Twisted-in-wire brush and method of manufacturing same

Abstract

A bristle structure including at least two stem wires spirally wound together to form a longitudinally extending core of the bristle structure and a plurality of bristles extending outwardly from the longitudinally extending core. Each of the bristles has a first end and an opposed second end, and each of the bristles is clamped between the stem wires such that the second end of each bristle extends a greater distance from the longitudinally extending core than the first end of the each bristle.

1 . A method of manufacturing a bristle structure, comprising the steps of:
 positioning a plurality of bristles between at least two stem wires such that a first end of each bristle extends outward from the stem wires a first distance and a second end of each bristle extends outward from the stem wires a second distance greater than the first distance; and   spirally winding the stem wires together to form a longitudinally extending core of the bristle structure and to clamp the bristles between the stem wires, whereby the first ends of the bristles collectively form a first helical pattern extending along the longitudinally extending core, and the second ends of the bristles collectively form a second helical pattern extending along the longitudinally extending core.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein all of the bristles have substantially the same length. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the second end of each bristle extends from the longitudinally extending core a distance that is at least 10% greater than the distance that the first end of said each bristle extends from the longitudinally extending core. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the diameter of the first helical pattern is less than the diameter of the second helical pattern. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the diameter of the second helical pattern is greater than the length of the bristles.