GB2044875A

GB2044875A - Nails

Info

Publication number: GB2044875A
Application number: GB8002220A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1979-01-23
Filing date: 1980-01-23
Publication date: 1980-10-22
Also published as: IT1130899B; DE3002321A1; FR2447481B1; SE415917B; JPS55135215A; ES255420Y; DE3002321C2; FR2447481A1; ES255420U; IT8019394A0; SE7900621L; GB2044875B

Abstract

A sheet of material has lines of separation 10 which define nails 13 adjacent to one another. These lines of separation 10 may extend through the thickness of the material and leave webs 11, 12 to hold the sheet together, or may extend only partially through the material. Nails 13 can be broken from the sheet as required. The sheet illustrated has been bent to provide a lip which provides the nails with heads 14. Also, the nails have points 1 5, which may be symmetrical or off-set with respect to the longitudinal axis of the nail 13. The lines of separation 10 may be formed by punching, pressing, scoring or drilling. The transverse cross- section of each nail 13 may be arcuate, semi-circular, angular, or comprise a plurality of arcs or angles. Each nail 13 may be corrugated or bent along its length. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Nails This invention relates to a sheet of material marked out so that nails can be broken from the sheet.

Several kinds of nail strips are known, one of which comprises a number of parallel nails set side-by-side and facing the same direction.

These nails are held together closely spaced, and generally in a common plane.

Many types of nail strips comprise nails having points disposed along a line perpendicular to the shanks of the nails, although strips are known where the nails are staggered slightly in the longitudinal direction. In some cases, the heads of the nails are arranged to overlap, since this arrangement allows more nails to be accommodated within a given length or strip. Also, the heads of the nails may be provided with a notch into which adjacent shanks may protrude, and this allows extremely close spacing.

A disadvantage of known types of nail strip is that they require a special material to bond the nails together. Bonding materials that have been used include plastic tapes or paper tapes and/or various kinds of plastic or glue strands. As a result, manufacture is costly, and stock keeping, transportation and handling are difficult. Furthermore, the presence of the special bonding material, whether intended for re-use or not, makes each nail more difficult to use. Bonding materials which are intended to be disposable tend to result as litter and often become jammed under the nail heads so that cleaning is required. Conversely, material intended for re-use must be collected and transported back to the factory where the strips are made.

Ordinary solid nails, made from drawn or rolled wire, contain a large quantity of material for a given nail surface area. This results in a large weight and high material cost, and production in sufficiently large quantities requires rapidly operating machines and these are complicated and expensive. Use of most ordinary types of nail often requires such a great force that splitting and cracking often occurs when the nails are used with wood.

Where great shear stresses are encountered, a large diameter of shank will be necessary, and this increases the risk of cracking.

I have now designed a nail, supplied in strip form, which can overcome these disadvantages, and which can have certain other functional advantages.

Thus, the present invention consists in a sheet of material, preferably metal, having lines of separation defining nails adjacent to one another, such that single nails can be broken from the sheet.

In this specification the word nails is intended to encompass spikes of various sizes, shapes, and materials. The term includes therefore tacks, pins, panel pins, and similar articles.

The sheet is preferably shaped so that each nail has a head and a point, and the head can be provided by bending the sheet to form a lip along an edge perpendicular to the length of the nails.

The nails may be strengthened by providing corrugations in the sheet, and such corrugations preferably run perpendicular to the length of the nails. Any reference in the specification to corrugations is intended to include waves or pleats of any shape, not merely those that are gently curved.

The invention is further illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspecitve view of a sheet according to the invention; Figure 2 is an end elevation of a sheet; Figure 3 is a variation of Fig. 2, showing corrugations; Figure 4 is similar to Figs. 2 and 3, but shows a variation in the head of the nails.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a single nail from the sheet shown in Fig. 4; Figure 6 is a perspective view of a nail; Figure 7 is a side view of a nail shown in Fig. 6; Figure 8 is a modification of Fig. 7; and Figure 9 shows one method of manufacturing the sheet of the invention.

Fig. 1 illustrates a nail strip made form an initially flat and rather thin piece of sheet metal, punched through transversely with slots 10 to leave small connecting webs 11, 1 2 between the nails 1 3. The sheet illustrated has two webs 11, 1 2 between each pair of nails, but this is not necessary and in some cases a single web would suffice. Also, punching through the entire thickness of the sheet is not the only way of providing the lines of separation; alternatively, partial punching from one or both sides could be used, and in some cases scoring or drilling would be satisfactory.

After punching, or other operation to produce the lines of separation, the sheet can be bent to produce a lip running perpendicular to the length of the nails to provide a sidewardly directed nail head 1 4. Alternatively, this bending operation can be carried out simultaneously with the formation of the lines of separation. In the example illustrated, each nail 1 3 has a point 1 5 and the side-edges 1 6 and 1 7 are symmetrical relative to the longitudinal axis of the nails. It is possible however to make the points off-set from the longitudinal axis, and a nail fashioned in this way would tend to bend slightly or to be directed in one particular direction when it was being driven home.

Fig. 3 illstrates a sheet very similar to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the only difference being that the shank 1 8 has been provided with corrugations transverse to its longitudinal axis. Figs. 4 and 5 show nails similar to the nails obtainable from the sheets shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and here the difference is essentially that the head 1 9 has been provided with a downwardly bent tongue 20 which can grip the material, such as wood, into which the nail is driven. If desired, the extreme end of the head 1 9 may be bent downwards to form a tongue. Alternatively, this tongue can be present along only a portion of the edge of the head.

Figs. 5 and 6 differ from the earlier figures in that the nail shank is elongated, but semicircular in transverse cross-section and has both ends 22 and 23 pointed. Adjacent nails would have been held together by webs 24 and 25 before being broken from the sheet.

The particular transverse cross-section, or profile, chosen will depend on the intended use of the nails, and examples are arcuate, semicircular and angular. In some cases a plurality of successive arcs or angles may be desired, and in this case the shank of the nails would have a considerably large width relative to their thickness. The nail shown in Fig. 8 is similar to that shown in Fig. 7, but has a bent end 26 as a head. As before, the nails shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 may have either symmetrical or assymetrical points and can be corrugated or bent along their lengths.

It is apparent from Fig. 9 that two or more sheets of the invention can. be formed side-byside, with interlocking nail points. In this case the nails on one strip would be lateraly staggered by half the width of a nail. In Fig. 9 two sheets are formed together, and the only wastage of material is the parts marked 27 and 28.

Various modifications and alterations may be made, for example the nail heads may be provided with various locking means for engagement with parts of a corresponding secondary fastener which in turn will support some article. As an example, the secondary fastener may be an easily snapable cable clamp used for mounting electrical cables.

Claims

1. A sheet of material having lines of separation defining nails adjacent to one another, such that single nails can be broken from the sheet.

2. A sheet according to claim 1, so shaped that each nail has a head and a point.

3. A sheet according to claim 2, bent to form a lip along an edge perpendicular to the nails, to form the heads.

4. A sheet according to any one of claims 1, 2 and 3, in which the lines of separation are formed by punching or by pressing.

5. A sheet according to any one of the preceding claims, in which over a substantial length of the nails a single line of separation separates adjacent nails, so that no wastage material remains between the nails over this substantial length.

6. A sheet according to any one of the preceding claims, in which each nail has a point which is off-set from the longitudinal axis of the nail.

7. A sheet according to any one of the preceding claims, having corrugations running perpendicular to the length of the nails.

8. A sheet according to any one of the preceding claims shaped such that each nail has a non-linear transverse cross-section.

9. A sheet according to claim 8, in which each nail has a substantially C, U or V shaped transverse cross-section.

1 0. A sheet according to claim 5, in which the lines of separation are such that each nail can be driven home directly from the sheet, the nail adjacent to the one being driven home having a guiding function.

11. A metal sheet according to any one of the preceding claims.

1 2. A sheet according to claim 1, substantially as herein described with reference to any one of the accompanying drawings.