Brushing apparatus

An apparatus for use in brushing a longitudinally extending side of a workpiece as the workpiece moves through said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of brushes which are movable between retracted positions spaced from the longitudinally extending side of the workpiece and extended positions engaging the longitudinally extending side of the workpiece;
• motor means for rotating said plurality of brushes to brush the longitudinally extending side of the workpiece when said plurality of brushes are in their extended positions;
• detector means for detecting when there is a predetermined extent of brush wear during brushing of the workpiece;
• and
• drive means for moving said plurality of brushes from their extended positions to their retracted positions in response to said detector means detecting the predetermined extent of brush wear during brushing of the workpiece.

An apparatus for use in brushing the periphery of an elongate workpiece as the workpiece moves through said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of brushes which are engageable with the workpiece, each of said brushes of said plurality of brushes is rotatable about an axis extending parallel to a longitudinal central axis of said workpiece;
• motor means for rotating said plurality of brushes to brush the workpiece;
• detector means for detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece;
• and
• brush adjustment means for changing positions of at least some of said brushes of said plurality of brushes relative to the workpiece in response to said detector means detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece, said brush adjustment means being operable to move at least some of the brushes of said plurality of brushes along a path extending perpendicular to the longitudinal central axis of the workpiece to change the position of at least some of the brushes of said plurality of brushes relative to the workpiece.

An apparatus for use in brushing the periphery of an elongate workpiece as the workpiece moves through said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of brushes which are engageable with the workpiece;
• motor means for rotating said plurality of brushes to brush the workpiece;
• detector means for detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece;
• and
• brush adjustment means for changing positions of at least some of said brushes of said plurality of brushes relative to the workpiece in response to said detector means detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece, said detector means includes means for detecting a predetermined amount of brush wear and for effecting movement of at least some of the brushes of said plurality of brushes from a first condition engaging the workpiece to a second condition spaced from the workpiece in response to detection of the predetermined amount of brush wear.

An apparatus for use in brushing the periphery of an elongate workpiece as the workpiece moves through said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of brushes which are engageable with the workpiece, said plurality of brushes includes first and second groups of brushes;
• motor means for rotating said plurality of brushes to brush the workpiece;
• detector means for detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece;
• and
• brush adjustment means for changing positions of at least some of said brushes of said plurality of brushes relative to the workpiece in response to said detector means detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece, said brush adjustment means being operable to simultaneously move said first and second groups of brushes toward the workpiece in response to said detector means detecting brush wear.

An apparatus for use in brushing the periphery of an elongate workpiece as the workpiece moves through said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of brushes which are engageable with the workpiece;
• motor means for rotating said plurality of brushes to brush the workpiece;
• detector means for detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece;
• brush adjustment means for changing positions of at least some of said brushes of said plurality of brushes relative to the workpiece in response to said detector means detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece;
• and
• first and second carriages movable toward and away from the workpiece, said plurality of brushes includes a first group of brushes each of which is rotatably mounted on said first carriage and a second group of brushes each of which is rotatably mounted on said second carriage, said brush adjustment means includes means for moving said first and second carriages toward the workpiece in response to said detector means detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece.

An apparatus for use in brushing the periphery of an elongate workpiece as the workpiece moves through said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of brushes which are engageable with the workpiece, each of said brushes of said plurality of brushes is engageable with a portion of a longitudinally extending side of the workpiece, said plurality of brushes being disposed in an array which extends around the workpiece and the portions of the longitudinally extending side of the workpiece engaged by said plurality of brushes are offset around the workpiece and have a combined extent which is at least as great as the extent of the side of the workpiece as viewed in a plane extending perpendicular to a central axis of the workpiece;
• motor means for rotating said plurality of brushes to brush the workpiece;
• detector means for detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece;
• and
• brush adjustment means for changing positions of at least some of said brushes of said plurality of brushes relative to the workpiece in response to said detector means detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece.

An apparatus for use in brushing the periphery of an elongate workpiece as the workpiece moves through said apparatus, said apparatus;

• comprising:
• a plurality of brushes which are engageable with the workpiece, said plurality of brushes includes a first group of brushes and a second group of brushes;
• motor means for rotating said plurality of brushes to brush the workpiece;
• detector means for detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece;
• and
• brush adjustment means for changing positions of at least some of said brushes of said plurality of brushes relative to the workpiece in response to said detector means detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece, said brush adjustment means being operable to simultaneously move said first and second groups of brushes toward the workpiece in response to said detector means detecting brush wear.

An apparatus for use in brushing the periphery of an elongate workpiece as the workpiece moves through said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of brushes which are engageable with the workpiece, said plurality of brushes are rotatable about axes which extend parallel to a longitudinal central axis of the workpiece;
• motor means for rotating said plurality of brushes to brush the workpiece;
• detector means for detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece;
• and
• brush adjustment means for changing positions of at least some of said brushes of said plurality of brushes relative to the workpiece in response to said detector means detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece, said brush adjustment means being operable to move each of said brushes of said plurality of brushes toward the longitudinally extending side of the workpiece in response to said detector means detecting brush wear while the axes about which said brushes are rotatable are maintained parallel to the longitudinal central axis of the workpiece.

An apparatus for use in brushing the periphery of an elongate workpiece as the workpiece moves through said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of brushes which are engageable with the workpiece, each of said brushes is movable between a retracted position spaced from the workpiece and an extended position engaging the workpiece;
• motor means for rotating said plurality of brushes to brush the workpiece;
• detector means for detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece, said detector means including means for detecting when there is a predetermined extent of brush wear;
• and
• brush adjustment means for changing positions of at least some of said brushes of said plurality of brushes relative to the workpiece in response to said detector means detecting brush wear during brushing of the workpiece, said brush adjustment means being operable to effect movement of said brushes from extended positions engaging the workpiece to retracted positions spaced from the workpiece in response to detection of the predetermined extent of brush wear.

An apparatus for use in brushing the periphery of an elongate workpiece as the workpiece moves through said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:

• first and second groups of brushes which are engageable with the periphery of the workpiece;
• first motor means for rotating brushes in the first group of brushes to brush a first portion of the periphery of the workpiece, said first motor means includes a first electric motor;
• second motor means for rotating brushes in the second group of brushes to brush a second portion of the periphery of the workpiece, said second motor means includes a second electric motor;
• and
• detector means for detecting when said first group of brushes is effective to cause the application of a first torque load to said first motor means, said detector means being effective to detect when said second group of brushes is effective to cause the application of a second torque load to said second motor means, said detector means includes means for sensing the magnitude of an electrical current conducted to said first electric motor during brushing of the workpiece with the first group of brushes and for sensing the magnitude of an electrical current conducted to said second electric motor during brushing of the workpiece with the second group of brushes.

An apparatus for use in brushing the periphery of an elongate workpiece as the workpiece moves through said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:

• first and second groups of brushes which are engageable with the periphery of the workpiece;
• first motor means for rotating brushes in the first group of brushes to brush a first portion of the periphery of the workpiece;
• second motor means for rotating brushes in the second group of brushes to brush a second portion of the periphery of the workpiece;
• detector means for detecting when said first group of brushes is effective to cause the application of a first torque load to said first motor means, said detector means being effective to detect when said second group of brushes is effective to cause the application of a second torque load to said second motor means;
• a first carriage which is movable toward and away from the workpiece, said first group of brushes being disposed on said first carriage;
• a second carriage which is movable toward and away from the workpiece, said second group of brushes being disposed on said second carriage;
• and
• brush adjustment means which is operable to move said first carriage relative to said second carriage and the workpiece to vary the torque load applied to said first motor means relative to the torque load applied to said second motor means.

An apparatus for use in brushing the periphery of an elongate workpiece as the workpiece moves through said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:

• first and second groups of brushes which are engageable with the periphery of the workpiece, said brushes of said first group of brushes are rotatable about a first plurality of axes extending parallel to the longitudinal central axis of the workpiece, said brushes of said second group of brushes being rotatable about a second plurality of axes extending parallel to the longitudinal central axis of the workpiece;
• first motor means for rotating brushes in the first group of brushes to brush a first portion of the periphery of the workpiece;
• second motor means for rotating brushes in the second group of brushes to brush a second portion of the periphery of the workpiece;
• detector means for detecting when said first group of brushes is effective to cause the application of a first torque load to said first motor means, said detector means being effective to detect when said second group of brushes is effective to cause the application of a second torque load to said second motor means;
• and
• brush adjustment means which is operable to move said first group of brushes toward and away from the workpiece along a path extending perpendicular to the longitudinal central axis of the workpiece and to move said second group of brushes toward and away from the workpiece along a path extending perpendicular to the longitudinal central axis of the workpiece.

An apparatus for removing material from a longitudinally extending workpiece, said apparatus comprising:

• first and second carriages disposed adjacent to opposite sides of the workpiece;
• a first plurality of rotatable brushes mounted on said first carriage;
• a second plurality of rotatable brushes mounted on said second carriage;
• a carriage drive mechanism which is operable to simultaneously move said first and second carriages toward the workpiece and to interrupt movement of said first and second carriages toward the workpiece with the first and second pluralities of brushes pressing against the workpiece with equal force, said carriage drive mechanism includes a motor means for effecting operation of said carriage drive mechanism to simultaneously move said first and second carriages toward the workpiece, and
• a control circuit for controlling operation of said motor means to cause said first and second pluralities of brushes to press against the workpiece with equal force, said control circuit including detector means for detecting the force with which said first and second pluralities of brushes press against the workpiece.