The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus of making brushes, and in particular, to a method and apparatus that integrates a brush making extrusion step with the brush manufacture.
In the prior art, various types of brushes, brush assemblies, and brush-making apparatus and methods have been proposed. These brushes are used in a variety of applications, including street sweepers, sweeping machines for airport use, deburring machines, and the like. U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,316 to Maltarp (herein incorporated in its entirety by reference) discloses one type of a brush that is formed into a ring for use on mandrels for sweeping, brushing, etc. Referring to
As part of the manufacturing process, the Maltarp patent takes wire brush material and cuts them to length. The brushes are laid horizontally and pass through an extruder station wherein a thermoplastic material is extruded on one end of the wires. The wire-plastic combination is shaped and cooled to form a continuous wire mat, which can be cut to length. Once cut, the wires are conveyed to a hydraulic press, wherein the mat is folded into a ring shape, and then a wire ring is fixed to the mat to form the completed brush.
While Maltarp discloses wires as the brushing materials, other brushes employ all polymer construction as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,357 to Gould. This construction is an all-polymer construction wherein polymer bristles are used with a polymer strip. The strip is configured to slide into channels in a mandrel of a sweeping machine. The brush construction comprises bristles extending from a base strip. Molding the bristle ends into the base strip forms the brush construction.
When making brushes using polymer filaments, the filaments are made by an extrusion apparatus 70 as shown in
U.S. Pat. No. 6,665,902 to Vegter, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety shows other examples of brush constructions. In this patent, a hub is formed on the ends of metallic wires and the hub is attached to a base. The base is configured with members for holding the assembled brush assembly in a brushing apparatus.
While there are numerous ways to form brush assemblies, these methods have there shortcomings in terms of productivity and efficiency. That is, filaments used in the brush making operation are taken from stock. The stock filaments are extruded in various sizes and lengths, and the brush manufacturer purchases the desired sized filaments for the brush making operation. The brush making operation is a basically a batch operation as shown in
Therefore, a need exists to provide improvements in the field of brush manufacture. The present invention responds to this need by integrating the continuity of a filament making operation with the brush making operation that normally relies on the use of stocked supplies of filament.
While the brush making operation and filament extrusion operations are employed separately in the field of brush making, no one has combined the two given the inherent conflict between an operation that continuously produces a filament and an operation that is designed to run on a controllable source of raw material, i.e., stock filaments.
It is a first object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for making brushes.
Another object of the present invention is a method and apparatus that integrates a filament manufacturing process with a process of making the brushes.
Other objects and advantages will be come apparent as a description of the invention proceeds.
In satisfaction of the foregoing objects and advantages, the present invention is an improvement in methods of making brushes wherein polymeric filaments are fed onto a conveyor so that ends of the filaments can be joined together to form a mat, and the mat can be utilized to form a brush assembly. According to the invention, the filament is extruded and cut as part of the feeding step and the cut-to-length filaments are continuously fed to the conveyor as part of the mat making step. The formed mats can be then be cut to length and used in their straight configuration or shaped for brush manufacture.
Preferably, a number of filaments are simultaneously extruded so as to form a bundle of filaments. One way for continuously feeding the bundle of filaments is through the use of a reciprocating mechanism that directs or drives the cut bundle of filaments to an entrance of the mat making apparatus for mat manufacture.
The invention also includes the apparatus aspect of the aforementioned method, wherein the mat making apparatus is combined with an extrusion apparatus that includes means for extruding a number of filaments simultaneously, continuously cutting the filaments to length, and means for continuously feeding the cut-to-length the extruded to the mat making apparatus. The continuously feeding means can be a reciprocating mechanism that employs an arm to push the filaments towards an entry end of the conveyor used in the mat making apparatus.
The present invention offers significant improvements in the field of brush manufacture, and particularly in terms of improved productivity and flexibility in brush manufacture. In prior art systems, the filaments used for brush manufacture are taken from stock supplies. The problems with these manufacturing systems and methods is that the forming of brushes is predicated on the stock as an initial feed to the brush making line. By using the inventive system and method, more flexibility is obtained in terms of the filaments so that different style brushes can be readily made with little or no downtime in the manufacturing process.
In addition, significant savings are realized in both the filament extrusion operation and the brush making operation. The prior art filament extrusion process required monitoring pf the end of the process to assure that the cut filaments are properly contained for subsequent use in a brush manufacturing line. The prior art brush making operation also required monitoring on its feed end to ensure that adequate quantities of filament are available for brush making. The present invention eliminates the need for both types of monitoring such that the extruded filaments seamlessly become part of the brush making operation.
The invention also goes against the status quo found in the brush making business. While extrusion of filament to produce stock material has been done for years and stock filaments have been used in brush making operations, the prior art has yet to integrate the two processes. It is believed that the continuous production of filament conflicted with the need for reliable supply of filament for the brush making operation, thus preventing the two processes from marrying.
Once the filaments are formed into a mat, they can be used to form a brush assembly. In step 29, a mat is cut to length, and then formed into a ring shape at step 31, and the ring-shaped mat is mounted to a metal ring at step 33 to form the brush. These steps are conventional in brush making and need no further explanation of their detail. Of course, the mat, as seen in step 35 of
The guide 53 receives the filament bundle 47 as it is formed by the cutter of the extrusion line. Thus, the axis of the bundle is aligned with an axis of the extrusion operation.
Typically, the extrusion process will extrude a number of filaments simultaneously, e.g., 10-15, with the extrusion process occurring at a high rate of speed. This bundle arrangement is depicted in
The filament length and size can be changed on the fly to accommodate the manufacture of different brushes without sacrificing productivity. Whereas in the prior art process, the feed hopper containing the stock filaments would have to be emptied by removal of the filaments or waiting until the filaments are used in the brush making operation, the inventive process can accomplish this by merely controlling the cutting of the extruded filament. For example, while a brush is being manufactured using 30 cm filament, a rush special order may be placed wherein a brush with 45 cm length bristles is required. A simple adjustment of the cutting length of the extrusion operation will produce 45 cm filaments for laying on the conveyor and the immediate manufacture of such a brush.
Similarly, the diameter of the filament may be adjusted on the fly by appropriate adjustment in the extrusion operation. This is normally accomplished by adjusting the feed of material to the extruder and the speed of the material passing through the extruding line. For example, slowing down the feed of material and maintaining the same speed will result in a filament of lesser diameter. Increasing the speed while maintaining the feed of material will also lessen the diameter. Similarly, slowing the speed while maintaining the feed of material will result in an increased diameter. Thus, a brush making operation using a 2 mm filament can be immediately converted to an operation making a brush with 1.0 mm filaments without virtually any loss of productivity. In the prior art process, additional labor would be required to obtain the 1.0 mm filaments and fill the feed hopper of the brush making operation.
It should be understood that any type of extrusion process or machine can be employed to form the filaments. Similarly, any type of cutting method and/or machine to form the extruded filament in a specified length can be employed.
As such, an invention has been disclosed in terms of preferred embodiments thereof which fulfills each and every one of the objects of the present invention as set forth above and provides a new and improved brake pad and method of making.
Of course, various changes, modifications and alterations from the teachings of the present invention may be contemplated by those skilled in the art without departing from the intended spirit and scope thereof. It is intended that the present invention only be limited by the terms of the appended claims.