US2577037A - Means for the manufacture of mops - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 4, 1951 P. M. ROGERS MEANS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF MOPS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 21, 1945 INVENTOR. P UL M. ROGER Dec. 4, 1951 P. M. ROGERS MEANS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF MOPS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 21, 1945 68 o o o 0 a 6 I00 74 30 I4 76 so I20 78 as 90 76 I28 I24 25 2 na 18 K g Y A INVENTOR.

P L M ROG FIG. 2 y

Dec. 4, 1951 P. M. ROGERS 2,577,037

MEANS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF MOPS Filed Dec. 21, 1945 I 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 v I24 0 I I "8 20 I 28 I I 32 I 26 L g as- I z/ A \I/FZRQ Am A I: A \V \I /l\ I8 I I I I I I I I I 2 I I I 4 I I I I I I l I I l l I I I I II I 44 I I I 40 I I 'J IN VEN TOR.

PAUL M. R ERS Dec. 4, 1951 ROGERS 2,577,037

MEANS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF MOPS Filed Dec. 21, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. 4

INVENTOR. 5 PAUL M. ROG 3 Dec. 4, 1951 ROGERS 2,577,037

MEANS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF MOPS Filed Deb. 21, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 r 1 r H M FIG. 6 FIG. 7

INVENTOR. FIG. 9 PAUL M. ROGERS Patented Dec. 4, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MEANS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF MOPS Paul M. Rogers, Balboa Island, Calif.

Application December 21, 1945, Serial No. 636,393 7 Claims. (01. 300-16) The present invention relates to the manufac ture of mops and more particularly to a ma chine for the production of navy type mops, those which consist of a bundle of yarns bound permanently to a stick by a wrapping which may be either a fibrous cord or a metallic wire.

Heretofore, maps; of this design have, for the most part, been made entirely by hand, a workman aligning a large number of strands of cotton yarn at the end of a mop stick and then securing the yarns in position by hand wrapping a binder twine. The present invention makes available a machine for the semi-automatic manufacture of such mops and a few of the numerous advantages which result may be briefly described.

The most striking change is in the time required for the manufacture of a mop. This has been out to a fraction of -the period formerly required, since the time necessary to make a mop by hand is reduced from a matter of minutes to one of seconds. It may not be out of place to add that although the time of manufacture is so markedly reduced the quality of the product is definitely improved. H H

The chief advantage from a quality standpoint, uniformity, is one which usually follows when a handmade product is made by machine. In the present instance this means that every mop made will be of the sameweight, that the yarns will always be bound to the stick with the correct tension so that loosely tied mops are eliminated and that, in general, the human factor is almost entirely eliminated, a highly desirable point when the product is one which is sold at so low a price that the cost of an individual rigorous inspection is prohibitive.

From the subsequent description it will be seen that the yarns are always handled in groups of several ends and never individually. This means that a low-cost, low grade yarn may be usedsince. if an occasional strand is of low strength or, for that matter is completely served, the operation is not affected.

Still another advantage of the present machine is in the fact that the yarns are always positioned uniformly about the mop stick and are never bunched on one side as frequently occurs with handmade mops.

Other features and advantages of the present machine will be apparent from the following description when used in connection with the accompanying drawings in which similar reference numerals denote similar parts;

Figure I is an elevation of a mop-making machine incorporating the present invention, certain parts having been broken away to reveal the interior construction.

Figure 2 is a View similar to Figure 1 showing the same machine at an intermediate stage in the manufacturing cycle.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the same machine at a final stage in the manufacturing cycle.

Figure 4 is a plan view of the wrapping head of the machine.

Figure 5 is an elevation, partly in section, of the wrapping head shown in Figure 4. g

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic view of the first step in the manufacture of a mop according to the present method.

Figure '7 is a view similar to Figure 6 showing an intermediate step in the manufacture of a mop according to the present method.

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 6 showing thefinal step in the manufacture of a mop according to the present method.

Figure 9 is a detail view, in perspective, of the yarn head and plunger shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3.

Figure 10 is an elevation of the cam shown in Figure 5 which controls the lay of the binder cord.

Referring to the drawings and more particularly to Figure 1, the mechanism as a whole may be broken down for purposes of description into three main component parts, a yarn supply mechanism l2, 2. wrapping mechanism l4 and a stick gripping device 16, the entire machine being mounted upon a suitable platform 18.

Considering first the supply mechanism l2, the yarns used in manufacturing Navy type mops are, as previously stated, of the cheaper grade.

Inasmuch as the yarnsused in mop-making are limp, and require support during all stages of manufacture, they present problems which do not exist in the manufacture of brooms or brushes where fibers, straws, or bristles which are at least semi ri gid are employed. 4 7

As used in the present machine the yarns are supplied in balls, each ball being made up of approximately 25 ends or individual strands. Inasmuch as the number of ends which is required for a complete mop varies between two hundred and eight hundred it will be obvious that some eight to thirty-two balls will be required.

For ease of description and for the sake of clarity in the drawing only two balls of yarn are shown, the supply of cotton being kept within the cans 28. When drawn from the cans the strand of yarn 22 first passes over ring 24, which although it may be changed in position to accommodate various sizes and weights of mop is immovable during the production cycle. The bolts used to attach ring 24 to the supporting columns 56 are not shown in this view but their method of application is obvious. The yarn then passes a second ring 25 which is adjustably secured to plunger 28 and is therefore movable with it. The yarns terminate in a head 39 which is shown in detail in Figure 9.

Referring to Figure 9 it will be seen that p er 28 is formed of a hollow tube provided with a slot 38 at one extremity and fitted with a collar 32 at the opposite end.

Welded to the slotted end of the plunger 28 is a cylinder 34 with a slot which is in register with the slot in the plunger tube. It will be seen that this arrangement forms a s ace which, except for the slotted portion, is annular in shape. The dimensions of this annular space are such that it will accommodate all the yarns, when tightly packed, which are required to make a specific type of mop. The space provided is small enough so that when all yarns are in position they will slide between the plunger 28 and the cylinder 34 but only upon the application of considerable force.

Referring again to Figure 1, it will be seen that the plunger assembly comprising tube 28 and yarn head 30 is mounted upon the end of piston rod 38 connected to piston M which slides within pneumatic cylinder 42. Air is supplied to cylinder 42 through pipe 44 and its flow from a source of supply which is not shown is controlled by valve 46 mounted upon the panel board 48. From this arrangement it will be apparent that the operator by manipulation of valve 35 may raise or lower plun er 28 together with its accompanying yarnhead 39 and ring 26.

Passing now to the stick gripping mechanism I6 shown in Figure 1 located at the upper pa rt of the machine, the stick 52 as purchased is fitted with a nail 54 which projects slightly from the stick. The clamp as shown is made up of a fixed jaw 56 held securely to the cross bar 53 by a suitable bolt 60 and a second jaw 62 which moves in a direction normal to the center line of the stick 52 and is held in tight contact with the stick by a compression spring 64. Aflixed to the movable iaw 62, is a rod 66 which, by the application of force, through the pivoted link 68 and the handle will cause the clamp to grip or release moo handle 52. It may be noted that the supporting columns 12 are only shown diagrammatically to si plify the drawing.

The third major portion of the machine, the wrapping mechanism, includes a carrying ring M which is mounted so as to be freely rotatable within guide pulleys provided with anti-frie tion bearings (not shown) and secured within frame 18. The outer surface of the carrying ring is provided with a groove 80 adapted to receive a V-belt 82 which is in turn driven by a suitable electric motor 84 mounted upon frame I8 by conventional means and controlled through the Wirmg shown diagrammatically by switch 86.

Supported within the carrying ring M, by flange 88, upon which it rests, is shuttle 90 which 15 Wound With a pply of binder cord 92. (Many of the details of the wrapping mechanism are more clearly shown in Figure 5.)

Molfmted Don the top of the carrying ring is a Servmg arm 94 pivotally mounted upon support 96. The function of the serving arm is to control the position and lay of the binder: cQ 92 4 and, to accomplish this, the angle of inclination of the serving arm may be varied by the rotation of cam 98 with which the arm is held in contact by tension spring Hill. A roller bearing IE2 is provided between the cam and the serving arm to minimize friction.

The mechanism for the rotation of cam 98 comprises shaft Hi4 mounted upon suitable brackets I06 and which is, in turn driven by sector gear [08 from worm gear H0 affixed to capstan H2. The motion of the capstan H2 derives from the binder cord 92 which is snubbed several times about it. It will be apparent that since one end of the binder cord is attached to nail 54, which is fixed in position, and since carrying ring 14 rotates as a whole about nail 54, that a wrapping of binder cord will be applied to stick 52 as the carrying ring '14 rotates. It follows that the cord required for the wrapping will be drawn from shuttle 9i! causing a relative rotation between it and carrying ring "M. The path of cord 92 will therefore be from the shuttle; over guide pin lid, about capstan H2, which is driven by the cord, around idler pulley H6 and thence to the serving arm 94 whose vertical position is controlled by the rotation of the capstan I I2. The function of the capstan and the factors which control its design will be clarified by the subsequent description of th method of operation of the machine.

The only portion of the apparatus which is not included in the yarn supply mechanism, wrapping mechanism or stick gripping device is the motor driven cut-off saw H8 mounted on column 50 a short distance below frame 18. This saw, which consists simply of a circular blade I20 protected by a guard l22and driven by a conventional electric motor [24 which is controlled by switch I26, is mounted on a hinge I23 so that it may be swung into position to cut the yarns after completion of the mop.

Method of operation The first step in the manufacture of a mop with the machine is to clamp a mop stick 52 between the jaws 56 and 62 of the clamp with a pro jecting nail located near the end of the mop handle and facing the operator in the position shown in Figure 1. It will of course be understood that means should be provided to insure that the position of the mop stick in the clamp is always the same for if the length of the handle projecting below the clamp should vary the mops made will not be uniform. The next step is to secure the end of the binder cord after it passes through the serving arm to the projecting nail head. The operator then opens valve 46 adz'nit ting compressed air to cylinder 42 and forcing piston 40 to the top of the cylinder, When this has been done the relative position of the parts is that shown in Figure 2. From this drawing it will be seen that the yarn carrying head 30 now covers the lower end of the mop stick and furthermore that the nail head 54 and the end of the binder secured to it are not touched by the rising plunger and yarn head because of slot 38. It should not be necessary to mention that the internal diameter of plunger 28 is sufficiently large to pass over the mop stick 52 without bind- With the yarn carrying head 30 in the elevated position shown in Figure 2 the operator with one hand grips the yarns projecting from the head and holds them firmly about the mop stick 5;,- l-I e then closes, valve 46 releasing the air pressure in cylinder .42 and permitting'the plunger together with ring 26 and yarn head 30 to drop to its lower position. As previously suggested, the yarns are closely packed within the annular space of the yarn head so that they are carried upward when the plunger is elevated but, at the same time, fit loosely enough so that the yarn head and plunger will slide back along the strands when the air pressure is released even though the yarns are held at their upper extremity by the operator.

This stage of the process is illustrated in Figure 3. It will be seen that, in dropping past fixed ring 24, the movable ring 25 has drawn from cans 20 a length of yarn determined by the distance between the fixed and movable rings. In other words it is this distance which determines the length of the strands in the mop; a longer mop resulting if the fixed ring is raised and vice versa.

The yarns may now be bound to the handle.

To understand the subsequent operation of the machine, reference should be had to Figure in the drawings which illustrates on an enlarged scale cam 98 which controls the position of serving arm 94. While one specific design of cam is shown it will be obvious of course that many other shapes and therefore many other arrange ments of binding may be used.

The starting point on the cam, A, is in contact with roller I02 on serving arm 94 when the binding operation is commenced. At this point the operator begins rotation of carrying ring M by switch 86 which controls driving motor 84. As the carrying ring rotates the serving arm winds the binder cord tightly about the mop yarns which are still held in position by the operator. As previously described binder cord 92, when drawn from shuttle 90, actuates capstan llZ which in turn causes cam 98 to rotate. (The gear train between capstan H2 and cam 98 is so selected that the cam makes one complete rotation during the interval required to complete the binding cycle.)

It will be seen that the radius of the cam, considering spindle hole I39 as the center, increases very slightly between points A and B. This means that the point of application of the serving yarn drops very slowly while it is in contact with this portion of the cam, thus applying a closely wound binding to initially anchor the mop yarns. As the application of the binder continues the radius of the cam between points B and C increases at a more rapid rate so that the turns of the binder cord as they approach the end of the mop stick 52 are relatively widely spaced. The relative position of the yarns 22, binder cord 92, nail 54 and stick 52 at the time when point C on the cam is in contact with the serving arm is illustrated diagrammatically in Figure 6.

It is now desirable to bring the binder cord quickly up the stick again and this is accomplished by rapidly decreasing the radius of the cam between points C and D. As illustrated in Figure 7 the binder cord at point D is halfway between the nail 54 and the end of the mop stick.

When the cam has rotated as far as point D the operator stops the rotation of the carrying ring 11 by means of switch 86 and releases the yarns which, up to this point, he has been holding about the mop stick as shown in Figure 3. When released the upper portion of the yarns fall over to cover the under-lying portion of the binder cord which has been previously wound. The machine is once again started and the binder, which is now applied over the outer layer of yarns, serves to tie downthe second group of yarns firmly upon the underlying strands to form a double thickness. From the contour of the cam it will be seen that the radius decreases during the balance of the cycle, slowly between D and E and more rapidly from E to F, the end of the operation. This, results in a closely wound outer wrapping of binder cord which securely fastens the yarns into a compact mop head as shown in Figure 8.

When point F on the cam is reached the operator stops motor 84 again by means of switch 86 and starts the cut-off saw by means of switch l26.

The saw and motor are then swung under the carrying ring on hinge I28 cutting the entire mass of yarns from the mop. The binder cord is then out between the mop and the serving arm and securely knotted. The loose end of the binder cord may be tucked under the turns which were previously applied or, if the mop is intended for severe service, the end may be secured in place by a staple. Finally the mop stick is released from the clamp in which it has been held, the mop now being entirely complete.

Before the operation is repeated the carrying ring is passed through one complete revolution which brings the serving arm into contact with point A on the cam once again. The entire mechanism is once again in the starting position shown in Figure 1 and the cycle of operations may be repeated.

While a specific embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail it is to be understood that many modifications and substitution of equivalents may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention as defined in the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for making mops which comprises means for holding a mop stick in vertical position, a reciprocable yarn carrying mechanism for drawing limp yarns from a plurality of yarn containers and placing said yarns in a predetermined position enclosing an end of said stick, means for reciprocating said yarn carrying mechanism in a direction axially of the stick toward and away from said end of the stick, means for binding said yarns to said end of the stick, and means for severing the yarns at a predetermined position to form a mop head.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the yarn carrying mechanism draws the limp yarns from the container when moved away from the end of the stick and places the yarns in the predetermined position enclosing the end of the stick when it is moved toward the end of the stick.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the yarn carrying mechanism comprises a tubular member having interior cross-sectional dimensions greater than the cross-sectional dimensions of said end of the stick, whereby it may receive the end of the stick, and having an annular slot in it adjacent its stick receiving end adapted to receive the limp yarns and frictionally hold them therein.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the means for reciprocating the yarn carrying mechanism comprises a cylinder for receiving fluid under pressure, a piston in said cylinder and movable therein by fluid under pressure, and a piston rod carried by said piston and secured to the yarn carrying mechanism.

5. Apparatus according to claim '1 in which the binding means comprises a carrying ring relatively rotatable coaxially with respect to said stick, a shuttle supported thereby and carrying a supply of binding cord, a serving arm sup ported thereby for guiding the binding cord during a binding operation, and cam means operated by the motion of the cord during a, binding operation for varying the position of the serving arm during the binding operation.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5 in which the central opening of the carrying ring is adapted to receive the yarn carrying mechanism when said mechanism is moved toward the end of the stick.

7. Apparatus of the class described comprising mechanism for holding a stick in a vertical position, a vertically reciprocable yarn carrying mechanism for placing yarns in a predetermined position enclosing an end of the stick, a binding mechanism for binding said yarns to said end of the stick, and means for severing yarns at a predetermined point to form a mop head, said yarn carrying mechanism taking the form of a generally annular ring of a size to firmly grip the yarns carried.

PAUL M. ROGERS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 222,141 Lipe Dec. 2, 1879 428,873 Adams May 27, 1890 842,204 Kehr Jan. 29, 1907 891,744 Stocker June 23, 1908 898,019 Stocker Sept. 8, 1908 1,043,397 Capell Nov. 5, 1912 1,186,810 McChesney June 13, 1916 1,630,187 Kenner May 24, 1927 1,719,093 Van Veen July 2, 1929

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