Industrial brush, apparatus and method for making said industrial brush

Abstract

An industrial brush comprises a brush body having a cup-shaped containing portion with a bottom wall and at least one side wall, which together define a receiving cavity, a bundle of filament or cable lengths partly housed in the cavity and externally protruding therefrom, means for retaining the bundle inside the cavity, where at least one side wall of the containing portion has a neck of a predetermined length, corresponding to at least ⅓ of the length of the side wall and extending towards an access opening of the cavity to at least partly define the retaining means. The side wall of the containing portion also comprises a plurality of longitudinal ribs, which are substantially parallel to the central axis and angularly spaced from each other so as to define a corresponding plurality of longitudinal channels.

1 . A method for making an industrial brush, comprising the steps of:
 preparing a cord comprising a plurality of substantially parallel filaments or cables having at least one end stretch extending along a main direction;   preparing a cup-shaped member provided with a containing portion extending along a central axis and having a bottom wall and at least one side wall which together define a receiving cavity;   separating the end stretch from the rest of the cord through the agency of cutting means to define a bundle of lengths of filament or cable which is shaped to be partly housed in the cavity while externally protruding therefrom;   generating relative motion whereby the end stretch and the containing portion are moved towards each other in such a way that the former is inserted into the receiving cavity; and   making a neck on the side wall of the containing portion, where the length “L” of the neck corresponds to at least ⅓ of the length of the side wall measured parallel to the central axis;   wherein the step of making a neck is achieved by radially deforming a plurality of sections of length “L”, which are angularly spaced around the central axis in order to make a plurality of longitudinal ribs alternated with a corresponding plurality of longitudinal channels.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the longitudinal ribs are substantially parallel to the central axis. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the neck of a predetermined length “L” is tubular in shape. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the neck of a predetermined length “L” extends towards an end of the side wall, which is distal from the bottom wall, to partly define the retaining means. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the step of generating relative motion whereby the end stretch and the containing portion are moved towards each other comprises the following sub-steps:
 aligning the cup-shaped member with the end stretch of the cord along the main direction so that the receiving cavity faces a free end of the end stretch; and   moving the end stretch and the containing portion towards each other along a working direction which is parallel to the main direction, to insert the free end of the cord into the receiving cavity.   
     
     
         6 . An apparatus for making an industrial brush, comprising:
 a frame;   means for feeding a cord of filaments or wires or cables associated with the frame, where the cord has an end stretch directed along a substantially straight main direction corresponding to the direction of extension of the filaments or cables;   a housing unit associated with the frame and shaped to house at least one cup-shaped member, where the cup-shaped member has a containing portion extending along a central axis and having a bottom wall and at least one side wall which together define a receiving cavity;   relative motion generating means associated with the feeding means and/or with the housing unit and configured to move the end stretch of the cord towards the cup-shaped member in order to insert the end stretch into the receiving cavity of the cup-shaped member;   cutting means associated with the frame and operating transversely to the main direction to separate the end stretch from the rest of the cord in order to make a bundle of filament or cable lengths; and   press means associated with the housing unit and having an active portion of predetermined length “L” that is radially movable to radially deform the side wall of the containing portion in order to make a neck whose length “L” corresponds to at least ⅓ of the length of the side wall of the containing portion measured parallel to the central axis;   wherein the active portion comprises at least three jaws of predetermined length “L” which are angularly spaced and radially movable towards and away from each other between a rest position, away from each other, and an operating position, close to each other, to deform the side wall, where the jaws, at both the rest position and the operating position, are circumferentially spaced from each other by a gap defining a radial escape route for the deformed material,   
     
     
         7 . The apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein the active portion comprises at least three actuator members, each associated with a respective jaw to move the jaw between the rest position and the operating position; each actuator member being rigidly connected to the respective jaw by reversible connection means in order to enable replacement of the jaw. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein the housing unit is at least partly aligned with the end stretch of the cord along the main direction, so that the receiving cavity faces a free end of the end stretch; the relative motion generating means being configured to move the end stretch and the cup-shaped member towards each other along a working direction which corresponds to the main direction, in order to insert the free end of the end stretch into the cavity. 
     
     
         9 . An industrial brush, comprising:
 a brush body provided with a cup-shaped containing portion having a bottom wall and at least one side wall which together define a receiving cavity;   a bundle of filament or cable lengths partly housed in the cavity and externally protruding therefrom, where each filament or cable length extends between its first end which is positioned outside the receiving cavity and its second end which is opposite to the first end and which abuts the bottom wall of the containing portion of the brush body, inside the cavity; and   means for retaining the bundle inside the cavity;   where at least one side wall of the containing portion has a neck of a predetermined length, corresponding to at least ⅓ of the length of the side wall and extending towards an access opening of the cavity to at least partly define the retaining means; and   wherein the side wall of the containing portion comprises a plurality of longitudinal ribs, which are angularly spaced from each other so as to define a corresponding plurality of longitudinal channels.   
     
     
         10 . The brush according to  claim 9 , wherein the longitudinal ribs are substantially parallel to the central axis. 
     
     
         11 . The industrial brush according to  claim 9 , wherein each section that is transversal to the main central axis of the neck is polygonal in shape. 
     
     
         12 . The industrial brush according to  claim 9 , wherein the containing portion has a middle pin extending inside the cavity upwards from the bottom wall, along a direction parallel to the central axis of the containing portion; the pin at least partly defining the retaining means. 
     
     
         13 . The industrial brush according to  claim 9 , wherein the at least one side wall of the containing portion has an annular narrowing in its cross section at an intermediate zone of it which at least partly defines the retaining means. 
     
     
         14 . The industrial brush according to  claim 9 , wherein the containing portion has a plurality of engravings made on an outside face of the side wall representing a plurality of brush identification data and located in such a way as to extend mainly parallel to the central axis of the containing portion.