RU2470564C1 - Method of pointing bristles of toothbrush by mechanical treatment method - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: personal use articles.

SUBSTANCE: method of pointing bristles of toothbrush with glazing drums each of which has protrusions with height of 1.5 to 7.0 mm and rotates in longitudinal and transverse plane. The glazing drums are switched on in parallel to each other and are arranged in descending order of height of protrusions formed on each of them. The toothbrush having ordinary pointless bristles is successively passed through glazing drums thus continuously polishing bristles.

EFFECT: invention provides prevention temperature deformation of bristles that enables to improve the quality of pointed bristles.

6 cl, 3 dwg

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a method for sharpening toothbrush bristles and, in particular, to a method for sharpening toothbrush bristles by machining using grinding drums having protrusions.

State of the art

When comparing a toothbrush with sharp needle-shaped bristles at the ends with a toothbrush having regular bristles rounded at the ends, a toothbrush with needle-shaped bristles is superior to a toothbrush with ordinary bristles in terms of softness of the bristles and their ability to penetrate between teeth or into the gingival pocket (penetration). For this reason, recently, most high-quality toothbrushes have needle-shaped bristles.

Needle-shaped bristles are obtained by various methods, for example: (i) dissolving the material of the bristles at the ends with strong acid or strong alkali, (ii) grinding the ends of the bristles with a grinder after planting the bristles into the toothbrush, (iii) pre-sharpening the bristles with the first method mentioned above planting the bristles in the toothbrush and then grinding the ends of the bristles with the second method described above, etc. In this case, "preliminary sharpening" is an operation performed so that the degree of sharpening of the ends of the bristles is less than the final specified degree of sharpening, in other words, the ends of the bristles have a thickness of about 0.03 to 0.10 mm.

The first method (i) makes it possible to obtain strongly pointed needle-shaped bristles having a relatively large length of the pointed part of 5 mm or more and ends with a thickness of about 0.01 mm. Such a needle-shaped bristle has a long pointed part, which gives it excellent softness, and a thin end, which gives it excellent penetration. However, this method is problematic in the sense that when it is implemented it is difficult to precisely control the dissolution time (contact with the solvent) when sharpening is performed, the reject rate is high and the production conditions are unfavorable.

The second method is excellent in terms of productivity, but it is problematic in that the resulting needle-shaped bristles have a small pointed part length of 2 mm or less, as a result of which the softness of the bristles is insufficient, and therefore the user can damage the gums when brushing his teeth.

The third method (iii) to some extent solves the problems of the first (i) and second (ii) and is disclosed in Korean patents No. 261658 and 421454, applications for which were filed by the author of the present invention. According to Korean Patent No. 261658, the bristles are immersed in a concentrated acid or alkali solution, the bristles material is removed by dissolution, and the bristles are removed shortly before the bristles begin to shorten. Then the bristles are washed in water and dried, after which they are planted in the head of the toothbrush. After that, the ends of the bristles are ground using a grinder. The advantage of needle-shaped bristles obtained by this method is that their pointed part has a length of about 5 mm, i.e. the bristles have a long pointed part, so that the softness of these bristles is excellent. However, the problem of such needle-shaped bristles is the relatively large thickness of their ends, comprising from 0.04 to 0.08 mm, as a result of which these bristles have low penetration. If grinding is continued to reduce the thickness of the bristles at the ends, the length of the pointed part will be reduced, which worsens softness.

Korean patent No. 421454 is similar to Korean patent No. 261658, but provides for grinding the bristles so that the thickness of the tip of the bristles as a result is 0.02 mm or less in order to improve penetration. Therefore, this method is advantageous in that the bristles have excellent penetration. However, this method is problematic in the sense that the length of the pointed part of the bristles is only from 2.8 to 3.5 mm, which makes the bristles not soft enough, and the percentage of rejects in the manufacturing process is high.

To solve these problems in Korean patent No. 666457, the application for which was filed by the author of the present invention, a method was proposed, hereinafter referred to as the analogue of the invention.

According to a similar method, the non-pointed end of a conventional bristle is ground using a drum-type grinding machine, the working body of which has protrusions 11 with a height of 1.5 to 7 mm with a distance between protrusions of 1 to 5 mm and rotates in the longitudinal plane and in the transverse plane (see figure 1). The end of the needle-shaped bristles obtained by this method has a diameter of from 0.01 to 0.02 mm, and the pointed part of the needle-shaped bristles has a length of 3 to 7 mm. The diameter of the end and the length of the pointed part are almost equal to the corresponding characteristics of the needle-shaped bristles obtained by immersion in a chemical reagent. Accordingly, the analogue method provides needle-shaped bristles with the desired thickness at the end and the required length of the pointed part without immersing the bristles in chemical reagents.

However, the bristles produced by the analogous method are problematic in that, due to heat generation during the grinding operation, temperature deformation of the bristles can occur. Temperature deformation leads to bending of the bristles, thereby reducing their quality.

In addition, according to the Korean application for invention No. 10-2007-7027084, the bristles are grinded using a drum-type grinding machine, the working body of which (grinding drum) does not have protrusions 11 (the first grinding stage), they are grinded using a drum-type grinding machine, the working body which has protrusions 11 (second and third stages of grinding), and finally subjected to finishing using a rotating drum having fibers on its surface (fourth stage of grinding). However, this method is also problematic in that the rotation speed of the working body of the grinding machine is from 500 to 1500 rpm at the second grinding stage and from 1000 to 2000 rpm at the third grinding stage, i.e. the rotation speed is very high, and therefore the temperature deformation of the resulting bristles cannot be avoided. Thermal deformation causes the bristles to bend towards the end of the pointed part and leads to uneven grinding of the bristles, depriving the product of competitiveness.

Further, to reduce the release of heat of friction, a method was proposed involving fixing a toothbrush having bristles to be ground, and moving the grinder up and down during grinding, which reduces the surface area of the friction. Although this method can reduce the release of heat of friction, the heat of friction still accumulates in the deep spaces between the protrusions 11. It is also important that the ends of the bristles are ground to a lesser extent. When the end of the bristle is in contact with the bottom surface P of the depressions between the protrusions 11, as shown in FIG. 2, this end is ground effectively. However, the method, including the vertical movement of the grinding machine, the working body of which has protrusions 11 of the same height, makes it impossible to bring the ends of the bristles into contact with the bottom surface of the depressions P. It is further seen that in the manufacture of needle-shaped bristles, the first and fourth stages of grinding by this method are redundant.

Disclosure of invention

Technical problem

Accordingly, the present invention was created taking into account the above problems inherent in the prior art, and the present invention is to develop a method for sharpening the bristles of the toothbrush, in which the sharpening of the bristles of the toothbrush is achieved by machining, and also prevents thermal deformation. Another objective of the present invention is to develop a method for sharpening the bristles of the toothbrush, providing improved performance.

Technical solution

To solve the problems the present invention proposes a method of sharpening the bristles of the toothbrush using grinding drums, each of which has protrusions and rotates in the longitudinal plane and in the transverse plane, characterized in that the grinding drums having protrusions of different heights are arranged in a continuous change order heights, and a toothbrush with ordinary non-pointed bristles are passed alternately through said grinding drums, thereby grinding the ends of the bristles set into the toothbrush etku.

By "toothbrush with bristles inserted therein" is meant a toothbrush in which the bristles are secured with anchors, or a toothbrush in which the bristles are secured without anchors. A toothbrush with bristles inserted into it may be a toothbrush in which bristles of various shapes are fitted, and a toothbrush in which bristles are first fitted and then trimmed to a specific shape.

Below the essence of the present invention is considered in more detail.

Figure 1 shows the grinding drum used in the implementation of the invention. The grinding drum 10 has a plurality of projections 11 on its surface and is connected to the rotor 30 by means of a rotating shaft 20, whereby the grinding drum 10 can rotate both in the longitudinal plane and in the transverse plane.

A suitable height of the protrusions 11 is from 1.5 mm to 7.0 mm. When grinding the bristles with a grinding drum 10, needle-shaped bristles are obtained, the pointed part of which has a length of 5 mm or more, as described above.

However, when grinding is performed by grinding drum 10, a large amount of heat is generated, which causes temperature deformation of the bristles. To prevent this temperature deformation, consideration may be given to the use of liquid spraying. However, since this technique dramatically reduces the abrasive forces of the grinding drum 10 on the bristles, it may not be acceptable.

In accordance with the present invention, heat generation during grinding is carefully controlled and the bristles do not undergo temperature deformation.

The control of heat release during grinding involves reducing the speed of the grinding drum in a given range of values, as well as varying the height of the protrusions 11.

When the grinding drum rotates at high speed, a large amount of frictional heat is generated, so that the rotational speed in the longitudinal plane should be controlled in the range from 200 to 500 rpm, preferably from 250 to 480 rpm. When the rotation frequency exceeds the upper limit of the above interval, the temperature deformation of the bristles occurs. If the rotational speed falls below the above interval, the grinding efficiency will begin to decrease rapidly, which means that productivity will deteriorate too much. Preferably, the rotational speed in the transverse plane is about 1/3 of the rotational speed in the longitudinal plane.

However, the objectives of the present invention are solved not only by controlling the speed of the grinding drum. Thermal deformation occurs even if the grinding process is performed by a grinding drum having protrusions 11 of the same height and rotating at a low speed. The reason for this is as follows. The fact is that to obtain bristles having a pointed part of the desired length, a grinding drum should be used, having protrusions 11 of a height of 3 mm or more, preferably 5 mm or more. However, when using such a grinding drum, friction heat is inevitably accumulated between the protrusions 11, and the ability of the drum to heat sink is low.

According to the present invention, the rotational speed of the grinding drum is reduced, and several grinding drums are turned on in parallel so that the grinding process is performed alternately. The number of grinding drums connected in parallel to each other should be 15 or more, preferably 20 or more. If the toothbrush processed by grinding its bristles remains at each grinding drum for a predetermined period of time and then moves to the next grinding drum, the bristles instantly cool when the toothbrush is moved, thus avoiding temperature deformation. In other words, although friction heat is generated during grinding, when the bristles are moved, they are constantly cooled, so that a thermally stable state is maintained between the temperature of the grinding drums and the temperature of the protrusions 11.

To prevent temperature deformation of the bristles and at the same time to maximize the productivity of the process, it is advisable to use from 15 to 30 grinding drums. If the number of grinding drums is less than 15, the bristles undergo thermal deformation during grinding, and the productivity of the process is low. If the number of grinding drums exceeds the upper limit of the above interval, one should not expect an increase in the effect of preventing deformation, but the cost of processing equipment increases.

Adjusting the height of the protrusions 11 is an important factor in controlling heat generation. The protrusions 11 serve to increase the length of the pointed part of the bristles, and their height is selected in the range from 1.5 to 7.0 mm Among the grinding drums involved in continuous grinding, for grinding drums performing the initial stage of the grinding process, the protrusions 11 preferably have a height of 5 to 7 mm. Thereby, obtaining the desired length of the pointed part of the bristles is achieved.

However, as the height of the protrusions 11 increases, the area of the surface subject to friction increases. Accordingly, in the grinding process a large amount of heat of friction is generated, and, in addition, an increased amount of heat of friction accumulates in the spaces between the protrusions 11. Therefore, after the formation of the pointed part of the desired length of the bristles, the height of the protrusions 11 must be gradually reduced.

Preferably, the protrusions 11 of the grinding drums involved in the intermediate stage of the grinding process have a height of 3 to 5 mm, and the protrusions 11 of the grinding drums participating in the final stage of the grinding process have a height of 1.5 to 3.0 mm.

If the height of the protrusions 11 formed on the grinding drums by itself is successively reduced, this ensures the achievement of the required length of the pointed part of the bristles, and, in addition, a significant reduction in the heat released by friction. Further, the generated heat of friction is easily removed to the surrounding space, which effectively prevents the temperature deformation of the bristles.

Further, as the height of the protrusions 11 decreases successively, the ends of the bristles are constantly in contact with the bottom surface of the depressions, designated as “P” in FIG. 2 and located between the protrusions 11 of each grinding drum. This achieves high grinding efficiency of the bristles until the thickness of their ends becomes 0.02 mm or less.

The expression "sequentially reducing the height of the protrusions 11" includes the location of the grinding drums in the order of strictly sequentially decreasing the height of their protrusions: from high protrusions 11 to low protrusions, as provided for in this embodiment of the present invention, and also includes the location of the grinding drums, in which many high protrusions 11 are located on the site where the grinding process begins, and many low protrusions 11 are located on the site where process of grinding ends, even if the height of the projections disposed on one site, is not changed successively.

Preferably, the interval between the protrusions 11 is from about 1 to 5 mm. Further, assuming that each protrusion 11 has a cylindrical shape, it is preferred that the protrusions have a diameter of about 1 to 3 mm. The protrusion 11 may have a cylindrical shape, shown in figure 2, or a conical shape, shown in figure 3.

Further, if you adjust the grain size of the coating of abrasive material applied to each protrusion 11, a higher quality of needle-shaped bristles is achieved. In particular, if the grinding drums participating in the initial stage of the grinding process are coated with abrasive material with a particle size of 200 to 300 mesh, the grinding drums participating in the intermediate stage of the grinding process are coated with abrasive material with a particle size of 300 to 700 mesh, and the grinding drums participating in the final stage of the grinding process, coated with abrasive material with a particle size of 700 to 1000 mesh, then the rough surface formed during the grinding process will ultimately become very smooth, which allows irradiate needle-shaped bristles of the same quality as the bristles obtained by chemical treatment.

Further, if necessary, each grinding drum can be reciprocated in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the toothbrush during grinding. This reciprocating movement of the grinding drum allows you to evenly distribute the released heat of friction throughout the grinding drum and provides an increase in the life of the grinding drum. A suitable distance within which a reciprocating movement is made is 5 to 10 cm.

Technical advantages

The present invention provides highly pointed needle-shaped bristles in which the length of the pointed part is 5 mm or more and the thickness at the end is 0.02 mm or less, even without the process of immersing the bristles in a chemical reagent, and also prevents thermal deformation of the bristles in the process of their sharpening by machining. Further, the invention does not provide for the use of chemical reagents, and this significantly improves production conditions, and the cost of production is reduced. In addition, the material and dust removed from the bristles generated during grinding are collected and reused in the handle of a toothbrush, etc., which makes the method of the invention environmentally friendly and avoids loss of resources.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a grinding drum used in the implementation of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows a local view on an enlarged scale of the bristles of the toothbrush, located during grinding between the protrusions.

Figure 3 shows a local view on an enlarged scale of the conical protrusions.

The implementation of the invention

The following are examples of the implementation of the present invention.

The interval between the protrusions 11 of the grinding drum used in the following examples of the invention is 2 mm for all examples.

First Embodiment

Fifteen grinding drums mounted rotatably in the longitudinal and transverse planes and having projections 11 in height, respectively, 7.0 mm, 6.6 mm, 6.2 mm, 5.8 mm, 5.4 mm, 5.0 mm , 4.6 mm, 4.2 mm, 3.8 mm, 3.4 mm, 3.0 mm, 2.6 mm, 2.2 mm, 1.8 mm and 1.5 mm, are arranged from left to right, those. in order to reduce the height of the protrusions. Then, starting from the left grinding drum, ordinary non-pointed bristles of the toothbrush are ground. The grinding time on each grinding drum is 2.5 seconds, and the rotation speeds of the grinding drums in the longitudinal plane are set as follows: the rotation speed of the first, second and third grinding drums in the longitudinal plane is 300 rpm, the rotation speed of the fourth, fifth and sixth grinding the drums in the longitudinal plane is 485 rpm, the rotation speed of the seventh, eighth and ninth grinding drums in the longitudinal plane is 490 rpm, the speed The longitudinal direction of the tenth, eleventh and twelfth grinding drums is 495 rpm, and the rotation speed of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth grinding drums in the longitudinal plane is 450 rpm. The speed of rotation in the transverse plane is set as 1/3 of the speed of rotation in the longitudinal plane. To increase the grinding efficiency, each grinding drum is mounted with the possibility of reciprocating movement at a distance of 5 cm in the direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the toothbrush.

The protrusions of 11 grinding drums from the first to fifth are coated with 200 mesh abrasive material, the protrusions of the sixth to eighth grinding drums are coated with a 350 mesh abrasive material, the protrusions of grinding drums from the ninth to eleventh are coated with 550 mesh abrasive material, and the protrusions of the grinding drums from the twelfth to the fifteenth covered with abrasive material with a particle size of 850 mesh.

The length of the pointed part of the bristles treated in this way and using the described means was 6 mm, and the thickness of the bristles at the end was 0.03 mm.

Second Embodiment

Twenty-one grinding drums mounted rotatably in the longitudinal and transverse planes and having projections 11 in height, respectively, 7.0 mm, 6.7 mm, 6.4 mm, 6.1 mm, 5.8 mm, 5.5 mm, 5.2 mm, 4.9 mm, 4.6 mm, 4.3 mm, 4.0 mm, 3.7 mm, 3.4 mm, 3.1 mm, 2.8 mm, 2.5 mm, 2.2 mm, 1.9 mm, 1.8 mm, 1.6 mm and 1.5 mm, are arranged from left to right, i.e. in order to reduce the height of the protrusions. Then, starting from the left grinding drum, ordinary non-pointed bristles of the toothbrush are ground. The grinding time on each grinding drum is 2.5 seconds, and the rotation speeds of the grinding drums in the longitudinal plane are set as follows: the rotation speed of the first, second and third grinding drums in the longitudinal plane is 250 rpm, the rotation speed of the fourth, fifth and sixth grinding the drums in the longitudinal plane is 470 rpm, the rotation speed of the seventh, eighth and ninth grinding drums in the longitudinal plane is 475 rpm, the speed The tenth, eleventh, twelfth, fourteenth and fifteenth grinding drums in the longitudinal plane are 480 rpm, the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth grinding drums have a longitudinal rotation speed of 460 rpm, and the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first grinding drums in the longitudinal plane is 450 rpm. The speed of rotation in the transverse plane is set as 1/3 of the speed of rotation in the longitudinal plane. The reciprocating movement of each grinding drum is organized in the same way as in the first embodiment of the invention.

The protrusions of 11 grinding drums from the first to fifth are coated with 200 mesh abrasive material, the protrusions of the sixth to eighth grinding drums are coated with a 350 mesh abrasive material, the protrusions of grinding drums from the ninth to eleventh are coated with 550 mesh abrasive material, the protrusions of the grinding drums from the twelfth to sixteenth covered with 850 mesh abrasive material, and the protrusions of the grinding drums from the seventeenth to twenty-first covered with 1000 mesh abrasive material.

The length of the pointed part of the bristles treated in this way and using the described means was 7 mm, and the thickness of the bristles at the end was 0.02 mm or less (from 0.01 to 0.02 mm),

Third Embodiment

On the grinding drums from the first to the fourth, projections 11 with a height of 7 mm are installed, on the grinding drums from the fifth to the eighth, protrusions 11 with a height of 5 mm are installed, on the grinding drums from the ninth to twelfth, protrusions 11 with a height of 3 mm are installed, and on the grinding drums from the thirteenth to the fifteenth set the protrusions 11 with a height of 1.5 mm Otherwise, the design remains the same as in the first embodiment.

The length of the pointed part of the bristles treated in this way and using the described means was 6 mm, and the thickness of the bristles at the end was 0.02 mm.

First comparative example

As in the first embodiment, the bristles were ground using fifteen grinding drums. However, according to the first comparative example, protrusions 11 of the same height of 5 mm were used. The grinding time on each grinding drum is 2.5 seconds, and the rotation speed of the grinding drums and the size of the abrasive coating material are set to the same as in the first embodiment of the invention. When carrying out the grinding process under the above conditions, the length of the pointed part of the resulting bristles was 4 mm, and the thickness of the bristles at the end was 0.04 mm. Due to the influence of heat of friction, the bristles are deformed. In other words, the ends of the bristles were bent.

Second Comparative Example

In the second comparative example, the treatment of the bristles was carried out under the same conditions as in the first embodiment, except that the rotation speed in the longitudinal plane was increased to 1000 rpm and the rotation speed in the transverse plane to 330 rpm . The bristles processed in accordance with the second comparative example had the same length of the pointed part and the same thickness at the end as the bristles processed in accordance with the first embodiment, but underwent thermal deformation.

Third Comparative Example

On each grinding drum, protrusions 11 of the same height of 6 mm were formed, and the grinding process was performed as in the third embodiment of the invention. In other words, the position of each grinding drum was adjusted so that each of the first and fourth grinding drums was in contact with a 6 mm long bristle section, and the fourth and eighth grinding drums were in contact with a 5 mm long bristle from the end of the bristles, each of the eighth to twelfth grinding drums was in contact with a portion of the bristles 3 mm long from the end of the bristles, and each of the thirteen to fifteenth grinding drums I portion in contact with the bristle length of 1.5 mm from the end bristles. The rest of the process was carried out as in the first embodiment of the invention.

The length of the pointed portion of the resulting bristles is similar to the length of the pointed portion of the bristles obtained in the third embodiment. However, some temperature deformation was observed, and the thickness of the bristles at the ends was 0.05 mm. As a result, the grinding result was defective.

Claims (6)

1. The method of sharpening the bristles of the toothbrush using grinding drums, each of which has protrusions with a height of 1.5 to 7.0 mm and rotates in the longitudinal plane and in the transverse plane, characterized in that the grinding drums are parallel to each other and placed in in order of decreasing height of the protrusions made on each of the grinding drums, and a toothbrush having conventional non-pointed bristles is successively passed through the grinding drums, thereby continuously grinding the bristles. 2. The method according to claim 1, in which the rotation speed of each of the grinding drums in the longitudinal plane is from 200 to 500 rpm 3. The method according to claim 2, in which the rotation speed of each of the grinding drums in the longitudinal plane is from 250 to 480 rpm 4. The method according to claim 1, in which the number of grinding drums arranged in decreasing order of the height of their protrusions is from 15 to 30. 5. The method according to claim 1, in which each of the grinding drums is driven in reciprocating motion at a distance of 5 to 10 cm in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the toothbrush. 6. The method according to claim 1, in which each of the grinding drums is positioned so that the ends of the bristles of the toothbrush are in contact with the bottom surface of the depressions between the protrusions.

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