WO2000011984A1

WO2000011984A1 - Method and apparatus for manufacturing of a brush ring roller and brush ring roller

Info

Publication number: WO2000011984A1
Application number: PCT/FI1999/000589
Authority: WO
Inventors: Reijo Kuivikko
Original assignee: Sajakorpi Oy
Priority date: 1998-08-31
Filing date: 1999-07-02
Publication date: 2000-03-09
Also published as: AU5040099A; FI981857A0; FI981857A; FI105648B

Abstract

Method for manufacturing of a brush ring roller, which brush ring roller is intended to be used as a brush, that rotates (w) round a longitudinal axis (s) in a brushing machine and, which is formed of several separate brush rings (H). Each brush ring consists furthermore of a brush part (1) and a ring shaped frame part (2), that is made of plastic based material and that connects the radially directed (r) bristles (1a) forming the brush part (1). The brush ring roller (HV) is being put together as an essentially uniform brush ring roller preform entirety (HV'), in which each brush ring (H) is being attached to stationarily, such as by attaching the following brush ring (H') by welding, gluing and/or correspondingly to the preceding brush ring (H'') of the brush ring roller preform (HV') essentially by its frame part (2). The invention relates also to an apparatus operating according to the method as well as a brush ring roller enabled by the invention.

Description

Method and apparatus for manufacturing of a brush ring roller and brush ring roller

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing of a brush ring roller, which brush ring roller is intended to be used as a brush, that rotates around a longitudinal axis in a brushing machine and, which is formed of several separate brush rings, whereby each brush ring consists furthermore of a brush part and a ring shaped frame part, that is made of plastic based material and that connects the radially directed bristles forming the brush part .

The type of brush rings described above are being used to form brushes in most heterogeneous sweeping lorries and brushing machines. The brush rings being used today comprise usually a ring shaped frame part or in other words, that has been bent to a circumferential shape, when viewed in a perpendicular direction in respect with the longitudinal direction of the bristles, and that is usually made of thin sheet iron, the thickness of which is e.g. about 1 mm and in which the bristles have been attached e.g. by means of suitable solidifying attachment mass. This type of brush rings are usually planar when viewed in the longitudinal direction of the bristles as shown in Fig. 1, being equipped with reference numbers, when the aim is to produce brushes of especially high quality.

This type of brush rings, that are partly made of metal, tend to brake particularly because of cold, which is due to stiffening of the bristles. In such an occasion they open in certain places the frame sheet iron supporting the brush part of the brush ring, in which case bigger or smaller parts of the brush are released from the brush ring. In addition to that, such a problem is involved with the type of brush rings described above having metal frames and plastic brushes, that reuse of the same is impossible in practice, because removing of the frame sheet iron from the bristles is not economically justified in practice. That is why the type of brush rings are removed as a whole to the dumping area, that is naturally a significant waste problem. Furthermore when the type of brush rings described above are being used, very strongly built supporting structures must be used, also, such as space rings made of metal, fastening rings etc., which is why a brush being collected of this kind of brush rings becomes disproportionately expensive.

The technique represented above describes brush structures equipped e.g. with bristles made of plastics, in respect with which significant development has been presented furthermore e.g. in Finnish Patent Applications No. 963433 and 964515. In the former there has been shown according to Figs 2 and 3, being equipped with reference numbers, first of all a brush ring in which the brush part and the frame part are entirely made of recycling and essentially the same manufacturing material, such as polyprophylene or like and, in which the frame part, that is essentially circumferential, when viewed in a perpendicular direction in respect with the longitudinal direction of the bristles of the brush ring and that is equipped with plane like back surfaces (2 ' ) , is arranged to project in at least two places (x) sidewards (s; si) from the ground level (o) of the same, preferably with a constant vawe form, reaching at distance ( ) .

In the latter for its part there has been presented a solution for manufacturing of a brush ring described above, which solution has first of all such a characteristic, that the brush part of the brush ring is manufactured of an essentially elongated brush part preform, whereby the bristles existing therein have been connected to each other by melting by the other ends of the same and, whereby furthermore during putting together of the brush ring, the plastic paste forming the frame part is being led bent in a ready finished state, such as through a U-shaped extrusion groove or correspondingly, by means of an extrusion device, such as an extruder or like, that feeds solid plastic mass on top of the melting edge of the brush part preform, that is as an advantageous embodiment being preheated in the same connection.

The technique described in the beginning corresponds also very well to manufacturing of a brush ring having bristles made of metal, in which connection however a traditional and an alternative way of manuf cturing in respect with the above is such, that the bristles are being bent at the center and bound together by means of a steel wire to be closed inside the frame sheet iron. A problem involved with totally metallic brush rings is particularly laboriousness of putting together of the same and due to the above expensiveness as well . Furthermore such a problem is involved with manufacturing of brush rings having bristles made of metal and, that have been bound to the frame part by suitable binding mass, that with nowadays technology when e.g. polyethen is being used as binding mass, the frame part of the brush ring must still be reinforced with a casing part made of sheet iron, inspite of which it is, however, still very usual, that separate bristles may get loose from the brush part, which is a very significant disadvantage of present brush rings having bristles made of metal .

At least those so called "heavy duty" brush ring roller structures of present technology are always based on rollers, that are compiled of separate brush rings, in which connection extra machine parts and laborious installation phases, that require special care and that must be carried out on site, are naturally needed for installation of the brush rings in place to the brush frame of the machine . Due to the above, the brush frame of the machine has to be constructed first of all in an appropriate manner and it must be equipped on the other hand with a relatively massive coupling assembly so, that the brush roller entirety formed of the brush rings may be kept together well enough during the whole use of the same.

It is the aim of the method according to this invention to achieve a decisive improvement in the problems presented above and thus to raise essentially the level of knowledge in the field. To achieve this aim the method according to the invention is primarily characterized in, that the brush ring roller is being put together as an essentially uniform brush ring roller preform entirety, in which each brush ring is being attached stationarily, such as by attaching the following brush ring by welding, gluing and/or correspondingly to the preceding brush ring of the brush ring roller preform essentially by its frame part.

As the most important advantages of the method, profitability, simplicity and reliability of the same may be mentioned, thanks to which also use of actual brushing machines gets significantly simpler, because the whole brush ring roller may at each time be installed in place as one entirety and the same way removed easily during its replacement. The simple principle of the method according to the invention may be carried out by using very traditional manufacturing technique, thanks to which manufacturing costs of the whole brush roller consisting of brush rings does not rise significantly either, because handling of a uniform brush roller on the other hand decreases packing or the like handling costs during manufacturing . As an advantageous embodiment of the method it is possible to exploit a far-automated erecting apparatus operating e.g. by magazine principle, in which case the feeding device has several feeding axles, whereby on each one of the same there is an amount of brush rings, that is needed in each case, and whereby brush rings are being unloaded from one of the same at a time furthermore to one or several erecting apparatuses, by means of which the actual brush ring preform is being put together advantageous- ly by adapting e.g. so called butt welding.

Advantageous embodiments of the method according to the invention are represented in the dependent claims related to the method.

The invention relates also to an apparatus functioning according to the principle of the method, that is being described in a greater detail in the preamble of the independent claim related to the same. The primary characteristics of the apparatus are represented in the characterizing part of the corresponding claim.

As the most important advantages of the apparatus according to the invention, profitability, simplicity and comfortability for the user of its principle, structure and use may be mentioned. Thanks to the apparatus according to the invention it is possible to produce brush ring roller entireties, that are easy to handle and easy to install in place, by exploiting e.g. relatively far-automated technique in order to minimize the amount of manual work phases while putting together of the brush ring roller during brush production. In this connection e.g. a far-automated erecting apparatus is being exploited, which comprises a feeding device operating on magazine principle, which is being unloaded furthermore to e.g. one erecting device, by means of which each brush ring preform to be compiled at each time may be put toget- her furthermore by means of joining and pressing means, that operate e.g. totally mechanically, advantageously adapting e.g. so called butt welding. Thanks to holding means, that are usually included in the brush rings, it is possible to control the brush rings in a totally controlled manner by using axles in the feeding and the erecting device, that are equipped with corresponding counterpart means, whereby particularly brush rings of e.g. so called zig-zag type may not in any phase e.g. twist unintentionally during composition.

Advantageous embodiments of the apparatus according the invention are represented in the dependent claims related to the apparatus.

The invention relates also to a brush ring roller enabled by the invention, that has been described in greater detail in the preamble of the independent claim related to the same. The primary characteristics of the brush ring roller are represented in the characterizing part of the claim in question.

The advantages of the brush ring roller according to the invention are first of all the simplicity of its structure, composition and use. The brush ring roller according to the invention may be put together of brush rings usual as such by means of devices exploiting very traditional technique, which results however to a totally surprising and superior end product by its comfortability for use. This is particularly thanks to that, that the traditional way of installing brush rings on site is totally avoided, because the brush ring roller may be installed in place and removed as an entirety instead of a traditional "puzzle" . The brush ring roller according to the invention is thanks to the above easy to handle also for the part of its manufacturing with a view particu- larly to its composition and packing. Thanks to the brush ring roller according to the invention it is possible to eliminate also equipment of the devices being used for brushing and to decrease the need for maintenance and service, when the brush ring roller stays in good operating condition longer than present- iy.

In the following description, the invention is illu- strated in greater detail with reference to the appended drawings, in which

Fig. 1 shows a sectional side view of usual planar brush rings and of a brush ring roller formed of the same,

Fig. 2 shows a sectional side view of brush rings of zig-zag type and of a brush ring roller formed of the same,

Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of an advantageous brush ring to be applied for while adapting the method and apparatus according to the invention,

Fig. 4 shows an advantageous principle of an apparatus operating according to the method according to the invention.

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing of a brush ring roller, which brush ring roller is intended to be used as a brush, that rotates w around a longitudinal axis s in a brushing machine and, which is formed of several separate brush rings H. Each brush ring consists furthermore of a brush part 1 and a ring shaped frame part 2, that is made of plastic based material and that connects the radially directed r bristles la forming the brush part 1. The brush ring roller HV is being put together as an essentially uniform brush ring roller preform entirety HV, in which each brush ring H is being attached to sta- tionarily, such as by attaching the following brush ring H' by welding, gluing and/or correspondingly to the preceding brush ring H" of the brush ring roller preform HV essentially by its frame part 2.

As an advantageous embodiment of the method with reference particularly e.g. to the advantageous embodiment shown in Fig. 4, the brush ring roller is being put together by means of at least one erecting body 4, whereby one brush ring H¹ at the time being placed on a feeding device 5 is being attached to a preceding brush ring H" of the brush ring roller preform HV existing on the erecting body 4 by means of joining 6 and pressing means 7, advantageously by adapting butt welding or the like.

Furthermore as an advantageous embodiment of the method, each brush ring H' is being attached to the brush ring roller preform HV by using, advantageously an electrically heated joining means 6, such as a "resistance mirror" 6' or like, the opposite surfaces P of which are to be heated to a temperature, that is adjustable by means of regulator means, which joining means 6 is being brouhgt by an area corresponding essentially to the frame part 2 of the brush ring into contact with the brush ring roller preform HV and the brush ring H' to be attached thereto.

Furthermore as an advantageous embodiment of the method, in the same context, when the joining means 6 is being used, the brush ring roller preform HV and the brush ring H' to be attached thereto are being pressed against the joining means 6 by means of actuator means 8 and pressing means 7, wherein after the heating phase, the joining means 6 is being removed from between the above parts, whereafter during a joining phase the parts are being pressed finally against each other in order to form a stationary joining seal GL in between the above on the principle shown in Fig. 2.

Furthermore as an advantageous embodiment of the method, the feeding axle 5a, that belongs to the feeding device 5 and that supports the brush ring H, is being moved during the joining phase in the longitudinal direction t of the axle towards the erecting body's support axle 4a supporting the brush ring roller preform HV , in order to push each brush ring H' to be attached thereto, advantageously by means of pressing means 7 or correspondingly, in a guided manner by the feeding axle 5a against the brush ring H" placed at the end of the brush ring roller preform HV .

The apparatus applying the method comprises thus at least one erecting body 4 and a feeding device 5, in order to put together the brush ring roller HV on the erecting body 4 as an essentially uniform brush ring roller preform entirety HV , in which each brush ring H to be taken from the feeding device 5 is arranged to be attached to stationarily, such as by attaching the following brush ring H' by welding, gluing and/or correspondingly to the preceding brush ring H" of the brush ring roller preform essentially by its frame part 2.

As an advantageous embodiment of the apparatus the same comprises an electrically heated joining means 6, such as a "resistance mirror" 6' or like, the opposite surfaces P of which are to be heated to a temperature, that is adjustable by means of regulator means, which while being brought into contact with the brush ring roller preform HV and the brush ring H' heats up the above essentially by an area corresponding essentially to the frame part 2 of the brush ring. In addition to that, the actuator means 8 and pressing means 7 belonging to the apparatus are arranged to press the brush ring roller preform HV and the brush ring H' to be connected thereto against the joining means 6 during a heating phase and since removing of the joining means 6 after the heating phase during an actual joining phase against each other in order to form a stationary joining seal GL in between the above on the principle shown in Fig. 2.

One or several feeding axles 5a, that belong to the feeding device 5 and, that support the brush rings H, are arranged moveable in the longitudinal direction t of the axle towards the erecting body's 4 support axle 4a supporting the brush ring roller preform HV , in order to push each brush ring H' to be attached thereto, advantageously by means of pressing means 7 or correspondingly, in a guided manner by means of the feeding axle 5a against a brush ring H" existing at the end of the brush ring roller preform HV . In this case, thanks to holding means 3, that are usually included in the brush rings, it is possible to control the brush rings in a totally controlled manner by using axles 4a, 5a in the feeding and the erecting device 4, 5, that are equipped with corresponding counterpart means, whereby particularly brush rings of e.g. so called zig-zag type may not in any phase e.g. twist unintentionally during composition and the brush rings are being attached to each other only by the plane like back surfaces x, 2' of the same.

The invention relates also to brush ring roller, that is enabled by the principle described above, which is compiled of separate brush rings H as an essentially uniform brush ring roller entirety HV, in which the brush rings H are connected to each other by the plane like back surfaces x, 2 ' of the same with stationary joining GL, such as by attaching the following brush ring H' by welding, gluing and/or in a corresponding manner to the preceding brush ring H" essentially by its frame part 2.

It is obvious, that the invention is not limited to the embodiments presented or described above, but it can be modified within the basic idea even to a great extent. The principle according to the invention is applicable first of all to be used in connection of both planar brush rings and brush ring structures of so called zig-zag type, in which it is furthermore possible to use e.g. organic, plastic based and/or metallic brush parts. It is first of all possible to form the type of brush ring described above of a frame part, that is e.g. wider than presented and into which there has been attached e.g. one single spiral- shaped brushing or, that has been carried out by means of a two or multiple ended threading. It is on the other hand possible to exploit the principle described above on the other hand by using a solution like the one shown in the drawings, in which the frame part comprises a structure, that has e.g. knees extending sidewards instead of a structure having a cross section, that extends constant. It is also possible to equip the brush rings according to the invention with auxiliary holding arrangements, functioning by means of e.g. male-female-principle and that are placed at the axially directed side surfaces of the frame parts of the same. It is naturally possible to make a brush ring according to the invention most heterogeneous materials, by exploiting most heterogeneous manufacturing methods, in which case use of polyprophylene as the manufacturing material of the brush rings has been represented as one example, only, that is, however, a very suitable alternative in this connection.

Claims

Claims :

1. Method for manufacturing of a brush ring roller, which brush ring roller is intended to be used as a brush, that rotates (w) around a longitudinal axis (s) in a brushing machine and, which is formed of several separate brush rings (H) , that have been attached to each other, known as such' stationarily, such as by welding, gluing and/or correspondingly essentially by the frame parts (2) of the same, whereby each brush ring consists furthermore of a brush part (1) and a ring shaped frame part (2) , that is made of plastic based material and that connects the radially directed (r) bristles (la) forming the brush part (1) , characterized in, that the brush ring roller (HV) is being put together by means of at least one erecting body (4), whereby one brush ring (H¹) at a time being placed on a feeding device (5) is being attached to a preceding brush ring (H") of the brush ring roller preform (HV ) existing on the erecting body (4) by means of joining (6) and pressing means

(7), preferably by adapting butt welding or the like.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in, that each brush ring (H') is being attached to the brush ring roller preform (HV ) by using, preferably an electrically heated joining means (6) , such as a "resistance mirror" (6') or like, the opposite surfaces (P) of which are to be heated to a temperature, that is adjustable by means of regulator means, which joining means (6) is being brouhgt by an area corresponding essentially to the frame part (2) of the brush ring into contact with the brush ring roller preform (HV ) and the brush ring (H¹) to be attached thereto.

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2 , characterized in, that in the same context, when the joining means (6) is being used, the brush ring roller preform (HV ) and the brush ring (H¹) to be attached thereto are being pressed against the joining means (6) by means of actuator means (8) and pressing means (7) , wherein after the heating phase, the joining means (6) is being removed from between the above parts, whereafter during a joining phase the parts are being pressed finally against each other in order to form a stationary joining seal (GL) in between the above.

4. Method according to any of the claims 1-3 above, characterized in, that the feeding axle (5a) , that belongs to the feeding device (5) and that supports the brush ring (H) , is being moved during the joining phase in the longitudinal direction (t) of the axle towards the erecting body's support axle (4a) supporting the brush ring roller preform (HV), in order to push each brush ring (H¹) to be attached thereto, preferably by means of pressing means (7) or correspondingly, in a guided manner by the feeding axle (5a) against the brush ring (H") placed at the end of the brush ring roller preform (HV ) .

5. Apparatus for manufacturing of a brush ring roller, which brush ring roller is intended to be used as a brush, that rotates (w) around a longitudinal axis (s) in a brushing machine and, which is formed of several separate brush rings (H) , that have been attached to each other, known as such stationarily, such as by welding, gluing and/or correspondingly essentially by the frame parts (2) of the same, whereby each brush ring consists furthermore of a brush part (1) and a ring shaped frame part (2) , that is made of plastic based material and that connects the radially directed (r) bristles (la) forming the brush part (1) , characterized in, that the apparatus comprises at least one erecting body (4) and a feeding device (5) , in order to put together the brush ring roller (HV) on the erecting body (4) by connecting a brush ring (H'), that is placed on one or several feeding axles (5a) belonging to the feeding device (5) , to a preceding brush ring of the brush ring roller preform (HV ) placed on a support axle (4a), that belongs to the erecting body (4) , by means of joining (6) and pressing means (7) , preferably by adapting butt welding or the like.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in, that the apparatus comprises an electrically heated joining means (6) , such as a "resistance mirror" (6¹) or like, the opposite surfaces (P) of which are to be heated to a temperature, that is adjustable by means of regulator means, which while being brought into contact with the brush ring roller preform (HV ) and the brush ring (H¹) heats up the above essentially by an area corresponding essentially to the frame part (2) of the brush ring.

7. Apparatus according to claims 5 or 6 above, characterized in, that the actuator means (8) and pressing means (7) belonging to the apparatus are arranged to press the brush ring roller preform (HV ) and the brush ring (H¹) to be connected thereto against the joining means (6) during a heating phase and since removing of the joining means (6) after the heating phase during an actual joining phase against each other in order to form a stationary joining seal

(GL) in between the above.

8. Apparatus according to any of the claims 5-7 above, characterized in, that one or several feeding axles (5a) , that belong to the feeding device (5) and, that support the brush rings (H) , are arranged moveab- le in the longitudinal direction (t) of the axle towards the erecting body's (4) support axle (4a) supporting the brush ring roller preform (HV), in order to push each brush ring (H¹) to be attached thereto, preferably by means of pressing means (7) or correspondingly, in a guided manner by means of the feeding axle (5a) against a brush ring (H") existing at the end of the brush ring roller preform (HV ) .

9. Brush ring roller, that is intended to be used as a brush, that rotates (w) around the longitudinal axis (s) in a brushing machine and, which is formed of several separate brush rings (H) of so called zig-zag type, whereby each brush ring consists furthermore of a brush part (1) and a ring shaped frame part (2) , that is made of plastic based material and that connects the radially directed (r) bristles (la) forming the brush part (1) , characterized in, that the brush ring roller is compiled of separate brush rings (H) as an essentially uniform brush ring roller entirety (HV) , in which the brush rings (H) are connected to each other by the plane like back surfaces (x, 2') of the same with a stationary joining (GL) , such as by attaching the following brush ring (H¹) by welding, gluing and/or in a corresponding manner to the preceding brush ring (H") essentially by its frame part (2) .