GB2178356A - Fastener driving apparatus and magazine - Google Patents

Abstract

Fastener driving apparatus comprising a magazine (15) which includes a rail (17) for supporting and guiding fasteners (31), as they are advanced to a guideway (18) for ejection from the apparatus, the rail (17) being mounted for movement away from and towards said guideway (18) for reloading the magazine (15) characterised in that said rail (17) is mounted for movement transversely of the direction of fastener advance and in that the rail (17) has outwardly inclined end portions (32) for centering fasteners in the magazine (15) during reloading as the rail (17) is returned towards said guideway (18). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Fastener driving apparatus and magazine The present invention relates to fastener magazines and to fastener driving apparatus.

Fasteners such as staples, pins, brads, etc., are used in both home and industry and are often inserted by driving with a driving device rather than a hammer.

The use of such a device powered by air, electricity or spring force has two great advantages over the use of the hammer.

Firstly the fastener is driven with a single blow which reduces the chance of bending especially when the fastener is made from thin gauge wire.

Secondly, the fasteners can be driven at a much faster rate which is important in industry where reduction of labour is necessary for high volume production processes. To help achieve the increase in speed, the fasteners are collated into strips or clips so that loading time is also reduced. Once the fasteners are in the tool, they are fed into a guideway one at a time before being driven into a workpiece by a driver portion of the tool. To feed the fasteners into the guideway, they are normally urged forward by a pusher under spring force.

Although most tools of this type utilize fasteners in elongate clip form, methods of loading the clips into the tool vary greatly. Designs have been made in which the pusher is withdrawn from the back of the tool, fasteners inserted into the opening and the pusher replaced. A slightly different version has the pusher pulled backward and latched within the tool and the fasteners loaded from the top of the opening.

Depending on the type of fasteners being used, a fastener support rail is sometimes used to guide the fasteners into the driving guideway.

For loading purpose this support rail can be pivoted out of the tool and the clips placed into or on the rail and the rail then pivoted back into the tool. Another method allows the rail to be withdrawn from the rear of the tool, the clips placed on the rail and both pushed back into the tool.

A more expedient method is to withdraw the rail with the pusher a portion of the way from the tool creating an opening in the bottom of the tool body.

The fasteners are laid into the cavity and the rail then pushed forward toward the driving guideway over the fasteners.

The rail is locked in position by a lever, latch or other quick release means The present invention relates to an improvement of the latter described method of loading the clips. Since the rail must pass around the clip as it is pushed forward, an alignment problem occurs. One way to provide alignment of the clip and the rail is to machine the mating parts of the rail and body to a close tolerance, but this is expensive.

To reduce the cost of manufacturing of the tools, as well as the weight, the use of plastics are becoming increasingly popular in smaller portable devices. Molding slots, cavities, guideways, etc., are possible in plastic components, but close tolerances are not possible without the use of expensive plastics which defeats the purpose (cost reduction) of using plastics.

An object of the invention is to provide for accurate alignment of the fasteners with the rail in an inexpensive manner.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided fastener driving apparatus comprising a magazine which includes a rail for supporting and guiding fasteners, as they are advanced to a guideway for ejection from the apparatus, the rail being mounted for movement away from and towards said guideway for reloading the magazine characterised in that said rail is mounted for movement transversely of the direction of fastener advance and in that the rail has outwardly inclined end portions for centering fasteners in the magazine during reloading as the rail is returned towards said guideway.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided fastener driving apparatus comprising a body, a driver movable within said body for ejecting fasteners into a workpiece, reciprocal means for moving said driver, a magazine having a rail for supporting and guiding said fasteners, a guideway formed by a portion of said body and said magazine, means for advancing said fasteners along said magazine into said guideway, and a cavity in said body for placing said fasteners into said magazine, characterised in that said rail is movable transversely of said guideway portion of said body, and in that a front portion of said rail is outwardly inclined for aligning said fasteners with an internal channel of said rail as said rail is moved toward said guideway.

According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a magazine for fastener driving apparatus comprising an elongate rail having outwardly inclined portions extending from side walls thereof on at least one end thereof.

For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side elevational view of fastener driving apparatus with a partially cut away section to show the magazine; Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of body and magazine along line A-A of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view along line B-B of Figure 2 showing possible misalignment of components; Figure 4 is a partial bottom elevational view of body and magazine; Figure 5 is a partial side elevational view of the magazine support rail and relationship of front portions; Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of the front of the body through the guideway showing a wear plate attached; and Figure 7 is similar to Figure 6 but without the wear plate.

Referring to Figure 1, a manually operable fastener tool is shown with a section view of the magazine 15 located in the lower portion of the body 16. Although a manual tool is used for illustrative purposes, the present invention can also be applied to pneumatically and electrically powered tools.

The fasteners are supported on the top of the magazine rail 17 and fed forward by a pusher and spring (not shown). The front of the magazine rail 17 forms, in cooperation with the front portion of the body 16, a guideway 18 through which the fasteners are driven out of the tool into a workpiece. Details of this relationship will be described later. The driver 19 slides through the guideway 18 during a drive stroke, thus forcing the leading fastener out of the tool.

The power means to move the driver 19 is housed within the body 16 and actuated by a handle 20 in the illustrated embodiment. If a pneumatic or electric version is used, the actuating device may be a trigger or some other suitable element.

The magazine 15 is supported by elongate portions 21 slidable in slots 22 formed in the body 16. The magazine 15 is held forward by a conventional latching device 23 engaging the magazine 15. The shape and size of the hand grip portion 24 depends on the particular type of tool and may vary within the scope of the invention.

Figure 2 shows section A-A of the body 16 having retaining slots 25 in which supporting members 26 of the magazine rail 17 are located. The clearance between the members 26 and slots 25 allows some lateral movement. The vertical walls 27 of the rail 17 define a channel for locating the fasteners. A central portion 28 is attached in the channel of the rail 17 and, where the tool is a stapler, supports the underside of the staples 29 partially illustrated in Figure 2. In embodiments capable of also driving nails, pins, etc.

that have only one leg, the central portion 28 together with one wall 27 of the rail 17 forms a cavity as illustrated to keep such fasteners 30 in a vertical position. The size and shape of the space above the central portion 28 depends on the type of fastener the tool is to drive.

Figure 3 illustrates a sectional view along line B-B of Figure 2, and shows means for aligning fasteners 29 with the internal cavity of the magazine rail 17 during loading. The magazine 1 5 is assumed to be unlatched and pulled backwards to expose a cavity formed between walls 31 formed in the body 16. The fasteners 29 have been placed in the cavity against one wall 31 so that the fastener center line CL2 is displaced laterally relative to the center line CL1 of the tool. The fasteners 29 could have also been placed against the opposite wall 31 or anywhere in between.

The magazine 1 5 is also shown with its center line CL3 offset relative to that of the tool, but in the opposite direction. This illustrates what may occur when the components are not closely fitted in the tool.

To achieve accurate alignment, as the magazine 15 is moved toward the front 33 of the tool the fasteners 29 are deflected to the left, as viewed in Figure 3, by inclined or angled front portions 32 of the magazine 15.

The vertical walls 27 of the magazine rail 17 are thus provided with outwardly flared portions 32 to contact the end fastener in the clip. The inside surfaces 37 of portions 32 force the fasteners 31 toward the center line CL3 of the magazine rail 17 thereby allowing the fasteners 29 to pass within the rail cavity formed between walls 27.

Referring now to Figure 4, a bottom view is shown of the front section of the tool with the magazine 1 5 in a closed position. As the magazine 1 5 is moved forward to the closed position, the outward extending portions 32 enter recesses 36 of the body 16. The inside surfaces 37 engage the inside surfaces 38 of the recesses 36 and align the magazine rail 17 with the front portion 33 of the tool. In one embodiment, there is provided a plate 34 mounted on the body 16 to resist wear on the front portion 33.

Where this plate 34 is used, it forms a part of the front portion 33 as shown in Figures 6 and 7.

Recesses 35 are then also present to serve the same purpose as recesses 36.

The magazine rail 17 has an end surface 39 (best shown in Figure 5) that contacts the plate 34 (or front portion 33 when plate 34 is not present), to function as stop for the forward position of the magazine 1 5.

The lower portion 40 of the rail 17 is positioned in relation to surface 39 to create the fastener guideway 18 in conjunction with the plate 34, as best shown in Figure 4.

Figure 5 is a side elevation of the front section of the magazine 15 to show the relationship between extending portions 32, surface 39 and lower portion 40.

Figures 6 and 7 show vertical sections through the front of the body and guideway.

Referring to Figures 6 and 7, the recesses 36 in the front portion 33 can be seen in relation to the driver 19. The body 1 6 has a means for guiding the driver 19 in a vertical path during the driving operation. In this description the guide means is shown as two lands 41 on respective sides of the driver 19. The lands 41 may form part of the wear plate 34 or other portions of the body 16. The plate 34 is supported on the body 16 in this embodiment by means of two recesses 42 in which shoulders of the plate 34 are inserted. The mounting of the plate 34 may also be achieved by fastening devices such as pins, screws, etc. for attachment to the body 16. The plate 34 can also be eliminated completely as shown in Figure 7.

Recesses 36 are horizontally positioned in relation to the driver 19 on respective sides of the guideway 18, in order to align the magazine correctly to allow the driver 19 to pass through the guideway 18 during the drive stroke. The surfaces 38 used to position the magazine 1 5 may be in the front portion 33 of the tool or may be part of the plate 34 when the plate 34 is present.

Thus, the front portion of the support rail 17 allows the clips to fit into a body cavity that can be easily formed, but nevertheless guide the clip into the support rail. The portion of the body 1 6 for retaining the support rail 17 does not have to have a close fit.

The trailing fastener of the clip is engaged during loading by the outwardly extending portions of the leading end of the support rail. The fasteners will be forced away from the wall of the cavity in the body since the extending portion is positioned outside the external edge of the fastener, As the rail continues to be pushed toward the guideway, the clip enters the area provided in the rail for the purpose of supporting the fasteners during normal use. When the magazine is completely forward the guideway is formed between the bottom of the magazine and a portion of the body. The leading fastener in the clip is positioned within the guideway when the driver is in the upward position.

As the driver is actuated in a driving stroke the fastener within the guideway is driven out and into the workpiece.

When the driver is raised above the top of the next fastener, it is then moved into the guideway by the forward force on the pusher. The cycle can be repeated until all fasteners are expelled.

Another important condition is achieved in that it is ensured that the fastener surface that will be struck by the end of the driver will be positioned in correct relationship with the driver. In the case of staples, if the legs are not both positioned under the driver, one leg will be driven correctly but the other leg may shear at the crown edge.

In the case of small diameter pins, the driver may miss the pin completely if the pin is allowed to be too far to one side.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, two surfaces are therefore provided in the front portion of the body that are located symmetrically with the portion of the driver that passes within the guideway during the driving stroke. The outwardly extending portions 32 of the magazine engage these two surfaces, thereby positioning the guideway symmetrically with respect to the driver. The fasteners held within the magazine are therefore positioned in the correct location to be properly engaged by the end of the driver.

The magazine portions 26 that fit within the elongate slots of the body 16 are used to keep the outwardly extending portions within an engageable distance of the two surfaces in the front portion of the body, but are not used for precisely locating the magazine in relation to the driver.

The present invention thus provides a fastener driving device that can be easily loaded with fasteners.

The invention also provides a device that can be loaded by retracting the magazine, placing the fasteners within the device and closing the magazine.

Another advantage of the invention is that means are provided for aligning the fasteners with the internal opening of the magazine as the magazine is moved toward a closed position.

A further advantage is the provision of means that align the front portion of the magazine with the driver portion of the device when the magazine is held in a closed position.

It is conceivable that further modifications can be made by those knowledgeable in the art within the scope of the present invention and such modifications are to be regarded as encompassed by the following

Claims (9)

claims. CLAIMS

1. Fastener driving apparatus comprising a magazine (15) which includes a rail (17) for supporting and guiding fasteners (31), as they are advanced to a guideway (18) for ejection from the apparatus, the rail (17) being mounted for movement away from and towards said guideway (18) for reloading the magazine (15) characterised in that said rail (17) is mounted for movement transversely of the direction of fastener advance and in that the rail (17) has outwardly inclined end portions (32) for centering fasteners in the magazine (15) during reloading as the rail (17) is returned towards said guideway (18).

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said guideway (18) is defined between a portion of said magazine (15) and a portion of a body (16) of the apparatus.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said body (16) has guide surfaces (38) for engagement by said end portions (32) to centre said magazine (15) relative to said guideway (18).

4. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein said end portions (32) are respective outwardly flared parts of side walls of said rail (17).

5. Fastener driving apparatus comprising a body (16), a driver (19) movable within said body (16) for ejecting fasteners into a workpiece, reciprocal means for moving said driver (19), a magazine (15) having a rail (17) for supporting and guiding said fasteners, a guideway (18) formed by a portion of said body (16) and said magazine (15), means for advancing said fasteners along said magazine (15) into said guideway (18), and a cavity in said body (16) for placing said fasteners into said magazine (15), characterised in that said rail (17) is movable transversely of said guideway portion (18) of said body (16), and in that a front portion (32) of said rail (17) is outwardly inclined for aligning said fasteners with an internal channel of said rail (17) as said rail (17) is moved toward said guideway (1 8).

6. Fastener driving apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said front outwardly inclined portion (32) of said rail (17) engages said guideway portion of said body (16) for locating said guideway (18) symmetrically with respect to the portion of said driver (19) that passes therethrough.

7. A magazine (15) for fastener driving apparatus comprising an elongate rail (17) having outwardly inclined portions (32) extending from side walls thereof on at least one end thereof.

8. Fastener driving apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

9. Any feature of novelty taken singly or in combination with any other feature of the fastener driving apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.