US2529165A

US2529165A - Rivet feeding device

Info

Publication number: US2529165A
Application number: US603314A
Authority: US
Inventors: Talbot R Knowles
Original assignee: Douglas Aircraft Co Inc
Current assignee: Douglas Aircraft Co Inc
Priority date: 1945-07-05
Filing date: 1945-07-05
Publication date: 1950-11-07
Anticipated expiration: 1967-11-07

Description

Nov. 7, 1950 'r. R. KNOWLES RIVET FEEDING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 5, 1945 INVENTORB 72x57- Z Mamas BY fWFV Nov. 7, 1950 T. R. KNOWLES 2,529,165

RIVET FEEDING DEVICE Filed July 5, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 721.507 mow?! Nov. 7, 1950 'r. R. KNOWLES RIVE'I FEEDING nnvzcs 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 5, 1945 INVENTOR. 2150 E Mon 1.6.5

@raPA/Ey Nov. 7, 1950 T. R. KNOWLES RIVET FEEDING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 5, 1945 7, a l 2 m m E M W e W/ Patented Nov. 7, 1950 RIVET FEEDING DEVICE Talbot R. Knowles, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., Santa Monica, Calif.

Application July 5, 1945, Serial No. 603,314

15 Claims. (CI. 7848) This invention relates to fastener feeding devices for association with pneumatic fastenerdriving tools. As will become manifest, it is particularly well adapted for attachment to pneumatic riveters, but is not necessarily limited in the scope of its utility to association with riveters. being equally well adapted for attachment to pneumatically operated fastener drivers of other categories, such as those for driving screws.

Automatic rivet feeding attachments have been proposed for pneumatic riveters heretofore. However, in the usual such proposal the fasteners are gravity-fed to the set of the riveter, and hence operate in one position only. Other proposals necessitate the employment of a long, trailing, auxiliary air hose to feed the rivets to the tool from a distance. Some proposals include a tubular magazine on the gun to which fluid pressure is applied from the exhaust of the tool. Such devices require hand loading of a holder in the tubular magazine. The rivets or other fasteners hence have to be inserted thereinto by hand, one at a time, in carefully controlled atttudes or positions of alignment. Moreover, such feeding attachments are loadable only in the "right side up position, the magazine not being loadable in the inverted attitude in which it is quite often necessary to load a riveting gun or the like. There are other tubular magazine types of feeders which necessitate frequent and laborious hand placement of rivets in a magazine loading machine which is then employed to load the gun. Still others require loading of a detached magazine, which is then attached to the gun.

, Such feeding attachments, while doubtless constituting an improvement on that mode which involves feeding rivets by hand one at a time into the rivet hole, are thus quite restricted in their stone and in their utility.

The present invention obviates all these disadvantages and provides superior feeding of fasteners to a fastener-driving tool by means of a fastener feeding attachment in which can be con tamed a relatively unlimited supply of fasteners. The fasteners are poured by hand into the container or chamber on the gun without the aid of a loading machine or the like, in the form of a loose bulk, and without regard to their being in disarray. No pre-loading of a tubular or other magazine is required. Part'of the operating pressure of the pneumatic tool is diverted into the I loaded fastener-container in such a way as to automatically arrange and feed the fasteners into a magazine, which is automatically maintained full at all times, with a fastener always ready in another portion of the device for delivery to the set of the driving tool. Thus, no handling of the fasteners is required, either to arrange them. to load the magazine, or to deliver the fasteners, one at a time, to the fastener driving zone of the pneumatic tool. The arranging means, feeding means, magazine, and delivery means are entirely independent of, and unaffected by, the action of gravity, and the device is hence operative in any position or attitude of the pneumatic tool. including the inverted attitude. A portion of the operating fluid pressure for the tool itself being utilized to effect the fastener arranging and feeding actions and part of the delivery action of the attachment, no auxiliary air hoses or other booster devices are required.

The fastener feeding attachment can either be built in with the rest of the pneumatic tool or be readily fitted to conventional tools without requiring any structural changes or other modifications in the tool itself. The fastener feeding attachment can be applied to a variety of pneumatic tools of the class described and in each case it operates from the fluid channel used to operate the driving member of the pneumatic tool. The attachment enables the operator to work much faster, yet with less effort than when using tools of the type described above.

The invention also provides an automatic fastener-feeding attachment for pneumatic fastener-driving tools which is much simpler, and has fewer moving parts, than comparable conventional fastener-feeders. It hence can be manufactured relatively cheaply on the large quantity scale, thus placing it within the financial reach of small purchasers.

The other accomplishments and advantages of the invention will become manifest as this specification proceeds. The presently preferred embodiment of these and other inventive concepts is illustrated, by way of exemplification only, in the accompanying drawings, and described in detail hereinafter. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is limited in the embodiments it can take only by the scope of the accompanyfer;

the driving condition of the gun;

Figure 5 is an enlarged perspective of a portion of the feeding mechanism, showing a controlling detent in the position which it occupies when the gun is in the condition illustrated in Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a similar view of the same portion of the device in the position which it occupies when the gun is in the condition illustrated in Figure 4;

Figure '7 is a similar view of the same portion of the gun in the position which it occupies when the gun is in the condition illustrated in Figure 3;

Figure 8 is a detailed view of a portion of the rivet feeding attachment to illustrate the construction for retaining the rivets in vertically stacked alignment as they are fed to the delivery passage and for preventing the supplying of more than one rivet at a time to the delivery means of the gun;

Figure 9 is a section on line 99 of Figure 8 showing in'its open position a member for transferring single rivets to the delivery passage and for preventing plural entry of rivets to the delivery passage, and

Figure 10 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the mode of transferring a rivet from the supply portion of the attachment to the rivet-advancing portion thereof, and

Figure 11 is a perspective view of the operating half of the attachment, showing the gun in phantom.

The rivet feeding attachment, in the presently preferred embodiment, includes means for containing a supply of rivets; automatic means, independent of the force of gravity and operative regardless of the position or attitude of the gun, for sortingrivets in succession from this supply, and feeding them in properly aligned attitudes towards a delivery passageway; means in said passageway for delivering the rivets, one at a time, to a point sub-adjacent the rivet set of the gun; and means for transferring the rivets, one at a time, from this point to a point located forwardly of the center of the rivet set, for application thereby to the rivet hole. Means are also provided to prevent improper sequence of operation of these respective means with especial reference to the half-cocked condition of the feeding attachment, .wherein to prevent feeding and transfer of a. subsequent rivet against the work piece before the preceding rivet has been fully set. In addition, the illustrated embodiment includes means for preventing entrance of unsorted or reversed rivets to the magazine and feeding means; and means in the delivery zone for preventing jamming of the rivets in the delivery zone by precluding the entrance of more than one rivet at a time into the delivery zone.

As will be made manifest hereinafter, the attachment does not involve the presence either of a fixed tubular loading magazine acting by gravity or of an auxiliary air hose adapted to serve as a tubular rivet magazine to bring the rivets to the gun from a distance. As will also Figure 4 is a similar view showing the parts in be made manifest, the gun with the present feeding attachment will operate in any position or attitude in which it is necessary to place it, the feeding attachment being unaffected by the force of gravity or the attitude of the gun, as contrasted to conventional, gravity-operated feed attachments. Indeed, the attachment is so nearly universal in its operative attitudes that, even without the operative aid of the air pressure,- the gun can be violently shaken or vibrated in any direction and to any extent without consequential eifects upon thepositioning of the rivets therein and without affecting the orderly and uniform operation of the attachment. Moreover, the handpull can be manipulated, for any desired reason, with the air pressure shut off from the attachment, yet, notwithstanding the partial or complete and repeated retraction of the handpull, the fasteners will merely go through the mechanical transfer phases of the feeding operations. Thus, there will occur no jamming of the fasteners in the respective feed, delivery or transfer elements and, of course, none will arise in the arranging or aligning components of the attachment, even if the tool is violently vibrated while being manipulated as described above.

Referring now to the details of construction illustrated, the structure includes a housing ll longitudinally divided into halves I la, and adapted to be mounted thereby on the barrel of a conventional rivet gun, indicated generally by reference numeral l2. In lieu of the gravityafl'ected magazines or sorting mechanisms of prior rivet feeding attachments, the present attachment is predicated upon a centrifugal air stream pick off and feeding group or device indicated generally by reference numeral l3. This sorting device is normally closed by a hinged cover I 4, which is preferably of a transparent nature to afford an opportunity to observe the status of the supply of rivets.

The feeding attachment, as well as the rivet gun per se, is energized by compressed air controlled by a trigger 15, mounted on the inner face of the handle l2a of the gun. A hand pull I6 is pivotally mounted on the upper portion of the feeding attachment, as at the pivot H. The upper end of the hand pull is bifurcated and each fork l8 extends forwardly and downwardly alongside each side of the barrel of the gun. The bifurcation is spring .loaded, on its pivot, by means of a spring IS. The forks thusprovide arms terminating at their forward ends in attachment points for a transfer member 20.

The pivot 11 is located on a slide frame comprising a longitudinally extending pair of parallel bars 22 hearing at their forward end a block 23 have an axial bore 24, the frame having at its rear end a block 25. The block 25 is formed with rearwardly projecting ears 26. The slide frame constituted by these parts is mounted for movement forwardly and backwardly of the length of the gun in guideways 21, defined by suitably shaped surfaces located on the upper edges of each housing half Ho.

The rear block 25, on one or both of the outer faces thereof, is provided with a multi-grooved camming face 28, the camways of which are hereinafter described in detail. A detent member 29 is pivotally mounted at one end on the adjacent wall of the housing half, the pivot being constructed with alongitudinal bearing surface cylindrical and a spherical inner end bearing surface to enable the detent to move both in the vertical plane and to oscillate, or

rock, about its longitudinal axis. The latter pivotal movement is provided for by the presence of a spacer 30 spherically rounded on the face contiguous to the member 29. At its other end, the detent carries a latch pin 3|, urged inwardly and downwardly in the respective camways on respective occasions, later described, by a spring 32.

As will be hereinafter made clear in describing the operation of the device, the chief purpose of this detent and cam group is to control the movement of the slide member in such a manner as to prevent improper sequence of the occurrence of a certain step in the cycle of operations; that is, to hold the slide in a neutral position, in order to permit the operator to give the set [21) a few auxiliary bursts," by depressing the trigger IS without disturbing the position of the hand pull. These additional bursts are sometimes called for by the bucker, especially when he desires an odd-length fastener to be inserted by thumb and then have the gun operator employ the gun against same in the conventional manner.

The camming faces include a substantially horizontal section 33 having, toward the butt end of the 'gun, its inner face angled outwardly as indicated at 34 and terminating in an open horizontal track 35. A return track 36 for the latch pin is provided, and inclines diagonally upwardly from the track 35. The forward end of this diagonal track is prolonged horizontally as another camway 36a, interrupted at a certain point along its length, as shown. Camway 36a extends substantially parallel to the camway 33. The multi-grooved face of the block 25 also includes an angled camway comprising an upper portion 38 and a lower portion 39 defining an acute angle therewith, the junction of these camways defining a node or protuberance 40 for preventing the pin from dropping downwardly into the lower horizontal camway from the upper horizontal camway.

The cooperation of these camways with the latch pin and detent in the various phases of the cycle of operationswill be described hereinafter in connection with an explanation of the manner in which the feeding attachment functions in association with the gun.

The slide group is continuously subjected to a forward urge in its guideways 21 by the resiliency of a bifurcated leaf spring 4| disposed in a cavity in the body of the housing h'alf, one of the forks 42 having its upper end seated in a seat in the butt end of the slide, the other fork 43 having its upper end in engagement with a pin 44 fixedly mounted in the housing half at a suitable distance from the rearward position of the slide group.

Formed in the body of the housing half is a chamber 45 having a generally cup-shaped profile in section. That is to say, the chamber has a peripheral wall 45a extending vertically and a wall 45b extending inwardly at an angle thereto, conferring the configuration of a wide V, in section, upon the periphery of the chamber. The apex of the V lies away from the center of the chamber, and the wall at the apex is of lesser diameter than the diameter of the upper circumference of the chamber. Passageways 46 communicating with the pressure fluid conduit in the handle of the gun as by means of a suitable convenional air conduit, such as a short length of piping typified at reference numeral I are formed in the housing half and intersect the peripheral wall 45b. 'lhese passageways tangentially intersect the periphery or the chamber and open thereinto at an angle thereto through orifices 41, distributed at suitable points around the upper inner periphery of the chamber, in such a manner as to apply the air streams tangentially to the mass of fasteners and impart tangential force-components to the entering airstreams. Thus a circumferentially whirling path is conferred upon the air as it enters the chamber, and this high pressure air rotates the contents of the chamber circumferentially and, due to its high angular velocity builds up a considerable centrifugal component therein. While two diametrically opposed jets have been shown and described, it is to be understood that the purpose intended can be accomplished substantially in the manner described if only one slightly larger and more powerful jet is employed.

The lower or downward portion of the periphery of the chamber 45 as viewed in Figure 2 is provided with a groove 48 spirally tangent thereto as shown and leading outwardly and upwardly from a point of tangency in the form of an oblong surface on the rightward half defining a planeal path 49 having a vertically extending groove 50 paralleling one side thereof and intersecting the same in such manner as to define an edge 5i. This compound and double rectilinear guideway is provided for the purpose of accepting and thus sorting and conducting those rivets that are presented shank first to the grooved passageway, and storing them until the time arrives to transfer them into a rivet delivery group hereinafter described. The surface 49 is of a width sufficient to receive the shanks of the rivets presented thereto shank-first, and groove 50 is of such a depth as to receive approximately one half the circumference of the heads of the rivets.

A removable cover 52 is provided to fit over the surface 49 and groove 59. This cover consists of a substantially rectangular block having its inner face channeled vertically and laterally in the portion thereof that overlies and is coextensive with the planeal path 49, in such manner as to define a passageway for the rivets that is open on its rearward face. That is, the inner face of the cover 52 is cut away in the region of the path 49, starting at its rearward edges and the adjacent portion of the bottom edge, and the cutout extends upwardly from these edges in congruency with the path 49. The cover 52 and path 49 thus together define a horizontally extending slot 53 on their bottom edges, at the upper end of spiral path 48, and a vertically extending, rearwardly opening slot 59a tangent to the periphery of chamber 45. These slots are of the same cross-sectional area, which area is such as to enable the slots to receive only the shanks of the rivets, moving either along the spiral path 49 or urged radially outwardly against the slot 59a. Neither slot is of such an area as to be able to receive the heads of the rivets. The slots thus accept rivets presented shank-first, but will reject rivets presented headfirst.

The passageway 49 and the groove 50 lead to a horizontally extending rivet delivering zone later described. The passageway 49 and the groove 50, at the upper portions thereof, are adapted to contain a plurality of rivets in vertically stacked relationship, and the stack is maintained intact against the forces of gravity and other disturb- "be operative in any position of the gun.

ing forces by a safety mechanism 58 hereinafter described.

The upper portions of the passageway 49 and the groove 50 thus constitute a magazine which is not susceptible to the force of gravity and will T e rivets are thus fed in sequence into the magazine thus formed in proper arrangement by the novel action of the centrifugal group and the accepting and guiding group. The rivet first fed out of the container 45 of course will rest in the uppermost end of the magazine, in juxtaposition with a chamber 54 in the delivery bore. Chamber 54 is axially aligned with thebore 24, in which bore there is a delivery tube 55.

The rivets successively urged into chamber 54 by the air pressure applied at the bottom of the stack are successively and positively delivered forwardly towards the nose of the gun, in the proper stage of the cycle of operations, by the action of a rod 55a projecting forwardly and horizontally from the forward end of the rear block of the slide member. The rod 55a, and the rear portion of the bore 55 in which it moves, are both of a smaller diameter than the heads of the rivets, in order to prevent the rivets from falling backwardly thereinto when the rod is retracted. The rod 550. is of such a length as to fall short of the rearward end of the tube 55 in its most forwardly located position. The delivery of the rivets from this point onward is effected by means of a portion of the fluid pressure .admitted to the delivery bore through the orifice 13 of an air channel 51 formed in the housing half shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4. Thus, the rivets are adapted to be' passed from the container 45 to the transfer member by two fluid-pressure transfers and one mechanical transfer.

In order to prevent the stack of sorted rivets from becoming disaligned, or dropping downwardly and jamming, or failing to feed, in either event rendering the device inoperative or preventing the entrance of subsequent rivets, there is provided a spring-loaded pivoted finger 58, as best seen in Figure 8. This finger is carried pivotally in a recess in the outer surface of the removable cover 52. As described hereinbefore, this cover is adapted to fit over the

guideway members

49 and 50 with vertical clearance between the lower face of one of the rear portions of the cover and the sub-adjacent guideway face but in contact with the shanks of the rivets, to complete the guiding function of the

guideways

49 and 50. The finger 58 includes a resilient tail portion 58a adapted to be engaged by a pin 59 on arm l8; and a recurved head portion 69 adapted to overlap, on occasion, the head of the lowermost one of the vertical stack of rivets. The head portion 60, when lying across the lower end of

guideways

49 and 50, prevents entry of rivets not arranged with their shanks pointing forwardly, thus preventing jamming inthe magazine. This safety finger group includes a spring 8| interposed operatively between the upper edge of the finger and the overlying wall of the groove in the member 52, the spring having its end seated and arranged to normally retain the head 60 in a depressed position overlying the lowermost rivet in the stack. By virtue of this arrangement, thev rivets, as they enter the upper portion of the guideway, are maintained properly stacked sub-adjacent the delivery passageway, despite the fact that the air pressure may not, at the time, have such a direction and value as to itself maintain the stack. So well does this 8 safety group perform its function that the gun may be held in any position, and may even be violently shaken, without disaligning any of the rivets.

Although the lower portions of the passageway 49 and the groove 50 are not completely enclosed on all sides, being open on the lower and rearward portions, inasmuch as the rearward and lower faces thereof must be open for reception of rivets from the centrifugal force-applying group 45, etc., the upper portion of the guideway, by the coaction of the cover 52, is constituted a completely enclosed passageway, which arrangement facilitates the proper feeding of rivets to the delivery bore.

For riveting work where it is not necessary to maintain a reserve of fasteners in a magazine in the gun, the lengths of the

passageways

49 and 50 may, without departing from the scope of the invention, be reduced to the minimum. In fact, if desired, these passageways can be eliminated thus obviating the secondary magazine and the stack of rivets therein. Rivets then passdirectly from the centrifugal chamber into the metering group that includes an antechamber 63. If, in this embodiment, the operation results in a few blank feeding movements, wherein no rivet happens to have been arranged in the chamber 54 by the centrifugal feeding group, this will be of no consequence, since, in this particular employment of the gun, it is not mandatory that a rivet be always available at the exit 8191a of a passageway like that designated as 4 Although the construction and arrangement of the parts, including the rod or plunger 550., that cooperate with the delivery bore almost invariably insure that only one rivet at a time will be fed into the breech 54 of the delivery passageway, as a further measure to render this result almost infallible there is also provided a group generally indicated at 62 and located at the point of egress of the rivets from the

guideway

49 and 50, for preventing the entrance of more than one rivet at a time to the breech 54. This group also operates to transfer a rivet from an antechamber 63 to breech 54. This group is shown in detail in Figures 8, 9 and 10 and includes a recurved member 64 pivoted to the housing half for rotation about a longitudinal axis, parallel to the axis of the delivery bore, and having a finger portion 65 adapted to be brought into the path of subsequent rivets emerging upwardly from the

guideways

49 and 50. The member 64 has a rearwardly extending portion 65a presenting a cam face 66 rearwardly, and adapted to be engaged by the front end of the rod 55a in its forward movement. This movement rotates the safety member 64 in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 9, and hence positions the finger 65 squarely in the upward exit path of the rivets. In this position, it prevents the undesired egress of the next succeeding rivet until the proper stage in the cycle of operations has been reached. Reverse movement of the slide and its rod 55a will efiect reverse rotation of the member 64 clearing a passageway into chamber 63 for the next succeeding rivet in the vertical stack. A spring 65a is provided between the casing and the rotatable member 64 and is so mounted as to tend to normally hold the member 64 in an open condition, that is, with finger 65 retracted out of the entrance path of the rivets.

In the operation of the device, and commencing with the moving parts in the half-cocked 9 condition, or condition of rest, shown in Figure 3, that is, immediately after the gun has driven a rivet, the hand pull l6 now lies substantially in the neutral position shown. The rivet-holding claw portion of the transfer arm I8 is at this time maintained in proper vertical position with reference to bore 24 by the engagement of a pin 61, mounted on arm l8, in a camway 68 on a cam plate 69, the plate including a lower camway I0. That is, the lever I8 is held in a depressed position, the rivet-holding claw thereofholding the I next rivet to be driven slightly above the front end of the delivery bore, to obviate the possibility of this rivet falling backwardly into the delivery passageway. The slide and the cooperating detent and camways group are in the positions shown in Figure 7, with the latch pin 3| in the angled camway 39, restraining forward movement of the slide. The pin 3|, however, can enter camway 33 only when, later on in the cycle, the hand pull I6 is given a slight rearward retraction to enable the pin 3| to clear a protuberance 1|, provided to engage the detent and hold the slide in half-cocked position and prevent improper sequence of operation. In this stage of the operation of the device, also, the lever i8 lies out of contact with the resilient tail 58a of the finger 58, disposing the head 60 underneath the stack of rivets and maintaining them in their vertical position in the magazine. In this phase, there is one rivet lying just ahead of plunger 55a and the magazine contains properly arranged and aligned rivets ready to be fed one at a time into the breech 54 of the delivery bore. The front end of plunger 55a, at this time, lies co-linear with the rear end of the antechamber 63, somewhat rearwardly of the breech 54. The rotatable metering member 64 has, in this phase of the cycle, been rotated completely into the antechamber 63, lying in the position for preventing entrance to breech 54 oi the next lower rivet in the stack. The plunger 55a is then in engagement with the cam 66 on the member 65. Since the hand pull I6 lies out of contact with the trigger l5, no pressure air is being admitted into the centrifuge 45, which hence remains in an inactive condition at this juncture. There is also a rivet in the claw, lying above the outer end of the delivery tube, as well as a rivet in the inner end of the delivery tube, contacting the plunger.

The next phase of the cycle of operations involves the cocking of the gun to transfer the rivet in the transfer claw to its driving position in front of the set and to mechanically urge forwardly the rivet that is in front of the plunger into a position where it can be picked up and fed forwardly by the air jet in the next phase of the cycle. To cock the gun, the operator, as best shown in Figure 2, slightly retracts the hand pull to enable pin 3| to clear the protuberance II. He then releases the hand pull to allow the slide group to move forwardly under the urge of the spring 4|. By this movement, the latch pin 3| is relatively shifted rearwardly in camway 33, but is also urged outwardly by the inclined face 34, being thereby rotated about its longitudinal axis to a certain extent, on spacer 30 as a pivot, in order to clear a protuberance 12, provided in order to prevent undesired return of the pin along camway 33 at this juncture.

The pin 3| finally arrives in the rearward section of the horizontal camway, in readiness to ride up the diagonal camway 36. The release of the hand pull results in the upward swinging of arms l8, transferring the rivet in the claw to a position on center with the forward face of the rivet set. Since the arms l8 now lie out of contact with the tail 58. the head 60 of the spring loaded finger 58 is maintained in contact with the stack of rivets and prevents same from dropping downwardly, also preventing entry of disarranged rivets and of some of the fluid pressure. The forward movement of the slide and the plunger 55a urges that rivet which is shown in Figure 3 as located in front of the plunger 55 forwardly in the delivery tube, the locking finger now being in the position shown in Figure 10 and preventing entry of any more rivets at this juncture. The centrifugal force-applying group still remains in an inactive condition, since the hand (pull I5 is still out of contact with the trigger I5. Thus. at this juncture, there is a rivet on center with the set and one subadjacent the breech.

The next phase of the operations, as best seen in Figure 3, involves the retraction of the hand pull into full contact with the trigger IE to actuate the rivet set and drive that rivet which has been centered in front of the set and loosely inserted into the rivet hole. It also effectuates feeding of a rivet into the. lower portion of the magazine, and positions a rivet in front of the plunger 5511. Delivery of a preceding rivet from the outer portion of the delivery tube to the transfer claw is also effected thereby.

As a result of this rearward retraction of the hand pull, the detent lever 29 pivots upwardly about pivot 30a and latch pin 3| is constrained to ride upwardly upon the diagonal camway 36 and thence forwardly along the upper horizontal camway 36a, the pin 3| entering camway 38 momentarily and then rising out of the groove and moving forwardly being prevented from entering camway 39 by node 40. The pin 3| is thus pulled up and forwardly from its Figure 5 position by the action of the slide and comes to rest in the forward end of the upper horizontal camway, as shown in Figure '7. In this phase, the slide, as aforesaid is drawn so far rearwardly that the foremost end of the plunger 55 then lies at the rear of the axial bore provided therefor. This retraction of the hand pull also fully depresses the front end of arms I 8 and latches same in the camway 10 in the cam plate which is of such a shape and relative location as to effect alignment of the claw with the delivery tube at the beginningv of the driving phase. coincidentally, but not before the upward component of the centrifugal force of the rapidly circulating air in chamber 45 enters 49 and has reached a magnitude sufiicient to hold the stack of rivets properly in position in'the magazine, the pin 59 engages the tail 58a and thereby raises the head 60, clearing the entrance to the magazine portion of the

guideways

49, 50.

The centrifugal air pressure is therefore enabled to force another rivet, shank first, into the lower end of the stack in alignment with the rivets already therein. The plunger 55a having been in the meantime withdrawn by the rearward movement of the slide andhaving enabled reverse rotation of the finger 64 by its reverse action on the cam 66, the breech 54 lies open for admission of the topmost rivet thereinto and the continued application of fluid pressure from the centrifuge group urges this topmost rivet into the antechamber 63. At the same time, pressure fluid entering the passage 51 passes out its orifice I3 and forces into the claw of the transfer device above.

the rivet which had been previously urged by the plunger 55a to a position located forwardly of the outlet of passage 51. The actuation of trigger l also actuates the rivet set which, contemporaneously with the foregoing actions, drives and sets the rivet previously delivered in front of it, and held in the rivet hole up tothis time by the forward pressure on the gun applied by the operators hand.

Thereafter, the operator releases his hand from the hand pull sufficiently to allow the hand pull to assume the position shown in Figure 4; that is, to again position the mechanism of the rivet feeding attachment in the half-cocked condition shown, with a rivet in the claw of the transfer device and another rivet in the breech of the delivery device, ready for delivery to the lowered end of the transfer device by the successive actions of the plunger 55a and the fluid pressure in the passage 51, which occurs, as aforesaid, when the hand pull is fully retracted. The mechanism is then in a position for repetition of the foregoing cycle of operations.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its field of utility to employment with rivets only and rivet guns alone, for it is contemplated that it can equally well be employed, without departing from the scope of the inventive concepts, with analogous tools.

The invention is not limited, in the embodiments which it can take, to the specific construction and arrangement of parts shown in the accompanying drawings and described herein- For example, the tube 55 can be dispensed with, if desired, this portion of the delivery bore being then constituted by surfaces formed in the body of the housing half itself.

Numerous other fields of utility, and various additional modifications of. and refinements in the construction disclosed, are contemplated as lying within the scope of the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a pneumatic fastenerdriving tool having a barrel, a handle, a member operating on the axial line of said barrel to drive the fastener, and a member on the handle controlling the admittance of air under pressure to said tool, of: means mounted on the barrel for means for receiving from said container centrifugally urged fasteners moving shank-forwardly therefrom; means for guiding said fasteners oni wardly from said receiver and storing same; and

means including an instrumentality reciprocatable codirectionally with the fastener driving mem-v ber to effect delivery movement of one fastener at a time and a manually movable member mechanically connected to said reciprocatable instrumentality to effect reciprocation of same and urge the fasteners forwardly.

2. The combination with a pneumatic fastenerdriving tool including a barrel, a member operating on the axial line of the barrel to drive the fasteners, and a member controlling the admission of air under pressure to said operating member, of: a casing associated with the barrel; a member supported in said casing for reciprocating movement towards the operating face of said operating member; means in the casing for urging fasteners stem-first to a position sub-adjacent said face and transferring them in said attitude from said positon to said face; means operatively connecting said transferring means and said reciprocable member to permit manual movement of said transfer member to effect reciprocation of the reciprocating member, said transfer means including a portion for operating said air control; a chamber in said casing for containing a supply of fasteners, said chamber having an exit path on its periphery for said fasteners, means connected at one end to the air pressure and tangentially intersecting the periphery of said chamber at the other end for imparting circular motion with a substantial centrifugal component to the fasteners in said container so as to effect exit of fasteners along said path; means in said path for accepting and guiding fasteners presented shank-forwardly thereto; means in said guiding means for accumulating fasteners shank-forward therein; and means for transferring one of such fasteners at a time to a position in front of a portion of said reciprocating member for delivery to said transferring member.

3. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fastener-driver operated by a pressure-fluid system including a control therefor, comprising: a casing; means therein for containing a supply of fasteners; means communicating with the pressure fluid and associated with said containing means and with said pressure-fluid system for applying centrifugal force to said supply of fasteners; means associated with said containing means for arranging the fasteners in a predetermined attitude and feeding arranged ones onwardly; means defining a forwardly extending delivery passageway in the casing; means connecting said passageway to the arranging means and having a portion constituting a magazine for arranged fasteners opening into said passageway; means movable in said passageway for urging a fastener forwardly in said passageway; and manually operable means pivotally associated with said movable means for moving same, said manually operable means terminating at oneend in juxtaposition with said pressure-fluid control and terminating at the other end in a member positioned outside and forwardly of said delivery passageway and said fastener device and swingable therebetween for transferring a fastener urged to the foremost end of said delivery passageway to a position to be driven by said fastener-driver.

4. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fastener-driver operated by a pressure-fluid system including a control therefor, comprising: a casing; means thereinfor containing a supply of fasteners having a shank and a head; means associated with said containing means and with said pressure-fluid system for applying centrifugal force to said supply of fasteners; means communicating with the pressure fluid and associated with said containing means for accepting, arranging in vertically spaced parallelism, and onwardly guiding fasteners presented shank-first thereto; means defining a forwardly extending delivery passageway in the casing, the last two means being in communication; means movable in said passageway for urging a fastener forwardly in said passageway; and manually operable means pivotally associated with said movable means for moving same, said manually operable means terminating at one end adjacent said pressure-fluid control means and terminatingat the other end in a member positioned outside and forwardly of said delivery passageway and said fastener device and swingable therebetween for transferring a fastener urged to the foremost end of said delivery passageway to a position to be driven by said fastener-driver.

5. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fastener-driver operated by a pressure-fluid system including a control therefor, comprising: a casing; means therein for containing a supply of fasteners having a shank and a head; means associated with said containing means and with said pressure-fluid system for applying centrifugal force to said supply of fasteners; means communicating with the pressure fluid and associated with said containing means for accepting, arranging in vertically spaced parallelism, and onwardly guiding fasteners presented shank-first thereto; means defining a forwardly extending delivery passageway in the casing, the last two means being in communication; means movable in said passageway for urging a fastener forwardly in said passageway; means for displacing said fastener further outwardly in said passageway; and manually operable means pivotally associated with said movable means for moving same, said manually operable means terminating at one end adjacent said pressure-fluid control means and terminating at the other end in a member positioned outside and forwardly of said delivery passageway and said fastener device and swingable therebetween for transferring a fastener urged to the foremost end of said delivery passageway to a position to be driven by said fastener-driver.

6. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fastener-driver operated by a pressure-fluid system including a control therefor, comprising: a casing; means therein for containing a supply of disarrayed fasteners; means associated with the first said means and independent of the force of gravity for arranging the fasteners in a predetermined attitude and guiding same onwardly;

means defining a forwardly extending delivery passageway communicating with said onwardguiding means; means for transferring a fastener from said guiding means to said passageway; means reciprocative in said passageway for urging a fastener forwardly in said passageway; means for displacing said fastener further outwardly of said passageway; and manually operable means pivotally associated with said reciprocative means for reciprocating same, said pivoted means terminating at one end adjacent said pressure-fluid control and terminating at the other end in a member position outside and forwardly of said delivery passageway and said fastener device and swingable therebetween for transferring a fastener from the forward end of said delivery passageway to a position to be driven by said driver.

7. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fastener-driver operated by a pressure-fluid system including a control therefor, comprising: a casing;

means therein for containing a supply of disarrayed fasteners; means associated with the first said means and independent of the force of gravity for arranging the fasteners in a predetermined attitude and guiding same onwardly; means defining a forwardly extending delivery passageway communicating with said onwardguiding means; means for positively preventing entrance of more than one fastener at a time to said passageway; means reciprocatable in said passageway for urging a fastener forwardly in said passageway; means for displacing said fastener further outwardly of said passageway; and means pivotally associated with said reciprocatable means for reciprocating same, said pivoted means terminating at one end adjacent said pressure-fluid control and terminating at the other end in a member positioned outside and forwardly of said delivery passageway and said fastener device and swingable therebetween for transferring a fastener from the forward end of said delivery passageway to a position to be driven by said driver.

8. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fastener-driver operated by a pressure-fluid system including a control therefor, comprising: a casing; means for containing a supply of disarrayed fasteners having a shank and a head; means opening at one end into the containing means and communicating at the other end with the pressure fiuid, the first said end being arranged with reference to the containing means to impart centrifugal motion to the contents thereof; means for receiving from said container centrifugally urged fasteners moving shank-first; means for guiding said fasteners onwardly from said receiver; means defining a forwardly extending delivery passageway communicating with said onward-feeding means; means reciprocatable in said passageway for urging afastener forwardly in said passageway; means for displacing said fastener further outwardly of said passageway; and manually operable means pivoted thereto and adapted for reciprocating same, said pivoted means terminating at one end adjacent said pressure-fluid control and terminating at the other end in a member for transferring a fastener from the forward end of said delivery passageway to a position to be driven by said driver.

9. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fastener-driver operated by pressure fluid including a control therefor, comprising: a casing; means therein for containing a supply of disarrayed fasteners having a head and a shank; means communicating with the pressure fluid at one end and communicating with the containing means at the l other end, for imparting centrifugal motion to the contents of said containing means; means for receiving fasteners in shank-first attitude from said containing means; means for guiding said fasteners upwardly in the attachment; means defining a forwardl extending delivery passageway at the upper end of said guiding means; delivery means mounted in said attachment for reciprocation longitudinally thereof, and having a fastener-transferring member reciprocatable in said delivery passageway and adapted to urge the topmost rivet forwardly in said casing; means for enabling the fluid-pressure to transfer a fastener from said guideway to said fastener-transferring member; means opening into said delivery passageway ahead of said fastener-transferring member and communicating with the pressure fiuid for urging said fastener forwardly and outwardly of said delivery passageway; and manually operable means pivotally mounted in the casing for reciprocating said delivery means, said manually operable means terminating at one end in a member for cooperating with the pressure fluid control, and terminating at the other end in a member for transferring a fastener from the delivery passageway to the fastener-driver.

10. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fas- 15 containing a supply of disarrayed fasteners; channels in the casing communicating at one end with the pressure-fluid system and opening tangentially at the other into said containing means to generate centrifugal forces capable of acting on the contents of said containing means; means associated with one side of said containing means for receiving and holding fasteners forced shank-first therefrom; guiding means extending upwardly from said receiving means; a delivery passageway extending forwardly from the upper end of said guideway; means for retaining a supply of fasteners in shank-first stacked attitude in the upper portion of the guideway, with the uppermost fastener in juxtaposition with said passageway, said means preventing entry into said g-uideway of fasteners in head-first attitudes; means for transferring the uppermost fastener from said stack into the rear end of said passageway; means reciprocatable longitudinally of the passageway for displacing said fastener forwardly in said passageway; means in the casing communicating with the pressure -fiuid system for urging the fastener outwardly of said passageway; and

means pivotally associated with said reciprocatable means for reciprocating same, said pivoted means terminating at one end adjacent said pressure-fluid control and terminating at the other end in a member for transferring a fastener from the forward end of said delivery passageway to a position to be driven by said driver.

11. In a fastener-feeding attachment including a fastener magazine and a fastener delivery passageway having a breech lying in juxtaposition with the upper end of said magazine and a mem ber reciprocable forwardly and backwardly through said breech: a device for preventing the entry of more than one fastener at a time thereinto and including a member rotatably mounted parallel with the axis of said breech and having a recurved portion arranged to transversely close the passage from said magazine to said breech, said rotatable member having a rearwardly extending finger protruding into the rearward portion of said delivery passageway, said finger being provided with an actuating cam face curved transversely and longitudinally of the delivery passageway arranged to be engaged by said reciprocable member on its forward stroke so as to effect rotation of said rotatable member to block entrance thereinto of the succeeding fastener, the plunger having a length sufficient to initiate rtation of said rotatable member into said blocking attitude before the plunger reaches said magazine.

12. In a fastener-feeding attachment having a casing including a delivery passageway, the combination of: a frame mounted in said casing for reciprocation forwardly and rearwardly thereof from a fully retracted to a fully protracted position, and including a member reciprocable in said passageway for forwardly urging a fastener therein: a longitudinally extending transfer lever pivoted to said frame with its front end lying contiguous to the front end of said delivery passageway; an inwardly and downwardly biased detent lever pivoted at one end to the casing for rotation about its transverse axis, the lateral face of one portion of said frame having a substantially verticall extending angled camway therein; and a pin on the other end of said detent lever arranged to engage the rearward face of said camway to restrain further forward movement of said frame when the latter lies substantially median between its fully protracted and fully retracted positions.

13. In a fastener-feeding attachment having a. casing including a delivery passageway, the combination of: a forwardly biased frame member slidably mounted in the casing and including a member adapted to urge a rivet forwardly in said passageway; an inwardly and downwardly biased detent pivotally mounted in the casing near the rearward end of said frame member for vertical and lateral rotation in the casing, and having a. latch-pin urged into contact with the adjacent lateral face of theframe member, the said face of the frame member having a lower horizontal camway for guiding said pin rearwardly and including an outwardly angled portion for rotating said detent about its longitudinal axis; an upwardly and forwardly inclined camway intersecting said horizontal camwa for guiding said pin out of said lower camway; an upper horizontal camway intersecting said inclined camway at its forward end for guiding said pin forwardly; and an acute angled camway connecting the front end of said lower horizontal camway with the upper horizontal camway.

14. For association with a fluid-operated riveting gun, having a set and a fluid-controlling trigger, to enable same to receive, in a disarrayed batch, an unusually large number of rivets, arrange and store same, and drive them singly when received from said storage, all entirely independently of manual manipulation of said rivets: a rivet carrying, arraying, storing, delivering and transferring adjunct operative in any attitude and against the force of gravity, comprising: a body; a slide-member mounted on said body adjacent the upper edge thereof for reciprocation longitudinally thereof; a lever pivotally mounted on said slide with its one end adjacent said trigger and its other end substantially coterminous with the set of said gun; a container in said body for a batch of loose, disarrayed rivets, said container communicating tangentially with the source of fluid-pressure; a spiral guideway leading outwardly and upwardly from the periphery of said container and adapted to receive rivets presented thereto in any. attitude; a receptacle forming a continuation of the spiral guideway and communicating with said reservoir; a detent pivotally mounted in said body adjacent the lower end of said receptacle and adapted to be oscillated transversely of said body, said detent having an end adapted to underlie said receptacle in a position to maintain a plurality of rivets.

stored in said receptacle against the action of gravity; a forwardly-extending rivet delivery passageway disposed adjacent the upper end of said receptacle; a plunger on said slide adapted to be reciprocated in said passageway when a rivet is disposed in the rear portion thereof; and a rivet-receiving member on the forward end of said lever adapted to hold a rivet shank-forward while same is bodily transported to the set by upward movement of said lever effected by retraction of the rearward end thereof.

15. For use with a single-shot fluid-operated hand-carried fastener-driving tool, having a fluid-controlling trigger, to enable same to receive at one time an unusually large number of fasteners in a disarrayed batch and drive same singly without manual, or rigid mechanical, arrangement of the fasteners: a fastener-carrying, arraying, storing, delivering and transferring device operative in any attitude and against the 17 thereof; a bifurcated lever pivotally mounted on said slide with its one end adjacent said trigger and its other end substantially co-terminous with the fastener-driver; a reservoir in the body adapted to contain a relatively large quantity of dlsarrayed fasteners, said reservoir communicating tangentially with the source of fluid-pressure; a guideway leading curvilinearly outwardly and upwardly from the outer edge of said reservoir at constantly increasing radii and disposed at positions to accept and guide therealong fasteners centrifugally presented thereto from the reservoir by the tangentially moving air in any attitude; a rectilinear receptacle disposed in continuation of the spiral guideway and in tangency to said reservoir in a position to accept and store fasteners presented thereto, said receptacle being open at the one end and along the one side and communicating thereat with said reservoir; a spring-biased detent pivotally arranged in said body adjacent said one end of said receptacle and adapted to be oscillated transversely of said body by said co-terminous end of said lever, said detent having an end adapted to underlie said receptacle in a position to maintain said plurality of fasteners stored in said receptacle in said predetermined attitude and immune to the action of gravity; a forwardly extending fastener delivery passageway lying adjacent'the upper end of said receptacle; a plunger on said slide adapted to be reciprocated in said passageway; a fastenerexcluding member rotatably mounted in said passageway adjacent the upper end of said receptacle and having a rearwardly extending finger with a camming 'surface adapted to be contacted by said plunger onforward movement thereof to effect rotation of said member into TALBOT R. KNOWLES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

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