TWI841621B - Hair tuft separator for brush plugging tool and method for separating hair tufts - Google Patents

Abstract

In the tuft separator of the brush plugging tool, a tuft picker (20) is provided, which can be reversibly pivoted between a handover position and a backward pivot position. The recess (38) for accommodating the bristles (26) is oversized so that more bristles are accommodated than there should be in the tuft. In the forward operation, the excess bristles (26) are pushed back from the recess into the bristle box (24).

Description

Hair tuft separator for brush plugging tool and method for separating hair tufts

The present invention relates to a bristle separator for a brush plugging tool, which has a bristle picker. The bristle picker can pivot between a handover position and a rearward pivot position on the plugging tool, and simultaneously move along a bristle box with an outer side and a recess in the outer side and receive bristles from the bristle box in the recess.

Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for separating tufts of bristles for a brush plugging tool.

In the prior art, such tuft separators always comprise a plate-shaped tuft picker with an arc-shaped outer side, which can be reversibly pivoted about a vertical axis. The cycle rate of such tuft separators increases steadily while the scrap rate decreases, which is in itself contradictory. The bristle magazine comprises upright bristles that are prestressed transversely to the longitudinal direction of the bristles, so that the bristles in the bristle gate are pushed toward the open side of the bristle gate, which is limited by the outer side of the tuft picker. In this case, the prestress of the bristle gate ensures that the bristles are pushed into the recess when the recess moves along the open side. Brush manufacturers specify a certain maximum tolerance for the bristles to be separated, for example, 5 to 10% more or less than the ideal number of bristles per tuft. If, for example, 20 bristles must be removed ideally, 18 to 22 bristles can be separated and transported to the bung hole again in order to meet the tolerance. However, the high cycle rate increases the speed at which the recess moves along the open side, and therefore there is less time to fill the recess. This represents a high risk: even if the cross-section of the recess is designed to have exactly the maximum tolerance (i.e., in the example above, to accommodate 22 bristles), far fewer bristles than are required will enter the recess.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a hair bundle separator, which has high reliability when filling a recess with a high cycle rate. In addition, a corresponding improved method is also provided to separate the hair bundle.

The above-mentioned object is achieved by a tuft separator of the above-mentioned type, in which there is a push-out device, which is formed in such a way that, during the separation process, the push-out device reduces the cross-section of the recess and pushes the bristles from the recess back into the bristle box in a path in which the recess moves along the open side of the bristle box. The invention is provided as follows: an oversized recess is used, by means of which more bristles than desired can be removed from the bristle store more easily. This ensures that more bristles are inserted into the recess than is permitted according to the upper tolerance limit of the plugging process. Compared with the prior art, this ensures that not too few bristles enter the recess. After the bristles in the bristle cartridge encounter resistance, when the bristles are pushed back from the recess, the remaining cross-section can be completely filled with bristles, thereby also predetermining a fairly precise amount of bristles that are ultimately delivered to the plugging tool. With the invention, higher cycle rates can be run with extremely high reliability.

The "separation operation" is not an adjustment process for reorienting and adjusting the tuft separator, but a continuous operation in which the tuft picker pivots back and forth at the duty cycle rate of the tuft separator. In each cycle, the cross-section of the recess is reduced by a separate push-out device so that during the forward pivoting (i.e., when pivoting in the direction of the handover position), or in the rear dead center position opposite the handover position, or during the backward pivoting, a part of the bristles initially accommodated are pushed back into the bristle magazine after the recess has been previously filled. The filling itself always takes place during the backward pivoting. If the path of the backward pivoting is very long, it can be considered to fill the recess on the first part of the path and to push the bristles back into the bristle magazine on the second part of the path. Furthermore, it is of course also possible that, for example, some bristles are already pushed back in the final phase of the backward pivoting, and then the remaining excess bristles are also pushed into the magazine at the dead center position and (or) during the forward pivoting.

However, preferably, excess bristles are pushed out of the recesses only during the forward pivoting (i.e., when pivoting in the direction of the handover position), so that there is sufficient time to accommodate the bristles during the backward pivoting. Preferably, during the forward or backward pivoting, the cross-section decreases continuously, i.e., there is no sudden movement, but a continuous cross-section reduction is achieved using the movement path. This prevents the bristles from getting stuck.

The ejection device may be a movable part fixed to the tuft picker, which part may be partially moved onto the recess, wherein "on" does not necessarily mean that the movable part is located above the recess; the movable part may also be located below the recess or in a slot of the tuft picker. In general, in a top view of the tuft picker, the movable part and the recess overlap, and thus in a top view, the (free) cross-section for accommodating the bristles becomes smaller.

The movable part can be optionally moved by a driver remote from the tuft picker. That is, the driver is not located on the tuft picker, but outside the tuft picker. Thereby reducing the mass of the moving parts.

One option here is that the driver comprises a stationary or driven curved path along which the driver moves. The driver is coupled to the movable part. The curved path is formed in such a way that the movable part partially closes the recess on the tuft picker during the forward pivoting. The stationary curved path is realized, for example, by a cylindrical path along which the driver moves. The corresponding curved path has different parts at different distances from the axis of the tuft picker, about which the tuft picker pivots. Thereby, the movable part can be moved as follows: the movable part presses against the bristles in the recess during the forward pivoting. However, the curved path can also be driven, ie rotated by its own drive, in order to guide the movable part radially outwardly during this rotation by means of a mechanical coupling to the movable part.

The movable part is in particular a pivot lever or a reversibly movable plunger.

For example, a roller that moves along a curved path is used as the driving element.

Another option for realizing the ejection device in a simple manner is to use a stationary deflector. This deflector is arranged in the region of the open side of the bristle magazine and in the top view of the tuft picker in such a way that the deflector increasingly overlaps the recess during the forward pivoting. That is, if the recess moves forward on the circular path presented by the pivoting tuft picker, the deflector increasingly obstructs the recess (or more precisely, the bristles protruding from the recess), so that the bristles move against the deflector and the deflector pushes the bristles moving on the circular path outwards back into the bristle magazine with the deflector surface.

The deflector may have a convexly curved deflector surface against which the bristles in the recess move during forward or backward pivoting, and the deflector surface extends obliquely into the movement path of the bristles in the recess. The convex curvature is in particular a continuous curvature, i.e. the portion of the deflector surface that contacts the bristles has no steps or corners.

The ejection device can be formed in such a way that the recess opens gradually during the rearward pivoting, preferably after an initial at least partial opening even completely in the rearward pivoted position.

One variant of the invention provides that the ejection device causes the cross-section of the recess to change identically during the forward pivoting and the backward pivoting. This means that during the backward pivoting, the recess is initially smaller than then in the backward pivoting position and then becomes larger. During the forward pivoting, the recess then decreases again to the same extent. However, another variant of the invention provides that the course of change of the cross-section of the recess during the forward pivoting and the backward pivoting is different. In particular, the recess is always completely open during the backward pivoting and only decreases during the forward pivoting. This makes it easier to fill the recess.

The method for separating tufts for a brush plugging tool according to the invention can be implemented using a tuft separator according to the invention. The method is characterized by the following steps: Providing a tuft picker, which can pivot back and forth between a handover position and a backward pivot position on the plugging tool and simultaneously moves along the bristle box with the outer side and a recess present in the outer side, During the backward pivoting, filling the recess with bristles from the bristle box, and During the separation operation of the tuft picker, in particular during the forward pivoting, pushing the bristles from the recess back into the bristle box.

Accordingly, the method according to the invention provides that the recess is so to speak "overfilled" and accommodates more bristles than necessary, so that the correct number of bristles for the tuft is then obtained by pushing out.

The recess is preferably fully open, for example during rearward pivoting (ie at least in the fully rearward pivoted position) to accommodate sufficient bristles therein.

For example, during the separation operation, in particular during the forward pivoting, the cross-section of the recess is reduced by at least 10%, preferably at least 15%, to ensure that actually too many bristles are initially accommodated in the recess. Of course, this also applies to the tuft separator according to the present invention.

In general, all the above characteristics of the tuft separator also apply to the method and vice versa.

FIG. 1 shows a tuft separator 10 of a plugging tool 12, which includes a tip 14 that can reciprocate in the direction of arrow X. A tongue 16 is used to push the bristle tufts through the tip into a bristle carrier 18. An anchor (not shown) pushed in together with the bristle tufts by the tongue 16 is used to anchor the bristle tufts in the bristle carrier 18.

The tuft separator 10 comprises a so-called tuft picker 20 which can pivot back and forth about a preferably vertical axis A, i.e., pivoting forward means pivoting in the direction of a handover position in which the separated tufts are received in recesses 22 in the plugging tool 12. Pivoting backward means pivoting in the opposite direction, i.e. away from the tip 14 to a rear end point, which is called the rear pivot position.

The bristle box 24 is adjacent to the tuft picker 20, and the bristles 26 that are upright and stressed in the direction of arrow Y are pushed in the direction of the open side 28 of the bristle box 24. In this area, the bristles 26 can be pressed against the outer side 30 of the tuft picker 20.

The outer side 30 is at least partially, preferably completely, in the shape of a circular arc segment having a radius extending to the axis A.

In Fig. 2, a scraper 32 is illustrated which is located between the bristle cartridge 24 and the transfer position in the pivot direction and has a counter surface 34 which is substantially complementary to the outer side 30. The clearance between the outer surface 30 and the counter surface 34 is minimal and in any case is significantly smaller than the bristle diameter.

The outer side 30 has a recess 38 recessed therefrom for receiving bristles.

As the recess 38 advances along the open side 28 of the bristle box 24, the bristles are pushed into the recess 38. Then, the recess is more or less filled.

The cross-section of the recess 38 is matched to the number of bristles to be separated for each tuft, so that the cross-section is oversized. This ensures that during pivoting, more bristles always enter the recess 38 than must be released later.

Once the recess 38 reaches the open side 28, the rearward pivoting starts to fill the recess 38 with bristles 26. Until the rearward pivoting position is reached, and also during the subsequent forward pivoting, more bristles can be pushed into the recess 38.

However, an ejection device 40 is provided, which is used to push excess bristles from the recess 38 back into the bristle box 24 during the forward pivoting in the direction of the plug hole position.

FIG. 2 shows a purely stationary ejection device 40 which consists essentially of a stationary, i.e. fixed and non-pivoting deflector 42 having a convexly curved deflector surface 44 which extends radially inwards from the outer side 30 in a plan view.

Fig. 5 shows a deflector 42 and a portion of the deflector surface 44. Furthermore, the different positions of the notch 38 can be seen, in which the notch 38 is located when pivoting forward and when pivoting backward.

It can be clearly seen that the deflector 42 has partially moved into the path of travel of the recess 38 and therefore into the path of travel of the bristles 26 .

If the recess 38 is still relatively forward (left position in FIG. 5 ), the deflector 42 is in this region so that the deflector 42 partially closes the recess 38. However, as one moves further and further back in the direction toward the rear pivot position (to the right in FIG. 5 ), the deflector surface 44 gradually extends radially inward so that the deflector 42 closes the recess 38 less and less.

The curvature of the deflector surface 44 is continuous without abrupt changes or edges.

In the following, the method is explained, by which the exact number of bristles for a bristle bundle is removed from the bristle magazine 24.

When the tuft picker 20 is pivoted backward, the recess enters the area of the open side 28 of the bristle box 24, thereby pushing the bristles 26 into the recess 38. With the gradual pivoting in the direction toward the rear pivot position, the cross-section of the recess 38 becomes larger and larger, so that more and more bristles 26 are pushed in.

The entire recess 38 is not open until the fully pivoted rearward position is reached or in the pivoted rearward position. However, this is not to be understood as limiting. In FIG. 5 , the bristle bundles produced in the rightmost position of the recess 38 are illustrated in an exaggerated manner, only for the purpose of better identifying the limits of the various components, with the distances between the bristles and between the bristles and the recess wall being exaggerated. In fact, here too, the bristles are tightly placed in the fully open recess.

If fewer bristles are to be picked up per tuft, the deflector 42 can also be adjusted variably and open up less cross-section in the rearward pivoted position.

During the separation process, here during the movement in the tip direction, i.e. during the forward pivoting, the bristles 26 come into contact with the deflector surface 44, which extends obliquely into the movement path of the bristles 26 in the recess 38. Due to this inclination, the excess bristles in the recess 38 are pushed back into the bristle cartridge 24.

Then, when the notch 38 reaches the scraper 32, the notch 38 is closed and the hair bundle is transported along the relative surface 34 to the tip 14.

If you want to separate fewer bristle bundles, you can also use the same bristle picker 20. For this, you can manually or use a motor to adjust the deflector 42 radially outward in the direction of the arrow Z so that the deflector 42 can cover the recess 38 more strongly.

In the embodiment of Figure 3, the ejection device 40 is not formed by a purely stationary part. Instead, a movable part, here a plunger 50, is fixed to the tuft picker 20 in a radially movable manner by means of a support 52. The plunger 50 is preferably loaded inwardly toward the axis A by means of a spring.

On its inner end, the plunger 50 carries a driver 54 in the form of a roller which runs on a curved path 56. The curved path 56 comprises portions which are further away from the axis A and portions which are closer to the axis A. By means of the portions of the curved path 56 which are at different distances from the axis A, the plunger 50 is pushed more or less further outwards. The plunger 50 can thereby partially close the recess 38 on which it is located.

The curved path 56 also curves continuously without sudden cross-sectional changes, edges or the like.

As shown in FIG. 5 , the cross-section of the notch 38 also has a trend that the cross-section of the notch 38 decreases continuously as it pivots forward.

Here, optionally, the plunger 50 can also open the entire recess 38 in the rearward pivoted position. Of course, optionally, the entire recess 38 can also be opened before that.

Additionally, other cross-sectional orientations may be achieved by changing the location of the curved path 56 or by using another curved path.

Another way of controlling the movable part (here the plunger 50) is that the curved path 56 and the corresponding part 60 also move and pivot during the movement of the tuft picker 20. Other orientations can also be achieved here with respect to the cross-sectional variation of the recess 38.

The embodiment of FIG. 4 corresponds essentially to the embodiment of FIG. 3. Instead of the plunger 50, a lever 62 is provided here as a movable part, which is mounted on a pivot 64 on the tuft picker 20. The lever 62 is formed with two arms and has an arm that carries the driver 54 and by which the driver 54 travels along a curved path 56. Depending on the position of the driver 54, the other arm pivots more or less onto the recess 38 in order to open or close it more or less.

Of course, the curved path and the corresponding portion 60 can here not only be stationary as shown in Figure 3, but can also be movable when pivoting, or can be adjusted outwardly when tufts with other cross-sections are to be produced.

In all embodiments, the cross-section of the recess 38 decreases by at least 10%, in particular at least 15%, between its most open position (typically the rearwardly pivoted position) and its most closed position.

The six consecutive sub-figures in FIG. 6 illustrate different positions of the hair bundle picker 20 in the embodiment according to FIG. 2. It is easy to see that the push-out device 40 remains stationary while the hair bundle picker 20 reciprocates.

In FIG. 7 , the different positions of the lever 62 according to the embodiment of FIG. 4 can be easily seen, which are performed during the reciprocating motion because the driver 54 of the lever 62 moves along a curved path 56 having portions at different distances relative to the axis A.

Sub-figure 4 illustrates the rearward pivoted position of the tuft picker 20 and the recess 38 fully open.

In all embodiments, the ejection device also acts on the recess 38 as it moves along the scraper 32, so that even after leaving the open side 28, the cross-section of the recess 38 remains unchanged until it is handed over to the plugging tool 12. This is true regardless of which embodiment is illustrated.

As an alternative to the illustrated embodiment, a part or all of the excess bristles can also be pushed out of the recess when pivoting backwards and/or at the rear dead center (i.e. in the rear position). However, it is important here that this bristle push-out occurs in each cycle (i.e. during operation).

10: tuft separator 12: plugging tool 14: tip 16: tongue 18: bristle carrier 20: tuft picker 22: notch 24: bristle box 26: bristles 28: open side 30: outer side 32: scraper 34: opposite surface 38: notch 40: ejector 42: deflector 44: deflector surface 50: plunger 52: support 54: driver 56: curved path 60: corresponding part

62: Leverage

64: pivot

A: Axis

X:arrow

Y:arrow

Z:arrow

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings with reference thereto. In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic top view of a simplified brush plugging tool having a tuft separator according to the invention, the tuft separator being only partially shown.

FIG. 2 shows a top view of a first embodiment of the hair tuft separator according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a top view of a second embodiment of the hair bundle separator according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a top view of a third embodiment of the hair bundle separator according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged detail view of the hair bundle separator according to FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 illustrates the sequential steps performed by the hair bundle separator of FIG. 2 to perform the method according to the present invention, and

FIG. 7 illustrates six consecutive steps performed by the hair bundle separator of FIG. 4 to perform the method according to the present invention.

20: Hair bundle picker

24: Brush box

26: Brush hair

30: Outer side

32: Scraper

34: Relative surface

38: Notch

40: Launch device

42: Deflector

44: Deflector surface

Y:arrow

Claims (16)

A bristle separator for a brush plugging tool comprises a bristle picker (20) which can reciprocate and pivot between a transfer position and a rearward pivot position on a plugging tool (12) around an axis (A), and simultaneously move along a bristle box (24) with an outer side (30) and a recess (38) in the outer side (30) to remove a bristle from the bristle box (24). ) is accommodated in the recess (38), wherein there is an ejection device (40), which is formed so that during the separation process, the ejection device (40) reduces the cross-section of the recess (38) and pushes the bristles (26) from the recess (38) back into the bristle box (24) along the following path, in which the recess (38) moves along the open side (28) of the bristle box (24). A hair bundle separator as described in claim 1, wherein the pushing device (40) is formed so that the pushing device (40) always reduces the cross-section of the recess (38) during forward pivoting. A hair bundle separator as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the cross-section continuously decreases during the pivoting period. A hair bundle separator as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the ejection device (40) has a movable part fixed to the hair bundle picker (20), and the part can be partially moved to the recess (38). A hair bundle separator as described in claim 4, wherein the movable part is moved by a driver remote from the hair bundle picker (20). A hair bundle separator as described in claim 5, wherein the driver includes a stationary or driven curved path (56), a driving member (54) coupled to the movable part moves along the curved path (56), wherein the curved path (56) is formed such that the movable part partially closes the recess (38) on the hair bundle picker (20) during forward pivoting. A hair bundle separator as described in claim 4, wherein the movable part is a pivot rod (62) or a plunger (50). A bristle separator as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the ejection device (40) is a stationary deflector (42), which, in a top view of the bristle picker (20), increasingly overlaps with the recess (38) during forward pivoting in the area of the open side (28) of the bristle box (24). A bristle separator as described in claim 8, wherein the deflector (42) has a convexly curved deflector surface (44), the bristles (26) in the recess (38) move against the deflector surface (44) during pivoting, and the deflector surface (44) extends obliquely into the movement path of the bristles (26) in the recess (38). A hair bundle separator as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the ejection device (40) is formed so that the recess (38) gradually opens during the backward pivoting. A hair tuft separator as described in claim 10, wherein the ejection device (40) is formed so that: during the rearward pivoting period, the recess (38) is initially at least partially open and is fully open in the rearward pivoting position. A method for separating bristles for a brush plugging tool, in particular using a bristle separator (20) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the following steps: Providing a bristle picker (20) which can reciprocate and pivot about an axis (A) between a transfer position and a backward pivot position on a plugging tool (12), and simultaneously moving along a bristle box (24) with an outer side (30) and a recess (38) present in the outer side (30), During the backward pivoting, filling the recess (38) with bristles (26) from the bristle box (24), and Pushing the bristles (26) from the recess (38) back into the bristle box (24) during the separation process. A method as described in claim 12, wherein the recess (38) is fully open during the rearward pivoting. A method as described in claim 12 or 13, wherein, during the separation process, the cross-section of the recess (38) is reduced by at least 10%, preferably at least 15%. A method as described in claim 12 or 13, wherein, during the forward pivoting, the cross-section of the recess (38) remains constant after leaving the open side (28). A method as described in claim 12 or 13, wherein the bristles are pushed back into the bristle box when the bristle picker (20) pivots forward.