WO2013006131A1

WO2013006131A1 - Nose piece for a pneumatic nail gun

Info

Publication number: WO2013006131A1
Application number: PCT/SE2012/050747
Authority: WO
Inventors: Karl-Johan Berg
Original assignee: Jointec Ab
Priority date: 2011-07-05
Filing date: 2012-06-29
Publication date: 2013-01-10
Also published as: EP2729285A1; EP2729285A4; SE1150631A1; SE535933C2

Abstract

A nose piece (6) for a pneumatic nail gun (1) which is connectable to an air supply tube (4) for running the nail gun (1). The nose piece (6) comprises a pipe (8) for supporting a loose nail which is to be driven into a work piece, and a nail feeding means (18) for feeding the loose nail to the pipe (8) from a nail feeding device (16). The pipe (8) is alignable with the nail feeding means (18) for accurate feeding of loose nails.

Description

NOSE PIECE FOR A PNEUMATIC NAIL GUN

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a nose piece for a pneumatic nail gun, the nail gun being connectable to an air supply tube for running the nail gun, wherein the nose piece comprises a pipe for supporting a nail which is to be driven into a work piece.

Background Art

Pneumatic nail guns principally use nails collated together in strips or coils having a plastic or metal wire packaging. The strips are held in a magazine attached to the body of the nail gun from where a mechanism advances the nails singly into the nose piece of the nail gun. On release of a trigger, a driver under pneumatic force pushes the nail from its plastic or wire collation and drives it into a work piece. A disadvantage with pneumatic nail guns is that nails supplied in strips are much more expensive than loose nails. Moreover, the time taken in reloading the gun with new strips or coils is a disadvantage in automated applications.

Summary of the Invention

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device which at least partly overcomes the abovementioned drawbacks. This is achieved by a nose piece for a pneumatic nail gun, the nail gun being connectable to an air supply tube for running the nail gun, wherein the nose piece comprises a pipe for supporting a nail which is to be driven into a work piece, wherein the nose piece comprises a nail feeding means for feeding a loose nail to the pipe from a nail feeding device, wherein the pipe is alignable with the nail feeding means for accurate feeding of loose nails.

The nail feeding device may be a tube for feeding nails from a stationary nail box where a large number of loose nails may be located. The nail feeding means may be a support pipe which supports the pipe of the gun when a nail is fed from the nail feeding device to the gun. The nail feeding means may be connectable to such nail feeding tube and thus allow loose nails to be fed to the nose piece of the gun. It is possible to have the nail feeding means movable and the pipe immovable, to have the nail feeding means immovable and the pipe movable, to have both the nail feeding means and the pipe movable, or to have both the nail feeding means and the pipe immovable.

A pneumatic nail gun equipped with the nose piece may thus use loose nails instead of nails supplied in strips or coils. Nails may be fed to the nose piece of the gun from a nail box. The nail box may hold enough nails for an entire working period why reloading the gun during a work period may be avoided. Compressed air may be used for feeding nails from the nail box, via the nail feeding tube, to the gun. A nail may thereby be fed to the nail gun during the short interval when an operator of the nail gun moves the nail gun from one work piece to another work piece, or from one position on a work piece to another position on the same work piece.

The nose piece may be detachable from the nail gun. Thus, the nose piece may be distributed separately from the nail gun. The nose piece may be arranged on an existing nail gun intended for nails supplied in strips or coils. Thus an existing nail gun intended for nails supplied in strips or coils may easily be converted into a nail gun for loose nails using the nose piece.

By loose nails is meant nails which may be comprised in a container and which are not connected to each other by for instance strips.

Preferably, the pipe is movable between a nail driving position and a nail feeding position. A nail may be fed to the pipe when the pipe is in the nail feeding position. However a nail may not be driven into a work piece when the pipe is in the nail feeding position. Thus, even though loose nails are used, the two separate positions of the pipe prevent that more than one nail at a time is executed from the nail gun.

Preferably, the pipe is pivotable between the nail driving position and the nail feeding position. Having the pipe pivotable allows the position of a muzzle portion of the pipe to be moved only slightly while the rear portion of the pipe, i.e. the portion of the pipe into which nails are fed from the nail feeding device, may be moved a relatively large distance. Thus, the rear portion of the pipe may be moved from the base of the gun to a position which is aligned with the nail feeding device. Feeding nails to the pipe may then be facilitated since the nails may be fed directly into the pipe without having to pass through the base of the gun. By pivotable is in this context meant that the pipe is turnable or arranged pivotally around a fix point, which may be a hinge or a joint.

Preferably, a longitudinal direction of the pipe when the pipe is in the nail driving position forms an angle to a longitudinal direction of the pipe when the pipe is in the nail feeding position. The angle may be between 2° and 90°, preferably between 10° and 60°, more preferably between 20° and 45°. The most preferred angle may be between 20° and 45° in order for the nail feeding tube to be easily arranged at the nose piece without interfering with other nail gun elements. Brief description of the drawings

This and other aspects of the present invention will now be described in more detail, with reference to the appended drawings showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which:

Fig. 1 a is a schematic side view of a pneumatic nail gun with a nose piece arranged in a nail driving position;

Fig. 1 b is a schematic side view of a pneumatic nail gun with a nose piece arranged in a nail feeding position; and

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a nose piece for a pneumatic nail gun. Description of an embodiment of the invention

Fig. 1 a and 1 b show a pneumatic nail gun 1 . The nail gun 1 comprises a main body 2 which is attached to an air supply tube 4. A source of compressed air (not shown) is connected to the air supply tube 4 for running the nail gun 1 . A nose piece 6 is arranged at the main body 2 of the nail gun 1 . The nose piece 6 comprises a pipe 8 for holding, supporting and feeding nails (not shown). The pipe 8 is movable between two positions which will be referred to as nail driving position P_d, shown in Fig. 1 a, and nail feeding position P_f, shown in Fig. 1 b. In Fig. 1 a the pipe 8 of the nose piece 6 is arranged in the nail driving position P_d. In the nail driving position P_d a nail (not shown) held in the pipe 8 may be driven into a work piece (not shown) by means of compressed air supplied via the air supply tube 4, through the main body 2 and into the pipe 8. A front portion of the pipe 8, i.e. the muzzle portion 10 of the pipe 8, is connected to a cylinder rod 12 via a hinge 14. The hinge 14 allows the pipe 8 to be pivoted between the nail driving position P_d and the nail feeding position P_f. The longitudinal direction of the pipe 8 in the nail driving position P_d is denoted L_d.

In Fig. 1 b the pipe 8 of the nose piece 6 is arranged in the nail feeding position P_f. In the nail feeding position P_f a nail (not shown) may be fed from a nail box (not shown) to the pipe 8 via a nail feeding tube 16. Nails are fed, one at a time, from the nail box through the nail feeding tube 16 to the pipe 8 of the nail gun 1 in use of the nail gun 1 . Nail feeding means 18 in the form of a support pipe 18 is fixedly arranged at the nose piece 6 to support the pipe 8 in the nail feeding position P_f. A nail feeding sensor 19 is located at the support pipe 18. A control unit (not shown) may be located on the nail box or on the nail gun 1 to control that a nail is only fed from the nail box to the gun 1 when the pipe 8 is in the nail feeding position P_f.

The longitudinal direction of the pipe 8 in the nail feeding position is denoted L_f. As is seen in Fig. 1 b an angled a is defined between the longitudinal direction L_f of the pipe 8 in the nail feeding position P_f and the longitudinal direction L_d of the pipe 8 in the nail driving position P_d. In the embodiment illustrated here the angle a is about 30°.

Fig. 2 shows the nose piece 6 described in connection to Figs 1 a-b above, separated from the nail gun 1 . One end 22 of the support pipe 18 has connecting means 20 for attaching the nail feeding tube 16 (Fig. 1 b) to the nose piece 6 in a secure manner. The connecting means 20 may for instance be a plug-in connector adapted for pneumatic use. The other end 24 of the support pipe 18 comprises a stopper 26, in the shape of an edge, to ensure that the pipe 8 of the nose piece 6 is aligned with the support pipe 18 when the pipe 8 is in the nail feeding position P_f (see Fig. 1 b). As is shown in Fig. 2 the nose piece 6 comprises square shaped fastening base 28 having bore holes 30 for arranging the nose piece 6 on a nail gun 1 . The shape of the fastening base 28 may be modified to suit a particular nail gun 1 . The nose piece 6 may thus be arranged on an existing nail gun 1 and an operator may use the nose piece 6 as a complement to his or her existing nail gun 1 . The nose piece 6 may be arranged at a nail gun 1 using fastening bolts (not shown) through the bore holes 30.

The gun 1 may for instance be operated according to the following cycle. The pipe 8 of the nose piece 6 is located in the nail feeding position P_f (Fig. 1 b). A nail is fed from the nail box to the pipe 8 via the nail feeding tube 16. The nail feeding sensor 19 in the support pipe 20 registers that a nail has passed by and sends a signal to a control device operating the cylinder rod 12. The cylinder rod 12 pushes the pipe 8 into the nail driving position P_d (Fig. 1 a). The trigger is pulled and released, the nail is driven into a work piece, and the pipe returns to the nail feeding position P_f by means of the cylinder rod 12.

Compressed air may be used for forwarding a nail from the nail box, through the nail feeding tube 16 and into the pipe 8. However, it is not necessary to have the same thrust on the compressed air for forwarding nails through the nail feeding pipe 8 as for driving nails from the pipe 8 into a work piece, why it may be suitable to use separate compressed air systems.

It will be appreciated that numerous variants of the embodiments described above are possible within the scope of the appended claims. The term "gun" used in here refers to any suitable nailing machine. Even though it has been described above that compressed air is used for forwarding nails from the nail box through the nail feeding tube 16 and into the pipe 8 the nails may be forwarded to the pipe of the gun in any suitable way. For instance the nails may fall by gravity form the nail box, through the nail feeding tube 16 and into the pipe 8.

Claims

1 . Nose piece (6) for a pneumatic nail gun (1 ), the nail gun (1 ) being connectable to an air supply tube (4) for running the nail gun (1 ), wherein the nose piece (6) comprises a pipe (8) for supporting a nail which is to be driven into a work piece, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n t h a t the nose piece (6) comprises a nail feeding means (18) for feeding a loose nail to the pipe (8) from a nail feeding device (16), wherein the pipe (8) is alignable with the nail feeding means (18) for accurate feeding of loose nails.

2. Nose piece (6) according to claim 1 , wherein the pipe (8) is movable between a nail driving position (P_d) and a nail feeding position (P_f).

3. Nose piece (6) according to claim 2, wherein the pipe (8) is pivotable between the nail driving position (P_d) and the nail feeding position (P_f).

4. Nose piece (6) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein a longitudinal direction (L_d) of the pipe (8) when the pipe (8) is in the nail driving position (P_d) forms an angle (a) to a longitudinal direction (L_f) of the pipe (8) when the pipe (8) is in the nail feeding position (P_f).

5. Nose piece (6) according to claim 4, wherein said angle (a) is between 2° and 90°, preferably between 10° and 60°, more preferably between 20° and 45°.