U.S. patent number 3,612,378 [Application Number 04/800,362] was granted by the patent office on 1971-10-12 for wing-headed fasteners and tool attachments for applying fasteners.
Invention is credited to Richard W. Pabich, Richard W. Treiber, deceased.
United States Patent |
3,612,378 |
Pabich , et al. |
October 12, 1971 |
WING-HEADED FASTENERS AND TOOL ATTACHMENTS FOR APPLYING
FASTENERS
Abstract
Tool attachments associated with air tools that force nails or
other fasteners into members. Uniquely formed wing-headed fasteners
and tool attachments are correspondingly adapted to each other to
enable the wing-headed fasteners to be pivotally mounted to said
members with the nails from the tool for releasably holding a first
member, such as a cabinet backing in a position relative to a
second member such as a cabinet frame therebehind.
Inventors: |
Pabich; Richard W. (Chicago,
IL), Treiber, deceased; Richard W. (late of Glenview,
IL) |
Family
ID: |
27418523 |
Appl.
No.: |
04/800,362 |
Filed: |
February 12, 1969 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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615830 |
Feb 13, 1967 |
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689939 |
Nov 24, 1967 |
3429013 |
|
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777652 |
Nov 21, 1968 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
227/8; 227/76;
227/120; 227/130 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F16B
5/06 (20130101); F16B 12/22 (20130101); B25C
5/1693 (20130101); F16B 5/10 (20130101); B25C
1/006 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
F16B
5/00 (20060101); F16B 12/00 (20060101); B25C
5/16 (20060101); B25C 5/00 (20060101); B25C
1/00 (20060101); F16B 5/06 (20060101); F16B
12/22 (20060101); F16B 5/10 (20060101); B25c
001/04 () |
Field of
Search: |
;227/1,5,6,7,8,21,48,76,120,130,153 ;29/432,434,464 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Custer, Jr.; Granville Y.
Parent Case Text
This invention relates to improved wing-headed fasteners and tool
attachments for applying the wing-headed fasteners with a minimum
of cost and time. This is a continuation-in-part of our previously
filed and since abandoned patent application entitled "IMPROVED
WING-HEADED FASTENER AND TOOL ATTACHMENT FOR APPLYING FASTENER,"
Ser. No. 615,830, Filing Date Feb. 13, 1967, as well as our
previously filed continuation-in-part applications entitled
"IMPROVED WING-HEADED FASTENER WITH TOOL ATTACHMENTS AND METHOD FOR
APPLYING FASTENER," Ser. No. 689,939, Filed Nov. 24, 1967 now Pat.
No. 3,429,013, issued Feb. 25, 1969, and "TOOL ATTACHMENTS FOR
IMPROVED WING-HEADED FASTENER AND METHODS FOR APPLYING FASTENER,"
Ser. No. 777,652, Filed Nov. 21, 1968. Also, please see copending
application Ser. No. 63984, filed July 23, 1970 to continue
prosecution of claims divided out of this case.
Claims
Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to
secure by United States Letters Patent is:
1. A tool that holds clips of nails and operates to individually
drive nails through wing-headed fasteners and into base
members,
said wing-headed fasteners being used for removably attaching first
members to said base members,
said nails driving a portion of said wing-headed fasteners through
said first members for pivotal attachment to said base member, each
of fasteners comprising an apertured body portion and laterally
extending wing portions,
a plurality of said fasteners being formed into strips, said tool
comprising magazine means for holding the wing-headed
fasteners,
said tool and magazine combination having a characterized aperture
means therein,
said aperture being structurally formed to enable passage
therethrough of individual ones of said wing-headed fasteners,
said characterized aperture being located in the path of the driven
nails,
feeding means for automatically placing successive ones of the
wing-headed fasteners of the strip into position in said
characterized aperture with the aperture means of said wing-headed
fastener being in the path of the driven nails,
severing means for separating the positioned wing-headed fasteners
from said strip to enable the separated wing-headed fastener to
pass through said characterized aperture, whereby said wing-headed
fastener is fastened to said base member by said driven nail,
said severing means comprising a bottom plate parallel to the
bottom of said magazine means,
spring-biased means for maintaining said bottom plate spaced apart
from said magazine means while enabling said bottom plate to be
positioned juxtaposed to said magazine means,
locating means for positioning the tool relative to a key slot in
said first member to pivotally attach said wing-headed fastener for
rotation to registry with said key slot whereby said first member
is removably attached to said base member,
said locating means comprising first protrusion means downwardly
disposed from said bottom plate in line with a central axis of said
magazine means and having its outer periphery removed from the path
of said driven nails at a distance which fits into said key slot
measured along the longitudinal axis of said key slot from a chord
line passing transverse to the key slot at its widest portion to
the end of the key slot, and
second protrusion means on the other side of said characterized
aperture in line with the extended central axis of said magazine
means and removed from the path of said driven nails by a distance
which also fits into said key slot.
2. The tool of claim 1 wherein said magazine means comprises an
elongated member,
channel means extending lengthwise in said elongated member for
slidably retaining said strip of said wing-headed fasteners so that
said strip can be moved therethrough to successively locate each of
said wing-headed fasteners in alignment with the path of said
driven nails.
3. The tool of claim 2 wherein said channel means comprises a first
channel section at the bottom of said elongated member,
said first channel section being dimensioned to slidingly
accommodate the bottom of said body portion of said wing-headed
fastener, but also being smaller than said at least one wing
portion,
said first channel section leading into an undercut channel section
above said first channel section,
said undercut channel section extending lengthwise in said
elongated section and being dimensioned to slidingly accommodate
said at least one wing portion, whereby said wing-headed fasteners
are retained in said magazine means.
4. The tool of claim 3 wherein said channel means further comprises
a loading aperture in said elongated member removed from said
characterized aperture means,
said loading aperture being wider than the dimension of said
wing-headed fastener at said at least one wing portion, thereby
enabling the insertion of said strips into said slot means.
5. The tool of claim 4 wherein said feeding means comprises spring
means for forcing said strip toward said characterized aperture
means.
6. The tool of claim 5 wherein said spring means comprises a spring
retaining shaft,
spring biased pusher means slidingly held in said undercut channel
section,
journal means on said spring plate for receiving said shaft to
slidingly couple said spring biased pusher to said shaft,
a second channel section above said undercut channel section for
slidingly accommodating said journal means and said shaft,
stop means on the one end of said shaft for securing said shaft in
said magazine,
a coil spring mounted around said shaft between said stop means and
said spring biased pusher means whereby said compression spring
forces said spring biased pusher means toward the other end of said
shaft,
hold means in said magazine means at the end of said slot means
opposite said characterized aperture means for holding said spring
means in said second channel means,
the length of said shaft plus said spring biased pusher means being
substantially equal to the distance between said holding means and
said characterized aperture means, whereby said spring means forces
all of the wing-headed fasteners on said strips to said
characterized aperture, and
handle means on said spring means to facilitate placing and
removing said spring means in and from said magazine means
respectively.
7. The tool of claim 6 wherein said handle means comprises a
portion of said shaft means bent to extend from said holding means
to said loading aperture.
8. The tool of claim 5 wherein said severing means are provided for
cutting an interconnecting gate between adjacent wing-headed
fasteners in said strip when one of said driven nails is driven
into the aperture of said wing-headed fastener thereby ejecting
said wing-headed fastener from said characterized aperture.
9. The tool of claim 8 wherein said severing means comprises a
bottom plate parallel to the bottom of said elongated members,
spring biased piston means for maintaining said bottom place spaced
apart from said elongated member,
a bottom plate cutting edge upwardly disposed from said bottom
plate toward said slot means, and
said bottom plate positioned so that when said bottom plate is
juxtaposed to said elongated member against the spring bias of said
spring biased piston means, said bottom plate cutting edge being
contiguous to said interconnecting gate means at the body of said
wing-headed fastener in the characterized aperture.
10. The tool of claim 9 wherein cutting means are provided at the
side of said aperture opposite said severing means for trimming the
interconnecting gate means thereat,
said cutting means comprising trim cutting edge means contiguous to
said interconnecting gate means at the junction of said gate means
and the body of said wing-headed fastener.
11. The tool of claim 1 including trigger enabling means for
enabling the operation of said tool to actuate the nails,
said trigger enabling means comprising means operated responsive to
the location of said first and second protrusion means in the key
slot and to said bottom plate means being positioned juxtaposed to
said magazine means for enabling the ejection of said nails.
Description
For many years the electronics industry, among others, has been
faced with the problem of reassembling imperfect units such as
television sets after the same have been assembled. Of principal
concern is the necessity of removing and thereafter replacing
threaded fasteners which are normally used in fastening the backing
members of television cabinets, or the like. The cost involved in
the operation adds considerably to the unit cost of the product
being manufactured and thus there is a definite need for obviating
the removal and replacement of the threaded fasteners.
Several attempts have been made in the past to remedy this problem
by using fasteners which do not have to be removed from the cabinet
in order to enable removal of the cabinet backings which they
secure. Such fasteners do exist and although they obviate problems
of removal, it is more difficult to install these new fasteners
than it is to install the old and well-known threaded
fasteners.
As explained in our previous applications, we have obviated the
disadvantages attendant with utilizing common-threaded fasteners
for securing first members, such as cabinet backing members, to
second members, such as cabinets, by providing fasteners which
enable the backing of a cabinet to be removed expeditiously without
removal of the fasteners. In addition, the fasteners can be
positioned and applied automatically with our new tools and
processed thereby obviating the difficulties involved with
initially applying or installing the fasteners. It was thus a
primary object of our invention covered under U.S. Pat. No.
3,429,013 to provide new and improved fasteners which can removably
associate a cabinet backing or the like, with a cabinet so that the
backing can be assembled and disassembled with a minimum amount of
time and effort. It was a further object of this invention to
provide new and improved fasteners that removably associate a
cabinet backing, or the like, with a second member such as a
cabinet in order that the backing can be removed from the cabinet
without removal of said fastener.
It is an object of our invention to provide new and improved
fasteners and the attachments for an air tool to thereby adapt the
tool especially for our new and improved fasteners. The attachments
enable our new and improved fasteners to be associated with members
at a predetermined location with respect to key slots in those
members.
It is even still further an object of this invention to provide new
and improved systems for positioning fasteners such as described
herein with respect to nail-driving tools in order to associate the
fasteners with members by driving nails therethrough.
While we previously disclosed interconnected fasteners of the type
described, as well as attachments with automatic-nailing tools that
provided automatic means for successively severing each of the
fasteners after they are positioned for fastening by the nails as
explained in our previous patent applications, an improved mode of
interconnecting and of severing of the interconnecting or gate
portions of the fasteners is described herein. Also, the tops and
bottoms of the fasteners were not formed for maximum efficiency
from the standpoint of both receiving the nails as well as from the
standpoint of operation after the nails were driven through the
fasteners.
Thus, we have provided an improved interconnecting system for the
wing-headed fasteners, as well as a means and method of severing
the interconnected fasteners more adroitly then previously.
Other and further objects of this invention will become readily
apparent from reading the description in light of the accompanying
drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is a side-elevational view illustrating our invention used
with an automatic-nailing tool that is powered by compressed
air;
FIG. 2 is a front view of a portion of the tool attachment of our
invention illustrating its mode of association with the
automatic-nailing tool of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a bottom view looking in the direction of the arrows 3--3
of FIG. 2 at the portion of that tool attachment of our
invention;
FIG. 4 is a sectional view illustrating how a nail fastener is
forced through one of our new and improved wing-headed fasteners to
secure the same fastener and therefore a first member such as a
cabinet backing to a second members, such as a cabinet frame;
FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along a plane passing through the
lines 5--5 in FIG. 4 and looking in the direction of the arrows to
illustrate how the tool attachment of the first mentioned
application cooperates with a key slot to locate the wing-headed
fastener and nail in a certain position relative to said key
slot;
FIG. 6 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 4 illustrating how our
new and improved wing-headed fastener is held in position with the
wing head substantially transverse to the key slot with its wing
portions forced against the backing surface by a nail;
FIG. 7 is a view illustrating our new and improved wing-headed
fastener in relation to the key slot in the cabinet backing where
the wing-headed fastener has an open position (shown by the solid
lines) and a closed position (shown in phantom); and
FIG. 8 is a cutaway view of the actuating piston member of the air
tool illustrated in FIG. 1;
FIG. 9 is a side-elevational view illustrating an embodiment of our
invention of this application with an automatic-nailing tool where
the improved fastener is illustrated in a spaced-apart
interconnected relationship;
FIG. 10 is a bottom view of the automatic-nailing tool with the
tool attachment of FIG. 9;
FIG. 11 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the bottom of the tool
attachment of FIG. 10;
FIG. 12 is a sectional view of FIG. 11 taken along a plane passing
through the lines 12--12 and looking in the direction of the
arrows;
FIG. 13 is a sectional view of FIG. 11 taken on a plane passing
through the line 13--13 and looking in the direction of the arrows
in FIG. 11;
FIG. 14 is a fragmentary front view of FIG. 9 showing a portion of
the tool attachment;
FIG. 15 is a fragmentary view of the bottom of FIG. 9 showing a
portion of the tool attachment; and
FIG. 16 is a partial-sectional view of FIG. 15 down the center of
interconnected fasteners illustrating the improved fasteners and
the cutting mechanism of FIG. 9-15 in operation.
Referring to the drawings, wherein like characters of reference
indicate corresponding parts throughout, our new and improved
wing-headed fastener 10 and tool attachment 12 are shown in FIGS.
1-8 in connection with an air tool which is commonly used for
driving nails. Exemplary embodiments thereof have heretofore been
illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,872,901, 3,081,741,
3,081,742, 3,056,964, 3,056,965 and in the previously mentioned
applications for Letters Patent.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1, 3 and 8, the air tool 14 has a cylinder
head 16 that is supplied with compressed air to drive a
reciprocating piston 18 in order that nails 20 which are held in
the magazine 22 thereof are forced through an aperture 20a in the
tool attachment 12. It will be noted that the tool attachment 12 is
associated with the lower portion of the air tool 14 by fastening
members 12a. The tool attachment 12 comprises a pair of apertured
plates 13, 13a. The plates are contiguously positioned and form the
aperture 20a therebetween for purposes of enabling the nails 20 in
the magazine 22 to be forced therethrough by the piston 18 upon
actuation of the trigger 22a of the air tool 14. The attachment 12
has a pair of spaced-apart noses 15, 15a, which have inner sides
with opposing arcuate edges 17, 17a to receive and hold the
wing-headed fasteners 10 in position in connection with the air
tool 14.
The wing-headed fasteners 10, as illustrated in FIGS. 4-7, are
intended for use in cooperation with a first member, such as a
cabinet backing 23 to removably associate the backing with a second
member such as a cabinet 24 in order that when it is desired to
remove the cabinet backing, the same can be removed without
removing the fasteners. The first member or cabinet backing 23 has
a key slot 26 which substantially conforms to a cross section of
our new and improved wing-headed fastener 10 as illustrated in FIG.
7.
As illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, the wing-headed fastener 10 has a
central body portion 28 with top and bottom ends 28a, 28b,
respectively. A pair of wing portions 30, 30a, project from the
central body portion in opposite directions. The wing portions
preferably have flat upper ends and inclined lower ends 31, 32
having the lowest points thereof at the outside and rising upwardly
at points closer to the central axis thereof. The wing portions 30,
30a are preferably composed of resilient material such as plastic
and the lowest points thereof are accordingly deflected upward
toward the top end of said wing-headed fastener when forced against
the cabinet backing 23. Such deflection causes pressure to be
exerted on the surface underneath the fastener to secure the
fastener and fastened member.
It will be noted from FIGS. 4 and 6 that the lower ends of the wing
portions 30, 30a are rounded so that when it is desired to rotate
the fastener, friction is minimized. Also, the central body portion
28 has an opening 10a with a recess 10b formed therein through the
central axis thereof from the top to the bottom for receiving a
nail 20 in order to attach the wing-headed fastener 10 to the said
second member.
In operation, the air tool 14 of the above first filed application,
with its magazine filled with nails 20 has an improved wing-headed
fastener 10 releasably held by the attachment 12 as illustrated in
FIG. 5. The central body portion 28 of the fastener 10 is held by
the arcuate edges 17, 17a so that the aperture 10a in the
wing-headed fastener 10 is aligned with the intended path of the
nails 20. Thereafter the noses 15, 15a of the tool attachment 12
are positioned in the key slot 26, as illustrated in FIG. 5 in
order that the wing-headed fastener has its wing portions 30, 30a
positioned substantially transverse to the key slot 26 and
therefore in contact with the backing member 23 of the cabinet 24.
Thus, when the air tool 14 is actuated a nail 20 is forced through
the aperture 20a, the aperture 10a of the wing-headed fastener 10
and finally into engagement with the cabinet 24 as illustrated in
FIGS. 4 and 6. When a nail 20 is driven through a wing-headed
fastener 10, it is attached to the cabinet 24. When the tool is
lifted away from engagement with the cabinet back, the wing-headed
fastener slides free of the arcuate edges 17, 17a.
The wing-headed fastener's open and closed positions are
illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 7. In FIG. 7, the wing-headed fastener
is in its open position and is in alignment with the key slot 26 in
order that the backing 23 can be removed from the cabinet without
removing the fastener 10. The wing-headed fastener's closed
position is illustrated in phantom in FIGS. 5 and 7 where the wing
portions thereof are in contact with the backing of the cabinet in
a substantially transverse position with respect to the key slot in
order to secure the backing 23 to the cabinet 24. It will be
further noted that in order to enable easy rotation of the
wing-headed fasteners, the nails 20 are driven into the cabinet a
predetermined distance which gives optimum pressure on the
wing-headed fastener in addition to allowing selected rotation
thereof, when this is desired.
In FIGs. 9-14 the improved embodiments of wing-headed fasteners and
tool attachments are shown. Therein, an automatic nailing tool 34
is illustrated in combination with a series of fasteners 36 which
form a strip 37 and are interconnected by means of interconnecting
portions or gates 36a. By being interconnected, the wing-headed
fasteners 36 can be automatically moved to a position where they
can be simultaneously separated from each other and applied rapidly
and efficiently in holding the members together, as will be
explained hereafter.
The nailing tool 34 is patterned after the conventional nailers
illustrated in the aforementioned patents and patent applications
and described in connection with FIGS. 1-8. The air tool is
provided with an actuation trigger 39 and a handle 40. A tool
attachment 35 is added to tool 34 and includes a nail magazine 42
with nails (not shown) positioned therein in order that they can be
driven through the mouth of the tool.
At the bottom of the tool is an aperture 46 which is shaped to
allow the sides of the wing-headed fasteners to move from the tool
after the fasteners have been severed and fastened to a member. For
convenience of expression, the aperture 46 is hereinafter called a
"characterized aperture," which implies that the shape of the
aperture corresponds to the shape of the fastener. This aperture is
best seen in FIG. 15 where it is defined in the front by the pins
86, 87 and in the back by the forward shoulders 86a, 87a, of the
magazine. The aperture 46 leads from a channel 47 which is formed
in the wing-headed fastener magazine 48. The channel 47 includes
undercut slots 47b for receiving the wings 30, 30a of the fasteners
to thus slidably receive and capture the strip 37 in the channel
47. The strip 37 of the fasteners 36 are spring biased on one end
by the spring means 50 and are stopped at the front end by a first
cutoff means 81. The first cutoff means is sandwiched between a
fastener plate 82 and magazine 48. A second cutoff means 83 is
located proximate to the fasteners at the front end of the strip of
fasteners and enables each of the individual fasteners 36 to be
severed after they are positioned for fastening by the nails as
will be explained hereafter.
The channel 47 which with undercut slots 47b is shaped in
conformity to the cross section of the fasteners as illustrated in
FIG. 13 has an opening 52 proximate to the rear end thereof which
accepts the strip of fasteners 36 upon their insertion therein.
The spring means 50 has a front or pusher member 51 attached to a
retainer shaft member 53 having a rear peg member 54 extending
therefrom. The rear peg member is sized so that it can be moved
through the opening 52, as well as be slidably received in the
slots 47b. The spring means 50 can be held in place at the rear of
the machine by the force of the spring pushing member 51 against
strip 37 and peg 54, against retaining means such as posts 55.
Thus, spring 53 is compressed between pusher 51 and peg 54.
Handle means such as handle 56 is shown as integral to spring
retainer shaft 53. In facilitates properly positioning the spring
means 50 into an out of the opening 52. The spring retaining shaft
slides through journal 57 (FIG. 15) so that pusher member 51 rides
on the shaft and pushes against the rear end of the strip of
fasteners 37, responsive to the exertion of the spring force caused
by the compression of the spring 53. The member 51 is slidably
contained in groove 47a of channel 47. The wings of the winged
fastener also are slidably contained in groove 47a of channel 47.
Member 51 is on the same level as the top of the winged fastener,
the shaft fits into the groove 47 above the winged fastener. The
shaft is shown broken away for convenience; actually it extends
almost the entire length of the magazine 48, that is the length of
shaft 53 plus the length of member 51 reaches from posts 55 to the
characterized aperture 46.
The strip of fasteners is loaded into the machine this way. First,
the handle 56 is pulled toward the front of the tool (upwardly as
viewed in FIG. 10). The peg 54 is lifted on when it reaches the
opening 52. Next, the shaft 53 is pulled toward the back of the
tool (downwardly as viewed in FIG. 10). As the shaft is so pulled,
the pusher plate 51 is withdrawn through the opening 52. Then the
entire assembly of the rod 53, spring 50, peg 54, and pusher plate
51 is entirely separated from the tool.
Next, a strip of fasteners is inserted into channel 47 via the
opening 52. The winged heads 30, 30a extend outwardly into channels
47b (FIG. 13), and the central bodies of the fasteners fit into the
space between the walls of channel 47. Then, the pusher plate 51 is
inserted into opening 52, the shaft 53 passes over the top of the
strip fasteners, and the pusher plate 51 abuts against the back of
the strip of fasteners. The handle 56 is pulled toward the forward
end of the tool (upwardly as viewed in FIG. 10) until the peg 54
clears the back of the opening 52. Then, the peg 54 is pushed down
into opening 52 and into channel 47b. The compression of spring 50
pushes the strip of fasteners forward toward the characterized
aperture, and the peg 54 is pushed backward against the posts
55.
Means are provided for cutting and trimming each fastener as it is
severed from the strip of fasteners. More particularly, this means
comprises fore and aft guillotine blades 81, 101 (FIG. 16). The
blade 101 severs the interconnection 36a, and the blade 81 trims
off any stub remaining after the blade 101 makes its cut. The blade
81 is a first cutoff means attached to the fastener plate 82 by
pins 86, 87 (FIG. 15) and cooperates with the characterized
aperture 46 to locate the fasteners 36 for activation as
illustrated in FIGS. 15 and 16. The exact nature and construction
of the pins 86, 87 is not material to the invention. In this
particular case, they may be threaded bolts which pass through
holes (not shown) in blade 81 and turn into threaded holes (also
not shown) in part 82. The heads on these bolts (seen in FIG. 15)
secure the blade 81 in place.
It will be noted that the second cutoff means 83 has a bottom plate
98 which has a protrusion 100 extending downward therefrom, as well
as a cutter 101 extending upward toward the interconnecting gate
means 36a of each of the fasteners 36 positioned in the
characterized aperture 46. The cutoff means 82 is spring biased
away from the tool by the spring means 102 and 103 which are
interposed between the machine and the cutoff means 83 at a
location where a pair of reciprocally actuatable piston members 104
and 105 extend from the nailing tool. These pistons include central
guide pins 104, 105 slidably attached to the tool in any suitable
manner and surrounded by bias springs 102, 103. For example, the
part 82 may include an enlarged internal bore, and the pins 104,
105 may include enlarged heads which slide in these enlarged bores.
Of course, other suitable means may also be provided, such as
telescoping posts, for example.
It will be noted that the safety catch 108 of the nailing tool must
be completely depressed for the trigger 39 to be actuated. The
safety catch 108 is associated with the release lever or piston 107
to enable the trigger 39 when the piston 107 is depressed.
Means are provided for depressing the safety catch when the
fastener 36 in aperture 46 is properly positioned relative to the
slot in the first member. A protrusion 99 extends from the fastener
plate 82 so that it can cooperate with a protrusion 100 extending
from cutting means 83 to be constrainingly received in a key slot
to locate the improved fasteners 36 in a predetermined location
relative to the key slot and to locate the fastener in order that
it can be forced against a cabinet backing, or the like, upon
actuation of a nail. Thus, when the protrusions 99, 100 are fitted
into a slot in a first member and when the wing-headed fastener is
positioned so that the main body portion thereof is clear of the
cutter 101, then the second cutter means 83 and the piston 107 is
depressed to enable the trigger 39. More particularly, when piston
107 is depressed, it in turn depresses the safety catch 108, which
in turn through the portion of safety catch 108 (not shown),
reaching under the trigger 39, enables the trigger 39, when
operated to press against the pressure valve control button shown
immediately beneath the trigger, in any well known manner. If the
fastener 36 is not properly positioned in the key slot 26, it will
support the tool in a lightly elevated position and, therefore,
interfere with the above described movement of the safety catch 108
mechanism.
As best shown in FIG. 16, the improved wing-headed fasteners 36 are
joined by gates 36a to form a strip 37. Means are provided at the
bottom of the fasteners to obviate the formation of burrs when the
nail is driven through the nail receiving opening 38 and to
minimize friction when rotating the fastener between the opened and
the closed positions. More particularly, hole 38 extends into a
truncated conically shaped flaring aperture 38a at its bottom. This
prevents burrs which may be caused by the nails from extending
beyond the bottom of the fastener and also minimizes surface
contact with the second member to ridge 39. The top of hole 38 is
shown with countersunk portion 38b.
FIG. 16 also shows the positions of the cutters 81, 101. When the
protrusions 99, 100 are in the slot 26, the cutting edge of the
cutter 101 is contiguous to the gate 36a immediately adjacent the
main body section of the fastener 36 so that is in characterized
aperture 46, since plate 83 is then depressed against springs 104,
105. Similarly, the cutting edge of cutter 81 is contiguous to the
remains of the gate that were cut by cutter 101 when the previous
fastener 36 was installed. When the nail is forced through hole 38,
the fastener strip is forced against the cutter so as to sever the
gates.
To review the operation of the tool 34 and attachments thereof, the
strip of interconnected fasteners 37 are placed in the slotted
magazine compartment 48 and the spring means 50 is urged against
the interconnected fasteners 37 to position them successively for
activation and fastening. The cutoff means 81 and 83 operate to
sever and trim each of the fasteners 36 when they are being nailed.
As each fastener 36 is nailed, another fastener is actuated by the
spring means 50 to a position where it is in the characterized
aperture 46 and ready for nailing. The fasteners are located by
means of the protrusions 99, 100 as before described.
Thus, from an understanding of the operation of our invention it
can be seen that the invention has fulfilled the stated objects in
a remarkably unexpected fashion. Not only does the new and improved
wing-headed fastener enable expeditious removal of the cabinet
backings, or the like, but also the new and improved attachments
and process described herein in connection with the fasteners
enables the wing-headed fasteners to be installed easily, rapidly
and with a minimum of cost.
While we have illustrated preferred embodiments of our invention,
the scope thereof is intended to include other embodiments which
are suggested by this disclosure. For instance, it is conceivable
that other shapes of attachments for associating the wing-headed
fasteners with driving tools could be employed to achieve the
objectives herein disclosed and suggested .
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