Mechanism for feeding and transporting brush blanks

Brush blank handling apparatus comprising a transport unit for receiving and transporting brush blanks, and a plurality of work stations positioned adjacent the transport unit at spaced points therealong, said transport unit including a carrier mounted for travel along an endless path past said stations, indexing means for moving said carrier along said path in a stepped manner, a series of work holders, each work holder adapted to receive and mount a brush blank, mounting means mounting each holder to said carrier for sequential presentation at the work stations upon an indexing of said carrier, and transfer means at one or more of said stations, said transfer means being selectively engageable with an aligned work holder for a transfer to and subsequent return from the work stations, each work station having transfer means associated therewith including secondary work receiving holders mounted for movement in one or more directions independently of the transport unit, said secondary work receiving holders being adapted for transfer of brush blank holders from and subsequently to the transport unit.