Cotton Buds Manufacturing Process

Cotton swab design has advanced significantly since the 1920s. For most applications, wooden sticks were replaced by paper spindles, which were less likely to splinter and puncture delicate ear tissue.

The thin paper rods were made by rolling a heavy gauge paper. More recently, plastic has become a popular choice for spindle material because it offers improved flexibility and imperviousness to water.

However, care must be taken to design the plastic shaft so that it does not poke through the cotton mass at the end of the stick. To prevent this from occurring, swabs have been designed with a number of special features.

There are three primary components involved in swab manufacture: the spindle or stick, which forms the body of the swab; the absorbent material coated onto the spindle ends; and the package used to contain the swabs.

Different methods are used in swab manufacture depending on the design of the swab. In general the process can be described in three major steps: spindle fabrication, cotton application, and packaging of the finished swabs.

Spindle fabrication

Spindles are made several ways depending on their material of composition. Wooden spindles are shaped by various lathe processes. Paper spindles are made by die-cutting a heavy grade paper and then tightly rolling the paper to form a stick. Plastic spindles are made by an extrusion molding process. In this case, the plastic resin and other additives are blended together, heated, and extruded through a die in a process similar to a the way a pasta maker squeezes out a strand of spaghetti. After manufacture, the spindles are loaded into a hopper on the manufacturing line in preparation for cotton application.

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Cotton Application

1. U.S. patent describes a complex operation involving a series of workstations. At the first station, a hopper full of spindles is vibrated to cause them to fall through a long, thin slot at the bottom of the hopper and onto a rotary stick carrier. This carrier is a drum type mechanism with cross slots placed around its outer rim. The sticks enter these slots one at a time and are carried to the next station.

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Cotton Application

2. As the wheel moves the sticks along, they contact a rotating friction wheel that rubs against the swab spindles causing them to spin. The carrier advances the sticks through a glue pot station where adhesive is applied to the opposite ends of the sticks. At the next station, incoming cotton in the form of a rope is fed onto another rotating wheel with a series of metal fingers extending from its hub. These fingers direct the rope of cotton to the glue-coated ends of the sticks as they move along the wheel.

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Cotton Application

3. The cotton then adheres to the spindle is wound tightly by the spinning sticks. After approximately 0.05-0.1 g of cotton has been deposited on the spindle. The ends of the swabs then pass through a series of narrow channels while they are still spinning. These channels compress and shape the cotton on the end of the stick and give it a smooth shape. Chemical coating agents may be introduced to the cotton. These coating agents, which include cellulose polymer solutions, help the tip retain its shape and help prevent spotting and mildewing. Finally, an escapement wheel diverts the sticks from the carrier to a slotted transfer carrier belt and then to an automatic packaging unit.

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Packaging

On the way to the packaging unit, the finished swabs pass through a counting wheel. A guide rail holds the swabs in place while the counting wheel counts the number of swabs for one tray layer. As the swabs are counted, they are pushed up against an inclined plane. When the counting wheel signals that enough swabs have been collected, it sends a signal to a piston arrangement, which slides the group of swabs onto a paper divider. The divider and the swabs are then dropped into the plastic package. In subsequent operations, a paperboard backing is glued over the filled plastic container and the entire assembly is packed for shipping.

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