Elongated-member-driving apparatus – With means to move or guide member into driving position – Including carrier feed means for a plurality of members
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-16
2003-07-29
Smith, Scott A. (Department: 3721)
Elongated-member-driving apparatus
With means to move or guide member into driving position
Including carrier feed means for a plurality of members
C227S119000, C227S120000, C227S127000, C227S138000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06598777
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connected nail supplying mechanism for a nailing machine, which successively supplies connected nail assemblies to a nail ejection part thereof, from a magazine which contains a plurality of connected nail assemblies, each connected nail assembly consisting of a series of nails, which are arranged in side-by-side relationship and connected together by a synthetic resin or paper tape.
2. Description of the Related Art
A connected nail assembly including a number of interconnected nails is generally used for a nailing machine which is powered by a compressed air or the like. Depending on the type of nail connection, the connected nail assembly is categorized into two known types. One is a coiled connected nail assembly in which a number of nails are connected by a flexible coupling member and rolled into a coil shape, and the other is a linear connected nail assembly in which nails are connected by a coupling member whose rigidity is large. A nailing machine using the coiled connected nail assembly needs a cylindrical magazine for accommodating nails therein. Normally the cylindrical magazine is wider than a main body of the nailing machine tool. This wider magazine is disposed near a nose portion of the machine as a nail ejection portion. Accordingly, the magazine thus disposed makes it difficult for the user to view a nail driving position when the nailing machine is operated and operatability is deteriorated.
In the nailing machine using the linear connected nail assembly in which nails are linearly arranged and connected, the width of the magazine containing the connected nail assemblies may be reduced. Accordingly, the nailing machine has an advantage that a driving position is easily viewed from a side of the magazine; hence the operatability is improved. In the linear connected nail assembly, the number of nails of the linear connected nail assembly for each unit is smaller than that in the coiled connected nail assembly. Accordingly, it is necessary to frequently replenish the connected nail assemblies to the magazine. A nailing machine designed so as to lessen the work for replenishing a connected nail assembly is also known. A magazine of the machine is long so as to accommodate a number of linear connected nail assemblies in a series fashion. The long magazine, when mounted, projects long to the rear side of the nailing machine main body. This makes it difficult to handle the nailing machine, and the operatability is impaired. The linear magazine employs a mechanism in which a connected nail assembly having been loaded into the magazine is pushed toward the nose portion by pressing the trailing end of the connected nail assembly. Where a number of connected nail assemblies are loaded into the long magazine, a pressing force of the compressed spring, a fixed output spring or the like decreases, so that the nail supplying is unreliable.
To solve the above problems of the magazine containing a plurality of linear connected nail assemblies, there is proposed a linear-connected nail assembly magazine and feeding mechanism in which a plurality of linear connected nail assemblies are juxtaposed in the magazine, and a plurality of linear connected nail assemblies are successively supplied to the driving portion. A related technique is disclosed in JP-A-59-209773. According to the disclosure in JP-A-59-209773, the connected nail supplying mechanism includes a fixed guide wall formed continuous to a nose part forming a nail ejection opening, a nail supplying path defined by a movable guide wall, which is movable with respective to the fixed guide wall in an opening/closing manner, and a box type magazine, located on the rear side of the nail supplying path, in which a plurality of connected nail assemblies are placed in side-by-side relation. In the connected nail supplying mechanism, the connected nail assemblies that are pressed against a guide surface being flush with the fixed guide wall are successively supplied to the nail ejection opening, through the reciprocating motion of a nail feeding member along the fixed guide wall.
The technique of JP-A-59-209773 uses a box-type magazine wide enough to accommodate two or more number of connected nail assemblies being arrayed in side-by-side relation. Within the magazine, the connected nail assemblies are pressed against the fixed guide wall that is provided along one side of the magazine. Those connected nail assemblies are successively thrust to the nail ejection portion, through an opening formed in the front end of the fixed guide wall. The connected nail assemblies having been pressed against the fixed guide wall within the magazine are brought into engagement with the feeding member, which are reciprocatively moved along the fixed guide wall, and are fed out through the opening. In the mechanism, the connected nail assembly on the fixed guide wall is pressed between the fixed guide surface and the connected nail assembly adjacent thereto by the pressing force. As a result, a resistance for impeding the feeding of the connected nail assembly is considerably large, and there is a great possibility that the interference with the adjacent connected nail assembly makes it impossible for the feeding member to feed the connected nail assembly. Therefore, measures have been taken for avoiding the interference of the adjacent connected nail assemblies. In a measure, the heads of the connected nail assemblies are put in the guide grooves formed within the magazine and guided so as to maintain a large space between the connected nail assemblies. In another measure, a thickness of a connecting strip which integrally connects the nails is increased, and the connecting strips are brought into contact with each other or the connecting strip is brought into contact with the nail shank, thereby increasing the space between the connected nail assemblies. However, in these measures, additional problems arise such that the size and weight of the magazine, and cost to manufacture are increased since the space between the connected nail assemblies within the magazine is large.
Further, in the conventional magazine according to JP-A-59-209773, pressing means is provided which presses a plurality of connected nail assemblies located within a box type magazine against the guide surface. The connected nail assemblies within the magazine are constantly pressed by the pressing means. To load the connected nail assembly into the magazine, the connected nail assembly is inserted into the magazine, through an opening formed in the rear end of the magazine. In this case, a loading resistance of the connected nail assembly is large because of presence of the urging force by the urging means. Accordingly, it is difficult to fully load the connected nail assembly up to the loading position (at which the foremost nail of the connected nail assembly is placed at the front end of the magazine). Particularly, when the connected nail assembly is pulled out of the magazine during the nailing operation and the number of nails contained in the connected nail assembly is reduced, the foremost nail of the connected nail assembly is located at a position before the loading position.
In this state, the connected nail assembly is out of the reciprocating operation range of the feeding member. Accordingly, there is a chance that after the preceding connected nail assembly is used up, the supply of the subsequent connected nail assembly is impossible.
On the other hand, there is proposed a nailing machine as disclosed in JP-A-2-269581. In the proposal, a plurality of connected nail assemblies are put in a magazine, and those connected nail assemblies are successively supplied to a nail ejection part. The proposal succeeds in reducing the number of operations for replenishing a connected nail assembly.
The conventional art according to JP-A-2-269581 as a connected nail supplying mechanism includes a fixed guide wall formed continuous to a nose portion forming a nail ejection opening, a
Adachi Michiaki
Osuga Satoshi
Takezaki Mitsugu
Max Co. Ltd.
Smith Scott A.
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