) (the 2 nd moving step). Since the bristle tips held by the pair of holding pieces 31 are thin as described above, the 2 nd position is set to a position where the following length of deflection occurs in the defective bristle 20A: when the pair of holding pieces 31 is rotated to wind the defective bristle 20A around the outer peripheral surface as described later, the length corresponding to an angle greater than 90 degrees of the peripheral length of the outer peripheral surface, for example, 1/2 turns (180 degrees), is set so that excessive tension is not applied to the bristle tip until 1/4 turns (90 degrees) at the initial stage of rotation.

Next, the drive control unit CONT controls the rotation drive unit 43 to rotate the pair of holding pieces 31 holding the leading end of the defective bristle 20A around the center axis of the columnar shape at the 2 nd position as shown in fig. 7(a) and (b) and wind the defective bristle around the outer peripheral surfaces of the pair of holding pieces 31 (winding step). The rotation amount of the pair of holding pieces 31 is preferably 1/2 turns or more, and more preferably 3/4 turns or more. When the rotation amount of the pair of holding pieces 31 is lower than the lower limit value, the minimum diameter of the defective bristle 20A not wound around the outer peripheral surface is small, and therefore, the defective bristle 20A may be torn off by tension generated by the rotation of the pair of holding pieces 31.

For example, when the taper length L is 8mm, the excess length of the defective bristle 20A is 1mm, and the circumferential length of the pair of holding pieces 31 is 3 × pi, about 70% of the taper length is wound around the outer circumferential surface when the rotation amount of the pair of holding pieces 31 is 1/2 rotations. When the rotation amount of the pair of holding pieces 31 is 3/4 revolutions, almost 100% of the taper length is wound around the outer peripheral surface. Therefore, the minimum diameter of the defective bristle 20A not wound around the outer peripheral surface is a value closer to the diameter of the central portion of the defective bristle 20A than the diameter of the bristle tip.

If the amount of rotation is too large, the moving distance of the pair of gripping pieces 31 in the 2 nd moving step becomes long, and therefore, there is a possibility that productivity is adversely affected. Further, when the diameters of the pair of gripping pieces 31 are increased, the 2 nd position is brought close to the flocked surface 18a because the moving distance of the pair of gripping pieces 31 in the 2 nd moving step is increased, and therefore, the flocks 12 other than the defective bristles may be crushed or the gripping pieces 31 may contact the flocked surface 18 a.

Therefore, the pair of holding pieces 31 are preferably thin within a range that can secure strength when holding the bristle tips of the defective bristles 20A and strength when winding the defective bristles 20A around the outer peripheral surface. In addition, the rotation amount of the pair of holding pieces 31 is preferably set in consideration of the taper length L of the defective bristle 20A.

After the defective brush staples 20A are wound around the outer peripheral surfaces of the pair of holding pieces 31 at a predetermined angle, the drive control unit CONT controls the height driving unit 44 to move the holding pieces 31 to the 3 rd position which is farther from the bristle surface 18a than the 1 st position and is higher than the height H with respect to the head unit 18 as shown in fig. 8(a) and (b) (3 rd moving step). By raising the holding piece 31, the defective brush staple 20A wound around the outer peripheral surface of the holding piece 31 can be removed from the brush head portion 18, and also includes a portion which is folded in two and arranged on the opposite side across the flat piece 24.

In the 3 rd moving step, since productivity is lowered when the moving speed of the pair of holding pieces 31 is slow, and the defective bristle 20A may be torn when the moving speed is fast, it is preferable to set the maximum moving speed within a range in which the defective bristle 20A is not torn.

As described above, in the bristle removing device 30 of the present embodiment, even when the defective bristles 20A exceeding the predetermined height H are generated after the bristle planting, the defective bristles 20A having poor bristle planting can be removed without relying on manual work and without the tip portions of the bristles being torn off. Therefore, according to the bristle removing device 30 of the present embodiment, the defective bristles 20A can be removed without increasing the cost and causing quality defects.

Further, according to the brushing device 30 of the present embodiment, since the pair of pinching pieces 31 are formed in a cylindrical shape having no edge on the outer peripheral surface when moved to the pinching position, it is possible to suppress the defective bristles 20A wound around the outer peripheral surface from being broken (torn) due to stress concentration. In addition, according to the bristle removing device 30 of the present embodiment, since the holding piece 31 is provided so as to extend in the width direction of the head portion 18 in parallel with the bristle-implanted surface 18a and to be longer than the width of the head portion 18, it is not necessary to adjust the position of the holding piece 31 in accordance with the position of the defective bristle 20A in the width direction of the head portion 18, and the efficiency of the bristle removing process can be improved.

In the above embodiment, the step of performing the winding step after the 2 nd moving step is completed is exemplified, but the step of performing the winding step in the process of the 2 nd moving step may be performed. For example, after the bristle tip of the defective bristle 20A is gripped by the pair of gripping pieces 31 at the 1 st position, the pair of gripping pieces 31 are moved a predetermined distance toward the 2 nd position so as not to apply excessive tension to the bristle tip, and a bend is formed in the defective bristle 20A, and then the step of moving the pair of gripping pieces 31 to the 2 nd position and the step of winding the defective bristle 20A around the outer peripheral surface by rotating the pair of gripping pieces 31 are performed in parallel.

In this case, by setting the rotation speed of the pair of holding pieces 31 so that the winding length of the defective bristle 20A around the outer peripheral surface by the rotation of the pair of holding pieces 31 is shorter than the deflection length of the defective bristle 20A caused by the pair of holding pieces 31 moving to the 2 nd position, it is possible to avoid applying excessive tension to the defective bristle 20A.

Specifically, when the diameter of the cylindrical holding piece 31 is d (mm), the rotational speed of the holding piece 31 by the operation of the rotation driving portion 43 (i.e., the winding speed of the defective bristle 20A) is R (revolutions per second), the circumferential ratio is pi, and the descending speed of the holding piece 31 by the operation of the height driving portion 44 is V (mm/second), the relationship between the length of deflection of the defective bristle 20A generated per unit time and the length of the defective bristle 20A wound on the outer peripheral surface per unit time preferably satisfies the following expression (1).

V≥π·R·D…(1)

Preferably, the rotation speed of the holding piece 31 is set to a value represented by the following formula (2) according to formula (1).

R≤V/(π·D)…(2)

In consideration of productivity, when the holding piece 31 reaches the 2 nd position, it is preferable to complete the winding of the defective brush 20A around the outer peripheral surface of the holding piece 31. Therefore, when the distance between the height direction position where the rotation of the holding piece 31 is started and the 2 nd position is set to L1(mm) and the rotation amount of the pair of holding pieces 31 around which the defective bristle 20A is wound on the outer circumferential surface is set to N rotations, the relationship between the moving time of the holding piece 31 to the 2 nd position and the time of winding the defective bristle 20A on the outer circumferential surface of the holding piece 31 is expressed by the following expression (3).

R·(L1/V)＝N…(3)

Therefore, by rotating the holding piece 31 at the rotation speed R represented by the following formula (4), it becomes unnecessary to additionally set the time for winding the defective bristle 20A around the outer peripheral surface of the holding piece 31.

R＝N·(V/L1)…(4)

For example, as described above, when the rotation amount of the pair of holding pieces 31 for winding the defective bristle 20A around the outer peripheral surface is 1/2 revolutions, the rotation speed R may be set to V/(2 × L1) according to equation (4).

In this way, the step of winding the defective brush 20A around the outer peripheral surface of the holding piece 31 is performed in parallel in the 2 nd movement step, whereby productivity can be improved. In particular, by rotating the holding piece 31 at the rotation speed R satisfying the formula (4), it becomes unnecessary to separately set the time for winding the defective brush 20A around the outer peripheral surface of the holding piece 31, and the productivity can be further improved.

[ method and apparatus for manufacturing toothbrush ]

Hereinafter, a toothbrush manufacturing method and a toothbrush manufacturing apparatus will be described with reference to fig. 9. Fig. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of a toothbrush manufacturing apparatus 50.

The toothbrush manufacturing apparatus 50 includes: a bristle planting device 60, a conveying device 70 and the bristle removing device 30. The hair-planting device 60 is configured to drive a predetermined number of bundles of tapered bristles 20 and a flat piece 24 into the planting holes 23 of the head portion 18 held by the head holding portion by a hair-planting needle, and to fold the tapered bristles 20 in two by the flat piece 24 and to plant the folded tapered bristles into the planting holes 23. In addition, the hair transplantation device 60 implants the bundles of the tapered brush hairs 20 into the respective implantation holes 23 in sequence by moving the brush head portion 18 in accordance with the arrangement of the plurality of implantation holes 23.

The toothbrush 1 implanted with the tufts of tapered bristles 20 by the bristle implanting device 60 is transported to the bristle removing device 30 by the transporting device 70. The toothbrush 1 conveyed to the bristle removing device 30 detects and removes the defective bristles 20A protruding from the brush head 18 as described above. As described above, in the toothbrush manufacturing apparatus 50 of the present embodiment, even when the defective bristles 20A having a height exceeding the predetermined height H are present in the tapered bristles 20 set by the bristle setting device 60, the bristles can be inspected and removed without relying on manual work, and quality defects and cost reduction can be suppressed.

In the transportation of the toothbrush 1 from the bristle implanting device 60 to the bristle removing device 30, the head holder holding the brush head portion 18 in the bristle implanting device 60 may be transported and used as the head holder in the bristle removing device 30 to perform the inspection and bristle removal, or the toothbrush 1 detached from the head holder in the bristle implanting device 60 may be transported to the bristle removing device 30 and the transported toothbrush 1 may be held by the head holder in the bristle removing device 30 to perform the inspection and bristle removal.

While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the drawings, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to these examples. The various shapes, combinations, and the like of the respective components shown in the above examples are only examples, and various modifications can be made based on design requirements and the like without departing from the scope of the present invention.

For example, although the above-described embodiment has been described as the configuration in which the opposing surfaces (gripping surfaces) of the gripping pieces 31 are flat surfaces, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be configured to have, for example, concave and convex shapes that engage with each other at the gripping positions as shown in fig. 10. When the holding pieces 31 have this configuration, the defective brush staples 20A can be held more firmly because there are portions where the holding direction of the holding pieces 31 is different from the holding direction of the holding surfaces of the holding pieces 31.

In the above embodiment, the step of pulling out the defective bristle 20A from the brush head portion 18 by lifting the holding piece 31, which winds the defective bristle 20A by the outer peripheral surface thereof, from the 2 nd position in the vicinity of the base end portion of the defective bristle 20A is exemplified, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, it may also be the following steps: and a step of controlling the rotation driving unit 43 to rotate the holding piece 31 in the winding direction of the defective bristle 20A and to pull out the defective bristle 20A from the head part 18 in a state where the drive control unit CONT controls the height driving unit 44 to stop the holding piece 31 at the 2 nd position.

By adopting this step, the direction of removal of the defective brush staples 20A is inclined with respect to the Z direction into which the flat piece 24 is driven, so that the resistance by the flat piece 24 at the time of removal can be reduced.

In addition, although the above embodiment has exemplified the structure in which the defective brush 20A is wound while the holding piece 31 is moved to the 2 nd position, the present invention is not limited to this structure, and for example, the following structure may be employed: the holding piece 31 holds the defective brush 20A, then moves to the 2 nd position, and then rotates to wind the defective brush 20A around the outer peripheral surface.

In the above embodiment, the structure in which the defective brush 20A is sandwiched and removed by the pair (2) of the holding pieces 31 as the plurality of holding pieces 31 is exemplified, but the present invention is not limited to this structure, and may be a structure using three or more holding pieces. For example, it may have the following structure: as shown in fig. 11, three holding pieces 31 obtained by dividing a cylinder at intervals of 120 ° are used at the holding position, and the defective bristles 20A are held and removed. In the case where three or more holding pieces 31 are used, the holding pieces may have a concave-convex shape that engages with each other at the holding position, as described above. Any one of the plurality of gripping pieces 31 may be configured as follows: in order to improve the clamping property, the clamping matching surface is roughened by sandblast (blast) processing, so that the surface area is increased and the sliding is difficult.

In addition, although the above-described embodiment has exemplified the structure in which the gripping piece 31 is formed in the cylindrical shape at the gripping position, the present invention may also be formed in a structure, for example, in a prismatic shape, in addition to this structure. Fig. 12 shows an example of the grip piece 31 formed in a quadrangular prism shape at the grip position. When the holding piece 31 is formed in a prismatic shape, it is preferable to form a curved surface such as an arc shape at a corner portion of the holding piece 31 in order to prevent the defective bristle 20A from being broken when wound.

Further, after the pair of gripping pieces 31 grip the leading end of the hair, warpage may occur in a direction in which the gripping positions are separated from each other. In addition, when the clamping piece 31 is formed of high-hardness chromium molybdenum steel, the warpage occurs. Therefore, as the cross-sectional shape of the pair of holding pieces 31, it is preferable that the maximum width W1 of the hair tip in the holding direction is larger than the maximum width W2 in the height direction, as shown in fig. 13. By making the maximum width W1 larger than the maximum width W2, the warp (deflection) occurring when the bristle tip is pinched can be reduced without greatly increasing the circumferential length of the outer peripheral surface.

Preferably, the maximum width W2 of the clamping piece 31 in the height direction is 1-3 mm. The ratio (W1/W2) of the maximum width W1 in the nipping direction to the maximum width W2 in the height direction of the nipping piece 31 is preferably 0.5 or more, more preferably 1.0 or more, and still more preferably 1.2 or more. The circumferential length of the outer circumferential surfaces of the pair of joined holding pieces 31 is preferably 14mm or less, more preferably 12mm or less, and further preferably 10mm or less.

As described above, when the hair length H is about 10 to 12mm and the taper length L is about 8mm, the maximum width W1 in the gripping direction and the maximum width W2 in the height direction of the gripping piece 31 are set within the above ranges, whereby the rotation amount of the gripping piece 31 when the defective bristle 20A is wound around the outer peripheral surface can be set to 1/2 turns or more, preferably 3/4 turns or more.

The outer peripheral surfaces of the pair of gripping pieces 31 are preferably formed into an oval shape such as an elliptical shape or an oval shape having a major axis in the gripping direction so as not to form an edge.

In addition, the above embodiments are described. The structure in which the holding piece 31 is moved in the horizontal direction and the height direction with respect to the toothbrush 1 is illustrated, but the present invention is not limited to this structure, and may be a structure in which: the toothbrush 1 is configured to move in the horizontal direction and the height direction with respect to the holding piece 31 via the head holding portion.

In the above embodiment, the defective brush 20A implanted in the toothbrush 1 is extracted by the brush extractor 30 of the present invention, but the application thereof is not limited to the toothbrush 1, and the present invention can be widely applied to inspection and manufacture of brushes, such as brushes, pens, and cosmetic brushes, which use tapered bristles or thin bristles having a reduced diameter at their tips, such as tapered bristles.

Industrial applicability of the invention

The present invention is applicable to a method of removing bristles, a device for removing bristles, a method of manufacturing a toothbrush, and a device for manufacturing a toothbrush.

[ description of symbols ]

1 … toothbrush (brush), 18 … brush head, 18a … bristle setting surface, 20 … taper brush, 20A … defect brush, 30 … bristle removing device, 31 … holding piece, 41 … holding driving part (1 st driving part), 42 … horizontal driving part (2 nd driving part), 43 … rotary driving part (3 rd driving part), 44 … height driving part (4 th driving part), 50 … toothbrush manufacturing device, CONT … driving control part, H … height (prescribed height)

Claims (13)

1. A method for removing defective bristles exceeding a predetermined height from a toothbrush having a head portion implanted with bristle tufts having tapered bristles implanted therein at the predetermined height by a flat piece,

the bristle removing method comprises the following steps:

a detection step of detecting a position of a tip of the defective bristle exceeding the predetermined height in the height direction and a position in the brush head length direction;

a first moving step of relatively moving the plurality of separated holding pieces, which are provided so as to extend in the width direction of the brush head portion in parallel with the bristle planting surface and are longer than the width of the brush head portion, and the brush head portion based on the position of the bristle tip detected in the detecting step, and disposing the bristle tip between the plurality of separated holding pieces;

a clamping step of moving at least one of the plurality of clamping pieces to clamp the hair end at a 1 st position in the height direction by the plurality of clamping pieces;

a 2 nd moving step of relatively moving the plurality of holding pieces holding the hair end and the brush head part, and arranging the plurality of holding pieces holding the hair end at a 2 nd position closer to the hair-setting surface than the 1 st position;

a winding step of rotating the plurality of holding pieces holding the bristle tips around an axis intersecting the height direction at a position closer to the bristle surface than the 1 st position to wind the defective bristles around an outer peripheral surface of the holding pieces; and the number of the first and second groups,

and a placement step of relatively moving the plurality of holding pieces around which the defective brush staples are wound and the brush head unit, and placing the plurality of holding pieces around which the defective brush staples are wound at a 3 rd position which is farther from the bristle surface than the 1 st position.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a ratio W1/W2 of a maximum width W1 of the holding piece in a direction of holding the bristle tip to a maximum width W2 of the holding piece in the height direction is 0.5 or more.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of holding pieces are rotated 1/2 turns or more around the axis in the winding step.

4. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of holding pieces are rotated around the axis at a rotation speed corresponding to a speed of the relative movement between the plurality of holding pieces and the brush head part in the 2 nd movement step.

5. The method for removing brush staples according to claim 1 or 2, comprising at least a step of detecting again whether or not the defective brush staples are out of the predetermined height after the removing step.

6. A method of manufacturing a toothbrush, comprising:

a bristle-planting step of implanting the tapered bristle tufts into a bristle-planting surface of the brush head portion at a predetermined height using a flat sheet,

an inspection process of inspecting the tapered bristles implanted in the bristle implanting process, and

and a step of removing the defective bristles exceeding the predetermined height by the bristle removing method according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. A device for removing defective bristles from a toothbrush, which has a tapered bristle bundle implanted at a predetermined height on a bristle implanting surface of a head part with a flat plate for removal, the device being capable of removing defective bristles exceeding the predetermined height, the device comprising:

a detecting part for detecting the position of the front end of the defective bristle exceeding the predetermined height,

a plurality of clamping sheets capable of clamping the front ends of the bristles,

a 1 st driving part for driving at least one of the plurality of clamping pieces between a position for clamping the hair tip and a position for releasing the clamping of the hair tip,

a 2 nd driving part for relatively driving the plurality of clamping pieces and the brush head part in the direction parallel to the bristle planting surface and the height direction,

a 3 rd driving part for driving the plurality of holding pieces to rotate around an axis crossing the height direction to wind the defective brush around the outer peripheral surface of the holding pieces,

a drive control unit for controlling the 1 st drive unit, the 2 nd drive unit, and the 3 rd drive unit based on a detection result of the detection unit to move the plurality of separated gripping pieces and the brush head unit relative to each other and dispose the bristle tips between the plurality of separated gripping pieces, the bristle tip is held at the 1 st position in the height direction by the plurality of holding pieces, the plurality of holding pieces holding the bristle tip are arranged at the 2 nd position closer to the bristle surface than the 1 st position, and are rotated about an axis intersecting the height direction at a position closer to the bristle surface than the 1 st position, the defective bristle is wound around the outer peripheral surface of the holding pieces, and the plurality of holding pieces around which the defective bristle is wound are arranged at the 3 rd position farther from the bristle surface than the 1 st position.

8. The device for removing brush according to claim 7, wherein a ratio W1/W2 of a maximum width W1 of said holding piece in a direction of holding said bristle tip to a maximum width W2 of said holding piece in said height direction is 0.5 or more.

9. The bristle removing device according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the drive control unit rotates 1/2 or more around the axis when the defective bristle is wound around the outer peripheral surface of the holding piece.

10. The device for removing brush according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the drive control unit rotates the plurality of gripping pieces around the axis at a rotation speed corresponding to a speed of relative movement between the plurality of gripping pieces and the brush head unit in the process of arranging the plurality of gripping pieces gripping the hair tip from the 1 st position to the 2 nd position.

11. The device for removing bristles according to claim 7 or 8,

the plurality of holding pieces are provided to extend in the brush head portion width direction in parallel with the bristle surface and to be longer than the width of the brush head portion;

the detection unit detects a position of the bristle tip in the height direction and a position of the bristle tip in the length direction of the brush head.

12. The device of claim 7 or 8, wherein the plurality of gripping portions each have a concave-convex shape that engages with each other when engaged.

13. A toothbrush manufacturing device is characterized by comprising:

a hair-planting device which uses a flat sheet to plant the conical bristle tuft into the hair-planting surface of the brush head part at a specified height,

an inspection device for inspecting the tapered bristles implanted with the bristle planting device, and

the bristle removing device according to any one of claims 7 to 12, wherein defective bristles exceeding the predetermined height are removed.

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