US2893783A - Automatic brush-filling machine - Google Patents

Description

July 7,1959 J. P. P. MARTIN AUTOMATIC BRUSH-FILLING MACHINE 5' Sheet -Sheet 1 Filed July 18, 1955 Nvh July 7, 1959 J. P. P. MARTIN AUTOMATIC BRUSH-FILLING MACHINE s SheetsSheet 2 Filed July 18, 1955 1 w mu July 7, 1959 J. P. P MARTIN 2,893,783

AUTOMATIC BRUSH-FILLING MACHINE Filed July 18, 1955' 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 July 7; 1959 Filed July 18, 1955 r J. P. P. MARTIN AUTOMATIC BRUSH-FILLING momma 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 July 7, 1959 J. P. P. MARTIN 2,893,783

AUTOMATIC BRUSH-FILLING MACHINE Unite States Patent I AUTDMATIC BRUSH-F ILLIN G MACHINE Jean P. P. Martin, Beauvais, Olse, France, assignor to La Brosse & J. Dupont Rennis (Socit Anonyme), Paris, France, a French company Application July 18, 1955, Serial No. 522,645 Claims priority, application France July 24, 19 54 8 Claims. (Cl. 300-9) In my patent application Serial No. 458,630 filed September 27, 1954, I have described an automatic machine for filling brush-heads, which utilises, for forming the hanks, a continuous layer of synthetic fibres which unwinds from a bobbin and which is inserted laterally into the filling device in order to form the hanks, which are cut-off directly from the layer at the length required for the formation of the tufts, the lengths of the hanks being varied, depending on the height of the tufts which they are to form in the head of the brush.

The feeding head of the machine described 'in the patent application above referred to comprises a drum on which the layer forms one dead turn, and two clamping jaws which enable the layer to be held stationary during the cutting-elf of a hank, the length of the hank being automatically determined in accordance with the outline of the brush to be manufactured, by suitable means causing the driving motor of the layer of fibres to be rotated by the amount which corresponds to the exactdesired length of the hank.

The present invention relates to a head for feeding the layer of fibres into a filling device of the type, described in the above mentioned application, this head being of more simple construction than that described in the said patent application, and in which the control of the length of the hanks may be effected in an exact manner by means of cams, withoutrisk of errors due to recoil for rebounding, in spite of the high working speeds of the machine.

In accordance with the invention, the feeding head includes two pairs of clamping jaws arranged so as to be able individually to grip the layer of fibres in order to feed it by a predetermined length into the feed channel of the filling device, while the latter is maintained at its top position, one of these pairs 'of jaws, herein called the fixed jaws, being inactive during the lgreater part of the period comprised between the feeding of two successive hanks, the other jaws, herein called the moving jaws, being adapted to make a to-and-fro movement during each of these periods, in a direction parallel to the axis of the layer, the position of each of these jaws being determined at the beginning of each of the said periods by means of two cams, the individual clamping of the two pairs of jaws being effected by electro-dynamic members, whilst a further electro-dynamic member is provided to carry out the to-and-fro movementof the moving jaws, a shearing knife being arranged to co-operate with the moving portion of the filling device so as to cut-01f each hank from the layer of fibres at the beginning of each filling operation. I

In one preferred form-of embodiment of the invention, the two pairs of jaws are arranged to slide in the same guide, and they are provided with extensions which come into contact so as to limit the travel of the moving jaws in the forward direction, the "cam which controls the 'p'osition of the fixed jaws being arranged so as tofix positively the position of the fixed jaws in this direction.

- The electro-dynamic members usedror controlling the 2 gripping action of the jaws are preferably of the movingcoil type acting in a radial annular magnetic field, and they comprise a pivoted lever rotating about the axis of the moving coil which actuates the jaws through the medium of a ball arranged to slide on the said lever.

The following description with reference to the attached drawings (which are given by way of example only and not in any sense by way of limitation) will make it quite clear how the invention may becarried into eifect. 'In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is an elevation view of the upper part of the machine, fitted with a filling device of known type and with a feeding head in accordance with the present invention, the second Working post being occupied by an automatic drilling device for the brush handles.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal cross-section of the feeding head taken along the line 11-11 of Fig. 3.

'Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view, showing the arrangement of the electro-dynamic members which actuate the gripping jaws.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical cross-section passing through the axis of the el'ectro-dynamic member which is utilised for displacing the moving jaws.

Fig. 5 is an axial cross-section of an electro-dynamic member for effecting the gripping action of the jaws, showing the manner in which it is arranged to co-operate with these jaws.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal cross-section, taken along the line VI-VI of Fig. l, of the moving portion of the filling device which carries the guillotine knife co-operating with the "plate of the fixed jaws to cut-01f the hanks from the "continuous layer of fibres.

In the embodiment of this invention shown in Fig. l, the machine frame is provided with a table 1 carrying the two trolleys 2 and 3 which are arranged to move in -directions at right angles to each other and on which are fixed the work-carriers 16. Above the table, the frame has an upper cross-member 401 on to which are fixed, above each of the work-carriers 16, respectively an automatic drilling device 450 of any particular type and a filling device directly actuated by an electro-dynamic member 405 of the type described in the patent application above referred to. The main motor 162 of the machine is also mounted on the upper, cross-member 401 and is arranged to drive through a pulley 451 and a belt 452, the main shaft 161 which is mounted in bearings (not shown) provided in a casing 453 which contains the control mechanism of the crank-arm 13 of the filling tongue, the latter being adapted to make a to-and-fr'o movement in the "moving portion 62 of the filling device.

The feeding head, which is indicated as a whole at 454, is mounted on a cradle 2% arranged to slide-on the table 1. Itsbase-plate 455 moves on slides 456 rigidly fixed to the cradle 26 and it is guided along the slides by guidi'ng members 457. The plate 455whic h carries the feeding head 454 and the cams which control the jaws, and which will be described later, may thus be displaced at right angles to the plane of the drawing for a purpose which will be explainedlater.

On the base-plate 455, at the left-hand side of Fig. 2, is fixed a block 458 in which areslidingly mounted the rear stop member 459, the moving jaws 460 and the fixed jaws 461 simultaneously constituting the front stop member. These three members are bored through with a channel which permits the layer of fibres 11 to pass, the layer being drawn by the two sets of jaws from the right-hand side towards the left-hand side of Fig. 2. Aligned with the bores of the jaws and in the opposite direction with respect to the filling device, the base-plate 455 is provided with a journal bearing 462 in which pivots a shaft 463 carrying at its lower portion a worm wheel 464 in mesh with a worm (not shownon 'thedrawin'gs keyed on the shaft 465 rotating in bearings provided in the cradle 20. The shaft 465 is driven by means of universal joints 466, 467 and the telescopic shaft 468 (see Fig. 1) by a chain wheel 469 rotatably mounted on the frame of the machine, the wheel itself being driven by the chain 470 and a chain wheel 471 keyed on the main shaft 161. At its upper extremity, the shaft 463 carries two cams 472 and 473 control-ling the displacement of the stop members co-operating with the moving jaws. The cam 472, controlling the rear stop member 459, is of the kind having an external peripheral camming surface, whilst the cam 473 actuating the front stop member is of the type having an internal camming surface. In the block 458 of the feeding head and under the rear stop 459 is mounted a slider 474 subjected to the action of a spring 475 urging said slider axially in the right-hand direction for applying a roller 4-76, pivotally mounted at its extremity, against the external periphery of cam 472. This slider 474 is provided with a vertical hole in which is engaged a catch 477 extending downwards from the lower part of the stop member 459, the block 458 being of course provided with the necessary slots for permitting the stop member 459 to move to the maximum extent imposed by the cam 472. The fixed jaws 461 play the part of a front stop member; they are fixed in a similar manner by a stud 478 to a second slider 47 9 arranged to move parallel to the jaws 460, 461 and to the stop member 459 in the block 458.

At its right-hand extremity in Fig. 2, the slider 479 is formed as a hook carrying the roller 480 which is ap plied against the internal working surface of the cam 473. A spring 481 bearing against a heel 482 rigidly fixed to the slider 479 provides a permanent contact between the roller 480 and the cam 473. Each of the two pairs of jaws has a member provided with a lateral extension 460a and 461a, these extensions coming into contact when the moving jaws 460 are displaced towards the front, the extension 461a of the fixed jaws 461 thus serving as a stop member for the moving jaws in that direction.

The movement of the moving jaws 460 is controlled by the following mechanism: under the base-plate 455 (see Fig. 4) is fixed an electro-dynamic member 483 formed by a hollow core 484 of iron or mild steel extending along the axis of a yoke 485 having the shape of a bell in order to provide an annular air-gap 487 therebetween. n the core is wound an exciting coil 488 and in the air-gap 487 a moving actuating coil 489 is arranged to move axially, the coil having a continuous current passed through it. The insulating material spool of the moving coil 489 is secured at its centre to a rod 490 sliding axially in the hollow core 484, said rod being provided at its upper extremity with a forked member 491. A bell crank lever 492 pivotally-mounted about a fixed axis 493 is pivoted at one of its ends to the fork 491, its other extremity 492a being fork-shaped and engaged on a thimble 494 rotating on a spigot 495 which is rigidly secured to the moving jaws 460 and moving in a slideway 496 formed in the block 458 parallelly to the slot 497 in which the upper ends of the jaws 460 and 461 are adapted to move. When the two coils 488 and 489 are simultaneously energised by direct current, the moving coil 489 takes up one of its extreme positions in the annnular magnetic field created in the air-gap 487 by the electromagnet 484, 485, so that the moving jaws 460 are applied through the medium of the rod 490 and the bell crank lever 492 against the rear stop member 459, or against the front fixed jaws 461, depending on the direc tion of the current passing through the moving coil 489, the direction of the current in the coil 488 being assumed to be fixed, and these moving jaws are held applied against said stop of said fixed jaws by the electro-dynamic force acting on the moving coil. This force, which may be very high, operates in the same direction as the springs 475 or 481, depending on the case, for maintaining the rollers 476 and 480 applied against their respective cams, and this avoids any errors of positioning which might be plate-510 (see Figs. 2 and 6) made of hard-tempered due to the occasional rebound of the rollers on the cams in a machine running at high speed.

The two pairs of jaws 460 and 461 are arranged and controlled in the same way; thus, one of these jaws will be described with reference to Fig. 5, and this description is equally applicable to the other pair. The body 460 of the jaws is formed with a longitudinal channel 22 leading through it, in which passes the continuous layer 11 of fibres. Above the body 460 is mounted a piston 498 provided at its lower part with a flat extension 499 sliding in the body 460 and closing the channel 22 when the piston 498 occupies its lower position. Springs 500 abutting on the under face of the piston 498 and located in suitable housings provided in the body 460, normally maintain the piston 498 in its upper position. The upper face of the piston 498 is provided with a hemi-spherical recess in which is housed a ball 501.

On the side of the block 458 of the feeding head, there is mounted, by any suitable means, an electro-dynamic control member 502 comprising a coil 503 arranged to move in a radial annular magnetic field, and in all respects similar to the electro-dynamic member 483 actuating the moving jaws, which has already been described with reference to Fig. 4. The hollow core of this member 502 has passing through it a rod 504 rigidly fixed to the coil 503, this rod being pivoted to the end of a straight lever 505 pivotally mounted between its extremities about an axis 506 carried by a forked member 507. The fork 507 is rigidly fixed on a plate 508 rotatory mounted on the base of the yoke of the electro-dynamic member 502 through a ball thrust-bearing 509.

The ball 501, which is housed in the recess on the upper part of the piston 498, is provided with a radial hole loosely accommodating the extremity of the lever 505. It will be clear that, when a current of a suitable direction is passed through the coil 503, this coil is displaced upwards, and this has the effect of causing the lever 505 to pivot in the direction moving the piston 498 downwards thus closing the jaws 460. When the latter are displaced by their control mechanism, the ball 501 moves the lever Whilst sliding along it and this lever turns about the axis Y-Y of the rod 504 carrying with it, through the medium of the fork 507, the plate 508 rolling on the bearing 509.

For cutting-off the banks from the layer of fibres 11, there has been provided a guillotine knife comprising a steel fitted with a dove-tail joint into the fixed jaws 461 so as to come exactly level with the front face of these jaws, said plate is pierced with a hole 22a forming an extension of the feed-channel 22. With this plate cooperates a moving shearing knife 511 (see Fig. 6) which is mounted on the moving part 62 of the filling device.

This knife 511 made of hard-tempered steel is shaped in the form of a U and is adjusted so as to slide laterally on the moving part under the action of springs 512 urging it against the plate 516; the knife is supported in the vertical direction by seating surfaces 513 milled in the moving portion 62 of the filling device. In the base of the U of the shearing knife a hole 514 is provided forming an extension of the feeding orifice 71 provided in the moving part of the filling device which, consequently is facing the hole 221: of the plate 510, when said filling device is in its upper position.

In order to actuate the electro-magnetic members operating the jaws, it is only necessary to reverse the direction of the direct current passing through their moving coils, and this can be easily effected by means of the series of circuits described with respect to Fig. 12 of the patent application already referred to; it is thus not necessary to give a detailed description thereof and it is sulfi- .cient to recall that each moving coil is associated with a disc provided with two holes, said disc rotating in front of a photo-electric cell, which thus produces two impulses per revolution, the phase of which is controlled :oy suitable locking of the disc so as to produce the required reversals of current at pre-determined moments. For further details, reference may be made to said former patent application.

It is necessary to specify that the worm actuating the 'worm wheel 464 is of the single thread type, that it makes one turn for each complete revolution of the main shaft 161 and that the worm wheel 464 has a ntnnber of teeth equal to the number of hanks to be inserted in one brush. It is thus necessary to change this worm wheel when the number of hanks to be inserted in one brush-head is changed, and consequently, the base plate 455 must be displaced with respect to the cradle 20, this movement is permitted by the slides 456, 457.

At the period preceding immediately the feeding of the layer of fibres into the filling device, the extensions 460a and 461a of the two pairs of jaws are spaced apart from each other by the length I (see Fig. 2) which is the length of a hank, the moving jaws 460 are in contact with the rear stop member 459, the position of which is determined by the cam 472, whilst the front jaws 461 have a position determined by thecam 473 such that the front face of the plate 510 is spaced apart from the axis of the filling device by a distance equal to The operation of the device described above is as follows: the layer of fibres 11 unwinds from the bobbin on which it is stored and passes first of all through the channel of the rear stop member 459, then into the two pairs of jaws 460 and 461, being supported between these latter by a length of elastic tube 515, which is preferably constituted by a spiral spring of thin wire, having spaced coils loosely mounted in bores provided in the two extensions 460a and 461a of the fixed and moving jaws and whose ends are secured in the bottom of said bores. Between two filling periods of the hanks, the end of the layer 11 comes exactly level with the plate 519 of the fixed jaws.

When the moving part 62 of the filling device is at its top position, the current is reversed in the coil 503 of the electro-dynamic member 502 actuating the moving jaws 460 so as to close these jaws, and then the same operation is carried out for the coil controlling the jaws 461 so as to open these jaws. When this has been done, the direction of the current is reversed in the coil 439 of the e'lectro-dynamic member 483 controlling the movement of the moving jaws 460 so that the latter are brought by the fork 492a and the thinrble 494 into contact with the fixed jaws 461. During this movement, the layer of fibres 11 which is gripped in the moving jaws 460 moves from right to left inFig. 2, passing through the open fixed jaws 461, and is fed into the feeding orifice 71 of the filling device by a length 1 equal to the distance originally separating the two jaws from each other. The direction of the current in the moving coil of the electrodynamic member controlling the fixed jaws 461 is then once more reversed in order to close said fixed jaws 461.

At this moment, the moving portion 62 of the filling device makes its downward travel; as soon as this happens, the base of the U-shaped part of the knife 511 sliding against the plate 510 of the fixed jaws 461, and which is driven by the moving portion of the filling device, cuts-off from the layer of fibres 11 the length l of fibers which has just been fed into the filling device by the feeding head and which is required to constitute the hank. By reversing the direction of the current in the corresponding moving coils, the moving jaws 460 are first opened and then are caused to move reaiwards to bring them up against the stop member 459. The initial positions of the various members have all been thus regained, and if the following hank to be filled has the same length as the previous one, the cycle of operations is continued without any change of the position of the fixed jaws 461 and of the stop member 459,

Assuming, on the contrary, that the length of the new hank to be inserted differs by Zn from that of the preceding one, it is necessary, in order that this hank shall remain centered in the filling device, that the distance between the axis of the filling head and the cutting plane of the knife shall be varied by A, that is to say the plate 510 of the fixed jaws is moved forward or backward byA depending on the sense of the variation. This movement is derived from the cam 473 through the medium of the slide 479. In order that the length of the hank may be varied by 2A, it is necessary that the travel of the moving jaws 460 shall also be varied by 2A, and since the fixed jaws 461 forming the front stop have already moved by A, the moving jaws must be moved forward or backward, depending on the case, by 2A+A=3A. This displacement is effected by the cam 472 which is driven, like the cam 473, by the worm wheel 464 which is angularly moved by one tooth for each revolution of the main shaft. The arrangement of the camming surfaces of the cams is such that the movement of the stops 459, 461 is carried of hanks of the same lengths. The profile of the cams will thus of course depend on the profile of the brushes to be filled, as well as on the number of tufts in the said brushes. Said cams are constructed in accordance with a well-known technique familiar to those skilled in the art and it is thus unnecessary to describe them here in detail.

During the manufacture of one type of brush, the feeding head remains stationary on the frame of the machine, its position being fixed once and for all at the moment where the machine is adjusted, owing to the impossible relative displacements between the frame and the cradle 24 [solid with the slides 456] on the one hand, and of the base-plate 455 of the feeding head 454 with respect to the cradle 20 on the other hand. The relative movement between the fixed filling device and the workcarriers 16 is obtained, in the case of the machine described in the above-mentioned patent application referred to at the beginning of the present description, by means of the two trolleys 2 and 3.

It will, of course, be undersood that modifications may be made to the feeding head which has just been described, without thereby departing from the scope of the present invention. In particular, although it has already bee indicated in the above description that the reversal of the current in the moving coils of the electro-dynamic control devices could be effected by means of a series of electronic circuits, these reversals may be effected by means of any other known device which enables them to be effected at precise and pro-determined moments of the operating cycle of the machine.

What I claim is:

1. A feeding head for a machine for filling brush-heads with continuous synthetic fibres arriving at the said head in the form of a layer and which feeds into the filling device of the said machine hanks of pre-determined lengths severed from the said layer, said feeding head comprising two pairs of gripping jaws through which the said layer of fibres is arranged to pass and which are disposed for clamping individually the layer by means of electrodynamic control members, one of the said pairs of jaws being fixed and the other pair movable during the major part of the period comprised between the filling of two successive hanks; a further electro-dynamic member being adapted so as to displace the movable pair of jaws once with a to-and-fro movement parallel to the direction of the continuous fibres layer during said period; a rear stop member for preventing further movement of the said movable pair of jaws during its displacement; a cam coupled to the rear stop so as to determine the position of the said rear stop; a second cam coupled to the said fixed pair of jaws in order to set the distance between this fixed pair of jaws and the axis of said filling device extending at right angles with respect to the direction of movement of said movable pair of jaws; and, to sever the hanks from the said layer of fibres, a shearing device comprising a plate carried by the said fixed jaws and a U- shaped shearing knife carried by said filling device arranged and adapted to move laterally on said filling device and urged against said plate for sliding thereon, said plate and said shearing knife having holes extending therethrough which are in registration during the feeding period of the fibre layer into said feeding device.

2. A feeding head according to claim 1, in which the two pairs of jaws are provided with extensions forming stops which come into contact so as to limit the travel of the said moving jaws during their displacement towards the front.

3. A feeding head according to claim 1, in which the second cam controlling the position of the said fixed jaws has an internal working face and is located behind the said jaws with respect to the filling device, and a sliding member rigidly fixed to the said fixed jaws has an extremity formed as a hook carrying a roller which is held in contact with the working face of the said second cam.

4. A feeding head according to claim 1, in which each of said pair of jaws comprises a body portion bored with a channel therethrough in which moves the said layer of fibres; a piston carrying a lower extension slidably mounted in the said body so as to close said channel at the end of its travel; and springs mounted between the body of the jaws and the piston for urging the extremity of the said extension away from the bottom of the said channel.

5. A feeding head according to claim 4, in which the upper face of the piston of each pair of jaws is provided 8 with a hemispherical socket in which is engaged a ball arranged to slide on a clamping lever for the jaws.

6. A feeding head according to claim 5, in which the electro-dynamic members for the actuating the jaws each comprise, an electro-magnet providing a radial annular magnetic field, a coil arranged for moving axially into said magnetic field and secured to one extremity of a rod sliding axially through the yoke of said electro-magnet, a rotating member carried on said yoke and adapted for rotating about the common axis of said rod and of said yoke, a clamping lever pivoted intermediate its extremities on a forked support, said support being secured on said rotating member adjacent the outer periphery thereof, said clamping lever being pivoted at the end of one of its arms to the extremity of said rod opposite to said coil, and said ball being loosely fitted on the other arm of said clamping lever for sliding thereon.

7. A feeding head according to claim 1, in which the said electro-dynamic member which effects the displace ment of the moving jaws comprises a coil axially-mounted in a radial annular magnetic field at the end of a rod coupled to the extremity of one of the arms of a cranked lever, the second arm of the said cranked lever terminating in a fork the limbs of which engage with a thimble pivotally-mounted on an axis fixed to the moving jaws.

8. A feeding head according to claim 1, in which the moving part of said filling device is provided, on a pair of parallel faces located at right angles with said plate car- :riedby the fixed jaws, with milled portions adapted for guiding in a sliding fit both limbs of said U-shaped shearing knife, and spring means interposed between said moving part of said filling device and said U-shaped shearing knife for applying the outer surface of the web of said U-shaped shearing knife against said plate.

No references cited.

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