Elongated-member-driving apparatus – With means to move or guide member into driving position – Adaptable to dispense different sizes or quantities of members
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-16
2003-01-07
Smith, Scott A. (Department: 3721)
Elongated-member-driving apparatus
With means to move or guide member into driving position
Adaptable to dispense different sizes or quantities of members
C227S119000, C227S120000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06502737
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magazine for supplying connected nails, which are connected in a plane-shaped condition, to a nail gun capable of driving two or more different-length nails.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1
shows a nail gun
101
that includes a drive portion
102
, a nose
103
, and a magazine body
104
. Although not shown in the drawings, the drive portion
102
includes a cylinder, a piston, and other components for generating a force for driving nails into a work piece. The nose
103
is for guiding nails
108
that are driven by the drive portion
102
toward the work piece. The magazine body
104
stores a plurality of nails
108
and includes a feeder
105
. The feeder
105
feeds nails
108
one after the other to the nose
103
.
As shown in
FIG. 2
, the nails
108
are supported by a connection band, such as tape, in a plane-shaped group of connected nails
107
. Each nail includes a nail head
108
a
and a nail shaft
108
b
, the nail head
108
a
being larger than the nail shaft
108
b.
The nail gun
101
of
FIG. 1
can use two different-length nails
108
A,
108
B, shown in
FIGS. 3 and 4
, respectively. The appropriate nail length depends on the thickness of the work piece, such as a wooden board, to be fixed in place. For example, inexpensive short nails
108
B are preferred when the work piece is thin, because a thin work piece can be fixed in place without a great deal of supporting force. On the other hand, longer nails
108
A need to be used to provide sufficient supporting force when the work piece is thick.
Because different driving energy is required for different length nails, a pressure reducing value is provided to adjust to the proper air compression force required for driving the currently loaded nail type
108
A,
108
B into the current work piece.
As shown in
FIGS. 3 and 4
, the magazine body
104
is formed with upper and lower guide rails
106
a
,
106
b
that enable supply of the different-length nails
108
A,
108
B. The upper and lower guide rails
106
a
,
106
b
guide the nail head
108
a
of the nails
108
A,
108
B so that the lower nail tip of both the long and short nails
108
A,
108
B is disposed at the same predetermined level.
However, the length of nails that are presently loaded in the magazine body
104
cannot be confirmed from outside of the magazine body
104
. Therefore, it is difficult for an operator to judge whether the length of the current nails
108
is a proper match for the work piece to be fixed in place. As a result, the operator may operate the nail gun
101
to drive a nail with an improper length into the work piece.
Also, because it is impossible for the operator to confirm the length of the currently housed nails, the operator might erroneously load short nails
108
B while long nails
108
A are currently in the magazine body
104
, or load long nails
108
A while short-nails
108
B are currently in the magazine body
104
. This would result in two different length nails being housed in the magazine body
104
at the same time. When the nail gun
101
is operated repeatedly in this condition, then nails with different lengths may be driven immediately one after the other before the pressure reducing valve can change the drive force. As a result, a long nail
108
A may be only partially driven into the work piece because the drive force is insufficient. On the other hand, a short nail
108
B may be driven too deeply into the work piece, thereby forming an indentation in the work piece around the nail, because the driving force was excessive. Both of these conditions lower the supporting force for fixing the work piece in place. Also, the load on the nail gun
101
increases, thereby shortening the life of the nail gun
101
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an objective of the present invention to overcome the above-described problems and to provide a magazine that prevents different length nails from being erroneously mounted into the magazine body at the same time and that enables an operator to confirm the length of the nails currently housed in the magazine body.
To achieve the above-described objectives, a magazine according to the present invention includes a magazine body for supporting nails; a feeder for pressing nails supported in the magazine body to feed the nails toward a nose-side end of the magazine body; a nail gate movably disposed at a nail loading opening of the magazine body, and selectively allowing insertion long and short nails into the magazine body depending on position of the nail gate; and a nail gate movement prevention means that prevents movement of the nail gate while nails are supported in the magazine body.
It is describable that the movement prevention means include a wire and a spring. The spring presses the wire into engagement with the nail gate while nails are supported in the magazine body. The feeder presses the wire away from, and out of engagement with, the nail gate while no nails are supported in the magazine body.
It is desirable that the nail gate be colored differently from the color of magazine body.
It is desirable that the nail gate be provided with a recognition mark and the magazine body be provided with a plurality of nail length indications. The position of the nail gate aligns the recognition mark with a nail length indication that indicates length of nails presently insertable into the magazine body.
It is desirable that the magazine body include nail head supporting passages for supporting heads of nails loaded into the magazine body. The nail pressing portion of the feeder presses against a shaft portion of nails at a position below the nail head supporting passages so that only nails mounted with heads in nail head supporting passages proper for length of the mounted nail are pressed.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3742577 (1973-07-01), Buttriss
patent: 3797723 (1974-03-01), Perkins et al.
patent: 4389012 (1983-06-01), Grikis et al.
patent: 4688710 (1987-08-01), Massari et al.
patent: 4784306 (1988-11-01), Baum
patent: 5579975 (1996-12-01), Moorman
patent: 5816469 (1998-10-01), Ohuchi
patent: 5934539 (1999-08-01), Lee
patent: 6036072 (2000-03-01), Lee
patent: 6173877 (2001-01-01), Wingert
patent: 6199739 (2001-03-01), Mukoyama et al.
Chukwurah Nathaniel C
Hitachi Koki Co,. Ltd.
Smith Scott A.
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