JP2003009953A - Method of manufacturing toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of manufacturing a toothbrush which allows to plant bristles in a manner that a difference in length between tapered bristle tips and the other bristle tips is kept only by making fine adjustments on a device used in a conventional manufacturing method without changing the conventional manufacturing method. SOLUTION: The toothbrush is manufactured in a process to plant filaments in a brush head to protrude a part of bristle tips more than the other bristle tips and in a process to form at least the protruded bristle tips of the filaments into a tapered shape after the bristle planting process. A method to form the other bristle tips into a round shape by adjusting the amount of contact that the filaments make to a file and a method to form the other bristle tips into a tapered shape by adjusting the amount of contact that the filaments make are adopted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toothbrush manufacturing method in which a bristle tip is sharpened into a tapered shape.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a toothbrush in which filaments each having a tapered tip of a bristle tip are planted is known. According to this toothbrush, the bristle tip easily enters a space between teeth or a periodontal pocket to clean the details. It is also known that it has excellent properties and has a good feeling of use because the tips of the hair bend flexibly.

As a method of tapering the tips of the filaments, there are a method of polishing the tips with a rotary file and a method of immersing the tips in a chemical.

Of these, the method of processing hair ends by chemical treatment is
Polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) is used as the material of the filament, and there is a restriction that it cannot be applied to nylon, which is a general filament material. Also,
In this method, it is possible to point out the problems that the processing apparatus is expensive, the maintenance thereof is extremely troublesome, the processing time is long, and defective products are likely to occur. Therefore, this method of processing the tips of the hairs by chemical treatment is not suitable for mass-producing toothbrushes at low cost.

On the other hand, in the conventional method of tapering the tips of the hairs with a rotary file, there are not many restrictions on the applicable filament material, and the apparatus as a whole is relatively inexpensive,
Moreover, the treatment time is short, and the tip of the hair can be stably taper-processed, which is an advantage contradictory to the chemical treatment.

By the way, the general effect of the toothbrush having a tapered bristle tip is as described above, but in order to realize higher cleaning performance, it is sufficient to simply process the bristle tip in a tapered shape. There is no such thing. That is, depending on the part of the brush head, it may be preferable to implant the filaments that are not tapered. For example, when cleaning a molar tooth, it is preferable to use a toothbrush in which taper-processed filaments are planted along the outer edge of the brush head, and unprocessed filaments are planted inside thereof. This is because the tapered outer filament can clean the periodontal pocket, while the inner filament of the unfinished bristle tip can powerfully clean the chewing portion of the molar tooth.

In order to make the brushing effect particularly remarkable, it is preferable to use a toothbrush in which the tapered filament is made longer than the unprocessed filament and both tips have a step. This is because it is necessary to make the tapered hair tips reach the periodontal pockets or the spaces between the teeth before the other hair tips.

A toothbrush formed by projecting the tapered bristle tip described above and implanting the filament with a step difference from other bristle tips is already known, but a manufacturing method thereof is also known. First, the filament is cut to a predetermined length, one hair end of the filament is tapered, and then the filament is bent into a U shape with a step at both ends, The eyes were to be planted on the brush head along with the metal flat wire.

[0009]

However, in the above-described conventional method for manufacturing a toothbrush, it is not possible to taper both bristle tips of a filament at the same time in one step, and if both bristle tips are tapered. In that case, a process of inverting the filament once is required. Also,
In the above manufacturing method, it is not possible to change the taper lengths of both hair tips in one step.If the taper lengths of both hair tips are changed, the filaments are once turned upside down again, and the hair tips and the rotary file are rotated. It is necessary to change the contact amount of the hair or the amount of dipping of the tip of the hair with the chemical.

Here, although it has been described that both the tips of the filaments are tapered, for one filament that is planted in a U-shaped bent state,
The same applies to the case where one hair tip is tapered and the other hair tip is ground to have rounded corners. That is,
In any case, in the conventional manufacturing method, it is not possible to simultaneously process both ends of one filament in one step, so the manufacturing apparatus is complicated, adjustment is troublesome, and mass production is not possible in a short time. There are challenges.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to make fine adjustments to the apparatus used in the manufacturing method without changing the conventional manufacturing method. Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a toothbrush capable of implanting a tapered bristle tip with a step difference from other bristle tips.

[0012]

Means for Solving the Problems The measures taken by the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems include a step of implanting filaments in a brush head so that some of the tips of the hairs protrude more than others. The step of implanting at least the protruding tips of the filaments after the step of implanting the filaments is used to manufacture the toothbrush.

According to this means, it is possible to manufacture a toothbrush in which at least the protruding tips are tapered in so-called two-step bristling in which a part of the tips are protruded.
Further, for each step of the two-step flocking and taper processing, it is possible to adopt a known method by itself, and since the flow of tapering after flocking can also adopt a conventionally known general method, the present invention Can be realized only by finely adjusting the device according to the conventional manufacturing method.

In this respect, the conventional method employs a method in which the tips of the filaments are first processed, and then the two-step hairs are transplanted, which is different from the present invention. Further, in the conventional method, there is no technique of performing taper processing by a rotary file after the two-step flocking, so according to the present invention, a two-step flocking method in which a part of the tips is tapered A toothbrush can be provided.

Incidentally, the taper processing corresponds to a polishing method with a file or a processing method with a chemical. Further, as the file, a file that vibrates left and right can be used in addition to the rotating file.

By adjusting the amount of contact of the filament with the file, the taper length of the protruding hair tip can be adjusted. That is, if the distance between the tip of the filament and the file is shortened and the contact amount of the tip with the file is increased,
The taper length can be increased. On the contrary, if the contact amount is made small, it is possible to process from the angular shape in which the tip of the filament is cut off to the shape of a rounded tip.

Therefore, in claim 4, there is provided a method of adjusting the contact amount of the filament with respect to the file to process other tips of hair, and in claim 5, the contact amount is further adjusted so that other tips of the hair are also included. The method of processing into a taper shape was adopted.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing the manufacturing process of the present invention. FIG. 1A shows a forming process of the filament 1. In this molding step, since two-step flocking is performed with some hair tips protruding more than other hair tips, a plurality of filaments 1 cut into appropriate lengths are made into a plurality of bundles 2, and each bundle 2 is placed in between. It is bent in a U-shape at a position that is slightly offset.

Next, FIG. 1 (B) shows a step of implanting the filament 1 bent into the U-shape on the brush head 3. In this flocking step, the folds 4 of the bundle 2 of filaments 1 are flocked together with the metal flat wire 5 into the flocking holes 6 which are recessed in the brush head 3. The steps up to this point complete the two-step flocked toothbrush. A conventionally known method can be adopted for the step of forming the two-staged hair, and the step can be performed without changing the conventional apparatus.

Subsequently, FIG. 1C shows a bristle tip processing step for machining the bristle tips of the filaments 1 planted on the brush head 3 into a tapered shape. In this hair tip processing step, the tip of the filament 1 is brought into contact with the rotary file 7, and the tip is processed into a taper shape. Note that a conventionally known technique can also be adopted in this step.

Here, the processing mode of the hair tips can be mainly divided into three patterns. First, as shown in FIG. 2, the rotary file 7 is brought into contact with only the protruding bristle tips to taper only the protruding bristle tips. The second is a mode in which, as shown in FIG. 3, the contact amount of the filament tip with the rotary file is increased to process the protruding hair tips into a tapered shape and the other hair tips are rounded. Thirdly, as shown in FIG. 4, the contact amount is further increased and both hair tips are processed into a tapered shape.

Which of the processing modes is selected may be appropriately changed according to the purpose of use of the toothbrush, but according to the present invention, the contact amount of the rotary file is simply adjusted, that is, the rotary file and the filament. Since it is only necessary to adjust the distance to the tip, the mode can be changed extremely easily.

In the present invention, the method of double-step flocking is not limited to the above embodiment. That is, as another flocking method, as shown in FIG. 5, the filament is bent from the middle into a U-shape, and then one of the tips is cut (FIG. (A)). Of several different types of filaments (Fig. (B)), filaments of the same length without being bent into a U shape, and then
Any of the methods for cutting the hair tips of one filament ((C) in the figure) can be adopted. Here, the two-step flocking method of the above embodiment is shown by (D) of FIG.

As for the pattern of the step, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, the mode in which the long and short are alternately repeated (the same figure (A)), the mode in which the long and short are alternately repeated and both ends are long (the same figure) (B)), the length is alternately repeated, and
A mode in which a plurality of inner bundles are short (FIG. (C)) A plurality of bundles at both ends are long and the inside is short (FIG. (D)),
Several patterns are conceivable, such as a mode in which a plurality of bundles at both ends are made short and the inside is made long ((E) in the same figure), but this pattern should also be adopted appropriately according to the purpose of use of the toothbrush. You can

However, among the flocking patterns shown in FIG. 5, the patterns (A) and (D) are general-purpose because it is difficult to form the step patterns (A) to (D) shown in FIG. It is preferable to adopt the flocked pattern (D) (the above embodiment).

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since it is possible to provide a two-step bristling toothbrush having a tapered bristle tip without increasing the number of steps conventionally,
The toothbrush can be mass-produced at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing the steps of the present invention.

[Fig. 2] Processing pattern of hair tips (first)

[Fig. 3] Processing pattern of hair tips (second)

[Fig. 4] Processing pattern of hair tips (third)

[Figure 5] Two-step flocking pattern

FIG. 6 Step pattern

[Explanation of symbols]

1 filament 2 filament bundle 3 brush head Fold of 4 filaments 5 metal flat wire 6 hair transplant pores 7-turn file

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A step of implanting filaments into a brush head so that some of the tips of the filaments are projected more than others, and a step of processing at least the protruding tips of the filaments after this step of implanting the filaments. A method for manufacturing a toothbrush, comprising: 2. The method for manufacturing a toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the tapering process is performed by bringing the tip of the filament into contact with a file. 3. The method for manufacturing a toothbrush according to claim 2, wherein the file is a rotary file. 4. The other hair end is rounded by adjusting the amount of contact of the filament with the file.
The method for manufacturing a toothbrush described in 1. 5. The method for manufacturing a toothbrush according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the amount of contact of the filament with the file is adjusted so that the other bristle tips are also tapered.