The present invention relates to a new and improved method of manufacturing a bristle support or carrier for a brush, especially hair brushes, wherein the bristle support is provided with spike or pin-like bristles. The invention further relates to a forming tool for the performance of the method and to a bristle support having pin-like bristles and fabricated in accordance with this method.
Generally speaking, when practising the invention initially there are fabricated the bristle pins or spikes formed of plastic material and connected in rows with one another at their rear end by means of a web, and thereafter, such bristle pins are mounted with the webs at the bristle support.
According to a state-of-the-art method for the fabrication of a bristle support equipped with pin-like or spike bristles for a hair brush, the individual bristle pins or bristles, formed of metal or plastic, are inserted into holes of a substantially plate-shaped rubber cushion. The bristle pins and the rubber cushion are fabricated independently of one another. So that during use there can be avoided any retraction of the bristle pins which are loosely inserted into the rubber cushion, a covering formed of textile material is attached to the rear face of the rubber cushion, against which bear the bristle pins at their rear end. This manufacturing method is therefore complicated, both from the standpoint of the work effort and time, and hence, expensive.
It is also known to the art to fabricate in one working operation rows of bristles, wherein the bristle pins of a row are mutually interconnected at their rear ends by means of a web. These bristle rows are then inserted into a rubber cushion previously provided with suitable holes or bores. At the section of the rubber cushion which supports the bristle rows there are mounted two side elements which engage below such section and must be laterally bent upwards in order to insert the bristle rows. With a rubber cushion which has been inserted into a bristle body the rows of bristles bear against such side elements, so that there is precluded any shifting back or retraction of the bristle rows during use. Also in this case the bristle pins and the rubber cushion are fabricated independently of one another. However, owing to the special construction of the rubber cushion both the fabrication of the latter and also the insertion of the bristle rows and the mounting of the rubber cushion, carrying such bristle rows, at the bristle body is rather complicated.
It has already been proposed, in the case of hair brushes having metallic bristle pins or bristles, to insert the individual metal pins or bristles in the desired arrangement into a mold in which the pins, at their rear end, are molded by the material of the bristle support, for instance rubber. In this way the bristles or pins are embedded into the bristle support, precluding any rearward shifting or displacement of the pin-like bristles. Still, also this method is equally time consuming and complicated to carry out procedurally, especially owing to the need to supply, in the required correct position, the individual metal pins or bristles into the mold.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds