IL33405A - Tool attachments for improved wing headed fastener and methods for applying fastener - Google Patents

Description

TOOL ATTACHMENTS FOR IMPROVED WING HEADED' FASTENER AND METHODS FOR APBLYING FASTENER This invention relates to improved wing headed fasteners, tool attachments and methods for applying the wing headed fasteners with a minimum of cost and time.

For many years the electronics industry, among others, has been faced with the problem of reassembling imperfect units such as television sets after the same have been assembled. Of principal concern is the necessity of removing and thereafter replacing threaded fasteners which are normally used in fastening the backing members of television cabinets, or the like. The cost involved in the operation adds considerably to the unit cost of the product being manufactured and thus there is a definit need for obviating the removal and replacement of the threaded fasteners.

Sereral attempts have been made in the past to remedy this problem by using fasteners which do not have to be removed from the cabinet in order to enable removal of the cabinet backings which they secure. Such fasteners do exist and although they obviate problems of removal, it is more di icult to install these new fasteners than it is to install the old and well known threaded fasteners We have obviated the disadvantages attendant with utilizing common threaded fasteners for securing first members, such as cabinet hacking members, to second members, such as cabinets, by providing fasteners which enable the backing of a cabinet to be removed expeditiously without removal of the fasteners. In^addition, the fasteners can be positioned and applied automatically with our new tools and processed thereby obviating the difficulties involved with initiall applying or installing the fasteners.

Ve have provided new and improved fasteners and attachments for an air tool to thereby adapt the tool especially for our new and improved fasteners. ¾e attachments enable our new and improved fasteners to be associated with members at a predetermined locatio with respect to key s ts in those members.

Further, we provide new and improved systems for positioning fasteners such as described herein with respect to nail driving tools in order to associate the fasteners with members by driving nails therethrough.

Still I even further, we provide interconnected fasteners and automatic means for successively severing each of the fasteners after they are positioned for fastening by the nails.

Also, we have provided an improved intercpnnec-ting system for the wing headed fasteners, as well as a means and method of severing the interconnected fasteners more adroitly then previously.

Referring to the accompanying drawings: FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view illustrating bur invention used with an automatic nailing tool that is powered by compressed air; FIGURE 2 is a front view of a portion of the tool attachment of our invention illustrating its mode of asso-elation with the automatic nailing tool of Big.lJ FIGURE 3 is a bottom view looking in the direction of the arrows 3-3 of Fig. 2 at the portion of that #ool attachment of our inventionj FIGURE 4 is a sectional view illustrating how a nail fastener is forced through one of our new and improved wing headed fasteners to secure the same fastener and therefore a first member such as a cabinet backing to a second member, such as a cabinet frame} FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along a plane passing through the lines 5-5 in Fig. 4 and looking in the direction of the arrows to illustrate how the tool attachment of the first mentioned application cooperates with a key slot to locate the wing headed fastener and nail in a certain position relative to said key slot) FIGURE 6 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 4 illustrating how our new and improved wing headed fastener is held in position with the wind head substantially o transverse to the key slot with its wing portions forced against the backing surface by a nail; FIGURE 7 is a view illustrating our new and improved wing headed fastener in relation to the key slot in the cabinet backing where the wing headed fastener has an open position (shown by the solid lines) and a closed position (shown in phantom); FIGURE 8 is a cut-awa view of the actuating piston member of the air to i illustrated in Fig. 1; FIGURE 9 is a side elevational view illustrating an embodiment of our invention of this application with an automatic nailing tool where the improved fastener is illustrated in a spaced apart interconnected relationship; FIGURE 10 is a bottom view of the automatic nailing tool with the tool attachment of Fig. 9 FIGURE 11 is an enlarged fragmentar vie of the bottom of the tool attachment of Fig. 10; FIGURE 12 is a sectional view of Pig. 11 taken along a plane passing through the lines 12-12 and looking in the direction of the arrows; FIGURE 13 is a sectional view of Fig. 11 taken on a plane passing throug the line 13-13 and looking in the direction of the arrows in Fig. 11; FIGURE 14 is a fragmentary front view of Fig. 9 showing a portion of the tool attachment; FIGURE 15 is a fragmentary view of the bottom of Fig. 9 showing a portion of the tool attachment; and FIGURE 16 is a partial sectional view of Fig. 15 down the center of interconnected fasteners illustrating the improved fasteners and the cutting mechanism of Figs, 9-1 in operation.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout our new and improved wing headed fastener 10 and tool attachment 12 are shown in Figs. 1-8 in connection with an air tool which is commonly used for driving nails* As illustrated in Fi s. 1,3 and 8, the air tool 14 has> a cylinder head 16 that is supplied with compressed air to drive a reciprocating piston 18 in order that nails 20 which are held in the magazine 22 thereof are forced through an aperture 20a in the tool attachment 12. It will be noted that the tool attachment 12 is associated with the lower portion of the air tool 14 by fastening members 12a. The tool attachment 12 comprises a pair of apertured plates 13, 13a. The plates are continuously positioned and form the aperture 20a therebetween for purposes of enabling the nails 20 in the magazine 22 to be forced there-Mrough by he piston 18 upon actuation of the trigger 22a of the air tool 14. The attachment 12 has a pair of spaced apart noses 15, 15a, which have inner sides with opposing arcuate edges 17, 17a to receive and hold the wing headed fasteners 10 in position in connection with the air topi 14· The wing headed fasteners 10, as illustrated in Figs. 4-7, are intended for use in cooperation with a first member, such as a cabinet backing 23 to removably associate the backing with a second member such as a cabinet 24 in order that when it is desired to remove the cabinet backing, the same can be removed without removing the fasteners. The first member or cabinet backing 23 has a key slot 26 which substantially conforms to a cross-section of our new and improved wing headed fastener 10 as illustrated in Fig. 7· As illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, the wing headed fastener 10 has a central body portion 28 with top and bottom ends 28a, 28b, respectively. A pair of wing portions 30, 30a, project from the central bod portion in opposite directions. The wing portions preferably have flat upper ends and inclined lower ends 31 , 32 having the lowest points thereof at the outside and rising upwardly at points closer to the central axis thereof. The wing portions 30, 30a are preferably composed of resilient material such as plastic and the lowest points thereof are accordingly deflected upward toward the top end of said wing headed fastener when forced against the cabinet backing 23. Such deflection causes pressure to be exerted on the surface underneath the fastener to secure the fastener and fastened member.

It will be noted from Figs. 4 and 6 that the lower ends of the wing portions 30, 30a are rounded so that when it is desired to rotate the fastener, friction is minimized. Also, the central body portion 28 has an opening 10a with a recess 10b formed therein through the central axis thereof from the top to the bottom for receiving a second fastener such as a nail 20 in order that the nail 20 can attach the wing headed fastener 10 to the said second member* In operation, the air tool 14 has its magazine filled with nails 20 and an improved wing headed fastener 10 releasably held b the attachment 12 as illustrated in Fig. 5. The central body portion 28 of the fastener 10 is Jield by the arcuate edges 17, 17a so that the aperture 10a in the wing headed fastener 10 is aligned with the intended path of the nails 20. Thereafter, the noses 15, 15a of the tool attachment 12 are positioned in the key slot 26, as illustrated in Fig. 5 in order that the wing headed fastener has its vlng portions 30, 30a positioned •substantiall transverse to theykey slot 26 and therefore in, contact with the backing member 23 of the cabinet 24, Thus, when the air tool 14 io actuated, a nail 20 is forced through. he aperture 20a, the aperture 10a of the wing headed fastener 10 and finally into engagement with t$re cabinet 24 as illustrated in Figs. 4 and: 6. When a nail 20 is actuated through a wing headed fastener 10 which is releasably held by the attachment 12, it also causes the wing headed fastener to be released from the arcuate edges 17, 17a, The wing headed fastener's open and closed positions are illustrated in Figs. 5 and 7· In Fig. 7, the wing headed fastener is in its open position and is in alignment with the key slot 26 in order that the backing 23 can be removed from the cabinet without removing tjpte fastener 10. The wing headed fastener's closed position is illustrated in phantom in Figs. 5 and 7 where the wing portions thereof are in contact with tte backing of the cabinet in a substantially transverse position with respect to the key slot in order to secure the backing 23 to the cabinet 24. It will be further noted that in order to enable easy rotation of the wing headed fasteners, the nails 20 are driven into the cabinet a predetermined distance which gives optimum pressure on the wing headed fastener in addition to allowing selected rotation thereof, when this is desired.

In Figs. 9-14f the improved embodiments of wing headed fastenerd and tool attachments are shown. Therein, ; an automatic nailing tool 34 is illustrated in combination with a series of fasteners 36 which form a strip 37 and are interconnected by means of interconnecting portions or gates 36a, By being interconnected, the, ing headed fasteners 36 ca be automatically moved to a position where they can be simultaneously separated from each other and applied rapidly and efficiently in holding the members together, as will be explained hereafter.

The nailing tool 34 is patterned after the conventional nailers as described in connection with ^igs. 1-8. The air tool is provided with an actuation trigger 39 and a handle 40.A tool attachment 35 is added to tool 34 and includes a nail clip 42 with nails (not shown) positioned therein in order that they can be driven through the mouth of the tool.. .■ ■ · . .· At the bottom of the tool is a characterized aperture 46a,. which is shaped to allow the sides of the wing headed fasteners to move from the tool after the fasteners have been severed and fastened to a member.

The aperture 46 feeds into a channel, 47 which is formed in the wing headed fastener magazine 48.· The channel 47 includes undercut slots 47b for receiving the wings 30,30a of the fasteners to thus slidably receive and capture the stripm37 in the channel 47. The strip 37 of the fasteners 3.6 is spring biased on one end by the spring means 50 and are stopped at the front end by a first cut-off means 81. The - fasteners and enables each of the individual fasteners 36 to be severed after they are positioned or fastening by the nails as will be explained hereafter.

The channel 47 with undercut slots 47b is shaped in conformity to the ctoss-section of the fasteners as illustrated in ig. 13 and has an opening 52 proximate to the rear end thereof which accepts the set of fasteners 36 upon their insertion therein.

The spring means 50 has a front member 51 attached to a retainer shaft member 53 having a rear peg member 54 extending therefrom. The rear peg member is sized so that it can be moved through the opening 52, as well as be slidably received in the slot's 47b so that the spring means 50 can be held in place at the rear of the machine by the force of the spring pushing member 51 against strip 37 and peg 54, against retaining means such aw posts 55.

Handle means such as handle 56 is shown as integral to spring retainer shaft 53._It facilitates properly positioning the spring means 50 into aid out of the opening 52.

The spring retaining shaft is journaled through journal 57 so that member 51 rides on the shaft to press against strip 37 responsive to the exertion of the spring force caused by the compression of the opening between peg 54 and member 51. The journal 57 is slidably contained in groove 47a of channel. 47· The shaft is shown broken away for convenience; actually is extends almost the entire length of the magazine 48, that is the length of shaft 53 plus the length of member 51 reaches from posts 55 to the characterized aperture 46.

The first cut-off means 81 is held to fastening plate 82 by pins 86, 87 and cooperates with the characterized aperture 46 to locate the fasteners 36 for activation as illustrated in Figs, 15 and 16. It will be noted that the second cut-off means 83 has , bottom plate 98 which has a protrusion 100 extending downward therefrom, as well as a cutter 101 extending upward toward the interconnecting gate means 36a of each of the fasteners 36 positioned in the characterized aperture 46. The cut-off means 82 is spring biased away from the tool by the spring means 102 and 103 which are interposed between the machine and the cutroff xfi means 83 at a location where a pair of reciprocally actuatable piston members 104 and 105 extend from the nailing tool.

It will be noted that the safety oatch 108 of the nailing tool must be completely depressed for the trigger 39 to be actuated. The safety catch 108 is associated with the release lever or piston 107 to enable the trigger 39 to be actuated when the piston 107 is depressed.

Means are provided for depressin the safety catch when the fastener 36 in aperture 46 is properly positioned relative to the slot in the first member. A protrusion 99 extends from the fastener plate 82 so that it can cooperate with a protrusion $00 extending from cutting means 83 to be eonstrainingly received in a key slot to locate the improved fasteners 36 in a predetermined location relative to the key slot arid to locate the fadtener in order that it can be forced against a cabinet backing, or the like, upon actuation of a nail. Thus, when the protrusions 99, 100 are fitted into a slot in a first member and when. the wing headed fastener is positioned ., so that the main body portion thereof is clear of the cutter 101, then the second cutter means 83 and the piston 107 is depressed to enable the trigger 39·, . s best shown in Pig. 16, the improved wing headed fasteners 36 are joined by gates 36a to form a strip 37. Means are provided at the bottom of the fasteners to obviate the formation 6f burrs when the nail is driven. hrough the nail receiving opening 38 and to miniraize friction when rotating the fastener between the opened and the closed positions. More particularly, hole 38 extends into a truncated conically shaped flaring aperture 38a at its bottom. This prevents burrs which may be caused by. the nails from extending beyond the bottom of the fastener and also minimizes suiiace contact with the second member to ridge 39. The top with hole 38 is shown/countersunk portion 38b.

It should be notdd that while Pigs. 15 and 16 do not illustrate the wing portions of the" fasteners, the wing portions of the fasteners are formed and shaped the same as the fasteners of Figs. 4 and 6.

Pig. 16 also shows the positions of the cutters 88, 101. When the protrusions are in the slot, the cutting edge of the cutter 101 is contiguous to the gate 36a immediately adjacent the main body section of the fastener 36 that is in characterized aperture 46, since plate 83 is then depressed against springs 104, 105. Similarly, the cutting edge of cutter 81 is contiguous to $he remains of the gate that were cut b cutter 101 when the revious fastener 36 fastener strip is forced against the cutter so as to sever the gates.

To review the operation of the tool 34 and attachments thereof, the set of interconnected fasteners 37 are placed in the slotted magazine compartment 48 and the spring means 50 is urged against the interconnected fasteners 37 to position them successively for activation and fastening.

The cut-off means 81 and 83 operate to sever each of the fasteners 36 prior to their being nailed* As each fastener 36 is nailed, another fastener is actuated by the spring means 50 to a position where it is in the characterized aperture 46 and ready for nailing. The fasteners are located by means of the protrusions 99, 100 as before described.

Thus, from an understanding of the operation of our invention, it can be seen that the invention has fulfilled the stated objects in a remarkably unexpected fashion.

Not only does the new and improved wing headed fastener enable expeditions removal of the cabinet hackings, or the like, but also the new and improved attachments and process described herein in connection with the fasteners enables the wing headed fasteners to be installed easily, rapidly and with a minimum of cost.

While we have illustrated preferred embodiments of our invention, the scope thereof is intended to include othei embodiments which are suggested by this disclosure. For instanoe, it is conceivable that other shapes of attachments for association the wing headed fasteners with driving tools could be employed to achieve the objectives herein disclosed and suggested*

Claims (6)

- 14 - Appln.No. 33405/

1. Wing headed fasteners for use in removably attaching first members, such as cabinet backings to seonnd members, . such as cabinets, said stener comprising a main body portion, said body portion having a top end and a bottom end, at least one wing portion projectin outwardly from said top end of said body portion, aperture means in said body portion for receiving nails therein to pivotally attach said wing headed fasteners to said second member to removably attach the first members to the second members, and said aperture means comprising a top portion that is shaped to be contiguous with the received nail and a bottom portion that is shaped to be non-contiguous with the received nail, characterized by raeaiis integral to said wing headed fasteners for interconnecting said wing headed fasteners in strips in a spaced apart relationship so that said wing headed fasteners can be fed for successive fastening by tools that automatically drive nails.

2. The wing headed fastener of claim 1 wherein said fastener comprises a main body portion, said body portion having a to end and a bottom end, at least one wing portion projectin outwardly from said top end og said body portion, said body portion having a one wing portion being resilient and being shaped with respect to said body portion to deflect and exert a holdin force on said first member when said body portion is disposed in said slot, with said bottoni end thereof forced against said second member, and aperture means in said body portion for receiving the nails therei to pivotally attach said wing headed fasteners to said second member in a manner that forces said at least one wing portion against said first member to removably attach said first member to s¾id second member and to enable said wing headed fastener to pivot into registry with bhe key slots for removing said irst member. 4x

3. The wing beaded fastener of claim wherein said aperture means comprises a top portion that is shaped to be contiguous with the received nail and a bottom portion that is shaped to be non-contiguous with the received nail. 3 Sx

4. The wing headed fasteners of claim 4 wherein said means for interconnecting said wing headed fasteners comprise gate sections extending perpendicular to the body portion,, and substantially normal to the at least one wing portion of said wing headed fasteners* ¾¾

5. An attachment for a tool that actuates nails to force them into a base member,' said attachment being adapted as claimed in claim 1 to removably hold a wing headed apertured fastener/in a position where said aperture is aligned with the intended path of said nails, whereby actuation of said nails forces said fastener off at said attachment by forcin said nails through said aperture and into engagement with said base member 5 T¾x

6. An attachment, as defined in claim 6c, for use in removably connecting a panel member having a key slot therein that is superimposed over said base member to said base member, said attachment having locating means ■ shaped to be constrainingly received in said key slot to locate said fastener in a predetermined location ■'·<■ relative to said key slot and to locate said fastener in order that it can be forced against said base member upon actuation of said nail. $7· An attachment for a tool, as defined in claim , wherein said apertured fasteners are interconnected in a spaced apart relationship in order that said apertured fasteners can be fed for successive fastening by said nails, said attachment having means for slidably receiving said interconnected fasteners in order that said fasteners can be moved therethrough to successively locate each of said apertured fasteners, in alignment with said path of said nails, and said attachment being adapted to successively locate aacSa,of said apertured fasteners after a preceding one has been severed from the remaining fasteners, whereb upon actuation of said nails through said apertured fasteners said fasteners can be successively located for activation* % 8. An attachment for a tool as defined in claim JS wherein spring, means urge said interconnected fasteners towards the location where each of said apertured fasteners is successively located in alignment with said path of said nails* 1xX 9. An attachment foir a tool, as defined in wherein said attachment has cutting means for severing the connection between each of said fasteners prior to when said nails fasten each of said fasteners* 9 W» 10· An attachment for a tool, as defined in claim ΚΓ, for use in removably connecting a panel member having a key slot therein that is superimposed over said base member, to said base member, said attachment having locating means shaped to be constrainingly received in said key slot to locate said fastener in a predetermined location relative to said key slot and to locate said fastener in order that it can be forced against said member upon actuation of said nail* "Wfc.11. An improved process for attaching a slotted panel having. plurality of slots to a workpiece by means of aper-tured wing headed fasteners having a body portion with at least one of wing portions projecting outwardly from said body portion, said wing headed fasteners attached to each other b integral interconnecting gate portions to form a strip of spaced apart wing headed gastener, said wing portions being resilient and being shaped to deflect and exert a securing force on said panel in the closed position of said fastener when said body portion is inserted in and forced against said workpiece, including the steps of i pushing said . strip to position one of said apertured wing headed fasteners for mounting on said workpiece, superimposing the panel on said workpiece, passing the body portio of each of said fasteners through each of said slots toward said workpiece, driving second fasteners through said apertures and into said workpiece to rotatably mount said wing headed fastener so that said body portions are forced against said workpiece, and cutting said gate portion on one side of said fastener and trimming said gate portion on the other side of said fastener while driving said second fastener through said aperture into said workpiece, whereby said wing portions are forced against said panel to secure panel onto said workpiece when said wing headed fastener is in ^ts closed position not in registry with said slot. Tel-Aviv, November 18, 1969 AGENT FOR APPLICANTS