CLASS 300,	BRUSH, BROOM, AND MOP MAKING
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SECTION I - CLASS DEFINITION

This class is intended to cover machines, appliances, and processes involving or for the performance of one or more of the operations necessary in the manufacture of brushes, brooms, or mops, except those of such general application to other arts or articles as to have acquired a distinct status elsewhere--as, for example, in nailing and stapling, sewing-machines, wire-working, folding-machines, woodworking.

In the terminology of the present classification the words "brush" and "broom" are not used as synonymous, but as connoting, in general, certain distinctions--as, for example, of greater coarseness and stiffness in a broom than in a brush, and of animal bristles, hair, or equivalent in a brush, rather than the vegetable straw, splints, or equivalent of brooms; also of the uniformly smooth periphery and substantially circular cross-section which generally characterize bristles, properly so called, in distinction from broom materials.

Under brush-making machines are placed those which deal with natural or artificial bristles of animal or vegetable origin and of the characteristics above mentioned or which handle metal bristles in an equivalent way to produce an implement whose working face consists of the ends of a mass of such bristles lying in substantially parallel and generally mutually contacting relation. Those employing means for cutting wire into uniform lengths and separately inserting them in a backing are excluded along with means for molding rubber bristles integrally with a backing. The latter is placed in Class 425, Plastic Article or Earthenware Shaping or Treating: Apparatus.

Under broom-making machines are included those which handle broom "straw" or equivalent material or splints or equivalents which are too stiff, heavy, coarse, or angular in cross-section to be properly termed "bristles".

Because of indicated differences in the character of the material handled the types of machines placed under the respective stated heads are so different as to make it extremely unlikely that a structure placed under one head could anticipate one falling under the other.

Under mop-making machines are placed those dealing with sheets, folds, fibers, or strands of spun, woven, or other fabric in such manner as to assemble them into a more or less amorphous mass capable of acting as a wiper, rather than as a brush or broom, and in general of capillary absorption and retention of foreign matter or of a suitable cleaning or polishing substance. It is to be noted that in the use of a wiper for cleaning purposes foreign matter to be removed is carried away with the wiper, which is not the case with brushes or brooms.

In the Encyclopedia Americana, edition of 1920, is an article on brushes and brooms whose perusal will often prove useful as a preliminary to a search in this class, due allowance being made for some inaccuracies and omissions.

SECTION II - REFERENCES TO OTHER CLASSES

SEE OR SEARCH CLASS:

SUBCLASSES

1	MISCELLANEOUS:
	This subclass is indented under the class definition.  Miscellaneous inventions relating to the making of brushes, brooms, mops, or similar articles, not specifically classifiable under succeeding titles in this class and not having as sole function or operating one so generally useful as to warrant placing them in some other specific art-such, for example, as nailing and stapling, sewing-machines, boring-machines, folding-machines, etc.

2	BRUSH-MAKING MACHINES:
	This subclass is indented under the class definition.  Machines for making brushes--i.e., implements whose working face is constituted by the ends of a mass of natural or artificial bristles assembled in parallel relation, in distinction from brooms, composed of assembled splints, stalks of broom-corn, or equivalent material, and from mops, composed of assembled folds, strips, sheets, or strands of spun or woven fabric. (1) Note. Devices for drilling, filling, tuft-gathering, feeding, or setting are excluded from this subclass, being placed in subclasses 3 to 9, of this class; also work-holders, for which see subclasses 10 and 11 of this class. SEE OR SEARCH CLASS: 29,  Metal Working,   see the search class note in the definition of this class (300). 227,  Elongated-Member-Driving Apparatus,   appropriate subclass for apparatus of general utility, for applying a member, e.g., nail, to work, which is not provided for in the above definition.

3	Drilling and tuft setting:
	This subclass is indented under subclass 2.  Devices for drilling holes in brush-backs and setting bunches, knots, or tufts of bristles in the holes to form a brush.

4	Tuft feeding and setting:
	This subclass is indented under subclass 2.  Devices for feeding formed bunches, knots, or tufts of bristles to a brush-back and setting them in previously-prepared holes in the back. SEE OR SEARCH CLASS: 221,  Article Dispensing,   appropriate subclasses for article dispensers (feeders) not otherwise provided for, and see the class definition of Class 221 for a statement of the class lines and for the disposition of related disclosures of article and strip feeding processes and apparatus.

5	Tuft gathering and setting:
	This subclass is indented under subclass 2.  Devices for gathering bunches, knots or tufts, of bristles from a stored mass and setting them in previously-prepared holes in a brush-back. SEE OR SEARCH THIS CLASS, SUBCLASS: 6,

6	Drawn work:
	This subclass is indented under subclass 5.  Devices for gathering bunches, knots, or tufts of bristles from a stored mass and setting them in previously-prepared perforations in a brush-back by means of a looped cord or wire passing through the perforations and about the tuft and afterward drawn taut.

7	Tuft gathering:
	This subclass is indented under subclass 2.  Devices for gathering bunches, knots, or tufts of bristles from a stored mass or magazine preparatory to insertion in a hole or socket in a brush-back.

8	Tuft setting:
	This subclass is indented under subclass 2.  Devices for setting formed bunches, knots, or tufts of bristles in holes in brush backs.

9	Filling:
	This subclass is indented under subclass 2.  Devices for filling holes in brush-backs with bristles individually deposited from a mass or magazine, generally by shaking or other agitation, to form tufts, one for each hole.

10	Work holders:
	This subclass is indented under subclass 2.  Devices for holding brush-backs or blocks while being subjected to drilling, tuft-setting, filling, or other brush-making operations, except those for automatically positioning the back or block to bring to the working point successive areas corresponding to the desired positions of the tufts in the completed brush, for which see this class, ... . SEE OR SEARCH CLASS: 269,  Work Holders,   appropriate subclasses. Class 269 is the residual locus for patents to a device for clamping, supporting and/or holding an article (or articles) in position to be operated on or treated. See notes thereunder for other related loci.

11	Positioning devices:
	This subclass is indented under subclass 10.  Holders for brush-backs or blocks operating to properly position with respect to a drill and tufting device, a tufting device alone, or other brush-making tool, successive areas of the block or back corresponding to the desired positions of the tufts in the completed brush.

12	BROOM-MAKING MACHINES:
	This subclass is indented under the class definition.  Machines for making brooms--i.e., implements whose working face is constituted by the ends of assembled splints, broom-corn cuttings, or equivalent material, as distinguished from the bristles of brushes, or the folds, strips, sheets, or strands, of spun or woven fabric of mops, and excluding those employing nails or staples, wound wire, or wire band. SEE OR SEARCH THIS CLASS, SUBCLASS: 2, for machines for making brushes. 13, 14, 15, for machines employing nails or staples, wound wire, or wire bands. 16, for mop making machines.

13	Nailing and stapling:
	This subclass is indented under subclass 12.  Broom-making machines characterized by the presence of nailing or stapling means especially adapted for securing broom material in place. SEE OR SEARCH CLASS: 29,  Metal Working,   See the search class note in the definition of this class (300). 227,  Elongated-Member-Driving Apparatus,   appropriate subclass for apparatus, of general utility, for applying a member, e.g., nail, to work, which is not provided for in the above definition.

14	Winding:
	This subclass is indented under subclass 12.  Broom-making machines characterized by special means for winding wire about the broom material and handle or stick to secure them together. SEE OR SEARCH CLASS: 57,  Textiles: Spinning, Twisting, and Twining,   subclass 4 for machines for making strands of indefinite length by twisting hair or grass and winding a wrapping spirally thereon.

15	Wire banding:
	This subclass is indented under subclass 12.  Broom-making machines having provision for encircling the broom material with an annular wire and compressing the same to shape the broom and secure the material thereof to the stick or handle.

16	MOP-MAKING MACHINES:
	This subclass is indented under the class definition.  Machines for so handling and securing sheets, strips, or strands of spun, woven, or other fabric as to constitute a mop, in distinction from a brush or broom.

17	BRUSH AND BROOM TRIMMING:
	This subclass is indented under the class definition.  Devices for cutting off or otherwise removing irregularities of otherwise-completed brushes or brooms, so as to trim them to desired size and shape.

18	DRESSING AND ASSORTING:
	This subclass is indented under the class definition.  Devices for combing or otherwise arranging bristles or other brush or broom materials with their ends in a common plane or for sorting them according to length or other characteristic, or both. SEE OR SEARCH CLASS: 19,  Textiles: Fiber Preparation,   appropriate subclasses.

19	IMPLEMENTS:
	This subclass is indented under the class definition.  Tools for performing some operation involved in the making of brushes, brooms, or mops and not elsewhere classified because of their special adaptation to this art.

20	HANDLE SETTING:
	This subclass is indented under the class definition.  Devices for setting handles in otherwise completed brushes, brooms or mops. SEE OR SEARCH CLASS: 29,  Metal Working,   see the search class note in the definition of this class (300). 227,  Elongated-Member-Driving Apparatus,   appropriate subclass for apparatus, of general utility, for applying a member, e.g., nail, to work which is not provided for in the above definition.

21	PROCESSES:
	This subclass is indented under the class definition.  Inventions relating to special methods, manipulations, or processes employed in the manufacture of brushes, brooms or mops.