JP4667942B2 - Brush body and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a brush body used for a cleaning brush such as a vacuum cleaner, an optical device, a cleaning brush for a liquid crystal display, and the like, and a method for manufacturing the same, in addition to a charging brush, a slow brush, or a cleaning brush of an image forming apparatus. Is.

Conventionally, the brush body as described above includes a base material and brush yarn raised on the base material. As the brush body, for example, the conductive velor material described in Patent Document 1 is formed by folding brush yarn (pile yarn) into a woven fabric base material (base fabric) by pile weaving. This conductive velor material is configured to scrape powder particles such as toner adhering to the contacted body by bringing the brush thread into contact with the contacted body such as a photosensitive drum. In addition, as a brush body, for example, a brush body provided in a vacuum cleaner suction tool described in Patent Document 2 includes a base material (base cloth) and a brush thread (pile) provided on the base material. It is formed from the raising cloth provided. The brush body is configured to remove dust on the floor surface with a brush thread.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-209634 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-272655

  By the way, it is desirable that the above-described conventional brush body is brought into contact with a contacted body such as a photosensitive drum or a floor surface with a uniform contact pressure with no gap between the ends of the brush thread. For this reason, it is necessary to suppress shape changes, such as the fall of a hair, the disorder of a hair, and a deformation | transformation, as much as possible. However, in the conventional brush body, pressure may be applied to the brush yarn at the time of manufacture, and in such a case, the shape of the brush yarn may be easily changed.

  For example, the brush body is conveyed in a rolled state (spiral shape) in order to perform various processes such as a backing process and a shearing process, or to ship the brush body. Thus, when making a brush body into roll shape, winding is performed by rolling this base material so that a base material may be piled up in the thickness direction. However, in the brush body, since the brush thread is raised on the surface of the base material, it extends in the same direction as the thickness direction of the base material, so the brush thread is sandwiched between the rolled base materials. There is a high possibility that the shape of the brush thread will change.

  Further, in a backing process for backing the base material by applying a coating agent on the back surface of the base material, the brush body is transported while being sandwiched between a pair of transport rollers. Furthermore, in the shearing process for aligning the ends of the brush threads, the brush body is brought into a rotating state and then brought into contact with a rotating body such as a rotary cutter. As described above, the brush thread also causes a change in shape when it is sandwiched between a pair of transport rollers or is in contact with a rotating body.

  In addition, in order to eliminate the shape change of the brush yarn at the time of manufacture as described above, the brush body is subjected to a raising process. However, once the brush yarn with a habit of falling down is easily restored, the shape of the falling down hair is easily restored, and it is difficult to suppress the shape change. Further, the manufacturing cost is increased due to the raising treatment. Furthermore, in the case of a woven fabric base material, the brush yarn is woven into the texture of the base material, and there is a gap corresponding to the size of the texture between adjacent brush threads. In such a case, the brush yarn has a fan-like shape as a whole by starting from the base end portion tightened by the weave and spreading the hair tip as the tip portion by the gap. As a result, in the brush thread, the substantially central portion of the hair tip is preferably in contact with the contacted body, while the peripheral portion of the hair tip is difficult to contact the contacted body. For this reason, it is necessary to interweave the brush yarn at a high density or to devise so that the hair ends do not spread, and the manufacturing and configuration of the brush body tend to be complicated.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such problems existing in the prior art. An object of the present invention is to provide a brush body and a method for manufacturing the same, which can suppress a change in the shape of the brush thread during manufacturing and can simplify the configuration.

To achieve the above object, the invention of the brush body according to claim 1, after the brush fibers of the plurality of are arranged in parallel such that adjacent to each other, mutual fusion base end portion of each brush yarn A brush body formed by using a belt-like brush material obtained by knitting and joining with a wearable holding yarn , wherein the plurality of brush yarns respectively extend from the base end portion toward the tip end portion. And a direction intersecting each of two directions of the plurality of brush yarns in the direction of thickness, and a thickness direction of the belt-like brush material, a plurality of the belt-like brush materials are stacked in the thickness direction, and the adjacent belt-like shapes The gist of the present invention is that brush materials are joined together by fusing the holding yarns , and a pair of adjacent brush yarns are joined together at their base ends.

  According to the said structure, when winding a strip | belt-shaped brush material at the time of the conveyance etc. at the roll shape (spiral shape), it is rounded so that it may overlap with the thickness direction. In this case, since the extending direction of the brush thread intersects the thickness direction of the belt-like brush material, the brush thread is crushed in the extending direction, resulting in a shape change such as hair fall, hair disorder, and deformation. This can be suppressed. For this reason, the process for correcting the shape of the brush thread which caused the shape change at the time of manufacture, such as a raising process, can be omitted. Further, by laminating a plurality of belt-like brush materials, the brush yarns of the belt-like brush materials are juxtaposed in the thickness direction of the belt-like brush material. For this reason, the brush row | line | column by which several brush thread | yarn is arrange | positioned in parallel for every strip | belt-shaped brush material can each be easily arranged in the thickness direction of a strip | belt-shaped brush material. Further, in each brush row, since the brush yarns are adjacent to each other, it is difficult to spread in a fan shape starting from the base end portion, and the adjacent brush yarns support each other, so that the shape is difficult to change. ing. As a result, it is possible to suppress changes in the shape of the brush yarn during manufacturing and to simplify the configuration.

In addition, according to the above configuration , the adjacent band-shaped brush materials are joined together by fusing the holding yarn and joining a plurality of adjacent brush yarns at the base ends thereof. because it is, it is possible to suppress the coming off from the brush body of the brush fibers.

The invention of the brush body according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of strip-shaped brush materials is different in length from the other strip-shaped brush materials. Is the gist.

  According to the above configuration, brushes having different lengths of brush threads can be obtained by simply joining a plurality of strip-shaped brush materials to each other without requiring complicated operations such as complicated cutting of brush threads after flocking by shearing treatment. The body can be formed easily.

The invention of the brush body according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or claim 2 , wherein at least one of the plurality of belt-like brush materials includes another belt-like brush material and the density of the brush thread. Are different.

  According to the above configuration, the density distribution of the brush yarn can be easily changed by simply joining a plurality of strip-shaped brush materials to each other without requiring complicated operations such as changing the weaving amount and the weaving amount of the brush yarn one by one. be able to.

The invention of the brush body according to claim 4 is the invention according to at least one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein at least one of the plurality of belt-like brush materials is another belt-like brush material. And the material of the brush yarn is different.

  According to the above configuration, a brush body having brush yarns of different materials can be obtained by simply joining a plurality of belt-like brush materials to each other without requiring complicated operations such as weaving and knitting while changing brush yarns of different materials one by one. Can be formed easily.

The invention of the brush body according to claim 5 is the invention according to at least any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the adjacent belt-like brush materials have a dimension adjusting material interposed therebetween. The gist is to be joined to each other in the mounted state.

  According to the above configuration, for example, without changing the thickness of the belt-like brush material by complicated work such as changing the thickness of the brush yarn, changing the weaving method of the brush yarn, changing the knitting method, etc. By adjusting the thickness, the width dimension can be easily set so that the brush body has a desired width dimension.

The invention of the method for manufacturing a brush body according to claim 6 is that the plurality of brush yarns are arranged in parallel so as to be adjacent to each other, and the base ends of the brush yarns are knitted by holding yarns that can be fused together. after forming the belt-shaped bristles joined Te, the direction in which the brush fibers of the plurality of extending respectively toward the proximal end to the distal end portion, cross to the two directions of the arrangement direction of the brush fibers of the plurality of The gist is to stack the plurality of the belt-like brush materials in the thickness direction, and further fuse the holding yarns between the adjacent belt-like brush materials and join them together. To do.

  According to the above configuration, the brush body is simply formed by simply laminating the strip-shaped brush materials obtained by joining the base ends of the plurality of brush yarns arranged side by side in the thickness direction and joining them together. be able to. Further, when the belt-like brush material is wound in a roll shape (spiral shape) at the time of conveyance or the like, the belt-like brush material is rounded so as to be overlapped in the thickness direction. In this case, since the extending direction of the brush thread intersects the thickness direction of the belt-like brush material, the brush thread is crushed in the extending direction, resulting in a shape change such as hair fall, hair disorder, and deformation. This can be suppressed.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, while being able to suppress the shape change of the brush yarn at the time of manufacture, simplification of a structure can be achieved.

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the brush body of the present invention is embodied as a brush body for an image forming apparatus will be described.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view conceptually showing the brush body of the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a front view conceptually showing the brush body of the present embodiment. The brush body 10 includes a base portion 11 and a fluff portion 12 raised on the base portion 11. This brush body 10 is formed by laminating a plurality of belt-like brush materials 13 in the short direction of the brush body 10. Each belt-like brush member 13 has a plurality of brush yarns 14 arranged in parallel in the longitudinal direction of the brush body 10 and two holding yarns 15 extending in a direction perpendicular to the brush yarns 14. The base portion 11 of the brush body 10 is constituted by an assembly of the base end portion 14 a of the brush yarn 14 and the holding yarn 15. In addition, the fluff portion 12 of the brush body 10 is constituted by an aggregate of hair tips 14b constituted by the tip portion from the middle portion of the brush yarn 14. In the brush yarn 14 of the present embodiment, the base end portion 14a and the hair tip portion 14b are separated from the two holding yarns 15 with the holding yarn 15 disposed above in FIG. Yes.

  The belt-like brush material 13 is formed by arranging a plurality of brush yarns 14 in parallel so as to be adjacent to each other and joining their base end portions 14a to each other by two holding yarns 15. . The brush yarn 14 is formed from a yarn produced by twisting and bundling a plurality of fibers such as a filament yarn and a spun yarn. Moreover, a pair of adjacent brush thread | yarn 14 is integrated by connecting each base end. That is, the pair of adjacent brush yarns 14 is formed by folding a long brush yarn in two and bending it into a U shape. The holding yarn 15 binds the base end portion 14 a of each brush yarn 14 so as to tie each pair of adjacent brush yarns 14. Each brush thread 14 bound by the holding thread 15 is raised by being opened at the hair end portion 14b.

  Here, in the belt-like brush material 13, the arrangement direction of the brush threads 14 is an arrangement direction L. On the other hand, the extending direction H is a direction in which the brush thread 14 extends from the proximal end portion 14a toward the hair tip portion 14b (tip portion). In the belt-like brush material 13, a direction that intersects two directions of the extending direction H and the alignment direction L is defined as a thickness direction T. In the present embodiment, seven belt-like brush members 13 are laminated in the thickness direction T to form the brush body 10. Adjacent ones of the belt-like brush members 13 are joined to each other (see FIG. 2). Further, out of the seven strip-shaped brush members 13, the two strip-shaped brush members 13 have the bristles 14 b of the brush yarn 14 having a longer length than the other five strip-shaped brush members 13. And the step part 12a is formed in the fluff part 12 of the brush body 10 by the difference in the length of the hair-tip part 14b in each strip | belt-shaped brush material 13. FIG.

  In the belt-like brush material 13, since the brush yarns 14 are adjacent to each other, adjacent ends of the hair tips 14b that are opened and raised are supporting each other. On the other hand, in the adjacent strip-shaped brush materials 13, since the brush yarns 14 are adjacent to each other, adjacent ones of the hair tip portions 14b support each other. Accordingly, the bristles 14b constituting the fluff 12 are in a state of supporting each other by being arranged adjacent to each other. For this reason, the hair tip portion 14b is raised substantially straight with respect to the base end portion 14a, and the hair tips of the fluff portion 12 are arranged in each of the alignment direction L and the thickness direction T by the opening of the hair tip portion 14b. Suppressing spreading in the direction.

  The brush thread 14 is made of conductive thread having conductivity. This conductive yarn is obtained by kneading or the like to contain a conductive material in the yarn or coating the surface of the yarn with a conductive material. Examples of the conductive material include metals such as silver, copper, and nickel, metal compounds such as zinc oxide and tin oxide, and fine particles such as carbon. For the brush yarn 14 of this embodiment, a conductive yarn containing carbon which is a conductive substance is used.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a state in which the brush body 10 is attached in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. The photosensitive drum 21 as a movable body is rotatably supported in the image forming apparatus. Around the photosensitive drum 21, a charging unit, an exposure unit, a developing unit, a transfer unit, a cleaning unit, and the like are disposed so as to surround the photosensitive drum 21 inside. The photosensitive drum 21 is configured to supply toner, which is a granular material, to a charged surface and to transfer a visible image of the toner onto a recording sheet or the like. Further, toner remains on the surface of the photosensitive drum 21 immediately after the transfer of the visible image, and the toner is removed by the cleaning unit.

  A support member 23 is attached to the housing 22 constituting the cleaning unit so as to face the photosensitive drum 21. The support member 23 is formed in a square tube shape having an opening 24 on the surface facing the photosensitive drum 21, and a fixing portion 25 for fixing the support member 23 to the housing 22 extends on one side surface thereof. It is installed. In addition, a pair of projecting pieces 26 project from the opening end of the support member 23, thereby restricting the opening 24 to a predetermined width. And the supporting member 23 is formed from metals, alloys, etc., such as iron, copper, and aluminum, and has electroconductivity.

  The brush body 10 is supported by the support member 23 when the base 11 is inserted into the opening 24 of the support member 23. Further, the brush body 10 is pressed and fixed by the projecting pieces 26 by caulking the peripheral edge portions of both projecting pieces 26 and bending the projecting pieces 26 inward. The brush body 10 causes the fluff portion 12 to protrude from the opening 24, thereby bringing the hair tip into contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 21.

  Toner adheres to the surface of the photosensitive drum 21 due to static electricity. Static electricity charged to the photosensitive drum 21 or the toner is energized to the brush thread 14 when the fluff portion 12 contacts the photosensitive drum 21 because the bristles portion 14b of the fluff portion 12 has conductivity. 21 or the charge is removed from the toner. The toner that has been neutralized and easily released from the surface of the photosensitive drum 21 is scraped off from the surface by the fluff 12. Then, the scraped toner is collected in the fluff portion 12 or removed by being collected in the housing 22 through a collection port 22 a provided in the housing 22.

  On the other hand, in the brush body 10, the base end portion 14 a that forms the base portion 11 of the brush thread 14 also has conductivity, as does the hair tip portion 14 b that forms the fluff portion 12. The base 11 is in contact with the support member 23 while being fixed to the conductive support member 23, and the base 11 and the support member 23 can be electrically connected. Therefore, the static electricity supplied to the fluff portion 12 is conducted to the support member 23 via the base portion 11 and discharged from the housing 22 to the outside from the support member 23 or via the support member 23.

Next, the manufacturing method of the brush body 10 will be described below.
The brush body 10 is formed by first forming the belt-like brush material 13, laminating the formed belt-like brush material 13 in the thickness direction T, and joining adjacent belt-like brush materials 13.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in forming the belt-like brush material 13, the brush yarn 14 is first bent into a wave shape, and the bent portions on both sides thereof are successively knitted by two holding yarns 15. Thereafter, the intermediate portion of the brush yarn 14 is cut, and two strip-shaped brush materials 13 are manufactured per process. Moreover, as for the strip-shaped brush material 13, when the intermediate part of the brush thread | yarn 14 is cut | disconnected, the brush thread | yarn 14 is opened in the same cutting | disconnection location, and the hair tip part 14b is raised. Further, when the intermediate portion of the brush yarn 14 is cut, the band-shaped brush material 13 is adjusted in the length of the hair tip portion 14b by appropriately setting the cutting position.

  The brush yarn 14 and the holding yarn 15 are joined to each other when the belt-like brush material 13 is formed by the holding yarn 15 being melted and penetrated into the brush yarn 14 by means of heating, ultrasonic waves or the like. . Accordingly, the yarn used for the holding yarn 15 is one that can be melted by means such as heating or ultrasonic waves. On the other hand, it is preferable to use a yarn made of a material that can be suitably bonded to the molten holding yarn 15 as the brush yarn 14. Examples of the yarn used for the holding yarn 15 include yarns made of polyamide fibers such as nylon fibers and aramid fibers, polyolefin fibers such as polypropylene fibers, polyethylene fibers, and polystyrene fibers. Moreover, as a thread | yarn used for the brush thread | yarn 14, the thread | yarn which consists of synthetic fibers, such as the polyamide-type fiber mentioned above, polyolefin-type fiber, acrylic fiber, regenerated fiber, such as rayon fiber, etc. is mentioned. Among these, polyolefin fibers, polyamide fibers, and acrylic fibers are preferable because they are easily bonded by the molten holding yarn 15. The brush yarn 14 of this embodiment uses a yarn made of conductive fiber made of acrylic fiber, and the holding yarn 15 is a yarn made of nylon fiber obtained by combining low-melting-point nylon heat-sealing fibers. Is used.

  Next, the strip-shaped brush material 13 formed as described above is wound in a spiral shape and collected in a roll state. At this time, the belt-like brush material 13 is wound so as to overlap in the thickness direction, that is, so that the brush yarn 14 extends in the axial direction of the roll. Therefore, the occurrence of shape changes such as hair fall, hair turbulence, and deformation due to the crushing of the tip 14b of the brush yarn 14 is suppressed.

Next, the roll of the strip-like brush material 13 collected as described above is set in a manufacturing apparatus for the brush body 10 to manufacture the brush body 10.
Here, about the manufacturing apparatus of the brush body 10, the structure is demonstrated using Fig.5 (a)-(c). In the manufacturing apparatus, when the left side is the upstream side and the right side is the downstream side in FIG. 5A, a plurality of rolls 31 of the belt-like brush material 13 are provided on the most upstream side (three in FIG. 5A). ) Is set. In addition, a pair of guide rollers 32, a heat setting device 33, and a collection roller 34 are disposed downstream from these rolls 31 in order from the upstream side. The pair of guide rollers 32 is for joining a plurality of strip-shaped brush materials 13, and the strip-shaped brush materials 13 drawn from the respective rolls 31 are fed between the guide rollers 32 and merged. The heat setting device 33 includes a pair of press bodies 33a and 33b. In the heat setting device 33, one of the pair of press bodies 33a and 33b (the press body 33a positioned upward in FIG. 5A) is positioned on the other side (lower side in FIG. 5A). The press body 33b) is configured to approach or separate. Then, when one press body 33a approaches the other press body 33b, the heat setting device 33 melts the holding yarn 15 while pressing the plurality of strip-shaped brush members 13 positioned between the press bodies 33a and 33b. By doing so, the belt-like brush members 13 are bonded to each other.

  Now, as shown in FIG. 5 (a), in the manufacturing apparatus, the belt-like brush material 13 drawn out from each roll 31 is first fed between both guide rollers 32 and stacked by being joined together. . Thereafter, as shown in FIGS. 5B and 5C, each belt-like brush material 13 is pressed between the press bodies 33 a and 33 b in the heat setting device 33, and the respective holding yarns 15 are melted. . At this time, the melted holding yarn 15 penetrates into the base end portion 14a of the brush yarn 14, so that the brush yarns 14 are bonded to each band-shaped brush material 13 and the adjacent band-shaped brush materials 13 are bonded to each other. Is done. Then, the brush yarns 14 and the belt-like brush members 13 are bonded together to manufacture the brush body 10, and the manufactured brush body 10 is wound around the recovery roller 34 and recovered.

  In addition, what is necessary is just to set the seven rolls 31 to a manufacturing apparatus, when laminating | stacking seven strip | belt-shaped brush materials 13 like this embodiment. Or after manufacturing the brush body 10 which consists of three strip | belt-shaped brush materials 13 and the brush body 10 which consists of four strip | belt-shaped brush materials 13, for example, after these brush bodies 10 are adhere | attached, strip | belt-shaped etc. The laminating operation may be repeated a plurality of times until the number of brush materials 13 stacked reaches a desired value. When the holding yarn 15 is melted by ultrasonic waves, the heat setting device 33 is provided with a horn for irradiating the holding yarn 15 with ultrasonic waves. When the holding yarn 15 is melted by heating, the heat setting device 33 is provided with a heater or the like for heating and melting the holding yarn 15.

  In the manufacturing apparatus, since the bonding between the brush threads 14 and the bonding between the strip-shaped brush materials 13 are performed in one operation, for example, an adhesive is applied to the strip-shaped brush material 13 and the strip-shaped brush materials 13 are bonded together. Compared with the case of these, the process which concerns on manufacture of the brush body 10 is simplified. Moreover, in the said brush body 10, the length of the hair-tip part 14b is already adjusted at the time of formation of the strip | belt-shaped brush material 13. FIG. For this reason, after joining the strip-shaped brush materials 13 and making it the brush body 10, the process for aligning the hair tip of the fluff part 12 like a shearing process etc. is not required. That is, the brush body 10 is roughly divided into two processes, a process of forming the belt-like brush material 13 and a process of joining the formed belt-like brush materials 13 together. For this reason, manufacture is completed in a short time, and the manufacture is also simple.

The effects exhibited by the above embodiment will be described below.
(1) The brush body 10 is formed by laminating a plurality of strip-shaped brush members 13 in the thickness direction and bonding them together. The belt-like brush material 13 is formed by arranging a plurality of brush yarns 14 so as to be adjacent to each other, and binding the base end portion 14 a of each brush yarn 14 with a holding yarn 15. And since this strip | belt-shaped brush material 13 is wound so that it may overlap in the thickness direction and is conveyed, the hair-end part 14b of the brush thread | yarn 14 is extended in the axial direction of the roll obtained by winding. For this reason, the shape change of the hair tip part 14b of the brush yarn 14 at the time of manufacture can be suppressed.

  (2) Moreover, the brush body 10 can be manufactured by two processes, the process of forming the strip-shaped brush material 13, and the process of joining the formed strip-shaped brush materials 13 with each other. That is, it is not necessary to perform complicated operations such as correcting the shape change of the brush yarn 14 and aligning the ends of the fluff 12. Further, the formation of the belt-like brush material 13 is simple because both ends of the brush yarn 14 bent in a wave shape are bound by the holding yarn 15 and the intermediate portion of the brush yarn 14 is cut. As a result, the brush body 10 has a simple configuration and can be manufactured easily and in a short time.

  (3) In the brush body 10, the bristles 14 b of the brush threads 14 constituting the fluff section 12 are adjacent to each other in the direction in which the brush threads 14 are arranged in each band-shaped brush material 13 and the thickness direction of the band-shaped brush material 13. Support each other. For this reason, the hair tip portion 14b is raised substantially straight with respect to the base end portion 14a. For example, when the hair tip portion 14b spreads in a fan shape or the like, a part of the fluff portion 12 is formed on the photosensitive drum 21. It is possible to suppress the occurrence of problems such as contact failure. As a result, the fluff portion 12 can be suitably brought into contact with the photosensitive drum 21 without increasing the density of the bristles portion 14b and complicating the configuration.

  (4) The brush yarns 14 are integrated by connecting adjacent pairs at their base ends. For this reason, even if one of the adjacent pairs tries to come out of the brush body 10, the other side suppresses this, so that the brush thread 14 can be prevented from coming off from the brush body 10.

  (5) In some band-shaped brush members 13, the bristles 14 b of the brush yarn 14 are made longer than others, and the step 12 a is formed in the fluff 12. In the case of forming such a stepped portion 12a, for example, conventionally, it is performed by a shearing process, but the shearing process becomes very complicated. On the other hand, if it is the said brush body 10, what is necessary is just to change the length of the hair-tip part 14b with each strip | belt-shaped brush material 13, and also about the change of the length of the hair-tip part 14b which concerns on the strip-shaped brush material 13, brush yarn Since only the cutting position of 14 is changed, it is simple. For this reason, it has the hair-end part 14b of different length only by joining the some strip | belt-shaped brush material 13 mutually, without requiring complicated operation | work which cuts the brush thread | brown 14 after flocking by a shearing process complicatedly. The brush body 10 can be easily formed.

In addition, this embodiment can also be changed and embodied as follows.
As shown in FIG. 6 (a), at least one of the plurality of strip-shaped brush members 13 may be configured so that the density of the bristles 14b of the brush threads 14 is different from that of the other strip-shaped brush members 13. Good. In FIG. 6 (a), four belt-like brush members 13 are laminated to form the brush body 10, and among these four, the hair tips 14b of the two belt-like brush members 13 at the center are replaced with other ones. The density is higher than 2 sheets. Examples of the method for increasing the density of the bristles 14b include increasing the number of filaments during twisting of the yarn or binding with the holding yarn 15 so that the brush yarn 14 is packed at a high density. . When configured in this way, in addition to the effects described in (1) to (5) above, a plurality of belt-shaped brush materials are required without requiring complicated work such as changing the weaving amount and the weaving amount of the brush yarn 14 one by one. The density distribution of the brush yarn 14 can be easily changed by simply joining the 13 to each other.

  -As shown in FIG.6 (b), you may form the several step part 12a in the fluff part 12 by laminating | stacking the strip-shaped brush material 13 from which the length of the hair | tip part 14b differs every other. Even when configured in this manner, the effects described in the above (1) to (5) are obtained.

  -Of the plurality of strip-shaped brush members 13, at least one strip-shaped brush member 13 may be configured such that the material of the brush thread 14 is different from the other strip-shaped brush members 13. For example, in the embodiment, all the brush threads 14 are conductive threads. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the conductive threads are used for only one of the seven sheets, and the other six sheets are not electrically conductive. Yarn may be used. Or you may change the material used for the brush thread | yarn 14 for every strip | belt-shaped brush material 13 as desired. When configured in this way, in addition to the effects described in (1) to (5) above, a plurality of belt-like brushes are required without requiring complicated work such as weaving or weaving while changing the brush yarns 14 made of different materials one by one. The brush body 10 having the brush yarns 14 of different materials can be easily formed simply by joining the materials 13 to each other.

  As shown in FIG. 6 (c), a dimension adjusting material 15a such as a spacer or a rubber plate is interposed between the adjacent belt-like brush materials 13, and the dimension adjusting material 15a is interposed therebetween. The belt-like brush members 13 may be joined together with an adhesive 15b. Alternatively, the belt-like brush members 13 may be joined to each other by melting the holding yarn 15 via the dimension adjusting member 15a. Further, when the dimension adjusting material 15a is interposed as described above, the width dimension of the brush body 10 may be appropriately adjusted by appropriately changing the thickness of the dimension adjusting material 15a. The width dimension of the brush body 10 indicates the length dimension of the brush body 10 in the thickness direction T of the belt-like brush material 13. When the width dimension of the brush body 10 is adjusted only by the belt-like brush material 13, for example, complicated work such as changing the thickness of the brush thread 14, changing the weaving method or the knitting method of the brush thread 14 is required. Become. Moreover, the flexibility of the fluff part 12 may fall unexpectedly by increasing the number of laminated layers of the belt-like brush material 13. On the other hand, when the dimension adjusting material 15a is used, the brush body 10 has a desired width dimension by adjusting the thickness of the dimension adjusting material 15a without changing the thickness of the belt-like brush material 13. In addition, the width dimension can be easily set. In addition, when comprised in this way, there exists an effect as described in said (1)-(5).

  The brush body 10 may be bonded to the support member 23 by bonding with an adhesive or the like. In addition, when joining the brush body 10 by adhesion | attachment, in order to make this brush body 10 electrically connected between the supporting members 23, it is preferable to use what has electroconductivity for the adhesive agent to be used. Further, even when the brush body 10 is bonded to the support member 23 using an adhesive that does not have conductivity, the brush body 10 is applied by applying a metal paste to the end of the brush body 10, for example. It is possible to conduct with the support member 23.

The band-shaped brush members 13 are not limited to being joined by melting the holding yarn 15 but may be bonded using an adhesive, a double-sided tape, or the like.
In the above manufacturing apparatus, the brush body 10 is collected by being wound around the collection roller 34. However, the invention is not limited to this. For example, the brush body 10 after passing through the heat setting apparatus 33 is appropriately cut to a desired length and collected. You may comprise.

  -After laminating the belt-like brush materials 13 to form the brush body 10, the hair ends of the fluff portion 12 may be cut and aligned by a method such as die cutting or pressing. In addition, as shown in the embodiment, the brush body 10 has the bristles sufficiently aligned without cutting the bristles of the fluff portion 12, but the bristles can be highly accurate if desired. Since it is desired to align, the hair ends of the fluff portion 12 are aligned in such a case. Moreover, when aligning the hair tips of the fluff portion 12, a troublesome process such as a shearing process is not required, and the hair tips can be easily aligned by so-called “cutting” such as die cutting and pressing.

  The belt-like brush material 13 does not necessarily have to be wound around a roll and transported, but may be transported in a state of being cut to a required length. Even in such a case, in order to stably convey the belt-like brush material 13, the brush thread 14 is conveyed on a roller or the like in a so-called “sleeping state”, that is, in a state where the hair end portion 14b is not crushed. Therefore, the shape change of the brush yarn 14 at the time of manufacture can be suppressed.

  In the case of an image forming apparatus, the brush body 10 is not limited to the cleaning purpose as in the embodiment, but for the purpose of charging such as a charging brush, or for the purpose of preventing toner leakage For example, it may be embodied. Or it is good also as a brush body provided in the nozzle, for example in a vacuum cleaner, not only for the image forming apparatus. Some vacuum cleaners have a nozzle provided with a brush body to scrape dust and the like adhering to the floor surface. In addition, since dust or the like may adhere to the floor surface due to static electricity, it is also preferable to use a conductive thread as the brush thread in a brush for a vacuum cleaner. Furthermore, in a brush for a vacuum cleaner, there is a case where conflicting demands are imposed to suppress damage to the floor surface and to improve the scraping performance of dust and the like. For this reason, in order to provide a hard part and a soft part in the fluff part, each belt-like brush has a different material or density of the brush thread for each belt-like brush material, or to provide a scraping part and a collecting part. It is also effective to make the length of the brush thread different for each material.

  In the brush body 10 of the embodiment, the hair tip portion 14b of the brush thread 14 is longer in some of the belt-like brush members 13 than in the other, but the hairs of the brush thread 14 in all of the belt-like brush members 13 The tip portion 14b may have the same length, and the hair tip portion 14b may be aligned. As described above, the brush body 10 in which the bristles 14b of the brush yarn 14 are aligned to the same length is a brush body having a so-called most basic configuration and can be used for various purposes. For example, in the case of an image forming apparatus, it can be suitably used as a cleaning brush body for cleaning a flat surface such as a transfer belt. Also, not only image forming apparatuses but also cleaning brush bodies used in general households, sealing brush bodies (pile weather strips) for improving watertightness and airtightness in building materials such as window frames (sashes). ) Etc. That is, if it is a use of a general brush body, it can use not only in a specific technical field but in all technical fields. In addition, the brush body 10 in which the bristles 14b of the brush yarn 14 are aligned to the same length has the same length when the bristles 14b are cut after laminating the plurality of strip-shaped brush materials 13. Since it is easy to grasp the degree of cutting and to easily apply the cutting force, there is an advantage that processing is easy.

  6C is provided by extending the dimension adjusting material 15a shown in FIG. 6C until it reaches between the bristles 14b of the brush thread 14 to form the brush body 10, whereby the brush body 10 is used as a pile weather strip. May be used. In this case, the end of the dimension adjusting member 15a may be aligned with the tip of the hair tip portion 14b, or may protrude outward from the tip of the hair tip portion 14b, or may enter inside the tip of the hair tip portion 14b. May be. Moreover, when using the brush body 10 as a pile weather strip, a flexible film, a nonwoven fabric, etc. are suitable for the material used for the dimension adjustment material 15a. When the brush body 10 is used as a pile weatherstrip, the dimension adjusting member 15a slides or abuts on a window frame or the like, or blocks the flow of air that passes between the brush threads 14 or the like. By doing so, it functions as a so-called fin for improving airtightness and the like. Moreover, when functioning the dimension adjusting material 15a as such a fin, it is not limited to providing only one dimension adjusting material 15a, and a plurality of the dimension adjusting materials 15a may be provided.

  For example, when the belt-like brush material 13 is formed, the bent portion of the brush thread 14 is cut so that the pair of adjacent brush threads 14 are not connected to each other at the base ends. May be.

  If the brush body 10 is formed by laminating the belt-like brush material 13 in the thickness direction, the belt-like brush material 13 is not necessarily laminated in the short direction of the brush body 10, but in the longitudinal direction of the brush body 10. The belt-like brush material 13 may be laminated.

  The brush yarn 14 is not limited to knitting and binding with the holding yarn 15, but may be woven with the holding yarn 15 and bound. Alternatively, the holding yarn 15 may be omitted, and the brush yarns 14 may be joined to each other by, for example, applying an adhesive or a coating agent to the base end portion 14a of the brush yarns 14 arranged side by side.

  -At least one of the plurality of strip-shaped brush members 13 may be different from the other strip-shaped brush members 13 in that the density of the brush yarn 14 is different and the length is different. Further, at least one of the plurality of strip-shaped brush members 13 may be different from the other strip-shaped brush members 13 in that the density of the brush thread 14 is different from that of the material. Alternatively, at least one of the plurality of strip-shaped brush members 13 may be different from the other strip-shaped brush members 13 in the length of the brush thread 14 and the material. In addition, at least one of the plurality of strip-shaped brush members 13 may be different from the other strip-shaped brush members 13 in the density, length, and material of the brush thread 14.

The perspective view which shows the brush body of embodiment. The front view which shows the brush body of embodiment. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a state in which the brush body of the embodiment is attached to the image forming apparatus. The top view which shows the state which forms the strip | belt-shaped brush material of embodiment. (A) is a conceptual diagram which shows the manufacturing apparatus of a brush body, (b), (c) is a conceptual diagram which shows the state which joins a strip | belt-shaped brush material. (A), (b), (c) is a front view which shows the brush body of another form.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Brush body, 13 ... Band-shaped brush material, 14 ... Brush thread | yarn, 14a ... Base end part, 14b ... Hair tip part comprised by the front-end | tip part of brush thread | yarn, 15a ... Size adjustment material.

Claims (6)

Use a belt-like brush material obtained by arranging a plurality of brush yarns in parallel so that they are adjacent to each other, and knitting and joining the base ends of the brush yarns with holding yarns that can be fused together. A brush body formed by
The thickness direction of the belt-shaped brush material is defined as a direction in which the plurality of brush yarns respectively extend from the base end portion toward the distal end portion and two directions of the plurality of brush yarn arrangement directions. ,
A plurality of the belt-like brush materials are stacked in the thickness direction, and the adjacent belt-like brush materials are bonded to each other by fusing the holding yarns , and a pair of adjacent brush yarns are connected to each other at their base ends. A brush body characterized by being integrally formed by the above . At least one strip brush member of the plurality of the band-shaped bristles, the brush body according to claim 1, wherein the other of the belt-shaped bristles, a different length of the brush yarn. The brush body according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein at least one of the plurality of strip-shaped brush materials has a density of the brush thread different from that of the other strip-shaped brush materials. The at least one belt-like brush material among the plurality of belt-like brush materials is different from other belt-like brush materials in the material of the brush thread, according to any one of claims 1 to 3 . Brush body. The brush bodies according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the adjacent band-shaped brush members are joined to each other in a state in which a dimension adjusting material is interposed therebetween. . A plurality of brush yarns are arranged in parallel so as to be adjacent to each other, and the base ends of the respective brush yarns are knitted and joined by holding yarns that can be fused together to form a belt-like brush material. The belt-like brush has a direction in which each of the brush yarns extends from the base end portion toward the tip portion and two directions of the plurality of brush yarns arranged in the thickness direction of the belt-like brush material. A method of manufacturing a brush body, comprising: laminating a plurality of materials in the thickness direction, and further fusing together the holding yarns between the adjacent strip-shaped brush materials.

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