Untangling a production
conundrum
Awarded ‘Coolbrands’ status in 2012, the infamous Tangle
Teezer is perhaps not a typical industrial design project for
one of the UK’s leading plastic injection moulding companies,
but it’s certainly one of the most successful
ew of us have foresight but lots of us have
perfect hindsight. When Shaun Pulfrey
contacted Data Plastics about producing
what is now an international sales
phenomenon he showed great foresight. When he
famously contacted Dragons’ Den only to be turned
down by the Dragons, their foresight had clearly
failed them – as they have said in numerous followup programmes. This was the one that got away.
The design brief was a tough one. Whilst Shaun
knew that Tangle Teezer was needed in every hair
salon in the world it also had to be marketed at a
very keen price that every consumer could afford,
too. In a sense this was the least of the design
problems. Whilst the first hairbrushes appeared in
the Ancient World centuries ago, it seems that very
little has been written about how to design one for
the last 500 years, and since plastics were only
invented 80 years ago the designs were useless
anyway. In short, Data Plastics had to start from first
principles.
The key problem was to design a brush that
would take the tangles out of long, wet, hair. At an
initial meeting, Shaun produced a suitcase full of
other hairbrushes that were on the market and not
one of them detangled hair successfully, so the
F
solution was
to start from
scratch. There
were many other
design parameters
to include of course.
The brush had to be suitable for left and
right handed users, be lightweight, durable
and great looking. It also had to be able to be
produced in great colours.
The initial design cue came from a computer
mouse, having a pleasing and familiar feel. Then
started the biggest challenge of all: to evolve the now
While the first hairbrushes
appeared in the Ancient World
centuries ago, very little has
been written about how to design
one for the last 500 years
registered design of the teeth arrangement.
Everything to do with the teeth design turned out to
be critical – their size, distribution, length, number
and plastic material selection. The latter
is still a closely guarded trade secret. The
whole project took over a year and
involved literally dozens of prototype
designs before the right combination was
arrived at. Shaun reckons it represents arguably
the most significant brush advance since the
Mesopotamians.
Naturally, anyone familiar with tooling issues will
appreciate how tricky it is to make good quality durable
tools capable of overcoming the numerous production
issues that moulding fine teeth creates, and Data
Plastics was able to provide these first complex tools at
a very keen price that made the whole project possible.
In order to be able to supply the finished products to
Tangle Teezer at a competitive price, Data Plastics
needed to manufacture these in some quantity and this
is where Shaun’s belief in his product showed itself
immediately. He bought them in and, incredibly,
without placing a single advertisement, sold them out
to an industry that had a crying need for them. Word of
mouth was the key and the sales figures have been
on an upward trajectory from day one.
www.dataplastics.co.uk
Linear actuation for historic house extension
or the lion’s share of HepcoMotion
applications, the technical qualities of its
linear slide systems are the primary
consideration. But for a recent architectural
project, aesthetics were of equal importance. So too
was the linear motion expertise that HepcoMotion
was able to supply. The company worked closely with
the architect and the glazing contractors to provide a
reliable and visually appealing solution.
London based Robert Grace Architecture needed
to source a driven mechanism that would automate
the opening and closing of large and heavy sliding
doors – a double door weighing 2.5 tonnes and a
smaller one of 1.5 tonnes, with a respective travel of
4.6m and 2.6m. The doors form part of an extension
to a historic house in London that open onto a private
arboretum. The structure is built on the site of an old,
F
20
stone-walled orangery. The weight of the doors
dictated motor driven actuation but the chosen
mechanism had to be extremely unobtrusive and
operate almost silently. “We looked at providing a
bespoke system but felt the package from
HepcoMotion was far superior to anything we could
have designed and engineered ourselves,” explained
Robert Grace.
The resultant systems comprised five
HepcoMotion Driven Linear System (DLS) units with
geared motors and two UtiliTrak systems to guide the
top of the doors. To suit the all weather environment
in which they would operate, all were specified in
corrosion resistant material, a standard offering
within the HepcoMotion range.
HepcoMotion DLS is a complete, off-the-shelf
mechanical package that has been designed to make
specification extremely simple and quick. The
slideway is hardened and precision ground and the
product’s double row cap sealed bearings ensure long
system life and low maintenance, making it ideal for
this architectural application.
UtiliTrak provides the companion guides for the
glass doors. These are lightweight U channels and
commonly used for applications where low cost, easy
installation and minimal maintenance are the
primary objectives. The product offers high reliability
in a sleek and compact design.
Robert Grace concluded: “This was a very
prestigious project so the need for hidden
mechanisms and switching was essential. The
options provided by HepcoMotion ticked all the
boxes for us.”
www.hepcomotion.com
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY • March 2013