Cleaning During COVID-19

There is much to learn about the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Based on what is currently known about COVID-19, spread from person-to-person of this virus happens most frequently among close contacts (within about 6 feet). This type of transmission occurs via respiratory droplets. On the other hand, transmission of novel coronavirus to persons from surfaces contaminated with the virus has not been documented. Recent studies indicate that people who are infected but do not have symptoms likely also play a role in the spread of COVID-19.

Transmission of coronavirus occurs much more commonly through respiratory droplets than through fomites. Current evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 may remain viable for hours to days on surfaces made from a variety of materials. Cleaning of visibly dirty surfaces followed by disinfection is a best practice measure for prevention of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory illnesses in households and community settings.

It is unknown how long the air inside a room occupied by someone with confirmed COVID-19 remains potentially infectious. Facilities will need to consider factors such as the size of the room and the ventilation system design (including flow rate and location of supply and exhaust vents) when deciding how long to close off rooms or areas used by ill persons before beginning disinfection.  Taking measures to improve ventilation in an area or room where someone was ill or suspected to be ill with COVID-19 will help shorten the time it takes respiratory droplets to be removed from the air.

• Cleaning refers to the removal of germs, dirt, and impurities from surfaces. It does not kill germs, but by removing them, it lowers their numbers and the risk of spreading infection.
• Disinfecting refers to using chemicals, for example, EPA-registered disinfectants, to kill germs on surfaces. This process does not necessarily clean dirty surfaces or remove germs, but by killing germs on a surface after cleaning, it can further lower the risk of spreading infection.

Milwaukee Dustless Brush, a subsidiary of Gordon Brush®, has been manufacturing janitorial cleaning tools, since 1897. Milwaukee Dustless Brush has a full line of American made brooms, brushes, mops, and squeegees to help clean your facility, restaurant, office, or home. Our products used in conjunction with EPA-registered chemicals, can disinfect and kill germs on surfaces or floors.

To help remove germs, dirt, and impurities from surfaces, we manufacture various hand-held scrub and utility brushes for bathrooms, kitchens, sinks, and countertops. For floors we have several broom lines:

The Speed Sweep® line of push brooms feature: a unique, thin profile, steel-backed head with an external ergonomic socket attachment, to prevent back problems. Various sizes and fill material options are available.

The Seat Sweep® line of push brooms feature: a thin profile, easy maneuverable plastic frame that comes in 24 different configurations. The unique Flip Flop® socket or our standard socket, are options.

The Speedy Corn® line of upright brooms feature: a fully washable, sturdy polypropylene bristle packet that is impervious to acid or alkaline cleaners. These brooms have an unbreakable steal cap that protects the bristles from damage that is held in place with 4 rivets. A steel band goes around the bristle packet to hold them in shape.

The Speed Squeegy® line of floor squeegees feature: either moss rubber or EDPM rubber blades with either straight or curved, aluminum, stainless steel, or hygienic plastic frame. The unique Flip Flop® socket or our standard socket, are options.

The Speedy Sweep®, is a cordless battery operated sweeper can pick up object, large and small, dust and debris, from any floor surface prior to disinfecting.

The eMop™, is a bucketless mop system, with washable microfiber pads, that can clean and disinfect over 3,200 sq. feet of floor space. The reservoir can hold over 24 oz of disinfectant liquid chemical desired.

The Speed Mop™, is a genuine cellulose sponge mop which is 5 times more absorbent than foam rubber. The mop is constructed with plated steel components to withstand rigorous use. Pure vinyl wringer rollers squeeze dirt and water out of the sponge head. The wringer is located half way up the steel mop handle for easy wringing with no bending.

You can rely on Milwaukee Dustless to bring you high quality janitorial cleaning tools during this pandemic, where cleaning is essential, to stay safe and healthy. For over 123 years, Milwaukee Dustless products: Do the job for which they are intended™.

Gordon Brush®

If a brush exists, we have it…if I doesn’t, we’ll make it!

All About Applicator Brushes

The broad purpose of an applicator brush is to pick up an adequate supply of a material from a container, carry it from the container to an application site, and apply the material uniformly and easily to the application site. The applicator brush must meet several mechanical requirements. The applicator brush should have: a certain stiffness or resiliency yet have smooth feedback; an affinity for the composition it is being used to apply, yet withstand contaminants; high wear resistance, elastic recovery, and twist retention.

Industrial applicator brushes are used in almost every industry imaginable; from manufacturing to food prep, healthcare and a lot more, these brushes can solve many problems and fill many different needs. Applicator brushes serve a variety of uses from applying paint, adhesives, solvents, flux or other liquids to cleaning hard-to-reach places in industrial environments. They are great to use to apply lubricants, polishing compounds, and flux to small parts and pipes. They can also used for dusting and surface cleaning as these brushes resist deterioration from heat.

Gordon Brush manufacturers two lines of industrial applicator brushes: Double-Ended Applicator Brushes and Single-Ended Applicator Brushes.

Double-Ended Applicator Brushes

These brushes have two sizes with two end styles (tapered and flat). The fill material fibers are mechanically clamped into either a Stainless Steel, or Zinc Plated Steel, 4-1/2" handle for maximum fiber retention. No adhesives are used that could leach out and contaminate surfaces being cleaned. Double-ended applicator brushes are available with the following fill material: Horsehair; Hog Bristle; Nylon; Static Dissipative; or Brass (the other end of the brass fill applicator brush is a sponge). All of the brushes in this category are either anti-static or static dissipative. Their primary usage for these brushes is in the electronics industry.

Single-Ended Applicator Brushes

The fill material fibers are mechanically clamped into a wider array of handle material and an overall length from 3-1/2" to 6". The various fill options include: Stainless Steel (stainless steel handle applicator brushes provide for excellent chemical resistance); Zinc Plated Steel (zinc plated steel handle applicator brushes are an inexpensive utility duster/cleaner that is an excellent replacement for disposable acid brushes that quickly shed fibers. Zinc plated steel handle holds the fibers in place by 5 tons of mechanical clamping and without any adhesives that could leach out and contaminate surface areas); Aluminum (the non-magnetic, lightweight aluminum handle is constructed with strong mechanical clamping for maximum fiber retention, and contains no adhesives that can leach out and contaminate surface areas), Brass (brass tube applicator brush are filled with 0.003 brass to suit the demands your working environment dictates. They all have strong mechanical fiber clamping for maximum fiber retention), or Plastic/Acetal (are pencil shaped applicator brush with rigid acetal handle and nylon fills. These brushes can withstand most sterilizing environments. The fill material is epoxy set with high temperature adhesive that is autoclavable as in many hospital, laboratory or pharmaceutical settings. These brushes are for use in situations where you need a round brush to clean fine areas. They work well for applying liquids or fluids).

Single-ended applicator brushes are available with the following fill material: Brass; Goat Hair; Horsehair; Hog Bristle, Nylon; Static Dissipative or Brass; PEEK; Polypropylene; Stainless Steel; PTFE; or Thunderon). All of the brushes in this category are either: anti-static, insulative, conductive, or static dissipative. These brushes have many uses across a wide diversity of industries and applications.

If you're looking for a great resource for applicator brushes, shop from Gordon Brush's online brush store today! We are proud to make all our applicator brushes here in the USA. SHOP NOW!

Bore Brushes and Beyond

When one thinks about a bore brush, one can think it is very boring, but it is actually, not. To most people, a bore brush generally refers to a relatively small twisted-in-wire or spiral brush that is used in gun cleaning. These spiral brushes are used to clean the inside the gun barrel, as called the bore of the gun.

While Gordon Brush^® does offer two, clearance stock, gun brushes (Part #’s: GUN-45-10-32 and GUN-50-10-32), with phosphor bronze fill material, these Parts are not the main products in Gordon Brushes line of bore brushes.

Instead, Gordon Brush’s line of industrial bore brushes, or chamber brushes, are hand or machine-operated, large diameter blind hole brushes that are designed to clean both the wall and the bottom of a hole. They are used when a spiral brush is not strong enough or thick enough to provide sufficient abrasion.

Our industrial line of bore brushes are offered with a choice of either: nylon, FDA Compliant nylon, or stainless steel fill material, with an overall length ranging from over 3" to 6, and a brush diameter from 2-1/2" to 10". One can also select a bore brush with either an HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) or PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) core. HDPE is a softer, more bendable plastic, whereas PVC is a much stronger and stiffer material. Because the bore brushes are inserted into a hole or chamber to clean the wall or the bottom of a hole, one end of brush is open and threaded. The threaded end is attached to a pole that enables the user to insert the brush into the orifice. Gordon Brush's bore brushes options include: ACME, broom, NTP (National Pipe Thread), or UNC (Unified Course) thread types.

Gordon Brush^® also manufactures a special type of chamber brush, called the "Tank Brush". The Tank Brush is manufactured for the United States Army. Gordon Brush® received a letter of commendation from the UnitedStates Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) for the development of a "Chamber Brush" that cleans the main gun on the Abrams Tank. The development of this brush saved the Army $1.5 billion. The Army's Director of Operations and Security Assistance, Integrated Logistic Support Center-TACOM said: "TACOM would like to express our sincere gratitude for your excellent work in supporting our war fighters in their efforts in Iraq. Your efforts have a positive impact in our fight for a democratic Iraq and the safe return of our war fighters. Again, thank you for your tremendous support to the United States Army."

Gordon Brush^® has been manufacturing industrial brushes in the United States since 1855. We are "Proud To Be An American Manufacturer"™.

If a brush exists, we have it…if I doesn’t, we’ll make it!

How to Design Your Own Custom Brush

Gordon Brush®, the leader industrial brush manufacturing, offers over 17,000 different brushes. In addition to our everyday stock of 3,500 brushes, almost 50% of the brushes we manufacture are for custom brush applications. Gordon Brush® has made custom brushes for almost every industry imaginable and applications. These include brushes used in delicate surgical procedures, containing a snake, and brushes to support the United States military, just to name a few.

We can customize nearly every aspect of your industrial brush, including: fillmaterial, brush length, fill length, fill diameter, fill type, stiffness (trim length), density, coarseness, hole diameter, hole pattern, and base materials.

Tufted brushes consist of three main components:

• The core or block: Brush cores are typically made from plastic or wood blocks that feature drilled holes designed for the placement of the bristles.
• The fill material: The fill material of a brush is made up of strands of filaments that are held in place on the brush core by staples, wires, or epoxies.
• The handle: Many brushes also have a handle component which the user holds to work the brush for the specific application.

While the core and fill material are integral to the manufacture of a tufted brush, industry professionals can customize the design of these components to suit different needs. For example, they can choose various construction/fastening methods, bristle shapes, brush types, and more.

Staple setting:  This construction method involves driving the brush filament into drilled holes in the core and holding them in place with steel staples. Staple set brushes are available with a wide range of customization options, including: fill material, tuft pattern, size, and brush shape.

Epoxy Setting:  Similar to the staple setting method, this brush construction method requires the insertion of brush filaments into drilled holes in the brush core. However, rather than setting the fill material with steel staples, they are held in place with epoxy. This method makes a secure brush without staples that can be sterilized for medical applications. Due to the precision required to epoxy unstapled brushes, this method is generally performed manually, resulting in higher production costs.

Wire Drawing: Also known as Drawn-In-Wire, are made in a similar way to staple set and epoxy set brushes. However, instead of using staples or epoxies, manufacturers sew the brush filaments into place with metal wire or nylon cable. The wire or cable is tied around the middle of a filament tuft; the fill material is bent in half and the drawn bend point is firmly seated into the drilled hole before adding another knot to lock the filaments against the base of the brush. While allowing for secure attachment of the fill material, this method requires extensive manual labor, which often makes it more costly than the other two.

Designing a Custom Brush is easy with Gordon Brush®.  Gordon Brush® provides you with several options on how to go about designing a custom brush for your specific application:

1.      On the Custom Brush section on the Gordon Brush® website (www.gordonbrush.com), there are dropdowns corresponding to the type of brush you may need. These include: block, bore, cup, cylinder, disk, flow-thru, hand-held, inward and outward disk, inward wound coil, pencil & applicator, straight strip, and twisted-in-wire.

a.  

    Just fill out the custom brush form and email or fax it to us. Our highly experienced staff of design engineers and customer service representatives will get back to you with a quote.

2.      Email or fax us a drawing along with specs. One of our design engineers will call you back with questions/clarifications prior to providing you with a quote.

3.      Call us…ask to speak with one of our design engineers to discuss your custom brush and the specific application prior to providing you with a quote.

Gordon Brush® will gladly make a prototype of your brush for you to use. The prototype might be expensive, but it will give you an opportunity to try it out for the intended application prior to committing to a larger order.

See how easy it is? So why are you waiting? Contact us today for your custom brush.

If a brush exists, we have it…if I doesn’t, we’ll make it!