Typically, during the manufacturing process of brushes or similar the following steps are provided: inserting the bristles inside of a band member or ferrule made in galvanised plate, thus making a brush head; applying adhesive at the ends of the bristles inside of the ferrule to secure the bristles to the ferrule; inserting a member, which will make the brush handle, inside of the ferrule thus formed; and fastening the handle to the ferrule with nails or similar process.

In most cases, in order to improve the performance of the brush, one or more spacing members are inserted at the ends of the bristles inside of the ferrule.

The abovementioned step may be carried out manually as well as mechanically.

In case of a manual operation, the bristles are firstly inserted into the ferrule so that their ends project from the edge of the latter from a side wherein the handle will subsequently be inserted. Then, a blade- shaped instrument apt to create a race among the bristles for the subsequent insertion of the spacing member is inserted. Subsequently, the bristles/spacing member assembly is pushed towards the inside of the ferrule so as to create a housing for the handle. Then, an adhesive which fastens the assembly to the ferrule is applied.

In case of a mechanical operation, for the inserting of the spacing member a step of separating the bristles by means of blade-shaped members, with the subsequent insertion of a member made of a band portion in the longitudinal direction of the bristles, is provided. The band may be made in plastics, cardboard, or the like.

Once such band portion has been inserted among the

bristles, the former is transversely cut by blade members, thus leaving the band portion inside of the bristles, hence making the spacing member of the bristles. According to such process, the band thickness makes the desirable separation among bristles.

In general, there subsists a drawback due to the fact that the band portion has a length and a width no suitable to fit to all brush head dimensions. Therefore, in the manufacture of heads of different dimensions the provision of as many bands of various dimensions becomes necessary.

Hence, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for simplifying the application of band- made spacing members for brush heads.

Another object of the present invention is to make wedge-shaped spacing members starting from bands cut according to trapezoidal or other shapes so as to manufacture a brush of a superior quality.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a method allowing to avoid the employ of several bands of different dimensions for as many different brush dimensions.

Therefore, the present invention provides a method for the inserting of spacing members among the bristles of a brush head comprising the following steps: inserting the bristles inside of a ferrule, by allowing the ends thereof project from the edges of said ferrule; creating one or more races in said bristles with means for opening the bristles and following the translation of said brush head on said opening means; making one or more spacing members starting from a band externally fed and transversely to the longitudinal direction of said bristles, and following a cutting step of specific sections of said band; and inserting one or more spacing members among said bristles through said races and with thrust means.

According to a first advantageous aspect of the method of the present invention, with the band fed according to the method of the present invention it is possible to employ a single band for making spacing members for brushes of different dimensions since, according thereto, it is the band length which determines the width of the spacing member.

According to a second advantageous aspect of the method of the present invention, it is possible to employ any type of band having a cross section suitable to the function of spacing member for the bristle assembly.

According to a third advantageous aspect of the present invention, it is provided apparatus with which it is possible to insert spacing members among the bristles of a brush starting from a band and by feeding the latter transversely to the bristles.

According to a fourth advantageous aspect of the present invention, with a single step it is possible to feed more than one spacing insert.

According to a fifth advantageous aspect of the present invention, with the apparatus of the present invention it is possible to feed more than one band in an overlapped manner, in order to obtain different thickness of the spacing member, thereby reducing the need to provide various band types for various brush types, and saving materials and hence running costs.

A detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the method and of the apparatus of the present invention will hereinafter be provided, given by way of example and not for limitative purposes, making reference to the annexed drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is an exploded view of a generic brush; Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view taken along line A- A of Fig. 1 ; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section view taken along line B-B of Fig. 1 ; Fig. 4 is a schematic view of a section of the

apparatus of the present invention in an operative condition; Fig. 5 is a schematic view of a section of the apparatus of the present invention in another operative condition; Fig. 6 is a schematic view illustrating the apparatus of the present invention in a condition preceding the insertion of the spacing members among the bristles; and Fig. 7 is a schematic view illustrating the apparatus of the present invention in a condition of insertion of the spacing members among the bristles.

With reference now to Figs. 1,2,3, a brush incorporating a brush head 19 made according to the method of the present invention is illustrated. More precisely, the brush is made of the brush head 19 having bristles 11 held in a ferrule 12 and a handle 10, being also held in the ferrule 12. The bristles 11 have, at the inside thereof, a pair of spacing members 16 apt to improve the effectiveness of the brush. The spacing members 16 are inserted among the bristles 11 inside of the ferrule 12, the latter thus maintaining the bristles 11 in close contact with the ferrule 12 (better illustrated hereinafter).

With reference now to Figs. 4,5,6 and 7, the apparatus has two blade members 14 apt to create a gap 15 among the bristles 11 so as to allow the housing of respective spacing members 16 in said gap 15. Moreover, two members made each of a pair of foils 17 spaced of a value similar to that of the gap 15 adjacently arranged to the blade members 14 are provided. The function of the two pairs of foils 17 is that of maintaining the bristles 11 separated.

A cutting device 18 for cutting a fed band 23, whose cut section will implement the spacing member 16 apt to be inserted among the bristles 11, is provided.

Likewise, a body 20 having two guides 21 each apt to

house the section of spacing member 16 cut by the cutting device 18 is provided. The guides 21 lie aligned to the pair of foils 17.

On the other hand, a pair of thrust members 22 apt to cooperate with the guides 21 so as to push the cut band sections 16 towards the bristles 11 passing through the pairs of foil 17, is provided.

It has to be specified that a band feeder, (not shown in the Figs.) not constituting object of the present invention and which is apt to provide band lengths equivalent to the width of the spacing member 16, is further provided.

According to the method of the present invention, it is provided that a brush head made of bristles 11 held together by a ferrule 12 and projecting from both sides of the ferrule 12 be sideways fed to the abovedisclosed device. More precisely, initially the brush head thus made slidadably engages to the blades 14 so that the latter open a gap into the tuft of bristles 11 at the side wherein the spacing members 16 will be inserted.

Upon advancing through the blades 14, the brush head subsequently engages to the pairs of foils 17 so as to create two races among the bristles 11, thus maintaining such condition.

Concomitantly to the abovedisclosed step, the band feeder 23 inserts into the guides 21 the band section that will make the spacing member 16. Then, the band 23 is cut by the cutting device 18, leaving the band section 16 inside of the guides 21.

With particular reference to Figs. 6 and 7, subsequently to the cutting of the spacing members 16 the same are pushed by the thrust members 22 through the respective guides 21 and the pairs of foils 17 in the race 15 created among the bristles 11. The thrust member 22 pushes the spacing member 16 among the bristles 11 until bringing the former in a condition matching the length of the bristles projecting from the ferrule 12.

Then, the entire device 20 with the thrust members 22 move away from the brush head 19 letting the latter free to advance to the subsequent brush making step with no risk of having the spacing members 16 fall from the bristles 11.

More precisely, in the step subsequent to the abovedisclosed one, the bristles of the brush head 19 incorporating the spacing members 16 are pushed towards the inside of the ferrule 12, then an adhesive is applied to the assembly thus assembled, making a brush head 19 incorporating the spacing members 16.

The subsequent step will be that of applying the brush handle 10 as provided by the known art.