Angle tufted rotary brush assembly

Abstract

A rotary brush assembly, suitable for use in a vacuum cleaner, is disclosed. The assembly includes a generally cylindrical brush roller body carrying an array of helical rows of bristle tufts. In one embodiment, bristle tufts near a midplane normal to the roller body axis and equidistant between its ends are substantially normal to the roller body axis. Other bristle tufts are angled away from the midplane in an amount which is an increasing function of their distance from the midplane. Bristle stiffness is an increasing function of the degree of tuft angulation. In another embodiment, the roller body defines helical grooves in its outer surface, and two brush strip substrate portions bearing the bristle tufts are inserted end to end in each groove. Adjacent brush strip ends define structure for interlocking the brush strips for inhibiting longitudinal separation of the brush strips, which would otherwise tend to result from brush rotation. In this embodiment, bristle tuft angulation from the normal is a function of tuft displacement from the midpoint of each individual substrate portion.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.