EP0057179B1

EP0057179B1 - A fastener driving tool for corners

Info

Publication number: EP0057179B1
Application number: EP81900764A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Paul Olesen
Original assignee: Swingline Inc
Current assignee: Swingline Inc
Priority date: 1980-08-07
Filing date: 1980-08-07
Publication date: 1985-04-17
Also published as: EP0057179A1; JPH0158034B2; JPS57501272A; WO1982000429A1; DE3070540D1; EP0057179A4

Abstract

A portable fastener driving tool (10) having a raceway (26) with driver blade (21) reciprocating therein from a retracted position to a fastener driven position for driving fastener (33) seriatim from a fastenerstick (19) positioned at an acute angle to the raceway. The first-to-be-driven fastener (33), while attached to the stick (19), is positioned in raceway (26) so that descending blade (21) serves to orient the fastener (33) to a position substantially parallel to the raceway (26) for driving down and out the raceway into the workpiece. Ramp means (37, 46) which form part of tool exit opening (38) re-orients fastener (33) as necessary and guides it during its exit. The fastenerstick (19) may be supported in raceway (26) by detent stud means (29, 31) which retract from the raceway (26) when staple (33) descends.

Description

Technical Field

This invention relates to portable fastener driving tools which drive fasteners seriatim using a reciprocating blade and include a magazine housing lower surface which is held against the workpiece during operation and, in particular, to a portable fastener driving tool having a fastenerstick magazine lower surface positioned at an acute angle to the plane of movement of the reciprocating blade to permit the tool to be positioned for driving in heretofore inacccessible corners or other areas.

Background Art

Arrangements for positioning fastener magazines parallel to or at acute angles to the driving blade have been suggested for some years; U.S. Patent Specification No. 371,659 to Arnold; U.S. Patent Specification No. 525,581 to Blakey and U.S. Patent No. 2,966,681 to Campbell.
U.S. Patent Specification No. 2,086,922 to Peterson teaches use of a staplestick magazine positioned generally parallel to the driver blade with an arrangement of reciprocating parts to remove seriatim staples from the staplestick and thereafter transport and orient them for driving.
U.S. Patent Specification No. 2,396,356 to Wick- ens meters individual staples down a rail at an acute angle to the drive blade.
None of the prior art arrangements for feeding fasteners seriatim and driving them have been satisfactory from the point of view of reliability and simplicity.
U.S. Patent Specification No. 4,136,810 shows an automatic nail gun having the features of the precharacterising part of claims 1.

Summary of the Invention

According to the present invention there is provided a portable fastener driving tool in which fasteners are driven along a fastener driving raceway by a reciprocating driver blade out an exit opening into a workpiece and in which each fastener is fed from a reloadable magazine into raceway at an angle to the raceway, comprising

a) fastenerstick feed means for feeding a fastenerstick including a first-to-be-driven fastener at an acute angle to the raceway;
b) fastener ramp means positioned adjacent to and forming a part of said exit opening to urge the fastener, as necessary, toward the raceway and to guide the fastener during its movement out of the exit opening, and characterized by
c) fastener orientation means for orienting the fastener in the raceway as and after it is removed from the fastenerstick by action of the driver blade, said orientation means including the driver blade and the portion of the fastener struck by the blade and retractable stud means positioned in the raceway.

Further according to the present invention there is provided a portable driving tool in which staples each having a crown and two legs are driven along a staple driving raceway by a reciprocating staple driver blade out an exit opening into a workpiece and in which each staple is fed into the raceway for driving with its legs at an angle to the raceway, characterized by

a) staplestick feed means for feeding a staplestick including a first-to-be-driven staple at an acute angle to the raceway;
b) staple orientation means for orienting the staple in the raceways as and after it is removed from the staplestick by action of the driver blade, said orientation means including the end of the driver blade and the surface of the crown of the staple and retractable stud means positioned in the raceway; and
c) staple ramp means positioned adjacenttothe end of the raceway and forming part of said exit opening to urge, as necessary, the legs of the staple back into the raceway and to guide as part of the exit opening the staple legs and crown as they move through the opening and into the workpiece.

Broadly, the invention comprises a portable fastener driving tool having a reciprocating driver blade and a fastener magazine in which the fastenerstick is positioned at an acute angle to the plane in which the driver blade reciprocates. One end of the fastenerstick abuts the fastener raceway with the first-to-be-driven fastener positioned at an acute angle to the driver blade. The first-to-be-driven fastener is sheared from the fastenerstick by the force of the driver blade. Upon continued movement of the fastener, inclined fastener ramps adjacent the exit opening of the tool urge the fastener back into the raceway, if it is has moved out of the raceway, to assure proper alignment of the fastener as the fastener exits the tool. Fastener ramps, together with the raceway define an exit opening which guides the full length of the fastener as it moves through the opening into the workpiece.
It is a feature that a retractable stud, which may be termed a "detent", is positioned in the raceway which detent serves to assist in orienting the first-to-be-driven fastener as the blade strikes and moves such fastener during the driving stroke and also serves to support the fastenerstick during loading of the magazine.
It is also a feature that more than one such stud or detent may be used. Additional detents are positioned below the detent shown in the drawings and operate in the same manner to re-orient as necessary the fastener as it moves down the raceway.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the staple driving unit partially broken away;
Fig. 2 is an enlarged side view partially broken away to show a portion of the internal mechanism;
Fig. 3 is another enlarged side view broken away to show the mechanism of Fig. 2 in another stage of its operation; and
Fig. 4 is a sectional view along line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Best Mode for Carrying Out Invention

In Figs. 1-4, electrically powered staple driving tool 10 includes housing 11, trigger 12, electrical power conduit 13, staple magazine 14. Latch 16 permits access to magazine for loading and unloading staplesticks. Below housing 10 is a lower drive frame 17 which carries front sheath 18. Also shown is driver blade 21 and a staplestick 19 riding on rail 24 being urged toward and against staple raceway 26 by magazine spring means 25 (in dashed lines in Fig. 1). Rail 24 has a sloping front which parallels raceway 26. Tool 10 is shown positioned in a 90° corner formed by a floor 22 and a vertical wall 23. The configuration of housing 10 and the angle of the magazine 14 to driver blade 21 permits driving staples in the corner.
Driver blade 21 reciprocates in staple raceway 26 formed in front sheath 18 using an electric solenoid and suitable blade return mechanism such as spring means (not shown). The front face 27 of sheath 18 has an aperture in it for receiving detent stud 29.
Detent stud 29 is positioned in staple raceway 26 adjacent the first-to-be-driven staple 33 of staplestick 19. Stud 19 may be positioned below and tangent to the crown 39 of the staple 33, as shown in the drawings, or may be positioned in a slightly lower position. To assure that staple 33 exits the tool and enters the workpiece in proper orientation, inclined ramps 37 are positioned adjacent to exit 38 of raceway 26. If staple 33 strays out of raceway 26 during the driving stroke ramps 37 urge it back into proper alignment. Ramps 37 also cooperate with raceway 26 to form exit 38 which exit guides and orients staple 33 as its full length passes through the exit.
In the operation of the staple driving tool 10, magazine 14 is opened and staplestick 19 inserted for urging (to the left as shown in Fig. 1) by spring 25 toward and against raceway 26. Due to the angle between staplestick 19 and raceway 26 and the force of spring 25, the end of stick 19 is urged downwardly against stud 29. If stud 29 is not used in the tool other means for holding staplestick 19 in contact with raceway 26 are required. As driver blade 21 descends staple 33 is removed from staplestick 19; oriented in raceway 26 and driven in the following manner: Staplestick 19 having staple 33 at its left handed end (as shown in Fig. 2) abuts raceway 26 with the crown 39 of staple 33 adjacent stud 29. As driveblade 21 descends during the driving stroke staple crown 39 is hit by blade 21 breaking staple 33 from stick 19 and causing the legs 41 of staple 33 to rotate clockwise toward the raceway 26. The rotational orientation of staple 33 is caused by forces between blade end 42 and the staple crown 39 whose planer surfaces produce the desired rotation. If stud 29 is employed the surfaces of all three co- act to accomplish orientation during the driving stroke. Where a second detent is used, driver blade 21 moves staple 33 down the raceway 26 until staple 33 hits a lower detent whereupon staple 33 will similarly be oriented back into raceway 26 if the staple has, in part, moved out of raceway 26. Retractable detent 29 is caused to retract by staple 33 pushing it out of raceway 26. Blade 21 holds the detent 29 retracted until it returns to its up position. Blade 21 carries chamfer 43 on its lower end to assist in readily retracting detent 29 when the driving stroke is accomplished with no staples in the tool.
After its rotation into raceway 26, staple 33 continues to descend as shown in Fig. 3 and finally staple 33 is driven out of exit 38 into the workpiece. Ramps 37 provide further guiding, as necessary, of staple 33 toward the raceway 26 in the area adjacent exit 38 when staple legs 41 engage and ride down ramp surfaces 46. Exit 38, defined in part by the end of ramps 46, guides staple 33 during its exit from the tool into the workpiece. As the staple moves down to and through exit opening 38, crown 39 of staple 33 is guided continuously by raceway 26 on one side and by the sloping front of rail 24 on the other side. Legs 41 are guided during the exit of staple 33 by the ends of ramps 37.
The length of raceway 26 and spacing between where driver blade 21 first strikes staple 33 and ramps 37 permits tool 10 to drive staples having longer legs than those shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

Claims

1. A portable fastener driving tool (10) in which fasteners are driven along a fastener driving raceway (26) by a reciprocating driver blade (21) out an exit opening (38) into a workpiece and in which each fastener is fed from a reloadable magazine (14) into raceway (26) at an angle to the raceway (26), comprising

a) fastenerstick feed means (24) for feeding a fastenerstick (19) including a first-to-be-driven fastener (33) at an acute angle to the raceway (26);

b) fastener ramp means (37, 46) positioned adjacent to and forming a part of said exit opening (38) to urge the fastener (33), as necessary, toward the raceway (26) and to guide the fastener (33) during its movement out of the exit opening (38), and characterized by

c) fastener orientation means (21,33, 29,31) for orienting the fastener (33) in the raceway as and after it is removed from the fastenerstick (19) by action of the driver blade (21), said orientation means including the driver blade (21) and the portion of the fastener struck by the blade (21) and retractable stud means (29, 31) positioned in the raceway (26).

2. The driving tool (10) of claim 1 in which the retractable stud means (29, 31) is spring mounted in the raceway (26) by spring mounting means (31) which mounting means (31) holds the stud (29) in the raceway (26) when the blade (21) is in its retracted position and permits the first-to-be-driven fastener (33) to push the stud (29) out of the raceway (26) as the blade (21) descends during the driving stroke.

3. The driving tool of claim 2 in which the driver blade (21), the raceway (26), the fastener (33) and the stud means (29, 31) are shaped and positioned so that during the driving stroke the blade (21) strikes the first-to-be-driven fastener (33) to shear it from the stick (19) and to orient it in the raceway (26) substantially parallel to the direction of movement of the blade (21) in the raceway (26).

4. A portable staple driving tool (10) in which staples each having a crown (39) and two legs are driven along a staple driving raceway (26) by a reciprocating staple driver blade (21) out an exit opening (38) into a workpiece and in which each staple is fed into the raceway (26) for driving with its legs (41) at an angle to the raceway (26), characterized by

a) staplestick feed means (24) for feeding a staplestick (19) including a first-to-be-driven staple (33) at an acute angle to the raceway (26);

b) staple orientation means (21, 33, 29, 31) for orienting the staple (33) in the raceway (26) as and after it is removed from the staplestick (19) by action of the driver blade (21), said orientation means (21, 33, 29, 31) including the end of the driver blade (21) and the surface of the crown (39) of the staple and retractable stud means (29, 31) positioned in the raceway (26) and

c) staple ramp means (37, 46) positioned adjacent to the end of the raceway (26) and forming part of said exit opening (38) to urge, as necessary, the legs (41) of the staple back into the raceway (26) and to guide as part of the exit opening (38) the staple legs (41) and crown (39) as they move through the opening (38) and into the workpiece.

5. The tool of claim 4 having in addition spring mounting means (31) mounting the stud means (29, 31) in the raceway (26) which mounting means (31) holds the stud (29) in the raceway (26) when the blade is in its retracted position and permits the first-to-be-driven staple (33) to push the stud (29) out of the raceway (26) as it descends during the driving stroke.