EP3448202B1 - Device for producing round brushes - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a device for producing round brushes.

Round brushes are made by first folding a wire and then pinching bristles between the twisting halves of the wire during a twisting process.

Such devices operate at extremely high speeds, and the wire must first be buckled slightly near its center from a linear shape, after which a rotating gripper can grip it. The linear sections of the wire that have not yet been bent are pulled into the twisting area via deflection devices, because the rotating gripper is usually also moved linearly, transversely to the longitudinal extension of the bent wire, so that the wire has to be fed.

The pamphlet DE 10 2011 015060 A1 describes a fine device for producing round brushes, which have bristles clamped between two wire sections of a folded wire, with motor-driven drive rollers that move the wire in its longitudinal direction, a bending part that can be moved transversely to the wire, opposing counter-holders that are spaced apart from each other and that are on the bending part are arranged on the opposite side of the wire, whereby the bending part can be fed between the anvils and thereby bends the wire between itself and the anvils into a V-shape or U-shape to form wire halves, a bristle feed device for feeding bristles at the bent wire, and a rotary gripper capable of gripping the bent wire and twisting it as bristles are fed to anchor the bristles in the wire.

The object of the invention is to make it as easy as possible to adjust the various functions that must be fulfilled in a device for producing round brushes and to bring about an individual optimization of these various functions.

This object is solved by claim 1.

The longitudinal extension or longitudinal direction of the wire is the direction of the wire when it is not yet bent but is only being fed into the device. Here the wire is linear.

The device according to the invention has two opposing counter-holders which are spaced apart from one another and which serve to accommodate the bending part between them when the wire is to be bent for the first time or slightly bent in the middle.

According to the invention, in addition to the opposing counter-holders, deflection devices that are spaced apart from one another, for example in the form of baffles, are also provided for the attachment of the wire. The wire halves are guided along these deflection devices after the wire has been bent or folded in the middle. The deflection devices thus form a transition from the non-bent wire sections of the wire halves to the wire sections leading transversely to the longitudinal direction to the rotatable gripper. The wire rests against these deflection devices when it has to change its direction, namely from the longitudinal direction to the direction running transversely, almost 90° to the gripper.

According to the invention, the counter-holder and the deflection devices are different parts and can be brought into contact with the wire one after the other. This is not the case in the prior art because here the counterholder and deflection devices are always the same parts that are permanently in contact with the wire. Due to the fact that counterholder and deflection devices are different parts according to the invention, however, they can individually be optimally adapted to their functions. The counterholders are perfectly matched to the part to be bent between them, in order to perfectly shape and clamp the wire between the counterholders and the part to be bent. The deflection devices can also be optimized. The purpose of the deflection devices is, on the one hand, to deflect the wire and, on the other hand, to offer a certain resistance to the wire, so that the piece of wire between the gripper and the deflection device is kept under tension when it is twisted. Separate braking devices are therefore unnecessary in the device.

The anvils and/or the deflection devices are movable so that they can be brought into and out of contact with the wire in order to form a bending surface for the wire along which the wire is moved and bent.

The deflection devices as well as the counter-holders can be adjusted in the longitudinal direction of the non-bent wire and/or transversely to the longitudinal direction. Thus, either the counter-holders are advanced in order to come into contact with the wire, or the deflection devices. First, in the process, there are the Counterholder so that the part to be bent can press between the counterholders and bend or kink the wire. Then, however, the deflection devices are used when the counter-holders have moved away. then the wire that is kinked or bent in the middle is placed against the deflection devices or, conversely, the deflection devices are moved against the wire so that the rotatable gripper can then pull the wire further and this wire presses against the deflection devices.

Preferably, the wire can always remain in the same holder, which is defined, for example, by the drive rollers, while counter holders and deflection devices are delivered. That is, anvils and deflectors can have essentially the same operative position when the wire is in contact with them. Counterholder and deflection devices are only moved alternately into this active position.

The motor-driven drive rollers are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the wire outside of the counterholder and deflection devices, i. that is, they take them between them when they are in their operative position. This means that the drive rollers can press and transport wire material in the direction of the counterholders and the deflection devices.

Each drive roller can have a counter-roller and form a pair of drive rollers with it, which transports the wire between them and clamps it for the most slip-free transport possible.

Outside the area between the drive rollers, a motor-driven auxiliary drive roller can be provided which transports wire from a supply to the drive rollers.

Furthermore, a wire cutter is preferably provided between the auxiliary drive roller and the nearest drive roller to cut the piece of wire being processed from the wire stock.

A simple design of the invention is achieved when the counter-holders are protruding sections of a one-piece bending jaw arranged next to one another. The counterholders thus merge into one another, so to speak, at a connecting bridge.

The outer shape of the bent part should be adapted to the shape of the gap between the counter-holders and should be shaped in a complementary manner. Naturally there must still be a small gap to accommodate the wire so that it is not unnecessarily crushed.

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, the deflection devices are designed as baffles with an arcuate bending surface for the wire. In particular, the bending surface should be designed as a sliding surface for the wire. Roles are not necessary here and even disadvantageous.

A special embodiment of the invention provides that the drive rollers are controlled in such a way that during the twisting of the wire, in particular during the entire twisting process, they press wire sections towards one another and in the direction of the gripper. This means that the propelling force of the gripper is preferably not sufficient to transport the wire further during twisting, i. H. transport non-twisted sections of the ends of the wire halves. This is done by the drive rollers, which in this process state also transport wire to the bending surfaces.

A post-processing station can be provided, into which the twisted wire can be inserted and which twists the wire further and/or cuts the bristles on the outside.

A particularly effective device results when the post-processing station has a fixed gripper that can grasp the free ends of the wire halves. The device is rotatable or pivotable, e.g. B. It has a rotatable base to which several rotatable grippers are attached. By turning, a rotatable gripper that has just been used is transferred from a feed station (this is the station with counterholder and drive rollers) to the post-processing station together with the just twisted wire that it is still gripping. There, the wire that has just been twisted is gripped by the stationary gripper, with the rotating gripper being set in rotation for further twisting. As an alternative to this, the stationary gripper can of course also be released, ie set in motion with the rotating gripper via the wire, so that a knife can be moved along the bristles on the outside in order to cut them off.

Further features and advantages of the invention result from the following description and from the following drawings, to which reference is made.

• Figur 1 eine schematische Ansicht einer erfindungsgemäßen Vorrichtung zum Herstellen von Rundbüsten,
• Figur 2 den bei der erfindungsgemäßen Vorrichtung eingesetzten Gegenhalter samt Biegeteil,
• Figur 3 den rotierbaren Greifer beim ersten Erfassen des geknickten Drahts,
• Figur 4 einen nachfolgenden Schritt, bei dem der Greifer bereits einen Teil des Drahtes verdrillt hat,
• Figur 5 einen nachfolgenden Schritt in der erfindungsgemäßen Vorrichtung, bei dem die Rundbürste fast komplett gedreht ist,
• Figur 6 die erfindungsgemäße Vorrichtung, die in dieser Ausführungsform mit einer Nachbearbeitungsstation ausgeführt ist, und
• Figur 7 eine weitere Variante der erfindungsgemäßen Vorrichtung, bei der die Nachbearbeitungsstation mit einem Fräser oder Gegenmesser zum Bearbeiten der Borsten ausgebildet ist.

In the drawings show:

• figure 1 a schematic view of a device according to the invention for the production of round busts,
• figure 2 the counter-holder used in the device according to the invention, together with the bending part,
• figure 3 the rotatable gripper when first grasping the kinked wire,
• figure 4 a subsequent step in which the gripper has already twisted part of the wire,
• figure 5 a subsequent step in the device according to the invention, in which the round brush is almost completely rotated,
• figure 6 the device according to the invention, which in this embodiment is designed with a post-processing station, and
• figure 7 a further variant of the device according to the invention, in which the post-processing station is designed with a milling cutter or counter-knife for processing the bristles.

In figure 1 a device 10 for producing round brushes is shown. For this purpose, there is a stylized supply 12 for wire, from which the wire is drawn and transported into the device. A motor-driven auxiliary drive roller 14 and a counter-roller 16, which form a pair of auxiliary drive rollers, are provided in the wire feed direction. Here one or both roles can be driven. Between the rollers 14, 16, the wire is added. After the pair of auxiliary drive rollers there is an adjustable knife 18 which cuts off a sufficiently long piece of wire, as will be explained later.

A guide 20 is there to act as a counter knife and at the same time guide the wire. After the guide 20 is a first pair of drive rollers a first motor-driven drive roller 22 and a counter-roller 24 which receive the wire between them. A second pair of drive rollers at a significant distance therefrom comprises a second motor-driven drive roller 26 and a counter-roller 28, which take up the free end of the wire 30 and move it, for example, up to a stop 32. The stop 32 is adjustable, as indicated by the arrows 34, in order to be able to variably set the length of the piece of wire between the blade 18 and the stop 32.

The wire 30 runs linearly between the first and second pairs of drive rollers and also up to the auxiliary pair of drive rollers, as shown in FIG figure 1 is good to see.

In order to bend the wire 30, the following means are provided. A transverse to the longitudinal direction of the wire or the longitudinal extension of the wire (linear extension in the unbent state according to figure 1 ) reciprocating bending part 38 has a pin 40.

This pin 40 faces the wire 30 . On the opposite side of the wire to the pin 40, i.e. opposite the pin, a one-piece bending jaw 42 is provided, which comprises two spaced-apart counter-holders 44, which are integrally connected to one another by a web 46 and form a gap 48 between them. The free ends of the anvils each run over an arc 50, which extends over essentially 90°, from the longitudinal direction of the wire 30 to the gap 48, where the arc then essentially merges into a section which is 90° to the longitudinal direction of the Wire 30 runs.

In addition, two deflection devices 52, 54 are provided which are designed to be adjustable in one or more directions and which are also located between the pairs of drive rollers. As will be explained later, these deflection devices 52, 54 are used when twisting the wire.

Shown symbolically is a bristle feeder 56 carrying bristles 58 which are successively received and clamped between the wire halves being formed.

Both the counter-holder 42, d. H. the entire bending part 38 as well as the deflection devices 52, 54 can be moved so that they come into action one after the other and are acted upon by the wire 30 one after the other in order to control its bending.

In figure 1 the deflection devices 52, 54, which can be moved by motor, are disengaged from the wire and are not in operation. However, the counterholders 44 function as shown in figure 2 will be explained.

from the inside figure 1 In the position shown, the bending part 38 is moved in the direction of the bending jaw 42 in the direction of the arrow, so that the pin 40 grasps the wire in the area of its center, i.e. in relation to the longitudinal extent, and presses it between the counter-holder 44, as in FIG figure 2 , shown above. After the peg 40 is made complementary to the recess or gap 48, the shape of the bent or kinked portion of the wire 30 is created very precisely (see FIG figure 2 ). Then both the bending part 38 is moved outwards, as is the bending jaw 42 with the counter-holders 44, as in figure 2 , below, shown with the arrows. The wire 30 then has a bend or kink in its middle.

After the bending jaw 42 has been moved laterally, it is preferably also moved into or out of the plane of the drawing to clear the way for a gripper 60 to be fed in from the side, which can be set in rotation by a motor and which can also be moved by motor along a guide 62. The guide 62 extends essentially perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the wire 30, always based on the state of the wire in figure 1 .

The gripper grasps the so-called eye 64, i. H. the kink or bending point at its tip and clamps it.

Before or after the eye 64 is grasped by the gripper 60, the deflection devices 52, 54 are moved into their active position according to FIG figure 3 proceedings. This operative position corresponds approximately to the operative position of the counter-holder 44 in figure 1 and figure 2 above.

However, the deflection devices 52, 54 can also be moved from the side, ie in the plane of the drawing or out of the plane of the drawing.

The deflectors 52, 54 are formed with an arcuate flexing surface 66 which acts as a sliding surface along which the wire is pulled as the gripper 60 rotates the eyelet 64 while pulling it to the right in the direction of the arrow (see Fig figure 3 ). The linear wire sections of the two wire halves then travel along their arcuate bending surfaces 66 and are drawn into the intermediate space between the deflection devices 52, 54 and are also bent in the process.

The arcuate bending surface thus extends through substantially 90°.

In addition, lateral limiters, represented by rollers, can be present here, which prevent the wire from slipping off the respective bending surface 66 .

Then according to figure 4 the wire is pulled further, at the same time it is twisted and at the same time the bristles are inserted between the wire halves and clamped there during twisting.

During the twisting process, the drive rollers 22, 26 are set in motion, pushing wire material from the two non-bent ends of the wire halves towards one another in the direction of the deflection devices 52, 54 and thus towards the gripper 60 pulling the wire. This is necessary because the feed force of the wire withdrawal gripper is too small to overcome the friction of the wire on the bending surfaces 66 itself.

The drive of the gripper 60 for rotation is in particular torque-controlled, it can be achieved by a servomotor. In addition, preferably all driven drive rollers also use servomotors, which can be adjusted very well with regard to their speed.

When retracting the wire in figure 1 care is also taken to ensure that the peripheral speed of the drive rollers 22, 26 is the same as the peripheral speed of the auxiliary drive roller 14, so as not to cause the wire 30 to be compressed or pulled.

The deflection devices 52, 54 have a very simple design, they contain hardened surfaces, are therefore very easy to produce from steel and, above all, are very robust.

This also applies to the bending part and the bending jaws. These parts are also very easy to produce, above all they are also very easy to adapt to the desired optimum shape. Not every wire has to have an identically designed eye, rather it makes sense to design this eye optimally, depending on the wire thickness, etc. This adaptation is carried out by means of optimally designed pins 40 and counter-holders 44 with a gap 48.

In figure 5 the end of the twisting process can be seen. By the end, the drive rollers 22, 26 have pushed the wire towards the gripper 60 until the wire disengages from it.

What is also special about the device is that the twisting with the gripper 60 does not take place until the round brush is in the final twisted state. Rather, a very lightly twisted spiral is created, which is then twisted again in order to achieve the necessary and desired twisting of the wire halves and to generate the correct tension. It is just enough that the bristles do not fall out of the twisted wire before the round brush is refinished.

The device can optionally be equipped with a post-processing station in which the bristles are cut, for example (see Fig figure 7 ) where a cutter or knife 70 is traversed along the nearly finished brush while it is rotated. In addition, an additional twisting can also take place in the post-processing station, which bears the reference number 72, as already indicated.

The device has a rotatable guide, for example a drum, on which the gripper 60 can move, so that the already twisted wire no longer has to be gripped again. Here a base 76 can be seen being moved on the guide 74 . The gripper 60 is then moved in the longitudinal direction along the base 76 . Several rotatable grippers 60 sit on the guide 74 and can be clocked in and out in different stations. In the figure 6 upper station is the feeding station, which is just in view figure 1 explained became. An intermediate support 78 supports the free end of the twisted wire as it is withdrawn from the diverters 52,54. The device is then rotated, ie the guide 74 or the base 76 itself is rotated, so that the rotatable gripper 60 ends up in a post-processing station 72 together with the intermediate holder 78 and the wire 30 . Here sits a stationary gripper 80 which grips the free ends of the wire 30 . The gripper 80 can be delivered in the linear direction, like that Figures 6 and 7 demonstrate. When the gripper 80 has grasped the free ends, the gripper 60 can turn again, so that twisting is possible. Of course, the gripper 80 could also rotate, this even makes sense for post-processing by cutting.

While the brush is being completed in the post-processing station 72, the next brush is already being manufactured in the feeding station.

Claims (13)

1. Apparatus for producing round brushes having bristles clamped between two wire sections of a folded wire, comprising

   - motor-driven drive rollers (22, 24) which move the wire (30) in its longitudinal direction,

   - a bending part (38) movable transversely to the wire (30),

   - opposing counter-holders (44) which are spaced apart from one another and which are arranged on the side of the wire (30) opposite to the bending part (38),

   - said bending member (38) being adapted to be fed between said counter-holders (44), thereby bending said wire (30) between itself and said counter holders (44) into a V- or U-shape to form wire halves,

   - a bristle feeding device (56) for feeding bristles (58) to the bent wire (30), and

   - a rotating gripper (60) configured to grip the bent wire (30) and twist it during the feeding of bristles (58) to anchor the bristles (58) in the wire (30), wherein spaced-apart deflection mechanisms (52, 54) are provided for engaging the wire (30) and along which the wire halves are guided, the deflection mechanisms (52,54) forming a transition from non-bent wire portions of the wire halves to the wire portions guided transversely of the longitudinal direction to the rotating gripper (60), characterized in that the counter-holders (44) and the deflecting mechanisms (52, 54) are different parts and can be brought into contact with the wire (30) one after the other, in particular that the counter-holders (44) and/or the deflecting mechanisms (52, 54) can be moved in such a way, that they can be brought into and out of contact with the wire (30) in order to form a bending surface for the wire (30) along which the wire (30) is moved and bent.
2. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the deflecting mechanisms (52,54) are adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the non-bent wire (30) and/or transversely to the longitudinal direction.
3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the counter-holders (44) are adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the non-bent wire (30) and/or transversely to the longitudinal direction.
4. Apparatus according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the counter-holders (44) and the deflecting mechanisms (52, 54) have substantially the same operative position when the wire (30) is in contact with them and are alternately movable into their operative position.
5. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the counter-holders (44) and the deflecting mechanisms (52, 54) are arranged between the motor-driven drive rollers (22, 26), at least when they are in their operative position, in which the wire (30) respectively contacts the counter-holders (44) and the deflecting mechanisms (52, 54).
6. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that each driven drive roller (22,26) forms a drive roller pair with a counter-roller (24,28), which transports the wire (30) between them.
7. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one motor-driven auxiliary drive roller (14) is provided, which transports wire (30) from a supply to the drive rollers (22,26).
8. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the counter-holders (44) are protruding, juxtaposed portions of a one-piece bending jaw (42).
9. Apparatus according to claim 8, characterized in that the outer shape of the bending part (38) is adapted to the shape of the gap (48) between the counter-holders (44) and is shaped in a complementary manner.
10. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the deflecting mechanisms (52,54) are designed as baffles with an arcuate bending surface for the wire (30), in particular in that the bending surface is designed as a sliding surface for the wire (30).
11. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the drive rollers (22, 26) are controlled to push wire sections toward each other and toward the gripper (60) during twisting of the wire (30) by the gripper (60).
12. Apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a finishing station (72) is provided into which the twisted wire (30) can be inserted, and which further twists the wire (30) and/or cuts the bristles (58) on the outside.
13. Apparatus according to claim 12, characterized in that the finishing station (72) has a fixed gripper (80) capable of gripping the free ends of the wire halves, the apparatus (10) having a rotatable base (76) to which a plurality of rotatable grippers (60) are attached, wherein by rotating the base (76) a rotatable gripper (60) together with the just twisted wire (30) is transferable from a feed station in which the counter-holders (44) and the drive rollers (22, 26) are located, into the finishing station (80), where the just twisted wire (30) can be gripped by the stationary gripper (80), the rotatable gripper (60) being rotatable for further twisting.

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