US3479091A - Brush blank feeding apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 18, 1969 H, J. HAZELTON BRUSH BLANK FEEDING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 15, 1967 Jerald 15 961 227 By: M zlmi M Nov. 18,1969 H. J. HAZELTON 3,479,09

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United States Patent 3,479,091 BRUSH BLANK FEEDING APPARATUS Harold J. Hazelton, Batavia, Ill., assignor to Carlson Tool & Machine Co., a corporation of Illinois Filed Mar. 15, 1967, Ser. No. 623,373 Int. Cl. A46b 3/0 8; B65g 47/04, 11/20 US. Cl. 300-3 18 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A brushmaking machine wherein brush blanks are successively fed to fabricating stations between the jaws of a chain-like conveyor. The brush blanks are normally loosely gripped except at the fabricating stations where members move from a retracted position to embrace the brush blanks and positively hold them in registration at the fabricating stations. Also, an improvement in the brush blank feeding means wherein the opposite ends of the brush blanks are held in stacked array in channels,

one of which follows a more tortuous path than the other for absorbing dimensional differences in the different ends of the brush blanks.

This invention relates to brushmaking machines and more particularly to an improvement in the apparatus for feeding brushes to the fabricating stations of a brushmaking machine.

This application is an improvement in the structure disclosed in the J. I. Carlson Patent No. 2,689,152, issued Sept. 14, 1954 and assigned to the assignee of this invention. The said Carlson patent discloses a brushmaking machine for making small brushes, such as toothbrushes, wherein brush blanks are fed onto a conveyor means and carried along the conveyor under fabricating devices such as a driller and tufter. In the Carlson patent, the conveyor is provided with generally transversely extending jaws which open where the conveyor means is wrapped around a drive sprocket and then come together or close as the conveyor means assumes a generally linear path of travel. Brush blanks are fed onto the conveyor at the point where the jaws are relatively open. The jaws are spaced a distance from each other which is intended to exactly correspond to the transverse dimension of the brush and thus when the conveyor assumes it linear path of travel and the jaws close, the brush is tightly gripped between the jaws.

Intermittent advance of the conveyor permits the brush blanks to first be stationed for an interval of time under a drilling mechanism wherein appropriate holes are drilled therein and subsequently positioned under a tufting mechanism for an interval of time wherein brush bristles are stuffed into the previously bored holes. One problem that was encountered utilizing this apparatus was that the blocks which formed the jaws between which the brush blank was gripped could be formed to within a tolerance of .020 inch. If the jaws were formed oversize, the multiplication of the number of undersize spaces for the size of brush blanks to be gripped therebetween created a seriou "binding in the conveyor which hampered the proper operation thereof and could tend to hold the brush blanks in a slightly canted position so that the driled holes and tufted material were not properly oriented in the brush blank. Conversely, where the jaws were formed so that the space was slightly enlarged relative to the brush blank, the blank could slightly wander or drift within its predetermined position so as to again cause drilling and tufting in a disoriented fashion relative to the blank.

Therefore this invention is directed to an improvement in such a conveyor for a toothbrush machine as disclosed in the aforementioned Carlson patent, which improvement provides improved structure for holding a toothbrush on the conveyor as the conveyor is advanced through a path of travel and improved structure for holding the toothbrush blank in a position of registration at a fabricating station during its path of travel. In addition, this invention is directed to an improved means for feeding a supplyof toothbrush blanks to the conveyor of a brushmaking machine.

It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide an improvement in the conveyor means for aldyancing toothbrush blanks through a brushmaking mac me. It is another object of this invention to provide an improvement in the conveyor apparatus for holding toothbrush blanks in registration at fabricating stations of a brushmaking machine.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved means for feeding toothbrush blanks to means for advancing the toothbrush blanks to the several fabricating stations of a brushmaking machine.

Other objects, features and advantage of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, of the preferred embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of the conveyor apparatus and related mechanism of a toothbrush making machine similar to that disclosed in the Carlson Patent No. 2,689,152, issued Sept. 14, 1954, and assigned to the assignee of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary front elevational View thereof;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary rear elevational view thereof;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary enlarged section view of a portion of the brush blank feeding means taken generally along the line 4-4 of FIGURE 1 and showing the manner in which the blanks are supplied to the conveyor apparatus;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary enlarged view of portions of the conveyor apparatus of this invention;

FIGURE 6 is a section view taken along the line 6-6 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 7 is a section view taken along the lIne 7-7 of FIGURE 6.

The conveyor means 10 of this invention is mounted to the frame of the brushmaking machine for movement in a plurality of directions by structure similar to that shown in the aforementioned Carlson Patent No. 2,689,152 and the mechanism for driving the conveyor means is similar to that disclosed in the aforementioned Carlson patent, such that the mounting structure and drive train structure will not be described in detail herein, reference being had to the state of the art.

The function of conveyor means 10' is to carry and present brush blanks 12 received from brush blank feed means 14 to fabricating means such as drilling means 16 and tufting means 18, also secured to the frame of the brushmaking machine, so that the raw brush blank 14 may be appropriately drilled and tufted to produce a finished brush product. Hole finder means 19, including template 19a and post 1% are generally provided to assist in registration of the fabricating means.

Conveyor means 1% includes a continuous belt 20 wrapped around pulleys 22 mounted on shafts 24, one of which may be connected to means for intermittently advancing the belt 20 as shown and described in the aforementioned Carlson patent. The surface of the conveyor is provided with blocks 26 and 28 spaced apart along the width and the length of the belts. Each block 26 and 28 has canted inner and outer surfaces 26a-28a and 26b-2Sb,

opposed pairs of which define jaw means for loosely grasping brush blanks and carrying the same along the path of movement of the conveyor belt. Between the jaw means, the surfaces 26a, 26b and 28a, 28b define a plurality of toothbrush blank receiving spaces 30 extend relative to the length and width of the belt. The dimension of the spaces 30 is slightly greater than the width of the brush blanks, so that the blanks are loosely confined therebetween and are thereby given a preliminary registration or orientation relative to subsequently encountered fabrication stations.

The brush blank feed means includes a pair of uprigh members 32 and 34 which are mounted vertically adjacent one end of the conveyor and tied together as a unit by horizontal brace member 36 secured at the rear of the two upright members. Each upright member 32 and 34' is provided with generally vertical channel means 38 and 40, respectively, for receiving portions of a brush blank and holding them in stacked array so that they may be dispensed onto the conveyor in the brush blank receiving spaces 30 to be carried along to the subsequent fabrication stations.

Channels 38 and 40 have a different length between generally parallel, horizontal planes at the top and bottom of the upright members 32 and 34. Both of these channels are generally sinuous or tortuous, but one such channel, such as 40, is more tortuous than the other and therefore the distance between the aforesaid two imaginary horizontal planes traversed in channel 40 is greater than that in channel 38. Each channel has a generally vertical portion such as 38a and 40a which gently progresses into a curved portion such as 38b and 40b and which terminates in a vertical portion 380 and 400, respectively, generally parallel to the first vertical portion. Rounded portion 40b of channel 40 is formed on a sharper radiu than portion 38b of channel 38 so that the vertical section 400 is of greater extent than that vertical section 380 of channel 38. This structure affords a greater length to channel 40 than is provided in channel 38, thereby allowing channel 40 to compensate for the increased dimension in the ends 12b of the brush blanks supported in that channel as compared to the relative thinness of the ends 12a of the brush blanks held in channel 38.

It can be readily appreciated that the increased width of the ends 14b of the brush blanksmay present a feeding problem in that the number of brush blanks which could be held in stacked array would be severely limited due to this dimensional difference between the two ends. The aforedescribed bends in the channels 38 and 40 and the difference in the angular orientation of the channel bends provides a means for accommodating this dimensional difference and absorbing the same at a point intermediate the path of travel of the brush blanks through the brush feeding means.

It is intended that the brush blanks would first be stacked in the channels in a sidewise orientation and thus the bend in the channels would turn the brush blanks so that they would be positioned in a generally flat orientation with the tops facing upwardly, properly presented for deposit upon the conveyor and subsequent presentation in the fabrication station.

Means 42 are provided for normally urging the blanks downwardly into the channels 38 and 40 and onto the conveyor belt 20. This means includes a support member 44 fastened to one of the upright members 32 and supporting a track means or rod 46 on which a weight means 48 is slidably mounted. Weight means 48 is provided with a first outwardly extending finger 50a which is positioned to normally overhang and bear down against a brush blank stacked in the channels of the upright member and a second finger 50b which projects generally outwardly from the brush blank feed means in a position for facile manipulation by machine operators to allow raising and lowering the weight as more brush blanks are supplied to the feed means 14.

Means 52 are further provided for permitting intermittent advance of the brush blanks in the feed means 14. In particular, a plunger member 54 has a portion slidably received in an upright slot 56 in upright member 32, slot 56 intersecting the vertical portion 38c of channel 38. The plunger further is provided with a shoulder or enlarged portion 58 exteriorly of channel 32 with a spring 60 positioned thereabove and bearing against the support member 62 to normally urge the plunger downwardly in slot 56 against the ends 14a of brush blanks in channel 38.

A finger member -64 is positioned on the underside of shoulder 58 or the side opposite spring 60. The finger member 64 in turn is connected to a lever member 66, the connection being provided with adjustment screw means 67 for effecting an adjustment in the positioning of plunger 54. Lever 66 in turn is in abutting relationship with one of the crank arms 68 pivoted at 70 in a portion of the conveyor housing to be later described. Crank 68 is hooked to one end of a spring 72, the other end of each spring being hooked at 73 to the housing to which the crank is pivoted, thereby holding the crank normally in a retracted position and thereby permitting the plunger to be normally held in an extended position, blocking channel portion 38c and preventing gravitational advance of brush blanks. When crank 68 at the drilling station is moved, lever 66 moves finger 64 which retracts plunger 56 from channel 38, thereby permitting gravitational advance of a brush blank.

The rear of the conveyor housing includes a conveyor plate 78 which is mounted in a plane generally parallel to the plane of conveyor belt movement and is provided with a pair of spaced notches 80 opening generally in the direction of brush blank receiving spaces 30. Each notch 80 is provided with a configuration for receiving the forward end 12a of a brush blank. In the preferred embodiment, the notch has two sides 80a and 80b generally at right angles to each other and a third oblique side 80c generally at an angle parallel to the angular disposition of spaces 30. These notches 80 are each generally positioned under one of the fabricating stations and are part of a means for accurately registering the brush blanks at the fabricating stations. A hold down bar 82 is mounted above plate 78 and is also provided with a notch 84 generally in vertical orientation with one of the notches 80. An end portion of crank arm 68 extends into each opening and provides a means for normally urging a brush blank outwardly from the notches. As previously mentioned, the function of the crank arm 68 located under the drilling head is also to provide a means for releasing plunger 54.

When the conveyor is advanced so that some of the spaces 30 are in alignment with the notches 80, a space 30 will also be directly under the channel portions 38c and 400 so that a brush blank may be deposited in space 30. As the conveyor is again advanced, blocks 26 and 28 will pass under portions 380 and 400 thereby effectively retaining brush blanks in the brush feed means 14.

The front portion of the conveyor housing is provided with a mounting bar 88 which extends along the front below the upper plane of travel of the belt 20. Bar 88 supports a pair of spaced hinge means 90 including lower hinge member 90a and upper hinge member 90b which is pivoted to lower hinge member by pivotal connection 92 for pivotally mounting a lift plate 94 relative to the conveyor housing. Lift plate 94 is attached to the upper hinge members 90b by suitable fastening means and is normally disposed in a plane generally parallel to, and partially overhanging, conveyor belt 20. Springs 96 extend from upper hinge members 90b to a fastening at 98 to the frame so as to normally urge the lift plate 94 to pivot upwardly relative to the frame and the conveyor belt.

A pair of slide casing members 100 are secured to the underside of plate 94 by fasteners 102. These slide casing members are canted relative to the length and width of plate 94. Each slide member 100 is provided with a dovetail groove 104 which is generally oriented in the same angular disposition as the brush blank receiving spaces 30 at each fabricating station for slidably supporting a sliding clamp member or embracing member 106.

Each clamp member 106 has a forward end portion 108 which mates with a portion of the brush blank to be worked upon, extending forwardly and depending below the remainder of the body of each clamp member 106, generally into the spaces 30 wherein the brush blanks are held. In particular, the forward end has a generally U-shaped mouth portion 110, including two outwardly extending opposed brush blank engaging pads 112 which may engage opposite sides of the brush blank in the brush blank receiving channel 30. An L-shaped arm 114 is secured at the top of plate 94 by suitable fastening means 116 and a spring 118 is connected to the rear of sliding clamp member 106 and to the arm 114 to normally hold the clamp member in a retracted position relative to the notches 80.

Means 120 are provided for raising and lowering the plate 94 to permit the forward ends 108 of clamp members 106 to engage and disengage portions or brush blanks in spaces 30. Included in this means is a power source which may be a cylinder or solenoid switch 122 having a linearly movable shaft 124 connected to a bar or arm 126 which is secured to the top of plate 94 by fastening means 128. As the shaft 124 retracts in solenoid 122 responsive to an appropriate signal, this will permit the springs 96 to pivot lift plate 94 about the pivotal attachment 92 of upper hinge member 90b to lower hinge member 90a, thereby swinging the forward end portions 108 of sliding clamps 106 upwardly and out of the brush blank receiving spaces 30 within the conveyor 20. Conversely, .as the shaft 124 is extended, the plate 94 is urged downwardly or towards a generally horizontal plane to position the forward end portions 108 into the brush blank receiving spaces 30 of the conveyor belt. In this fashion, the pads 112 may be brought into and out of engagement with portions of brush blanks being conveyed through the conveyor.

Means 130 are provided for moving the slide clamp member 106 linearly in the dove-tail groove 104 of member 100 to provide a means, in cooperation with notches 80, for properly registering and orienting a brush blank relative to its fabricating station so that the suitable fabricating step may be performed thereon. Included in this means is a piston and cylinder device 132 secured to a mounting block 134 on mounting plate 135. Piston and cylinder device 132 is provided with the usual linearly extensible and retractable piston rod 136 which bears a push block 138 at its forward end. Push block 138 is secured by fastening means 140 to push bar 142. The opposite ends of push bar 142 are provided with forwardly extending push pads 144 which are in a position to abut posts 146 projecting generally vertically through slots 148a in plate 94 and slots 1481) in slide casings 100. The posts in turn are held secured relative to slide clamp members 106 by fastening members 150. Thus as each post 146 is moved relative to slots 148a and 148b, responsive to linear movement imparted to bar 142 by piston rod 136, clamp member 106 will reciprocate in its canted slidable mounting in member 100.

Push bar 142 is supported in support means 152 including spaced lower support blocks 154 secured to mounting plate 135 and bearing a first support arm 156 and a second vertically spaced support arm 158, the space 159 between these two arms being of greater dimension than the thickness of bar 142 to permit slight relative vertical movement of bar 142 responsive to the movement imparted to plate 94.

It can be readily seen that when the appropriate timed signal is supplied to solenoid means 122 and piston and cylinder device 132 in conjunction with the intermittent advance of conveyor belt 20, the clamp member 106 may be moved downwardly and forwardly so as to grasp a portion of a brush blank in the area of the two fabricating stations and to push the brush blank forwardly into the notches 80. Even though the spaces 30 between the jaw means of the conveyor belt are slightly larger than the brush blanks so that the brush blanks are not positively oriented therein, the grasping of the brush blanks by the mouth portion 110 of clamp member 106 and forcing of the blanks into notches (which form a stop means to cooperate pads 112 of clamp member 106) properly orients and registers the blanks at each fabricating station so that the blanks may be properly drilled and tufted. During this time, crank arm 68 at the drilling station (16) causes lever 66 to move finger 64 upwardly, retracting plunger 56 and permitting a brush blank to enter vertical channel portions 38d and 40c to replace a blank dropped in a space 30. Once this operation has terminated, the clamp member 106 is retracted and lifted responsive to motion imparted to plate 94 and push bar 142. Crank arms 68 push the fabricated brush blanks out of notches 80, the conveyor is intermittently advanced and the cycle is repeated with the push bar 106 again being lowered and extended forwardly to force the next brush blank into the notches 80 and into proper registration for the subsequent fabricating step.

The improvement of this invention provides a means for accurately and orienting a brush blank at a fabricating station, the only time when accurate orientation is necessary, which means avoids the difiiculty encountered in previous apparatuses of this type wherein the brush blanks were held in a proper orientation throughout their path of travel through the toothbrush machine. Little alteration in the basic structure of the aforementioned Carlson patent is necessary; and consequently, unnecessary repetition of details relating to cyclic operation, intermittent advance, and provision for suitable means establishing periodic signals has been omitted. In addition, the novel brush feeding means of this invention provides a means for holding brush blanks of different terminal dimensions in stacked array in such a fashion as to accommodate and partially absorb the dimensional differences intermediate the stacked array itself.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, as some modifications may be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In a brushmaking machine having a frame, a feeding station on said frame, fabricating stations on said frame, and driven conveyor means for receiving brush blanks from the feeding station and carrying brush blanks between said fabricating stations, the improvement which comprises: means on said conveyor for loosely gripping brush blanks received from said feeding station to hold the same loosely gripped generally throughout the path of travel of the conveyor in preliminary orientation against substantial movement relative to the c nveyor; and separate means on said frame adjacent said fabricating stations intermittently engageable with said brush blanks for positively registering said brush blanks for fabricating operations at said fabricating stations.

2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein the means for loosely gripping the brush blanks includes jaw means generally spaced apart on the conveyor a distance slightly greater than the transverse dimension of a brush blank to be gripped therebetween.

3. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said means for positive registering of said brush blanks includes an embracing member having a portion generally mating with a portion of the brush blank.

4. The improvement of claim 3 wherein the embracing member is movable between a first retracted position out of engagement with the brush blank and a second position positively grasping the brush blank and positioning the same in registration at the fabricating stations.

5. The improvement of claim 4 wherein the means for registering the brush blanks further includes a member connected to the frame adjacent the conveyor and generally below the fabricating stations, said member having stop portions for terminating the movement of the brush blanks at the second position responsive to movement of the embracing member.

6. The improvement of claim 5 including means normally urging the brush blanks out of registration position at the fabricating stations.

7. The improvement of claim 6 including means responsive to registration of a brush blank at the fabricating station for actuating the brush feeding means.

8. The improvement of claim 7 wherein said means for actuating the brush feeding means is constructed and arranged to operate when said embracing member is in said second position holding said brush blank in registration at the fabricating station.

9. The improvement of claim 8 wherein said brush feeding means includes track means constructed and arranged to guide different portions of the brush blanks through different paths of travel as the brush blanks are held in stacked array therein.

10. In a brushmaking machine having a frame, a feeding station on said frame, fabricating stations on said frame and conveyor means for carrying brush blanks between the fabricating stations, the improvement which comprises: jaw means on said conveyor having brush blank receiving spaces for loosely gripping brush blanks received from the feeding station to generally hold the same in preliminary orientation against substantial movement relative to the conveyor; recessed members adjacent each fabricating station and adjacent said conveyor generally oriented for alignment with brush blanks held in said jaw means; and a clamp member adjacent each fabricating station having portions engageable with said brush blanks for positively holding the blanks against movement in the direction of conveyor travel, said clamp member mounted for movement between a first retracted position and a second position wherein said brush blank is grasped by said clamp member and held in registration relative to said fabricating stations.

11. The improvement of claim 10 wherein said clamp members are movable to a third position wherein brush blanks are moved into fabricating positions in said notches, said notches forming a stop means limiting the forward movement of said brush blanks.

12. The improvement of claim 11 wherein said feeding station includes a pair of spaced members each having a channel for receiving one end of a toothbrush blank, one of said channels following a more tortuous path than the other channel for absorbing dimensional differences in an enlarged end of the brush blanks; plunger means in one of said members movable between a position blocking the channel of said member and a retracted position unblocking said channel, said plunger means being connected to a lever extending into said notches thereby actuable responsive to movement of a brush blank into said notch to permit intermittent advancement of brush blanks in said channels.

13. In a brushmaking machine, having a frame, fabricating means secured to said frame, and conveyor means for carrying brush blanks between said fabricating means, the improvement which comprises: a brush feeding means secured to the frame adjacent said conveyor for holding and depositing brush blanks thereon, said brush feeding means constructed and arranged to stack and dispense brush blanks having one end of an enlarged configuration relative to the other end; said brush feeding means including members having spaced channels for receiving and guiding opposite ends of different dimensions of a brush blank, each channel having a generally common terminal portion with one of said channels having a greater length in the direction of feed of the brush blanks between its terminal portion and its infeed portion than the corresponding length of the other channel.

14. The brush feeding means of claim 13 wherein said one channel follows a tortuous path relative to the other channel.

15. The brush feeding means of claim 14 wherein the other channel also follows a tortuous path which is less severe than said first channel.

16. The brush feeding means of claim 15 wherein the orientation of the brush blank is changed in the path of travel through the channels.

17. The brush feeding means of claim 16 including plunger means normally held in an inoperative position and intermittently operable to permit sequential advance of brush blanks responsive to registration of brush blanks at the fabricating stations.

18. The improvement of claim 17 wherein said plunger means is movable between a first position blocking one of said channels and a second retracted position relative to said channels.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 724,231 3/ 1903 Abbey 3003 1,899,694 2/1933 Jobst 3001l 2,689,152 9/1954 Carlson 300-3 3,279,858 10/1966 Parker 30011 3,332,723 7/1967 Miles 3003 3,298,491 1/1967 Quest 19343 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,191,333 4/1965 Germany. 1,210,408 2/ 1966 Germany.

WAYNE A. MORSE, JR., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

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