TW201927208A - Method and equipment for manufacturing brushes wherein a punch is not perpendicular to an upper side of a bristle carrier and a relative movement containing a transverse component occurs between the punch and the bristle carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a method and equipment for manufacturing brushes, providing: a filament end portion (58) that is formed through heating and melting to protrude from a rear side, wherein the punch (54) is not perpendicular to an upper side (42) of a bristle carrier (14) as it was previously, and a relative movement that includes a transverse component occurs between the punch and the bristle carrier.

Description

Method and equipment for manufacturing brushes

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a brush having a bristle carrier having at least one opening and at least one bristle bundle located in the opening, the at least one bristle bundle being made of a thermoplastic filament. The invention further relates to a device for carrying out the method.

EP 1 136 017 B1 describes a method and an apparatus for melting the ends of fibers of a bristle bundle. In this case, the heated punch is pressed against the ends of the filaments protruding from the rear side to fuse the ends together while deforming the heated mass, that is, flattening. By this melting and deforming, all the filaments (at least the filaments of the bristle bundle) are joined together. If multiple bristle bundles are arranged side by side, the clusters of the bristle bundles are merged with the clusters of the adjacent bristle bundles, so that the bristle bundles are also connected to each other, and a plate-like connection layer is formed, and the filaments of the bristle bundles protrude from the connection layer. This deformation of the heated mass also widens the filament end as a whole and therefore prevents it from being pulled out of the opening.

On the front, the individual filaments are arranged side by side as closely as possible, especially the individual filaments should be parallel to each other, but if the packing density (that is, the density of the filaments as viewed from the cross section) is relatively low, then this Sometimes it is very difficult. Although there is usually a perforated plate on the front side of the bristle carrier, when the filaments are fused together at the rear end, the filaments penetrate the perforated plate on the front side and are positioned, but the filament is large after being pulled out of the perforated plate For bifurcation, this is called a hair bundle "Ausfedern", "Auffächern" or "Aufspringen".

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a brush and an apparatus for implementing the method, in which such popping is reduced, and filaments (outside filaments of a bristle bundle) and the hair can be held within a small range. Parallelism of the rest of the beam.

To achieve this, the present invention provides the following steps:

Loading the at least one tuft of bristles into the opening, wherein an end of the rear side filament protrudes from an upper side of the bristle carrier, and

By applying heat and applying a punch to the filament ends, the rear-end protruding filament ends are heated and melted, and the filament ends are deformed by the punch, wherein After the punch is in contact with the ends of the filaments, the punch and the bristle carrier are relatively moved to each other, and the relative movement has a movement component lateral to the upper side in the area of the ends of the existing filaments, so that A lateral force is exerted on the filaments of the one or more existing bristle bundles.

Up to now, the punches have always traveled perpendicular to the upper side of the bristle carrier with the contact surface, so that the filaments are flattened without orientation to each other and the softening material is also pushed between the fibers. In the method according to the invention, the results show that the tendency to pop is significantly reduced. The filaments are less supported and compressed axially by the oblique movement of the punch to the dorsal end. This inclination component of the punch clearly moves the filaments laterally towards each other and is thus delaminated, rather than being pressed against each other in an indefinite manner. The tests performed showed a significant increase in quality as the thickness of the bristles decreases and as the density of the tufts decreases. However, it is precisely the fine bristles and tufts with lower filament density that have shown a greater problem in the past: keeping the filaments as parallel as possible and precisely aligned with each other. The invention also brings great advantages in the use of sharpened filaments. Regarding the relative movement of the punch and the bristle carrier, it should be emphasized that the punch is usually moved toward the fixed bristle carrier. Among them, the bristle carrier can also be moved toward the fixed punch, or both parts can be moved and Formation of relative movement.

Preferably, when the upper side is substantially flat, the relative movement between the punch and the bristle carrier is performed at an acute angle with the vertical line of the upper side toward the ends of the filaments, or

When the upper side extends in an arc, a lateral movement towards the upper side occurs in the area of all tufts of bristles. In both options, it also depends on the relative movement of the punch and the bristle carrier to each other, and not necessarily on which of the two parts moves. In a simple embodiment, this movement is achieved by a tilting movement of a punch or a bristle carrier. Alternatively, a plurality of movements with different movement directions may be performed continuously, for example, a feed movement (relative movement) extending parallel to the filament first, and then a movement perpendicular thereto.

The angle between the moving direction of the punch from the end of the filament protruding to the rear side (until the bottom dead center) and the vertical line on the upper side of the bristle carrier should be 70 ° as shown in the experiment, especially 40. °, in particular a maximum of 30 °, preferably in the range of 10 ° to 30 °.

Alternatively, heating and melting can of course be accomplished by hot air or other non-contact heat transfer. In this case, the punch only merges the liquid or pasty masses of the individual filaments with each other, and the filaments remain side by side and aligned.

However, a preferred embodiment provides that when the punch contacts the ends of the fiber filaments, heating and melting are performed by the punch heated under this condition.

This heating can be accomplished by the electric heater of the punch.

In order to release the punch from the upper side of the bristle carrier, it can optionally be arranged as follows: the punch is rapidly cooled, that is, provided with a cooling device. The cooling device is, for example, a cooling water guide through a punch.

The punch is preferably moved back and forth along a track leading to the ends of the filaments protruding from these rear sides.

The track extends in a straight line, but it can also be set as follows: the track is oval or arc-shaped. For example, the punch may first be fed vertically toward the upper side of the bristle carrier during the initial movement, but then laterally moved shortly before, during, and / or shortly after touching the end of the filament that has not yet been melted.

The method according to the invention is particularly suitable for a device for conveying the at least one bristle bundle into the opening by suction or compressed air flow. In this method of supplying tufts of bristles, compared with the so-called plugging method, the tuft density is small, and the plugging method uses a plunger to mechanically drive the tufts into the opening.

The punch has a substantially flat contact surface by which the punch moves toward the ends of the filaments protruding toward the rear sides. When in contact with the ends of the protruding filaments on the rear side, the contact surface extends substantially further parallel to the upper side of the bristle carrier, that is, the contact surface does not pivot. The upper side of the bristle carrier may be slightly arched at best, but this is negligible because the height difference between the upper side edge and the central area is at most a few tenths of a millimeter. In this case, the contact surfaces of the punches can also be of complementary design. What is important here is that the upper side and the contact surface do not incline with each other, but instead move parallel to each other (that is, at the aforementioned acute angles) toward each other.

If the bristle body has a substantially arc-shaped upper side, the punch has a complementary contact surface with which the punch moves toward the ends of the filaments protruding toward the rear sides, wherein When the ends of the side protruding filaments contact, the contact surface extends substantially parallel to the upper side of the bristle carrier.

The acute angle is always greater than 0 °, and preferably greater than or equal to 10 °.

The bristle carrier is usually part of a finished brush, ie the bristle carrier is also made of a thermoplastic material. In particular, the teachings according to the invention can be implemented in so-called small plates, which are then injection-molded after plugging the holes with tufts of bristles.

Of course, the method according to the invention can only be used for a single tuft of bristles, but usually there are a large number of openings in the bristle carrier, which openings are filled with tufts of bristles. At this point, a punch that travels at an acute angle to the upper vertical line welds all the filaments of a large number of bristle bundles to each other.

The invention also relates to a device for carrying out the method according to the invention, the device having a reciprocating punch, a receptacle, and a conveying device for receiving a bristle carrier provided with at least one opening, the conveying device For the bristle bundle, the bristle bundle can be brought into the opening of the bristle carrier by the conveying device, wherein the punch can move along the guide rail, which is formed with the vertical line of the upper side of the carrier into the container. Acute angle extension. Since the upper side is usually located in a horizontal plane, the acute angle is also defined relative to the horizontal plane.

The punch may be located on and move along the linear guide, or it may be moved along a curved or circular track as previously described.

The angle here is also greater than 0 °, preferably greater than 10 °, at which point the punch moves towards the ends of the filaments and deforms the ends of the filaments.

As an upper limit, the punch can optionally travel at an angle of up to 70 ° with the vertical plane and thus with the upper side of the bristle carrier, but preferably up to 40 °, especially up to 30 °. Currently, angles in the range of 10 ° to 30 ° have been found to be optimal.

As mentioned above, the punch may include a heater and / or an active cooler.

In addition, the apparatus may include a conveying device for tufts of bristles working with compressed air and / or vacuum, the tufts of bristles being transported into the openings by the transporting device.

FIG. 1 illustrates an apparatus for manufacturing brushes, particularly a toothbrush, which apparatus includes a plurality of stations.

The device has, for example, a turntable 8 that rotates cyclically, on which different carriers 10 are arranged, which carriers 10 cycle through the station in turn. The carrier 10 contains so-called receptacles 12, in particular grooves which are open upwards, which grooves are complementary to the so-called bristle carrier 14. The bristle carriers 14 may be part of a later brush body, and may be designed, for example, as a small plate or as a whole brush body or as a perforated field plate on the tool side. The perforated field plate is used to first pick the tufts of bristles in a specific pattern that corresponds to a later pattern of holes in the brush. After filling the perforated field plate, the tufts of bristles are then transferred to a bristle carrier, which in turn is part of the finished brush.

In the first station 16, as shown by the arrows, a bristle carrier 14 is provided in the receptacle 12.

In the conveying direction (clockwise), a filling station 18 is followed, in which the bristle carrier 14 provided with openings 48 is filled with tufts of bristles.

Alternatively, there may then be, for example, a cutting station 20 on which the ends of the bristles to be melted are cut to a desired length before welding.

In the subsequent melting or welding station 22, the ends of the filaments of the tuft are melted such that the ends of the filaments are fused with the other filaments of the tuft or all the tufts of the brush. For this purpose, a corresponding heating device is provided, which will be explained below.

The finishing station 24 (for example in the form of an injection molding station) may be part of the equipment, but not absolutely so. In the finishing station 24, the plugged bristle carrier is injection molded, for example, the neck and shank of the toothbrush are formed by injection molding. However, if the bristle carrier is a perforated field plate on the tool side, for example, a part or the entire brush body is injection-molded onto a bristle bundle welded together at an injection molding station. As previously mentioned, the tufts of bristles may alternatively be previously transferred from the perforated field plate to the bristle carrier.

The completed or at least partially completed brush 26 is then removed from the device.

The tufts of bristles are conveyed from the cassette 29 to the optionally provided intermediate cassette 32 by the tuft separator 30, and from the intermediate cassette 32 to the bristle carrier 14, and between the intermediate cassettes 32 by using compressed air and (or ) The vacuum-operated conveying device 34 conveys to the bristle carrier 14. The tufts of bristles are sucked or blown out by means of a hose or a tube, as described, for example, in DE 20 2016 101 195 A1.

In FIG. 2, the welding station 22 is schematically illustrated.

In this case, the bristle carrier 14 is a small plate that forms part of the finished brush and is subsequently injection molded. The bristle carrier has a bottom side 40 and an upper side 42, which is formed in part by a recess 44 which is surrounded by a peripheral edge 46. The upper side 42 is preferably flat and slightly arched at best.

The bristle carrier 14 has a plurality of openings, and for simplicity, only one of the openings 48 is illustrated. In this opening 48 is inserted a tuft of bristles 50 which consists of a large number of filaments made of a thermoplastic material. In practice, all openings are usually plugged with tufts of bristles 50 before welding.

The upper side 42 simultaneously forms the rear side of the bristle carrier 14. The tufts of bristles 50 project slightly beyond the upper side 42 after being introduced into the opening 48.

A heatable punch 54 (which can be heated by the electric heater 52 here) moves the filament end portion 56 protruding from above toward the rear side. When the punch 54 contacts the rear end protruding filament end 56 with its flat contact surface 58, the punch 54 is already hot at the contact surface 58, causing the filament end 56 to melt and the filaments to be joined together. Then, the punch 54 is further moved toward the upper side 42 and presses the liquid material into flat islands or forms one or more plates, so that the filaments of the bristle bundle (and possibly the bristle bundle) are connected to each other and the materials are fused with each other.

The movement of the punch 54 to the upper side 42 forms an acute angle α with the vertical line S of the upper side 42, that is, there is a moving component lateral to the upper side 42 in the region of the filament end 56, and a lateral force is exerted on the Filaments. If there are multiple bristle bundles 50 in the bristle carrier 14, the relative movement of the punch 54 relative to the upper side 42 causes all existing bristle bundles to experience lateral forces.

In the illustrated embodiment, the track passed by the punch 54 is a straight path track, and therefore, when the punch moves to the working position of the punch and returns to the starting position of the punch, the punch The head moves obliquely downward and then tilts back upwards. The movement of the punch is motorized, for example by a servo motor or a compression cylinder.

The angle α is greater than 0 °, preferably greater than or equal to 10 °, a maximum of 40 °, and particularly a maximum of 30 °.

In a preferred embodiment, the angle α is in the range of 10 ° to 30 °.

Preferably, the contact surface 58 is always in the same orientation relative to the perpendicular S during the course of the movement, preferably parallel to the upper side 42.

As an alternative to a straight track, a curved track or a circumferential track can of course also be provided. It is important, however, that when the punch 54 hits the filament end 56 and moves further to the bottom dead center during the movement, a downward tilting movement of the punch occurs.

Alternatively, the punch 54 may be provided with a cooling device, shown here as cooling channels 60, which pass through the water after the filament ends 56 have melted in order to cool as suddenly as possible in the area contacting the surface 58 The punch 54 thereby solidifies the filament plastic material that has just melted.

Since the upper side 42 is usually located in a vertical plane, the angle α is also formed to correspond to the vertical plane in this case.

Regarding the movement of the punch 54 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the punch 54 is movably mounted in the linear guide 62.

If the bristle body 14 has a substantially curved upper side 42 (see FIG. 3), the punch 54 has a contact surface 58 complementary thereto, and the punch 54 is directed toward the plurality of bristle bundles 50 by the contact surface 58. The rear protruding filament ends 56 move, wherein the contact surface 58 is substantially inclined to the upper side 42 of the bristle carrier in the area of all the bristle bundles 50 when in contact with the rear protruding filament ends 56 of all the bristle bundles 50 Instead, see arrow A. Therefore, a lateral force is applied to all the bristle bundles 50 by a punch, and the filaments are pressed together sideways by the lateral force.

Of course, when paying attention to the above parameters, only the movement of the bristle carrier 14 relative to the fixed punch 54 may occur, and the movement of the punch 54 does not occur.

The relative movement between the punch 54 and the bristle carrier 14 may of course be a small separate movement in different directions without linear movement, such as the initial longitudinal movement when the punch 54 and the filament end 56 begin to contact, Then there is lateral movement. In this staged movement, the angle α is determined by the virtual contact line of the punch position when starting to contact the end of the filament and before returning to the starting position (that is, when the molten material at the end of the filament has been pushed To the maximum) to define the virtual contact line of the punch position.

8‧‧‧ Turntable

10‧‧‧ carrier

12‧‧‧ Container

14‧‧‧bristle carrier

16‧‧‧ First stop

18‧‧‧ filling station

20‧‧‧ Cutting Station

22‧‧‧welding station

24‧‧‧Completion station

26‧‧‧ Brush

29‧‧‧box

30‧‧‧hair bundle separator

32‧‧‧ middle box

34‧‧‧Conveying equipment

40‧‧‧ bottom side

42‧‧‧upside

44‧‧‧ Recess

46‧‧‧peripheral edge

48‧‧‧ opening

50‧‧‧bristles

52‧‧‧ Electric heater

54‧‧‧ punch

56‧‧‧Filament ends

58‧‧‧contact surface

60‧‧‧cooling channel

62‧‧‧ Linear Guide

A‧‧‧arrow

S‧‧‧ vertical line

α‧‧‧ angle

Other features and advantages of the present invention can be obtained from the following description and the following drawings referred to. In the scheme:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic top view of a device for carrying out the method according to the invention,

Fig. 2 illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view of a device according to the invention in the region of a welding station with a punch and a bristle carrier,

Figure 3 illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view of the device in the area of a welding station with a punch having an arc-shaped contact surface.

Domestic storage information (please note in order of storage organization, date, and number)
no

Information on foreign deposits (please note according to the order of the country, institution, date, and number)
no

Claims (17)

A method for manufacturing a brush having a bristle carrier (14) having at least one opening (48) and at least one bristle bundle (50) located in the opening, the at least one bristle bundle (50) Made of thermoplastic filaments, characterized by the following steps: Inserting the at least one bristle bundle (50) into the opening (48), wherein the rear filament ends (56) protrude from an upper side (42) of the bristle carrier (14), and By applying heat and applying a punch (54) to the filament ends (56), the rear-end protruding filament ends (56) are heated and melted, and by the punch (54) ) Deform the filament ends (56), where After the punch (54) and the filament ends (56) are in contact, the punch (54) and the bristle carrier (14) undergo a relative movement with each other, and the relative movement is at the ends of the existing filaments The area of (56) has a moving component lateral to the upper side (42) to apply a lateral force to the filaments of the one or more existing bristle bundles (50). The method according to claim 1, wherein when the upper side (42) is substantially flat, the punch (54) and the perpendicular (S) of the upper side (42) are oriented at an acute angle (α) toward the lengths Wire ends (56), or When the upper side (42) extends in an arc, the punch (54) moves sideways toward the upper side (42) in the area of all the bristle bundles (50). The method according to claim 2, wherein the relative moving direction of the punch (54) and the upper side (42) of the bristle carrier (14) when the rear-side protruding filament ends (56) are hit. The angle (α) between the vertical lines (S) is 40 ° at the maximum. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when the punch (54) contacts the filament ends (56), the rear side length is heated and melted by the heated punch (54) Wire end (56). The method according to claim 4, wherein the punch (54) is heated by an integrated electric heater (52). The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the punch (54) is provided with a cooling device, and after the filament ends (56) are melted, the punch (54) can be cooled by the cooling device . The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the punch (54) moves back and forth along a track to the filament ends (56) protruding from the rear sides. The method according to claim 7, wherein the track extends in a straight line. Method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the at least one tuft of bristles (50) is conveyed into the opening (48) by suction or a stream of compressed air. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the punch (54) has a substantially flat contact surface (58), and the punch (54) protrudes toward the rear sides by the contact surface (58). The filament end portion (56) moves, wherein the contact surface extends substantially parallel to the upper side (42) of the bristle carrier (14) when in contact with the filament end portions (56) protruding from the rear sides. . The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the punch (54) has a contact surface (58) substantially complementary to the curved upper side (42), and the punch (54) passes through the contact surface (58) moving toward the rear-side protruding filament ends (56), wherein the contact surface (58) is substantially parallel to the bristles when in contact with the rear-side protruding filament ends (56) The upper side (42) of the carrier (14) extends. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the bristle carrier (14) is part of the finished brush. A device for implementing the method according to claim 1 or 2, the device having a reciprocating punch (54), a container (12), a conveying device (34), the container (12) A bristle carrier (14) provided with at least one opening (48), the conveying device (34) is used for a bristle bundle (50), and the bristle bundle (50) can be transferred by the conveying device (34) The opening (48) carried to the bristle carrier (14) is characterized in that the punch (54) can be moved along a guide rail, the guide rail and the upper side of a bristle carrier (14) installed in the container. The perpendicular (S) of (42) extends at an acute angle (α). The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the punch (54) is coupled to a linear guide (62) and moves along the linear guide (62). The device according to claim 13, wherein the punch (54) moves at an angle (α) of a maximum of 40 ° to the vertical plane. The device according to claim 13, wherein the punch (54) comprises a heater (52) and / or an active cooler. The device according to claim 13, wherein a conveying device (34) is provided which operates with compressed air and / or vacuum, and the bristle bundles (50) are conveyed to the openings (48) by the conveying device (34). in.