GB1592574A

GB1592574A - Brush making

Info

Publication number: GB1592574A
Application number: GB3817277A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1976-09-25
Filing date: 1977-09-13
Publication date: 1981-07-08
Also published as: DE2643222C2; BE857386A; DE2643222A1

Description

(54) BRUSH MAKING (71) I, HEINZ ZAHORANSKY, trading as ANTON ZAHORANSKY, a German citizen, of Schwarzwaldstrasse 8, 7868 Todtnau, Germany, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- This invention relates to a brush-making machine comprising one or more filling mechanisms, the or each filling mechanism being provided with at least one bristle magazine.

In such known brush-making machines, bristles located in the bristle magazine are taken from it in a certain quantity by a separator located underneath the magazine at its outlet opening and are fed to a filling tool. The bristle supply in the magazine is filled up by hand, as required. In a disadvantageous manner, this brush-making machine must, therefore, have its bristle supply checked by an operator at comparatively short intervals, among other reasons, also, because owing to the uniform position of the bristles in the magazine, necessary for faultfree processing, the supply quantity of them in a loose state can only be comparatively small. As the bristles are generally delivered in the form of bundles, removal of the wrapping of the bundle is an additional activity done by hand.

The purpose of the invention is, therefore to provide a brush-making machine of the type mentioned in the introduction, which enables fault-free mechanical processing of even a large supply of bristles to be carried out without manual involvement over a comparatively long period of time.

According to the invention, there is provided a brush-making machine comprising one or more filling mechanisms, the or each filling mechanism being provided with at least one bristle magazine for supplying bristles thereto; and the or each magazine being provided with a feed mechanism for supplying bristles thereto in the form of wrapped bundles and an opening device arranged between the feed mechanism and the outlet of the bristle magazine for opening the wrappings of the bristle bundles.

The brush-making machine according to the invention is suitable for the mechanical processing of bundled bristles, in which case as a result of the wrappings holding together the individual bristles, quantities can be stored or kept in supply, without the danger of "entanglement" of the individual bristles, which has a disadvantageous effect on further processing. The bundles of the bristles are fed to the magazine, as required, and opened.

Appropriately, the feed mechanism has at least one conveying means which possesses holding devices for the bristle bundles. A comparatively large number of bristle bundles can be held on the conveying means by means of the holding devices, so that a corresponding bristle supply is available, which renders manual involvement superfluous over a long period.

Advantageously, the opening device acts upon the wrappings of the bristle bundles away from the points of engagement of the holding devices fixing them. As a result, the wrappings remain on the holding devices even after the bristles have been opened and emptied and they are, consequently, conveyed out of the emptying area by the feed mechanism.

Appropriately, the conveying means is a conveyor belt or a continuous chain or suchlike, on which the holding devices for engaging the bristle bundles are provided.

Such a conveying means has a simple construction and is sturdy. Also, the holding devices can easily be attached to it.

For this purpose, the chain may comprise straps having a portion extending outwardly at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the chain, the extended portion having a holding device mounted thereon.

One form of construction provides that on the extended portion of the chain strap two holding elements are provided which are designed as fingers or suchlike gripping elements touching one another in one or more places. The bristle bundles can, therefore, be put on simply for attachment to the feed mechanism, their wrapping being gripped and held by the two holding elements.

According to a further development of the invention, at least one loading device is provided to press the stored bristles against a separator located at the outlet end of the magazine. The loading device guarantees reliable feed of the stored bristles to the separator.

Advantageously, the loading device has at least one, but preferably two, pressure elements which are vertically adjustable in the magazine and at least one of which presses upon the stored bristles at any time. As a result, a practically continuous pressure on the bristles and, consequently, also regular extraction of the bristles by the separator can be achieved.

An advantageous further development provides that the conveying means is arranged above the magazine and is vertically movable as a whole in the direction of its longitudinal median plane and that the conveying means serves preferably as a loading device. As a result, the bristles can be fed directly to the magazine, in which case the still wrapped bristles come to rest on the stored bristles and, after the wrapping is opened, are added to the stored bristles practically without change of position. As a result, among other things, the orderly position of the bristles can be maintained, so that fault-free further processing is possible.

In a further form of the invention several magazines, arranged consecutively, preferably in the direction of movement of the separator, and, optionally, several conveying means can also be provided, in which case the magazines and the separator located underneath the magazines are movable in relation to one another. As a result, processing of different types of bristles is also possible, a magazine being provided for each type of bristle provided. As required, the appropriate magazine can then be brought over the separator, preferably by being displaced sideways, with its outlet opening towards the receiving point.

According to a further proposal of the invention, the feed mechanism can have a cutting device to cut to length in bristle bundles bundled lengths of bristles fed to the machine. As a result, bristle lengths can be fed, which are then cut to length by means of the cutting device to the desired length to form individual bristle bundles.

It is especially advantageous if the feed mechanism has a device with a slide or such like to supply the cut to length bristle bundles to the holding devices, the slide being located in a loading region of the conveying means and its working movement being synchronous to the step drive of the conveying means. As a result, manual slipping-on of the individual bristle bundles which is otherwise necessary can be omitted.

Thus, a practically complete mechanical processing of the bristles is made possible advantageously with minimum manual involvement.

A modified embodiment of the invention provides that the feed mechanism is arranged in an inclined feed plane, the axes of bristle bundles being at right angles to the feed plane. This embodiment requires only small expenditure. It can be used particularly advantageously in conjunction with a feed mechanism and a cutting device for bristle lengths.

The outlet of the magazine is appropriately arranged horizontally and preferably designed as a roller magazine, the feed plane merging into the plane of the magazine. The bristle bundles located in the inclined feed mechanism ensure further conveyance by their gravity and also ensure sufficient pressure on the separator of the bristles in the magazine.

According to the invention there is also provided a method of making brushes, wherein one or more filling mechanisms introduce bristles into holes in a brush body, the bristles being supplied to the or each filling mechanism from a magazine, bristles are supplied to the or each magazine in the form of wrapped bundles by a feed mechanism, the wrappings of the bristle bundles being removed before the bristles reach the outlet of the magazine.

The method of the invention has the advantage that the working time of the machine without manual involvement can be extended and the difficult insertion of loose bristles which requires skill is avoided.

According to an advantageous further development, the individual bristles, particularly natural bristles, are first bundled and brought together into a wrapper to form a bristle bundle.

A further embodiment of the method of the invention provides that the bristles are introduced to the feed mechanism where they are cut to the desired bristle length in individual bundles and then fed to the magazines. In this method according to the invention, a largely automatic operation of loading and processing the bristles is provided, manual involvement entailing only small expenditure being necessary only at long intervals to deposit the bristle lengths.

Hence, comparatively long work intervals are made possible, depending on the bristle lengths.

Co-pending application No. 22110/77 (Serial No. 1592605) relates to a method of producing brushes having tufts of bristles, comprising storing a supply of bristles substantially parallel to one another in a magazine, subjecting at least some of the bristles in the magazine to a compacting force, with drawing tufts of the compacted bristles from an outlet of the magazine and feeding them to a device which serves to insert said tufts of bristles into a brush at an inserting station, wherein the compacting force is continuously applied, and is substantially constant. The bristles may be introduced into the magazine in bundles contained in envelopes, the envelopes being opened and removed before insertion of the bristles.

Application No. 22110/77 (Serial No.

1592605) further relates to a brush making machine including a magazine for storing bristles, means for applying a compacting force to bristles in said magazine, a device for withdrawing tufts of bristles from an outlet of the magazine and delivering said tufts to an inserting device for insertion into a br brush at an insertion station, said means for applying a compacting force being so constructed and arranged that a continuous, substantially constant compacting force is applied to bristles in said magazine. The machine may be intended for use in a method in which bristles are supplied as bundles in envelopes, in which case the machine comprises means for opening and removing the envelopes before the bristles are inserted in a brush.

The invention is described below with the details essential to the invention by reference to the drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side view of an embodiment of a brush-making machine according to the invention, Figure 2 is an embodiment slightly modified relative to that of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a part view of a conveying means with a chain and bristle bundles fastened to it, Figure 4 is a chain link with a holding device and with a bristle bundle and a slip-on device, Figure 5 is a holding device in part view, Figure 6 is a brush-making machine shown only in part, with two slidable magazines, Figures 7 and 8 are a magazine with a pressure plate for the bristles, which is arranged at its outlet end, Figure 9 is a modified embodiment of a feed mechanism with magazine and a cutting device.

As shown in Figure 1, a brush-making machine 1 has a feed mechansim 2 by means of which bristle bundles 3 are fed to a magazine 4. In the transfer region from the feed mechanism 2 to the magazine 4, an opening device 5 is provided for opening the wrappings 6 holding the bristle bundles 3 together. Underneath the outlet opening 7 of the magazine 4 there is arranged a separator 8 which is pivotable to and fro about a fulcrum P. A receiving opening 9 in the separator 8 takes from the magazine 4, at any given time, a certain quantity of bristles 10 and feeds them to a filling tool 11. This then introduces the bristles in the form of a tuft 12 into holes in a brush body 13.

The feed mechanism 2 has, in the embodiments of Figures 1 and 2, as conveying means a continuous chain 14 which is provided with holding devices 15 for the bristle bundles 3.

It can be seen that the opening device 5, which has a preferably sawblade-edged cutter 16 movable in the longitudinal direction of the bundles, is so arranged that the wrappings 6 of the bristle bundles 3 are acted upon away from the points of engagement of the holding device 15 fixing them. As a result, the wrappings 6 remain on the holding device 15, even after the bundles have been opened, and are conveyed away out of the magazine area, as is illustrated by the two removed wrappings 6 on the feed mechanism 2. In particular, Figure 4 shows that the holding devices engage, at any given time, only on the wrappings 6 of the bristle bundles 3.

The chain 14 acting as conveying means comprises, at right angles to its longitudinal axis, straps 17 which extend outwardly and whose extended section carries holding elements 18, 18a. These two holding elements touch one another in the region of their free ends. The wrappings 6 of the bristle bundles 3 can, as a result, be gripped efficiently and held. The length of the holding elements 18, 1 8a corresponds roughly to half the length of a bristle bundle 3. The holding element 1 8a is designed here as a supporting finger 19 and the other gripping element 18 as a pressure finger 20 acting upon it by spring pressure.

The supporting finger 19 is pointed at its free end, while the pressure finger 20 runs obliquely at its free end from the point of contact away from the supporting finger 19 and forms a roughly V-shaped entry opening. As a result, the bristle bundles 3 can be slipped on easily, even without being applied precisely with their wrapping 6. A roller chain, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, is very suitable as conveying means. The roller is denoted by 21, while the strap opposite the outwardly extended strap is denoted by 22.

To achieve efficient feeding of the stored bristles 10 to the separator 8, at least one loading device 23 is provided for the bristles 10. The loading device 23 shown in Figure 1 has a pressure element 24 vertically movable in the magazine 4, while in the embodiment shown in Figure 2, provision is made for two alternately engaging pressure elements 24, 24a. These pressure elements are vertically movable in the magazine by means of cylinders 25. Two further cylinders 25a which are connected to the pressure elements enable an engaging and releasing movement.

The stored bristles 10 can be acted upon uniformly by these pressure elements practically continuously. Optionally, the pressure elements can also be designed in such a way that, in the case of vertical adjustment inside the magazine 4, they can be moved past one another without contact. This is possible, for example, in a form of construction where one of the pressure elements is fork-shaped and the other pressure element is finger-shaped.

In the embodiment with pressure elements that can be engaged and released, the abovementioned special form of the pressure elements can be omitted.

A filling-up operation in the embodiment shown in Figure 2 proceeds as follows; when the pressure element 24a reaches a bottom position where a limit switch 26 is actuated.

the pressure element 24 is inserted by its cylinder 25a and begins to put pressure on the bristles 10. The pressure element 24a is then pulled out of the magazine 4 by its cylinder 25a, lifted into its top position by its cylinder 25 and again engaged in the magazine 4. It now resumes its pressure on the bristles 10, so that the pressure element 24 can be pulled out of the magazine 4 again.

With the feed mechanism 2 bristle bundles 3 can now be fed to the magazine 4. This can, however, optionally take place at another time. The control of the above-described operation can, for example, be undertaken by a programme control switch or by followup control.

As indicated by the double arrow PFl in figure 1, the feed mechanism 2 can be vertically adjustable as a whole in the direction of its longitudinal centre axis L. A lifting cylinder 38 is provided for this purpose. As a result, a bristle bundle 3 located in the bottom position on the feed mechanism 2 can be fed directly to the bristle supply in the magazine 4 by a lowering movement of the feed mechanism 2 as a whole. This bristle bundle 3 can come to rest on the bristles 10 located above the pressure element 24 or, alternatively, it can put pressure on the stored bristle supply. The pressure element 24 can then be pulled out of the magazine 4, conveyed upwards and again engaged underneath the bristle bundle 3.

Thus, during this "auxiliary gripping operation", the feed mechanism can with the bottom bristle bundle 3 assume application of pressure on the stored bristles, so that with this embodiment also, pressure application practically without interruption takes place.

The pressure element 24 is shown in its top position by a dotted line underneath the introduced bristle bundle 3. In this embodiment 9 limit switch 26 is provided which triggers off the above-described "auxiliary gripping operation".

The feed mechanism 2 appropriately has a step drive, not shown here, whose step interval corresponds to the spacing of adjacent bristle bundles 3 fastened to the chain 14. To release the step drive and, optionally, the lift drive of the conveying means, one or more limit switches can be provided here, also. which are actuated by the downwardly moving pressure element 24.

In the above-described additional use of the feed mechanism 2 to apply pressure on the stored bristles 10, the form of the holding device 15 shown in Figure 5 is advantageous.

The holding element 18 comprises a surface which is adapted to the peripheral contour of a bristle bundle 3 and is turned towards it.

In the two embodiments according to Figures I and 2, the opening device 5 with the cutter 16 is mounted on the magazine 4, particularly at the inlet opening 27, so that it can be engaged against and released from the bristle bundle 3.

Figure 6 shows a modified embodiment provided with an opening device (not shown) similar to that of the embodiments of Figures I and 2. Here, a plurality of magazines 4, 4a arranged side by side are provided which are slidable by a cylinder 28 sideways to a receiving point 29. The outlet opening of one magazine is located above the receiving point 29, while the outlet opening 7a of the adjacent magazine 4a comes to rest above a closing plate 30. In such a device, different bristles can be processed alternately, each magazine 4, 4a taking a specific type of bristle. The feed mechanism 2 located above the magazine is also movable sideways by a lifting cylinder 28a and can be brought with its lower end above the filling openings 27 and 27a of the magazines. In these positions the longitudinal median plane of the feed mechanism is aligned with that of the magazine located underneath.In such an arrangement with several consecutive magazines, the number of holding devices 15 of the feed mechanism appropriately corresponds to an integral multiple of the bristle types to be processed simultaneously or of the corresponding number of magazines. Optionally, several feed mechanisms 2 can also be provided.

A modified form of construction of a feed mechansim 2a with a magazine 4b is shown in Figure 9. Here, the feed mechanism 2a is arranged in an inclined feed plane, the bristle bundles 3 arranged in the functional position with their axes at right angles to this feed plane. The feed plane continues without interruption onto the magazine 4b. Here, again, the magazine 4b ends with its outlet opening 7b which is substantially horizontal, in front of the separator 8. The bristles are fed here as a wrapped bundled bristle web 31. In its feed region the feed mechanism 2a has attached to it a cutting device 32 by which the bristle web 31 is cut into lengths to form bristle bundles 3. The cutting device 32 can, as shown in Figure 9, be equipped with a counter blade 33 with a through opening for the bristle web and with a moving cutter 16a.The bristle bundles 3 are fed here to the magazine 4b under gravity. With a sufficiently inclined position of the feed mechanism 2a, the force of gravity could, optionally, provide sufficient pressure of the bristles on the separator 8. In this embodiment, however, a pressure element 34 is provided, which applies pressure on the stored bristles 10 removed from the wrapping 6. The opening device arranged upsteam of the pressure element 34 to take off the wrapping is not shown.

In the brush-making machines shown in Figures 1 and 2, the bristle bundles are put onto the holding devices 15 by hand. Optionally, this manual loading can be mechanised by providing a slip-on device having a slide 35 to supply the cut to length bristle bundles 3 to the holding devices 15, as shown in Figure 4. The working movement of the slide 35 is, here, appropriately synchronised with the step drive of the feed mechanism.

In the feed of bristles to the separator 8 their exact position is of substantial importance. Consequently, it is necessary to ensure, primarily in the transfer of bristles from the feed mechanism 2 to the magazine 4, that the flush position of the individual bristles is maintained. Slipping out of place would be caused by the fact that the bristles remain hanging partly on the removed wrapping 6.

To prevent this, it can be advantageous if a vibrator engaging the feed mechanism 2 and/or the magazine 4 is arranged in the region of the opening device 5. This assists the individual bristles to drop out of the removed wrapping 6. Likewise, to achieve an orderly position, flush at the ends of the bristles 10 upstream of the separator, provision can also be made, preferably in the vicinity of the outlet opening of the magazine, for a pressure plate 36 which is movable in the longitudinal direction of the stored bristles 10 and is directed at right angles to them, for the purpose of applying the bristles 10 flush against the opposite magazine wall (see Figures 7 and 8). The plate 36 is connected to a drive 37 which moves it to and fro and guides it under slight pressure against the ends of the bristles.

An electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic drive can serve appropriately at least for the lifting movement of the conveying means, for the lateral displacement of the conveying means in the case of several magazines, for the movements of the loading device 23 and for the movement of the pressure plate 36.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A brush-making comprising one or more filling mechanisms, the or each filling mechanism being provided with at least one bristle magazine for supplying bristles thereto; and the or each magazine being provided with a feed mechanism for supplying bristles thereto in the form of wrapped bundles and an opening device arranged between the feed mechanism and the outlet of the bristle magazine for opening the wrappings of the bristle bundles.

2. Brush-making machine according to claim 1, wherein the feed mechanism comprises at least one conveying means which possesses holding devices for engaging the bristle bundles.

3. Brush-making machine according to claim 2, wherein the opening device acts upon the wrappings of the bristle bundles away from the points of engagement of the holding device with the bundles.

4. Brush-making machine according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the holding device is adapted to engage only the wrappings of the bristle bundles.

5. Brush-making machine according to any preceding claim, wherein the opening device is provided on the magazine in the region of its inlet opening.

6. Brush-making according to any preceding claim, wherein the conveying means comprises a conveyor belt or continuous chain on which holding devices for engaging the bristle bundles are provided.

7. Brush-making machine according to claim 6, wherein the chain comprises straps having a portion extending outwardly at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the chain, the extended portion having a holding device for engaging the bundles.

8. Brush-making machine according to claim 7, wherein the holding device comprises two holding elements which touch one another at at least one point.

9. Brush-making machine according to either of claims 7 and 8, wherein one of the holding elements comprises a supporting finger and the other holding element comprises a pressure finger biased towards the supporting finger.

10. Brush-making machine according to claim 9, wherein the supporting finger has a point at its free end and the pressure finger runs obliquely at its free end from a point of contact away from the supporting finger to form a roughly V-shaped entry opening.

11. Brush-making machine according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the pressure finger comprises a surface which is adapted to engage the peripheral contour of a bristle bundle.

12. Brush-making machine according to any preceding claim, further comprising at least one loading device for pressing the bristles in the magazine against a separator located at the outlet end of the magazine.

13. Brush-making machine according to claim 12, wherein the loading device comprises at least one pressure element vertically

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. a counter blade 33 with a through opening for the bristle web and with a moving cutter 16a. The bristle bundles 3 are fed here to the magazine 4b under gravity. With a sufficiently inclined position of the feed mechanism 2a, the force of gravity could, optionally, provide sufficient pressure of the bristles on the separator 8. In this embodiment, however, a pressure element 34 is provided, which applies pressure on the stored bristles 10 removed from the wrapping 6. The opening device arranged upsteam of the pressure element 34 to take off the wrapping is not shown. In the brush-making machines shown in Figures 1 and 2, the bristle bundles are put onto the holding devices 15 by hand. Optionally, this manual loading can be mechanised by providing a slip-on device having a slide 35 to supply the cut to length bristle bundles 3 to the holding devices 15, as shown in Figure 4. The working movement of the slide 35 is, here, appropriately synchronised with the step drive of the feed mechanism. In the feed of bristles to the separator 8 their exact position is of substantial importance. Consequently, it is necessary to ensure, primarily in the transfer of bristles from the feed mechanism 2 to the magazine 4, that the flush position of the individual bristles is maintained. Slipping out of place would be caused by the fact that the bristles remain hanging partly on the removed wrapping 6. To prevent this, it can be advantageous if a vibrator engaging the feed mechanism 2 and/or the magazine 4 is arranged in the region of the opening device 5. This assists the individual bristles to drop out of the removed wrapping 6. Likewise, to achieve an orderly position, flush at the ends of the bristles 10 upstream of the separator, provision can also be made, preferably in the vicinity of the outlet opening of the magazine, for a pressure plate 36 which is movable in the longitudinal direction of the stored bristles 10 and is directed at right angles to them, for the purpose of applying the bristles 10 flush against the opposite magazine wall (see Figures 7 and 8). The plate 36 is connected to a drive 37 which moves it to and fro and guides it under slight pressure against the ends of the bristles. An electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic drive can serve appropriately at least for the lifting movement of the conveying means, for the lateral displacement of the conveying means in the case of several magazines, for the movements of the loading device 23 and for the movement of the pressure plate 36. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A brush-making comprising one or more filling mechanisms, the or each filling mechanism being provided with at least one bristle magazine for supplying bristles thereto; and the or each magazine being provided with a feed mechanism for supplying bristles thereto in the form of wrapped bundles and an opening device arranged between the feed mechanism and the outlet of the bristle magazine for opening the wrappings of the bristle bundles.

movable in the magazine.

14. Brush-making machine according to claim 13, comprising two pressure elements, arranged so that, in use, at least one of the elements puts pressure on the stored bristles at any one time.

15. Brush-making machine according to any preceding claim, wherein the opening device comprises a reciprocable sawbladeshaped cutter to take off the wrappings.

16. Brush-making machine according to any of claims 6 to 15, wherein the conveying means comprises guide pulleys, the longitudinal median plane of which is aligned with that of the magazine.

17. Brush-making machine according to any of claims 2 to 16, wherein the conveying means is vertically movable in relation to the magazine and wherein in the lowest functional position of the conveying means, one end thereof is directly above the inlet opening of the magazine.

18. Brush-making machine according to any of claims 2 to 17, wherein the conveying means is arranged above the magazine and is vertically movable as a whole in the direction of its longitudinal median plane.

19. Brush-making machine according to any of claims 2 to 18, wherein the conveying means has a step drive, the interval of which corresponds to the spacing of the holding devices for the bristle bundles.

20. Brush-making machine according to claim 19 when appendant to claim 13, comprising one or more limit switches adapted to be actuated by the downwardly moving pressure element to trigger off the step drive and, optionally, a lift drive of the conveying means.

21. Brush-making machine according to any preceding claim, comprising a plurality of magazines, the magazines and the filling mechanism being movable relative to one another.

22. Brush-making machine according to claim 21, wherein the filling mechanism comprises, movable separator for removing the bristles from the magazines, and the magazines are arranged consecutively in the direction of movement of the separator.

23. Brush-making machine according to claim 22 when directly or indirectly appendant to claim 2, wherein the number of holding devices is an integral multiple of the number of magazines.

24. Brush-making machine according to any of claims 21 to 23, wherein the feed mechanism is movable into a position aligned with a magazine located underneath.

25. Brush-making machine according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the feed mechanism is movable so that a lower end thereof can bear on bristles in the magazine to serve as a loading device.

26. Brush-making machine according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the feed mechanism further comprises a cutting device for cutting fed bundled bristle webs to length to form bristle bundles.

27. Brush-making machine according to claim 26 when directly or indirectly appendant to claim 2, wherein the feed mechanism comprises a device with a slide or suchlike to supply the cut bristle bundles to the holding devices, which slide is located in a loading region of the conveying means and whose movement preferably takes place in synchronism with the step drive of the conveying means.

28. Brush-making machine according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the feed mechanism is arranged in an inclined feed plane and is adapted to receive the bristle bundles with their axes at right angles to the feed plane.

29. Brush-making machine according to claim 28, wherein the outlet of the magazine is substantially horizontal and the feed plane of the feed mechanism merges without interruption into the plane of the magazine.

30. Brush-making machine according to any preceding claim, comprising a vibrator engaging on the feed mechanism and/or on the magazine in the region of the opening device.

31. Brush-making machine according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the magazine comprises a pressure plate which is movable in the longitudinal direction of the bristles in the magazine and is arranged at right angles to them, for the purpose of applying the bristles flush against a surface of the magazine.

32. Brush-making machine according to any of claims 12 to 31, further comprising at least one electrical hydraulic or pneumatic drive for lifting movement of a conveying means, for lateral displacement of the conveying means in the case of several magazines, for the movements of the loading device and for movement of a pressure element as required.

33. Brush-making machine according to any preceding claim, further comprising a lifting cylinder for adjusting the height of the feed mechanism.

34. A method of making brushes, wherein one or more filling mechanisms introduce bristles into holes in a brush body, the bristles being supplied to the or each filling mechanism from a magazine, bristles are supplied to the or each magazine in the form of wrapped bundles by a feed mechanism, the wrappings of the bristle bundles being removed before the bristles reach the outlet of the magazine.

35. Method according to claim 34, wherein the individual bristles are first bundled and brought together into a wrapper to form a bristle bundle.

36. Method according to claims 34 or 35, wherein the bristles are introduced into the feed mechanism, where they are cut to the desired bristle length in individual bundles and then fed to the magazine.

37. A brush-making machine as claimed in claim 1, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

38. A method of making a brush as claimed in claim 34, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.