AU712150B3 - Nail punch bar - Google Patents

Description

j;l_ i~ i iii__ill_~__l P00012 Regulation 3.2 Revised 2/98

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act, 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION PETTY PATENT TO BE COMPLETED BY THE APPLICANT NAME OF APPLICANT: RODNEY JAMES DAWSON ACTUAL INVENTOR: RODNEY JAMES DAWSON ADDRESS FOR SERVICE: Peter Maxwell Asnsoiates Level 6 Pitt Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 INVENTION TITLE: NAIL PUNCH BAR DETAILS OF ASSOCIATED PROVISIONAL APPLICATION NO(S): NIL The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to me:-

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The present invention relates to a nail punch bar.

Nail punch bars are widely used to secure nails at locations where the use of a hammer is prevented by lack of space. For example, a nail punch bar is generally utilized when it is sought to nail a roof gutter to the fascia board of a building. The gutter itself provides an impediment to the swinging of a hammer for this purpose as the gutter projects outwardly from the fascia board.

Conventional nail punch bars, however, suffer from a variety of disadvantages. They are manufactured essentially as a two piece item, consisting of an outer metal tubular jacket through which a central metal rod slides, the extent of the sliding motion of the rod within the jacket being determined by guide means projecting axially from the rod, the guide means being slidably engaged within longitudinal track means formed through the jacket and being of a predetermined length. When the nail punch bar is required to be used, the central rod is moved away from one of the ends of the jacket, and the head of the nail is inserted into the bore of the jacket so formed at that end by the receding rod. The point of the nail can then be targeted at the site at which it is to be secured, and the user can then hammer the end of the rod furthest from the nail so as to drive the nail into the target site. With prolonged use, however, both ends of the rod become compacted and the metal tends to flow outwardly, creating burrs at the circumference that, by virtue of expanding the circumference of the rod beyond that of the bore of the jacket, prevent the rod from sliding through the jacket to the full extent originally allowed by the track. As a result, the nail head may no longer enter the jacket to a sufficient extent to be stably held in place for hammering because the burred lower end of the rod will be jammed from sliding fully away from 3 impossible, to use as it cannot be readily repaired or disassembled for replacing the damaged parts.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a nail punch bar that overcomes, or at least substantially ameliorates, the disadvantages and shortcomings of the prior art.

According to the invention there is provided a nail punch bar comprising a tubular jacket means, a rod means adapted to slidably travel through a continuous passageway of the tubular jacket means to a predetermined extent, the rod means consisting of a first part having a nail head receiving end adapted to recede within the jacket means when the rod means is slid to a first limit of its predetermined extent of travel whereby the nail head may be inserted into the jacket means for guiding the nail, and a second part having an impact receiving end, the first and second parts being removably connected to each other so that the rod means may be disassembled into separate first and second parts for removal from the jacket means.

In order that the invention may be readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Fig 1 is a side sectional view of a tubular jacket for a nail punch bar according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Fig 2 is a side elevational view of the first part of a rod for use with the tubular jacket of Fig 1, and Fig 3 is a side elevational view of the second part of a rod for use with the tubular jacket of Fig 1, the second part being adapted for screwable connection to the first part shown in Fig 2 so as 8/09/99 to form a completed rod for sliding within the tubular jacket to a predetermined extent.

The three components of the nail punch bar shown in Figs 1, 2 and 3 are constructed of mild steel by a lathe and drills process. The male and female screw threads at respective ends of the first and second parts are cut by a tap and die process.

The tubular jacket 10 shown in Fig 1 has a major cylindrical jacket portion 12 and a minor cylindrical jacket portion 14. The major jacket portion 12 has a greater outer circumference (say 22 mm) than that of the minor jacket portion 14 (say 12 mm) and serves as a handle by which a user may grip the jacket 10 in one hand during use of the assembled nail punch bar. The outer surface of the major jacket portion 12 is roughened to facilitate hand gripping by having etched thereon a criss-cross pattern of pyramid shaped projections, each of between about 1 and 2 mm in width.

The major and minor jacket portions 12, 14 are interconnected by an inclined jacket portion 16. There is a continuous passageway 18 formed longitudinally through the jacket 10 with openings 20, 22 at respective first and second ends 24, 26 of the jacket 10. The passageway 18 is defined by three separate cylindrical passageway portions, a first passageway portion 28 having a first diameter (say 10 mm) and being located wholly within the minor jacket portion 14, a second passageway portion 30 having a second diameter (say 12 mm) which is greater than the first diameter and being located wholly within the major jacket portion 12, and a third passageway portion 32 having a third diameter (say 8 mm) which is less than the first diameter and interconnecting the first and second passageway portions 28, 30, whereby it is located partly within both of the major and minor jacket portions 12, 14. The three passageway portions 28, 32 and 30 are interconnected by inclined passageway portions 31, 33.

The first part 34 of the rod shown in Fig 2 has a first cylindrical rod portion 36 and a second cylindrical rod portion 38, the first rod portion 36 having a greater diameter than that of the second rod portion 38, but the diameter of the first rod portion 36 is slightly less than that of the first passageway portion 28 of rod 10 through which it is adapted to slidably travel. The diameter of the second rod portion 38 must also be slightly less than that of the third passageway portion 32 of rod 10 through which it slides, although the fit should be snug enough to avoid any significant lateral movement of the rod within the jacket 10 during use of the assembled nail punch bar. The first and second rod portions 36, 38 are interconnected by an inclined first part rod portion 40. The angle of incline of the inclined first part rod portion 40 is complementary to that of the inclined passageway portion 31. There is a male screw thread 44 cut into the free end 46 of the second rod portion 38.

The second part 48 of the rod shown in Fig 3 has a first cylindrical rod portion 50 and a larger diameter second cylindrical rod portion 52. The diameter of the first rod portion 50 is slightly less than that of the second passageway portion 30 of rod 10 through which it is adapted to slidably travel. The diameter of the second rod portion 52 is much greater (say mm) than that of the second passageway portion 30, so that during sliding motion of the rod within the jacket 10 the inclined surface 54 interconnecting the first and second rod portions 50, 52 will collide with the second end 26 of the jacket 10. Another inclined surface 56 is present at the free end 58 of the first rod portion 50 and there is a female screw thread 60 cut into a dead end passageway 62 having an opening 64. The diameter and thread pattern defining the passageway 62 is complementary to the diameter and thread pattern of the free end 46 of the second rod portion 38 so as to enable the second rod part 48 to be screwably connected to the first rod part 34.

The nail punch bar is assembled by inserting the free end 46 of the first rod part 34 through the opening 20 of jacket 10 and sliding it through passageway 18 sufficiently so that the screw thread 44 enters passageway portion 30. The free end 58 of the second rod part 48 is inserted through the opening 22 of jacket 10 and slid through passageway 18 until it meets the free end 46 of rod part 34, whereupon it may, by gripping the rod portion 52 and axially rotating the rod part 48 so that the male and female screw threads become screwably engaged, be connected with rod part 34.

The rod so formed is able to slidably travel within the jacket 10 to an extent determined by the location of the inclined surfaces 31, 33 within passageway 18. The rod will cease its travel from a left to right direction, by reference to Fig 1, when the inclined surface 40 of the rod collides with the inclined surface 31 of the jacket 10. At this point, the rod portion 52 is at its most remote position from the jacket 10, and there is a tubular cavity formed at the other end of the jacket 10 that can receive therewithin the head and most of the shaft of a nail.

A nail inserted into the so created tubular cavity can then be targeted at a site where it is required to penetrate. Penetration of the nail at that site occurs by hammering or otherwise repeatedly impacting against the flat end surface 66 of the rod until the flat nail head receiving surface 68 of the rod emerges from the passageway 18 through opening 20 and the nail head is flush with the surface being nailed.

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7 It is apparent from the foregoing that a nail punch bar manufactured in accordance with the present invention provides a stable hold of a nail whilst it is being nailed into a difficult to access location. Furthermore, should any damage occur to such a nail punch bar, say by burrs being formed at the ends of the rod, the nail punch bar of the invention may be easily disassembled for repair or for replacement of the damaged parts.

Various other modifications may be made in details of design and construction without departing from the scope or ambit of the invention.

Claims (3)

1. A nail punch bar comprising a tubular jacket means, a rod means adapted to slidably travel through a continuous passageway of the tubular jacket means to a predetermined extent, the rod means consisting of a first part having a nail head receiving end adapted to recede within the jacket means when the rod means is slid to a first limit of its predetermined extent of travel whereby the nail head may be inserted into the jacket means for guiding the nail, and a second part having an impact receiving end, the first and second parts being removably connected to each other so that the rod means may be disassembled into separate first and second parts for removal from the jacket means.

2. The nail punch bar of claim 1 wherein the first and second parts of the rod means are screwably connected to each other.

3. The nail punch bar of claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the extent to which the rod means is adapted to slidably travel through the continuous passageway is predetermined by the collision of inclined surfaces of the rod means with inclined passageway portions of the tubular jacket means. Dated this 8th day of September, 1999 RODNEY JAMES DAWSON Patent Attorneys for the Applicant PETER MAXWELL ASSOCIATES