Patent ID: 7635169

Claim:
A tuft picker device for a brush making machine, comprising a bristle magazine for holding a supply of loose bristles in a mutually parallel condition, a tuft picker having a tuft picking notch and being movable in a working stroke to move the tuft picking notch past an open side of said bristle magazine, at least one shield member which is adapted to be shifted across the tuft picking notch to vary the effective depth of said notch, and an actuating drive coupled to the shield member and adapted to adjust the shield member in each working stroke so as to vary the effective depth of the tuft picking notch from one working stroke to the next thereby varying the size of a tuft engaged in the tuft picking notch, said actuating drive including a crank drive and said crank drive including a rotary drive with a servomotor and a crank arm articulatedly coupled to a connecting rod which in turn is articulatedly coupled to a stirrup that is movable in translation and by means of which an adjusting stroke is rigidly transmitted to the shield member.