An apparatus (1) for producing bristle products (2), in particular brushes, brooms and/or paint brushes, having at least two stations (3,4) and a transport apparatus (5), with which the bristle product bodies (6) and/or bristle products (2) to be processed are movable from station to station. The transport apparatus (5) has at least two transport planes (7,8) which are independent of one another and in which bristle product bodies (6) and/or bristle products (2) can be supplied to the stations (3,4) for processing and/or handling.

A brush head (100) and a method of making a tuft spike (20) and a brush head with a plurality of tuft spikes. The brush head includes a matrix (30) having a plurality of receptacles (32) formed therein. A plurality of tuft spikes are each formed of a plurality of bristle strands (22) arranged in a tuft (21) having a free end (25) and a proximal end (23) inserted in a spike body (24). Each tuft spike is disposed in one of the receptacles of the matrix. A brush head neck (40) has a distal platen (42) that is connected to and at least partially encompassed in the matrix.

A method for quality testing of brushes (2) is provided, in which method a trained, preferably AT-based, classifier (4) is used. After corresponding training using a training data set which shows images of defective brushes, the classifier (4) is configured to classify brushes (2) to be checked as defective brushes based on images of the brushes (2).

To improve the brush-making field, a tuft-picking device (4) is provided, which includes the tuft picker (8) that is movable in relation to the material box (2) of the brush-making machine (1) and, on its front side (11), which in the operating position faces the bristle supply (3) held in the material box (2), includes at least one tuft-picking notch (12). The tuft-picking notch (12) has two opposing knife edges (14, 15), which delimit the notch opening (13) of the tuft-picking notch (12) and are oriented transverse to the direction of movement of the tuft picker (8). Another part of the tuft-picking device (4) is the counter piece (9), which is provided with the separating edge (17) facing the tuft picker (8). In order to allow bristle filaments (16) to be removed from the bristle supply (4) as gently as possible, at least one of the two knife edges (14, 15) and/or the separating edge (17) is rounded.

To improve the brush-making field, a tuft-picking device (4) is provided, which includes the tuft picker (8) that is movable in relation to the material box (2) of the brush-making machine (1) and, on its front side (11), which in the operating position faces the bristle supply (3) held in the material box (2), includes at least one tuft-picking notch (12). The tuft-picking notch (12) has two opposing knife edges (14, 15), which delimit the notch opening (13) of the tuft-picking notch (12) and are oriented transverse to the direction of movement of the tuft picker (8). Another part of the tuft-picking device (4) is the counter piece (9), which is provided with the separating edge (17) facing the tuft picker (8). In order to allow bristle filaments (16) to be removed from the bristle supply (4) as gently as possible, at least one of the two knife edges (14, 15) and/or the separating edge (17) is rounded.

A cell of a brush making device for making at least a part of a toothbrush, having a pin unit having at least one pin, a pin holding sub-unit and a pin guiding sub-unit, the pin having a first section having a first end and a second section having a second end, the first section having a holding structure, and at least one spring section arranged between the first section and the second section, the pin holding sub-unit having a holding structure that is engaged with the holding structure of the pin for fixedly holding the pin, the pin holding sub-unit and the pin guiding sub-unit being arranged for being movable along a first direction towards and away from each other, and the pin guiding sub-unit having a channel for guiding at least a portion of the second section of the pin, the channel being inclined against the first direction.

A cell of a brush making device for making at least a part of a toothbrush, having a pin unit having at least one pin, a pin holding sub-unit and a pin guiding sub-unit, the pin having a first section having a first end and a second section having a second end, the first section having a holding structure, and at least one spring section arranged between the first section and the second section, the pin holding sub-unit having a holding structure that is engaged with the holding structure of the pin for fixedly holding the pin, the pin holding sub-unit and the pin guiding sub-unit being arranged for being movable along a first direction towards and away from each other, and the pin guiding sub-unit having a channel for guiding at least a portion of the second section of the pin, the channel being inclined against the first direction.

A method and apparatus for producing round brushes having bristles clamped between two wire portions of a folded wire, comprising a feed station and a subsequent finishing station, wherein in the feed station a wire is bent between two counter holders, and the feed station comprises a bristle feed device and a rotatable gripper adapted to grip the bent wire and twist it during the feed of bristles to anchor the bristles in the wire. In the finishing station, the twisted wire is held by a stationary gripper and further twisted by the rotatable gripper. The bristles are then cut on their outer side.

A method and apparatus for producing round brushes having bristles clamped between two wire portions of a folded wire, comprising a feed station and a subsequent finishing station, wherein in the feed station a wire is bent between two counter holders, and the feed station comprises a bristle feed device and a rotatable gripper adapted to grip the bent wire and twist it during the feed of bristles to anchor the bristles in the wire. In the finishing station, the twisted wire is held by a stationary gripper and further twisted by the rotatable gripper. The bristles are then cut on their outer side.

An apparatus for producing bristle products is provided. The apparatus (1) has at least two, preferably redundant, tufting units (3, 4) which can optionally be moved from a setting-up position (7) outside a working chamber (8) of the apparatus (1) into a working position (9) within the working chamber (8) and vice versa, in particular such that, whenever one of the at least two tufting units (3, 4) is arranged in the setting-up position (7), another of the at least two tufting units (3, 4) can be or is arranged in the working position (9).