Improvements in the Manufacture and Mounting of Rotary Brushes.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Nov., 1897---Accepted, 18th Dec., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture and Mounting of Rotary Brushes.
I, ERNEST PAIN, manufacturer, of 8 Rue des Moreaux, Auxerre, Yonne, France.
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement : —
This invention has for object certain improvements which I have made in
rotary brushes employed in certain industries, particularly in the manufacture of
boots and shoes, for finishing, polishing and other operations.
. Rotary brushes of this kind are mostly composed of a wooden cylinder mounted
on a shaft which imparts its rotary motion to said cylinder, said cylinder having
its periphery pierced with a large number of equidistant holes designed to receive
the tufts or bunches of bristles or hairs which constitute the brush proper.
The hairs for forming the said tufts are doubled or folded together and held in
the holes either by means of a continuous string, as in mounting ordinary brushes,
or by means of glue, cement, or pitch which fixes said tufts in their holes.
This mode of mounting has various drawbacks, and especially is wanting in
strength. The difficulty experienced in inserting the strings, is the cause that
it is often impossible to use this means for rotary brushes. Glueing by itself, is
equally insufficient, because in very many industries, the brushes used need to
be frequently washed, and this process causes the wood to warp, with the result
that in consequence of the great speed of rotation of said brushes, the bristles
become detached during working, and the brush soon becomes unfit for use.
It has also been proposed to dispense with the cylinder and its holes by setting
hairs or bristles side by side on a cardboard disc and fixing them thereto by
means of a cement, and then uniting a number of such discs so prepared to form
a pile or homogeneous whole. This mode of mounting also does not afford
sufficient strength, because under the action of the vibration of the machines
which actuate the brushes, the cement becomes disintegrated, crumbles away, and
the bristles become detached. Further, the moisture resulting from the washing
process hereinbefore referred to is still more injurious than in brushes mounted on
wood, because the cardboard, which is of a very spongy nature, swells to such an
extent that it almost always bursts the two ends or heads of the brush. Also,
when the cardboard has become dry and has contracted again, the bristles are
almost free between each disc, and then the brush is completely destroyed before
having even been wholly worn out.
My invention has therefore for its object to remedy all these drawbacks, and,
whilst not increasing the cost of manufacture of brushes of this kind, of increasing
their "life" until the bristles shall have been completely worn away.
In order that my invention and the manner in which it is to be performed may
be clearly understood, I shall describe it with reference to the accompanying
drawings in which :-
:―
Fig. 1 is a cross section of my improved rotary brush on the line 1-1 of fig. 2;
Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section on the line 2-2 of fig. 1, of a brush constructed
according to my invention, and

page_text: Fig. 3 is a detail section on a larger scale, of one of the discs which compose
my brush, showing the manner in which the bristle tufts are fixed therein.
Figs. 4 & 5 are detail views of one of the bristle tufts showing two phases of
the preparation which I prefer to subject them to before fixing them in the discs.
My brush consists of an iron tube A fixed on the driving shaft which is intended
to impart rotary motion to the brush. At one of its ends, this tube is formed
with a fixed head B, whilst at its other end it is screw-threaded to receive a move-
able head C similar to the head B, and which is arranged to screw upon the
screw threaded portion of the tube. These heads serve to clamp between them
the whole of the discs D which form the brush.
Each of these discs (which are all threaded on to the tube A and are held on
the latter by the grip of the heads B and C) is preferably made of walnut wood,
although any other suitable wood may be used. Upon one of its faces, this
disc is formed with a groove or circular recess E, best shown in section in figs. 2
and 3, and in which there opens a certain number of equidistant notches I formed
in the same face of the discs radially to its circumference, and extending only
over a part of the thickness of the disc.
To mount the brush I proceed in the following manner:-
After having unscrewed the moveable head C from the tube, I place upon the
latter one of the discs D which I push on the tube until its full face bears against
the fixed head B of the tube. Then, the tufts having been made of the desired
length by folding the bristles to form a loop, I insert in the loop G¹ of each tuft G
thus formed, one of the legs of a metallic fastener or staple H of shape.
I then dip the tuft and the staple into hot pitch, resin or any other suitable
substance and I insert the tuft thus dipped, into one of the notches F, nailing
the staple H on to the disc D and taking care that the pitch shall not get beyond
the surface of the disc so as not to form upon the latter an extra thickness which
would prevent the next following disc from fitting close up.
When all the notches in the disc D have been fitted in this way, there is threaded
on to the tube A al second disc which is pushed until it bears against the first disc.
Then the second disc is treated in the manner above described, and the operation
is continued until the desired number of discs have been mounted on the tube A.
Then the moveable head C is placed in position and is tightened up as firmly as
possible, and the brush is thus mounted.
In order to ensure a greater solidity of the brush and to prevent, absolutely,
the bristles from becoming detached when the brush is in use (in case they should
not all be well held by the staple H) I prefer, as shown in figs. 4 and 5 to firmly
bind the tuft in its middle (after it has been prepared to the desired length) by
means of a ligature J of brass wire or any other material. If desired a second
ligature K unites the two branches of the loop formed by folding the tuft upon
itself (fig. 5) whilst leaving sufficient space for the passage of the staple. I then
proceed as already stated.
As the legs of the staple H are longer than the thickness of the discs, the
result is that when the staples are driven in, they pass through the disc in which
they are inserted and they become fixed in the preceding disc, whereby a homo-
-geneous whole is formed. After the discs have been thus piled together and
tightened up together, there is no longer any danger of the bristles leaving the
brush because they are held in the notches by the staple passing through the
loop and by the pitch, resin or other suitable substance.
It is to be understood that I do not limit myself strictly to the precise arrange-
ment of the parts shown, because it is obvious that the arrangement may be
varied to a certain extent without departing from the principle of my invention.
Thus, for instance, in some cases the tube A and the heads B and C might be
dispensed with, by simply placing the discs. I one against the other in such a
manner that their peripheries shall coincide as closely as possible, and by arrang-
ing at each of the ends of the brush a disc of greater thickness to form a head,
and in which there are no bristle tufts. Under these conditions, the whole of the

page_text: discs, when mounted as herein before described and held firmly together by the
staples H, will form a homogeneous whole and there will then only remain to bore
a central hole for the purpose of mounting the brush on the driving shaft intended
to set it in motion; I therefore reserve the right of employing this form of con-
struction when necessary.
Having thus described the nature of my invention and the manner in which
it is to be carried into practice, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. A rotary brush composed of a number of superposed discs formed on one
of their faces with notches for the reception of the tufts or bunches of hair or
bristles, each disc being provided on its circumference with a row of tufts and
being connected to the adjacent disc by the legs of the staples which hold the
tufts in place in the notches, substantially as described and shown.
2. In a rotary brush of the kind described, forming in one of the faces of this
disc, on the same side as the notches, a circular groove or lateral recess designed
to receive the cement or pitch for holding the bristles together, substantially as
described and shown.
3. In brushes of the kind described, fixing and securing rows of tufts or
bunches in the notches of the discs by means of a staple of the form shown, one
of the legs of which passes through the centre of the loop formed by doubling
together the bristles or hairs (which have preferably been first ligatured together),
which constitute the tuft, substantially as described and shown.
4. The circular rotary brush, substantially as hereinbefore described and shown
in the accompanying drawings.