Generally speaking, brush making machines are used to produce brushes in various sizes and designs. These types of brushes are widely used for a variety of purposes, including deburring and finishing. The ability to provide precise, fine finishes on parts is particularly important when it comes to working with materials such as pressed metals and fabricated metals. This kind of finishing requires a certain level of control and precision that can be difficult to achieve when using conventional deburring tools. Fortunately, many different types of brush-making machines are available for use in these situations.

The invention provides a machine for the fabrication of brushes which is capable of being operated at high speed in order to produce a high percentage yield of quality brushes. The machine processes all of the necessary single components to make a brush, including filaments, brush bodies and staple wire, in one unit. It is also able to handle multiple shifts in production. This means that a large number of brushes can be produced at the same time, with the same amount of work involved.

In a specific form of the invention, the brush making machine includes a table 14 which is fixed in two perpendicular relation to tuft setting jaws. The tuft setting jaws are designed to be shifted by suitable drive means so as to position a new brush back for tufting at each of the two positions. The apparatus includes a hole finder device having a pointer 17 which engages one of the apertures in a locating block 19 each time the table is shifted. The locating block is provided with a ratchet mechanism which is operative to rotate the tuft deflector in either clockwise or counterclockwise direction, depending on whether the tuft deflector is positioned at the front or the rear of the machine.

The tufting method of the apparatus is such that it can tuft brushes with synthetic fibers only (up to 8 pieces in each hole), steel wire only or mixed bristles of both steel and synthetic fibers in any given hole of the brush back. Moreover, it is capable of producing a wide variety of brushes having varying degrees of twisting in the ends of the bristles.

Lastly, the tufting method of the apparatus is such as to enable a single machine to be used for production of both standard and anchorless toothbrushes by incorporating an arrangement for inserting the synthetic or steel wire into a pre-cored brush handle. This arrangement is very simple and offers significant benefits pertaining to manufacturing, design and quality. This type of machine can produce up to 48 brushes per minute and is highly cost-effective in comparison with existing machines. This type of machine offers numerous additional benefits for the manufacturer, such as the elimination of handling, welding and clicking and a substantial reduction in the overall machine footprint.