EP0678361A1 - Fastener-driving tool - Google Patents

Abstract

The gun has a combustion chamber made to receive a powder cartridge, an igniter for the powder, a barrel for the combustion gases and a striker which expels the fixing pin through a guide (7) with a shuttle (34). The shuttle has a mechanism to return it to its firing position and dampers (32,38) to absorb the shock from its action. The dampers are located in a kinematic circuit which actuates the shuttle and are designed to cease operation in the event of excessive wear. The kinematic circuit comprises a sliding rod (11) a double pivoted lever (46) and an additional lever with one end articulated to the first lever and the other sliding. The rod is actuated by a pin (3) mounted on the barrel holder (61) which slides along the barrel to close the combustion chamber. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to an indirect fire sealing apparatus, intended for use by an operator in a standing position, comprising a combustion chamber, intended to receive a powder cartridge, means for igniting the powder from the cartridge, a barrel, a counterweight in the barrel intended to be driven by the combustion gases of the powder, a buffer guide, intended to receive a buffer intended to be driven by the counterweight in a support material, a shuttle in the buffer guide movable ascent from a position for loading the tampon to a position for firing and driving the tampon by the counterweight, means for moving the shuttle from one position to another and means for simultaneously controlling closing means of the combustion chamber and the means of displacement of the shuttle.

Such a device is used for, for example, fixing steel plates on metal or concrete support structures for mounting roofs or floors.

Such a device is already known. It is in particular described in EP-A-0 535 826.

As a buffer, use is generally made of a buffer comprising a rod, an end head, with which the counterweight is intended to cooperate, and a centering washer, of the same section as the head, mounted on the rod between the head and its penetration end.

The closing of the combustion chamber and the arrival of the shuttle in the firing position should also be concomitant.

However, the wear of the parts after a certain number of operating cycles and, even in new condition, the manufacturing tolerances create a risk that, at the time of firing, the shuttle is not correctly positioned and therefore that the tampon does not is not precisely in the axis of the buffer guide and the barrel.

In this case, the drive of the pad by the counterweight would cause the head or the pad washer to catch on the rim of the bore of the pad guide downstream of the shuttle and would destroy the pad.

The present invention aims to eliminate such a risk.

To this end, the invention relates to an apparatus of the type mentioned above, characterized in that the means for moving the shuttle are arranged to drive the shuttle beyond the firing position and damping means are provided. for, when the shuttle has reached its firing position, absorb the action of its means of movement.

The invention therefore provides, at the end of the action of the means for controlling the means for closing the combustion chamber and the means for moving the shuttle, to dissociate the movement of the shuttle from the closing of the room. When the shuttle comes to a stop in its firing position, normally, the combustion chamber is not yet completely closed; the continued actuation of the means of displacement of the shuttle, with that of the means for closing the chamber, by the control means, is therefore absorbed by the damping means. In the event of maximum wear, provision can be made for the damping means to no longer exert any action.

In other words, the invention provides an additional displacement stroke, or "overtravel", of the shuttle, in which it is therefore never driven, and which makes it possible to compensate for the manufacturing tolerances and the clearances caused by the wear of the parts, thus anticipated.

In the preferred embodiment of the apparatus of the invention, the means for moving the shuttle comprise a drive drawer mounted movably in the shuttle against the action of return damping means, the drawer moving in the shuttle as soon as it has come into abutment in its firing position, the damping means thus being arranged at the end of a kinematic chain for moving the shuttle.

We could also foresee them at the beginning of the chain.

Other damping means could be imagined such as, for example, a damping spring inside the kinematic chain of displacement of the shuttle.

• la figure 1 représente une vue de profil de l'appareil de l'invention;
• la figure 2 représente une vue, partiellement en coupe, du porte-canon, du canon et du guide-tampon de l'appareil de la figure 1, en position de repos;
• la figure 3 représente les pièces de la figure 2, en position de tir;
• la figure 4 représente une vue en perspective inversée, et avec arraché, du guide-tampon de l'appareil, en position de chargement de tampon;
• la figure 5 représente une vue en coupe axiale du guide-tampon de la figure 4 et
• la figure 6 représente une vue en perspective du guide-tampon similaire à celle de la figure 4, mais en position de tir.

The invention will be better understood with the aid of the following description of the preferred embodiment of the apparatus of the invention, with reference to the appended drawing, in which

• Figure 1 shows a side view of the apparatus of the invention;
• 2 shows a view, partially in section, of the barrel holder, the barrel and the buffer guide of the device of FIG. 1, in the rest position;
• 3 shows the parts of Figure 2, in the firing position;
• FIG. 4 shows an inverted perspective view, with parts broken away, of the tampon guide of the apparatus, in the tampon loading position;
• FIG. 5 represents a view in axial section of the buffer guide of FIG. 4 and
• 6 shows a perspective view of the buffer guide similar to that of Figure 4, but in the firing position.

With reference to FIG. 1, the device comprises a rear handle 1 and a side handle 2, a combustion chamber 3, with its cover 4, its cover opening pusher 9, its wheel 10 and its adjustment slider 5 power, a trigger 6, a buffer guide 7, a buffer supply tube 8, a rod 11 of shuttle movement.

The combustion chamber 3 is provided at the rear of the barrel 60, the front end of which is attached the buffer guide 7. The barrel 60 is slidably mounted in a barrel holder 61 intended to receive, before closing the cover 4 , a cartridge disc 62, one of which is intended to be covered by the barrel 60 in the firing and closing position of the combustion chamber 3. The gun holder 61, of axis 20, carries a finger 63 for controlling the movement of a buffer loading shuttle. The finger 63 extends, on the side of the gun holder, parallel to its axis 20.

The device is a standing fire device. The sealing plugs are introduced into the tube 8. To put the device in the firing position, close the combustion chamber 3 and place a plug in the plug guide 7, in line with the barrel and the counterweight, I operator, by the handles 1, 2, puts the device in abutment against the support material intended to receive the tampon and presses on the device to, against the action of springs, lower the barrel holder 61 towards the guide- buffer 7. During the resting, the rear of the barrel covers a cartridge and closes the chamber 3 and the finger 63 descends to actuate the rod 11. The firing is carried out by the trigger 6. To reset the 'device and actuate the return pawl of the counterweight in the firing position, the operator takes out the bearing device.

The buffer guide 7 essentially comprises three bores. A first transverse central bore, longitudinal, with end portion 21, of section corresponding to that of the buffers, and with internal portion 22, of narrowed section corresponding to that of the counterweight, extends in the extension of the barrel of the apparatus. A second blind bore 23, transverse, orthogonal to the longitudinal bore 21, 22, receives a shuttle 34 for receiving the buffer. These two bores are intersecting, the shuttle bore 23 comprising, near its bottom 24, an annular shoulder 25 of the shuttle stop. A third through bore 26 extends, on the side of the buffer guide, parallel to the central bore 21, 22. It receives the rod 11 of the shuttle movement. As the latter is itself displaced against the action of a compression spring 27, the bore 26 has an enlarged portion 28, for this spring 27, extending between the shoulder formed between the two portions of bore 26, 28 and head 29 of rod 11.

Between the inner end 30 of the tampon guide, through which the central bore portion 22 of narrowed section extends, and the mouth of the transverse bore 23, the tampon guide has a tampon passage opening around which the end piece 31 of the supply tube 8 is fixed.

The shuttle 34, shaped to slide in the bore 23, essentially comprises two juxtaposed and orthogonal sleeves between them. A first outer sleeve 32, which receives a displacement slide 33, and the bore 23 are coaxial. A second inner sleeve 35 has an axis parallel to the axis 20 of the device. The central bore of the sleeve 32 has an outer portion 36 of enlarged section to receive, between the shoulder formed between the two bore portions and the head 37 of the drawer 33, a compression damping spring 38. The central bore of the sleeve 35 has a section corresponding to that of the pads.

The pads comprise a rod 39, with a head 40 and a pointed penetration end 41. A centering washer 42, of the same outside diameter as the head 40, is slid over the rod 39.

The shuttle displacement rod 11 carries a lug 43 extending through a lumen 44 formed in one of the arms 45 of a connecting rod 46, with two V-shaped arms 45, 47, pivotally mounted around an axis 48 , driven into the buffer guide 7 and orthogonal to the axis 20 of the device and to the axis of the shuttle bore 23. The link 46 is articulated to another link 49 whose free end carries a lug displacement 50 extending through a lumen of the outer shuttle sleeve 32 and integral with the drawer 33.

In summary, when the device is supported, the barrel holder 61 slides on the barrel 60 in order, on the one hand, to control the closing of the combustion chamber 3, by covering the barrel with the barrel holder , and, on the other hand, control the movement of the shuttle 34 by sliding the finger 63 which causes the rod 11 to slide, which causes the connecting rod 46 to pivot, which, in turn, rotates the articulated end of it of the connecting rod 49 which slides the other end of the connecting rod 49 carrying the lug 50.

By sliding, the rod 11 brings down its lug 43 which is forced to slide in the lumen 44 of the arm 45 of the link 46, which forces the link 46 to pivot. As the firing cycles continue to run, the cooperation of the lug 43 with the edges of the light 44 and the relative displacement of the rods can lead to a widening of this light and play in the links which could limit the rotation of the link 46 and therefore the translation of the shuttle 34 if the invention had not been proposed.

Firstly, the spacing, at rest, between the finger 63 and the rod 11 is determined so that the abutment causes, in addition to the closing of the combustion chamber 3, the sliding of the rod 11 over a length which, taking into account the arrangement and dimensions of the rods 46, 49, the light 44 and the position of the lug 43 on the rod 11, should cause the shuttle 34 to slide beyond its abutment shoulder 25. Secondly, when the shuttle 34 comes into abutment on this shoulder, the continuation of the descent of the rod 11 continues to actuate the kinematic chain of the rods which, by the lug 50, causes the drawer 34 to slide in the drawer 33 against the action of the spring 38. The head 37 of the drawer 32 is then retracted inside the bore 36 of the shuttle (FIG. 6). The additional stroke of construction of the shuttle 34, made impossible by the stop 25, is therefore absorbed by the slide 33 and its spring 38. This additional stroke, or overtravel, therefore makes it possible to mitigate the wear of the parts of the kinematic chain of moving the shuttle 34.

In reality, in the example considered, there are two almost identical kinematic chains on each side of the apparatus, comprising, in common, the rod 11.

A pad having been loaded by gravity into the sleeve 35 of the shuttle 34, just before the device is placed in abutment (FIG. 5) and the shuttle 34 certainly coming into abutment against the shoulder 25, the pad, at the end of the support, is perfectly aligned with the bore portion 21, in the axis 20 of the device. Under the action of the counterweight, it will be driven in this bore portion 21, in front of the shuttle 34, without being hooked by the flange 70 of this bore portion 21 and therefore without being damaged.

It will be noted that, in order to maintain the following buffer in the end piece 31 of the supply tube 8, and without either damaging it during the sliding of the shuttle 34, the latter comprises a lateral ramp 71 for raising the buffer.

Finally, there is provided in the shuttle 34, in a lower bore 72, a ball 73 for retaining the bead, subjected to the action of a spring, not shown, for retaining the tampon until it is driven during firing.

Claims (10)

Indirect fire sealing apparatus, intended for use by an operator in the standing position, comprising a combustion chamber (3), intended to receive a powder cartridge (62), means (6) for igniting the powder of the cartridge, a barrel (60), a counterweight in the barrel intended to be entrained by the gases of combustion of the powder, a plug guide (7), intended to receive a plug (39) intended to be driven by the counterweight in a support material, a shuttle (34) in the tampon guide (7) movably mounted from a position for loading the tampon to a position for firing and driving the tampon by the counterweight, means (63,11 , 46,49) for moving the shuttle from one position to the other and means (61) for concomitantly controlling means (60,61) for closing the combustion chamber (3) and the means for moving the shuttle (34), characterized in that the means (63,11,46,49) for moving the shuttle (34) are arranged to drive the shuttle (34) beyond the firing position (25) and damping means (32, 38) are provided for, when the shuttle (34) has reached its firing position ( 25), absorb the action of its means of movement (63,11,46,49). Apparatus according to claim 1, in which, in the event of maximum wear, the damping means (32, 38) are arranged so as to no longer exert any action. Apparatus according to claims 1 and 2, wherein the damping means are arranged inside a kinematic chain of displacement of the shuttle. Apparatus according to one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the damping means (32,38) are arranged at the end of a kinematic chain (11, 46, 49) for moving the shuttle (34). Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the damping means (32, 38) are arranged at the end (49.50) of the kinematic chain (11,46,49,50). Apparatus according to claim 5, in which the means for moving the shuttle comprise a drive drawer (32) mounted movably in the shuttle (34) against the action of damping return means (38), the drawer (32) moving in the shuttle (34) as soon as it has reached the stop (25) in its firing position. Apparatus according to claim 6, in which the kinematic chain comprises a lug (50) of which the drawer (32) is integral. Apparatus according to one of claims 5 to 7, in which the kinematic chain comprises a sliding displacement rod (11), a first pivoting link (46), with two V-shaped arms (45,47), and a second link ( 49) articulated by one end to the first and whose other end is slidably mounted. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the displacement rod (11) carries a lug (43) extending through a lumen (44) formed in one (45) of the two arms of the first pivoting link (46) . Apparatus according to one of claims 8 and 9, wherein the sliding of the displacement rod (11) is effected by the action of a finger (63) carried by a control gun holder (61) arranged to receive the powder cartridge (62) and slide on the barrel (60) to close the combustion chamber (3).

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