JP6063211B2 - Brush tip polishing method and apparatus for interdental brush - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a brush tip polishing method and apparatus for an interdental brush.

  Conventionally, an interdental brush is known. As shown in FIG. 8A, the interdental brush 11 includes a wire rod portion 13 formed by twisting a metal wire 12, and is orthogonal to the wire rod portion 13 and in the longitudinal direction thereof. The brush 14 is composed of a plurality of filaments that protrude radially in the radial direction at intervals, and a plastic base 15 that is integrally provided at the base of the wire rod portion 13. And the brush 14 fixed to the wire rod part 13 moves together by picking the base 15 of the interdental brush 11, and putting the wire rod part 13 in and out of the clearance gap between teeth, and by a normal toothbrush It is possible to clean the side surface portion and root portion of the tooth, which is difficult to clean with dental brushing.

  In such an interdental brush 11, a plurality of filaments made of synthetic fiber bundles are sandwiched between two folded metal wires 12, the metal wires 12 are twisted, and a plurality of filaments are twisted at a plurality of locations. The filament 14 is cut to form the brush 14, and finally the base 15 is formed by insert molding or the like (for example, see Patent Document 1).

JP 7-227315 A

  By the way, when the tip of the interdental brush is cut with a blade, the tip of each filament forming the brush is cut into an acute angle due to its flexibility, as shown in FIG. The shape of the cut surface is widened outwards. For this reason, when using the interdental brush, when the brush is inserted between the teeth, there is a case where the user feels uncomfortable feeling that the hair ends are hard.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and the tip of each filament forming the brush is polished substantially rounded to suppress as much as possible the occurrence of discomfort during insertion between the teeth of the brush. The present invention provides a brush tip polishing method and apparatus for an interdental brush.

The brush tip polishing method for an interdental brush according to the present invention comprises a plurality of types of polishing tools, and the plurality of types of polishing tools correspond to the shape of the outer peripheral surface of each brush in a plurality of sections in the height direction of the interdental brush has a cylindrical bore shape or tapered hole shape of the polishing surface that, while intermittently conveyed one set length and holding the interdental brush is rotated by lifting a plurality of polishing tool with respect to the brush and it is characterized in that polishing the brush tip.

  According to the present invention, when the interdental brush is held and conveyed intermittently by a set length, the conveyed interdental brush has a cylindrical hole shape or a tapered hole corresponding to the outer peripheral surface shape of the brush of the interdental brush. It faces a polishing tool having a shaped polishing surface. Next, the polishing tool is rotated and lowered to be fitted into the brush of the interdental brush, and then the polishing tool is raised to the original position and detached from the brush of the interdental brush. At this time, since the polishing surface of the polishing tool substantially contacts the tip of the brush and slightly deflects the tip of each filament, the tip of each filament can be polished substantially round by the polishing tool that descends while rotating and rises. it can.

  As a result, when the interdental brush is inserted between the teeth, each filament forming the brush smoothly contacts the gingiva, and the occurrence of an uncomfortable feeling can be suppressed as much as possible.

  In the present invention, it is preferable to raise and lower the polishing tool a plurality of times. Thereby, the front-end | tip of each filament which forms the brush of an interdental brush can be grind | polished repeatedly, and a brush front-end | tip can be reliably grind | polished roundly.

  In the present invention, it is preferable to change the rotation direction when the polishing tool is raised and lowered. As a result, the tip of each filament forming the brush of the interdental brush can be bent slightly by changing the bending direction in the rotational direction and the vertical direction so as to be substantially in contact with the polishing surface of the polishing tool, and uniformly polishing round can do.

  In the present invention, the tip of the interdental brush conveyed at the set interval may be polished by a plurality of polishing tools whose roughness is fine in order from the coarse toward the interdental brush conveyance direction. preferable. As a result, the tip of each filament forming the brush of the interdental brush that has been conveyed can be polished roundly in the order of a coarse abrasive tool to a fine abrasive tool, so that the brush tip can be efficiently polished. it can.

The brush tip polishing apparatus for an interdental brush according to the present invention is provided with a chain conveyor provided with holders for holding an interdental brush at a set interval on the transport rail, while facing the interdental brush held by the holder. The plurality of polishing tools are arranged to be rotatable about the axis of the interdental brush and to be moved up and down along the axis, and the plurality of polishing tools are provided with the interdental brush. In a plurality of sections in the height direction, each has a cylindrical hole or tapered hole shaped polishing surface corresponding to the outer peripheral surface shape of the brush and drives the chain conveyor to convey the interdental brush intermittently by a set length When the interdental brush moves to a position facing the polishing tool, the polishing tool moves up and down while rotating relative to the brush of the facing interdental brush to polish the tip of the brush. .

  According to the present invention, the chain conveyor is intermittently moved along the conveyance rail, and the interdental brush held by the holder of the chain conveyor is sequentially conveyed to a position facing the polishing tool. When the interdental brush is transported to a position facing the polishing tool, the polishing tool descends while rotating and is inserted into the brush of the interdental brush. When the polishing tool is lowered to the set position, the polishing tool is raised to the original position and detached from the brush of the interdental brush, and then the rotation of the polishing tool is stopped. Here, the polishing tool has a polishing surface corresponding to the shape of the outer peripheral surface of the interdental brush. For example, a straight brush has a cylindrical hole-shaped polishing surface, and a tapered brush has a tapered hole-shaped polishing surface. Accordingly, the polishing tool moves up and down while rotating in a state where the polishing surface is slightly in contact with the tip of each filament forming the brush, so that the tip of each filament can be polished substantially round. it can.

  As a result, when the interdental brush is inserted between the teeth, each filament forming the brush smoothly contacts the gingiva, and the occurrence of an uncomfortable feeling can be suppressed as much as possible.

  In the present invention, facing each of the interdental brushes held at the set interval, a plurality of polishing tools in which the roughness of the eyes becomes smaller in order in the conveying direction of the interdental brush may be provided. preferable. Thereby, the interdental brush conveyed at a set interval is opposed to the polishing tool disposed so that the roughness of the eyes becomes smaller in order toward the conveyance direction of the interdental brush, and each brush forming the brush Since the tip of the filament is rounded in the order of a coarser polishing tool to a finer polishing tool, the brush tip can be efficiently polished.

  According to the present invention, the tips of the filaments forming the brush can be polished to a substantially round shape to suppress as much as possible the occurrence of an uncomfortable feeling during insertion between the brush teeth.

It is a front view which shows one Embodiment of the brush tip grinding | polishing apparatus of the interdental brush of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which expands and shows the interdental brush grind | polished by the grinding | polishing apparatus of this invention, and its brush front-end | tip X part. It is a front view which shows the modification of the grinding | polishing apparatus of FIG. It is a front view which shows the other modification of the grinding | polishing apparatus of FIG. It is a front view which shows other embodiment of the brush tip grinding | polishing apparatus of the interdental brush of this invention. It is a front view which shows the modification of the grinding | polishing apparatus of FIG. It is sectional drawing explaining the grinding | polishing process of the brush tip by the grinding | polishing apparatus of FIG. It is explanatory drawing which expands and shows the conventional interdental brush and its brush front-end | tip A part.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a brush tip polishing apparatus 1 for an interdental brush according to the present invention.

  This polishing apparatus 1 polishes the tip of the straight brush 14 in the interdental brush 11, that is, the tip of the brush 14 in which a plurality of filaments protruding radially in the radial direction are arranged to have almost the same length. The chain conveyor 3 is supported by the transport rail 2 and is intermittently transported, and the polishing tool 4 is disposed so as to face the interdental brush 11 held on the chain conveyor 3.

  The chain conveyor 3 is a conventionally well-known roller chain which is formed in an annular shape through joint links (not shown) which are elongated by alternately combining pin links 31 and roller links 32, and each end can be removed. The roller rotatably supported around the bush of the roller link 32 rolls on the linear bearing 21 laid on the transport rail 2 to move around.

  Here, although not shown in detail, a transport cylinder having a hook that protrudes between the rollers of the roller link 32 is installed on the lifting platform, and the chain conveyor 3 is moved by using the lifting and lowering of the lifting platform and the expansion and contraction of the transport cylinder. It can be intermittently moved around. That is, a hook provided on the piston rod of the transfer cylinder is moved up between the rollers of the roller link 32 in the chain conveyor 3 by raising the elevator and moving the transfer cylinder to extend the chain conveyor 3 through the hook. Just move around in one direction. Thereafter, the elevator is lowered to disengage the hook from the rollers of the roller link 32 in the chain conveyor 3, and the conveying cylinder is contracted to return to the original position. Hereinafter, the chain conveyor 3 can be intermittently moved by a set length by repeatedly raising and lowering the lift, extending the transfer cylinder, lowering the lift and reducing the transfer cylinder.

  Also, a pin link plate of the pin link 31 in the chain conveyor 3 is connected to a holder 33 having an L-shaped cross section for holding the interdental brush 11, and the hair is cut through a robot arm (not shown). The interdental brush 11 can be gripped, and the base 15 can be inserted into the holder 33 and held.

  The polishing tool 4 is an electric cutting tool, for example, a tip tool with a shaft that is detachably provided via a chuck device on a product name: Luther (registered trademark) related to the manufacture and sale of Nippon Precision Machine Tool Co., Ltd. This is a grindstone in which a cylindrical hole-shaped polishing surface corresponding to the shape of the outer peripheral surface of the straight brush 14 of the intermediate brush 11 is formed in the axial direction.

  Next, the case where the front-end | tip of the brush 14 in the interdental brush 11 is grind | polished using the grinding | polishing apparatus 1 comprised in this way is demonstrated.

  First, the interdental brush 11 is grasped via a robot arm (not shown) from the conveying line of the interdental brush 11 subjected to hair cutting, and the base 15 is inserted into the holder 33 of the chain conveyor 3 and held. Next, when the robot arm returns to its original position, the elevator platform (not shown) is raised, the hook is placed between the rollers of the roller link 32, the transfer cylinder is extended, and the chain conveyor 3 is moved by the set length. Move. That is, the interdental brush 11 held by the holder 33 of the chain conveyor 3 is moved to a position immediately below where the polishing tool 4 stands by. If the chain conveyor 3 moves by the set length, the elevator platform is lowered and the transport cylinder is contracted to return to the original position.

  On the other hand, when the interdental brush 11 moves to a position facing the polishing tool 4, an electric cutting tool (not shown) is driven to rotate the polishing tool 4 and lower the electric cutting tool to bring the polishing tool 4 to the interdental brush 11. The brush 14 is inserted. Here, the tips of the filaments forming the brush 14 of the interdental brush 11 are substantially in contact with the cylindrical hole-shaped polishing surface of the polishing tool 4 and slightly bent, so that the polishing tool 4 descends while rotating. Polished over the entire circumference. When the polishing tool 4 reaches the lower end, the polishing tool 4 rises and returns to the original position where it is detached from the brush 14 and stops rotating. At this time, the tip of the filament forming the brush 14 is substantially contacted with the polishing tool 4 that rises while rotating and bends slightly, so that it is polished roundly by the polishing tool 4 over the entire circumference (FIG. 2 ( b)).

  As a result, the tip of each filament forming the brush 14 of the interdental brush 11 held by the holder 33 is polished substantially round by the polishing tool 4 that moves up and down while rotating. Therefore, when the interdental brush 11 is inserted between the teeth, the tips of the filaments forming the brush 14 are in smooth contact with the gums, and the occurrence of a sense of incongruity can be suppressed as much as possible.

  When the polishing tool 4 is moved up and down again while changing the rotation direction, the tips of the filaments of the brush 14 can be rounded almost uniformly in the vertical and horizontal directions. It is preferable to change the rotation direction.

  In this case, in order to level the work time required for transferring the interdental brush 11 by the robot arm, as shown in FIG. 3, the polishing tool 4 on the upstream side in the conveying direction of the interdental brush 11 is rotated in one direction. Alternatively, the downstream polishing tool 4 may be rotated in the direction opposite to the rotation direction of the upstream polishing tool 4, and the tip of the brush 14 of the interdental brush 11 may be polished sequentially by the two polishing tools 4.

  Further, when a plurality of interdental brushes 11 can be grasped by the robot arm and transferred to the plurality of adjacent holders 33 of the chain conveyor 3, the set length corresponding to the plurality of interdental brushes 11 is conveyed. Thus, the tips of the plurality of interdental brushes 11 can be simultaneously polished by the corresponding plurality of polishing tools 4, and the working efficiency can be further improved.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of coarse, medium and fine meshes are formed from the upstream side toward the downstream side in the transport direction in accordance with the transport pitch of the interdental brush 11 in the transport direction of the interdental brush 11. The polishing tools 4A, 4B, and 4C may be arranged in order, and when the interdental brush 11 is intermittently conveyed, the tip of the brush 14 may be polished in the order of coarse, medium, and fine. As a result, when the tips of the filaments forming the brush 14 of the interdental brush 11 are rounded, it can be efficiently and smoothly polished.

  By the way, in the interdental brush 11 of embodiment mentioned above, although illustrated about the case where the straight-shaped brush 14 in which the filament which protrudes radially in radial direction aligned to the substantially same length is grind | polished, radial direction It can also be applied to the case of polishing the brush 14 formed in a tapered shape in which the length of the plurality of filaments protruding in the direction gradually increases toward the base 15 side.

  Specifically, a polishing tool 4D (see FIG. 5) in which a tapered hole-shaped polishing surface corresponding to the outer peripheral surface shape of the tapered brush 14 of the interdental brush 11 is formed in the axial direction is prepared. What is necessary is just to raise / lower 4D in a rotation state and to insert in the taper-shaped brush 14 of the interdental brush 11. Thereby, the tips of the filaments forming the tapered brush 14 are substantially in contact with the tapered hole-shaped polishing surface of the polishing tool 4D that descends while rotating, and are slightly bent by the polishing tool 4D. Polished over the entire circumference.

  In this case, when the polishing tool 4D is gradually lowered from a state in which the tapered hole-shaped polishing surface substantially contacts the tip of the brush 14 of the interdental brush 11, the contact area with the tip of the tapered brush 14 gradually increases. There is a risk that the frictional heat is generated and the tip of the brush 14 is not rounded but also melts. That is, when the taper angle of the brush 14 is 5 degrees, if the polishing tool 4 is lowered by one unit, the polishing surface bites into the center side of the brush 14 by 0.087 corresponding to tan 5 °, and the tip of each filament becomes larger. The contact area is increased by bending. Therefore, when the tip of the tapered brush 14 is polished by the polishing tool 4D, the rotation speed, descending amount, and contact time of the polishing tool 4D are adjusted according to the material of the brush 14 to prevent the filament from melting due to frictional heat. There is a need to.

  For example, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the tapered brush 14 of the interdental brush 11 is divided into a plurality of pieces (upper, middle, and lower three in the embodiment) in the height direction. If polishing tools 41D, 42D, and 43D having tapered hole-shaped polishing surfaces that are substantially in contact with the tips of the brushes 14 are disposed in order, and the portions where the tips of the brushes 14 are divided in the vertical direction are sequentially polished, intermittent polishing is performed. Generation of frictional heat can be suppressed, and melting of the filament can be prevented.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Polishing apparatus 2 Conveying rail 3 Chain conveyor 33 Holder 4 Polishing tool 11 Interdental brush 14 Brush

Claims (6)

Equipped with multiple types of polishing tools,
The plurality of types of polishing tools, in a plurality of sections in the height direction of the interdental brush, each has a cylindrical hole-shaped or tapered hole-shaped polishing surface corresponding to the outer peripheral surface shape of the brush,
While intermittently conveyed one set length and holding the interdental brush, the rotated by lifting a plurality of polishing tool with respect to the brush, interdental brushes, characterized in that polishing the brush tip Brush tip polishing method.   The brush tip polishing method for an interdental brush according to claim 1, wherein the polishing tool is moved up and down a plurality of times.   The brush tip polishing method for an interdental brush according to claim 2, wherein the direction of rotation is changed when the polishing tool is moved up and down.   The brush tip polishing method for an interdental brush according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the brush tip of the interdental brush conveyed at the set interval is directed toward the conveyance direction of the interdental brush. A brush tip polishing method for an interdental brush, characterized by polishing with a plurality of polishing tools whose roughness is in order from coarse to fine. On the transport rail, a chain conveyor is provided with holders for holding the interdental brushes at a set interval. On the other hand, a plurality of polishing tools are placed on the interdental brush so as to face the interdental brushes held on the holder. It is arranged so that it can rotate around its axis and move up and down along its axis.
The plurality of polishing tools each have a cylindrical hole-shaped or tapered hole-shaped polishing surface corresponding to the outer peripheral surface shape of the brush in a plurality of sections in the height direction of the interdental brush, and drive a chain conveyor. The interdental brush is intermittently conveyed by a set length, and when the interdental brush is moved to a position facing the polishing tool, the polishing tool is moved up and down while rotating with respect to the brush of the facing interdental brush. A brush tip polishing apparatus for an interdental brush characterized by polishing the tip.   6. The brush tip polishing apparatus for an interdental brush according to claim 5, wherein the roughness of the eyes gradually decreases in the direction of conveyance of the interdental brush, facing the interdental brush held at the set interval. A brush tip polishing apparatus for an interdental brush, wherein a plurality of polishing tools are provided.

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