MECHANISM FOR CONTAINING A NAIL PACKAGE AND FEEDING SUCCESSIVE NAILS THEREFROM

摘要

A mechanism for containing a fastener package and for feeding successive fasteners from the package into a position to be driven by a fastener driving element during the drive stroke thereof, the fastener package being in the form of a coil of circular headed nails flexibly interconnected in series with their shanks in spaced parallel relation, the mechanism including a nose piece assembly defining an elongated drive track receiving the fastener driving element therein during the operating cycle thereof, and a nail feeding track communicating laterally with the drive track, a ratchet type feeding mechanism for feeding successive nails within the nail feeding track into the drive track, and a magazine assembly for containing the coil of the fastener package, the feeding mechanism including a nail feeding pawl carried by an actuating member movable through a return stroke by a fluid pressure actuated piston and through a drive stroke by a spring assembly which also serves to bias the feeding pawl into its nail feeding position, and a pivoted spring pressed holding pawl provided with surfaces for substantially laterally closing the drive track at the position of communication with the nail feeding track substantially throughout the longitudinal extent thereof so as to prevent successive nails in the drive track from being canted into the nail feeding track during the driving movements thereof by the fastener driving element, the nose piece and magazine assemblies both being of two-part construction movable between an opened loading position and a closed releasably latched operative position, the magazine assembly including a non-adjustable container suitable to support nail packages of different nail sizes, there being provided nail head camming surfaces between the nose piece and magazine assemblies which insure movement of the nails from the container into the nail feeding track in proper nail head guided relation irrespective of the vertical position of the nail heads within the container due to the length of the nail shanks.