Pipe cleaners
A pipe cleaner is a type of brush originally designed to remove moisture and residue from tobacco pipes . In addition to cleaning pipes, it can be used for many other applications such as cleaning small bores or tight spaces. Pipe cleaners specially designed for cleaning medical devices and technical applications are also produced.
In addition to this actual application, they are used in various everyday situations, for example they are wrapped around bottle necks to catch the drops running down after watering, they can be used for bundling things, for color coding and for applying paints, oils, solvents, fats and similar substances be used. They are also popular handicraft utensils.
construction
A pipe cleaner consists of two wires twisted together called a core. Short fibers called piles are trapped between them. Absorbent materials such as cotton or sometimes viscose are normally used as fibers for tobacco pipe cleaners . Bristles made from stiffer material such as single filament nylon or polypropylene are sometimes added to improve cleaning performance and soil removal . Microfilament polyester is used in some technical pipe cleaners because it drains liquids and does not absorb them like cotton.
In addition to the usual tobacco pipe cleaners with bristles of the same length, there are also conical or conical shapes, so that one end is thick and one end is thin. The thin end is used to clean the small hole in the pipe stem and the thick end for the pipe bowl or the wider part of the stem.
Smoking pipe cleaners are typically 6–17 cm long. Handmade pipe cleaners are often 30 cm long and can be up to 50 cm long. The diameter is usually between 4–6 mm and 15 mm. Jumbo pipe cleaners with a length of approx. 45 cm, on the other hand, can also have a diameter of 30 mm.
Pipe cleaners are usually thrown away after a cleaning session or two.
Manufacturing
It is usually made in pairs as the inner wires of each pipe cleaner are wrapped with the fibers while the outer wires enclose the fiber wraps which are then cut to create the protruding tufts. Chenille yarn is made in a similar way, which is why artisanal pipe cleaners are often referred to as "chenille stems". Some pipe cleaning machines are actually converted chenille machines.
Some pipe cleaning machines produce very long pipe cleaners that are usually wound on spools. Depending on the intended use, these can be sold as-is or cut to length. Other machines cut the pipe cleaners to length themselves.
Handicrafts
Pipe cleaners are also used in arts and crafts . The pipe cleaners used for this purpose usually consist of polyester or nylon and are often longer and thicker than the pipe cleaners used for cleaning. They are also available in many different colors. Since polyester does not absorb liquids, these special pipe cleaners are not suitable for cleaning purposes. The thicker versions also fit into the bores of a normal pipe stem, etc.
In Japan, tinkering with pipe cleaner is also known as Mogol art . The name comes from the Portuguese word " mughal " for a specific way of weaving . For example, Ikuyo Fujita （藤田 育 代Fujita Ikuyo is a Japanese artist who mainly deals with needle felt painting and this art form.
Typical formats for art made from pipe cleaners are animal sculptures that are made by twisting pipe cleaners together. They can also be used to make whiskers for an animal mask.
Individual evidence
- ^ Pipe Cleaners. KwikCrafts, accessed August 3, 2020 .
- ↑ Mogol art. Craft jam, accessed August 3, 2020 .
- ^ Pipe cleaner artist. In: Yahoo News. November 19, 2013, accessed August 3, 2020 .