Fastening tool having a dry fire lockout assembly

A fastening tool comprising:

• a housing;
• a nosepiece assembly connected to the housing and including a fastener drive track having a drive axis;
• a magazine assembly including at least one magazine pusher slidably disposed in the magazine assembly for feeding a number of fasteners successively along a fastener channel to the fastener drive track of the nosepiece assembly;
• a driver member provided in the housing and configured for movement along the drive axis to drive a lead fastener into a workpiece;
• a motor disposed within the housing and configured to drive the driver member along the drive axis;
• a power source providing power to the motor;
• a controller configured to control a supply of power from the power source to the motor and initiate a drive sequence;
• a lever housing mounted to the magazine assembly;
• a lockout lever pivotably mounted on the lever housing and having a first end configured to enter the fastener channel when there is less than a predetermined number of fasteners in the magazine assembly and a second end that moves in a direction opposite to the first end when the first end enters the fastener channel;
• a magnet disposed on the second end of the lever and having at least one of a magnetic orientation and a magnetic flux that corresponds to a state of the magazine assembly having less than a predetermined number of fasteners;
• and
• a Hall effect sensor configured to sense at least one of the magnetic orientation and the magnetic flux of the magnet and send a signal to the controller in response to the magnetic orientation or the magnetic flux,
• wherein when the controller receives the signal from the Hall effect sensor that indicates that there is less than a predetermined number of fasteners, the controller inhibits the drive sequence.

A fastening tool comprising:

• a housing;
• a nosepiece assembly connected to the housing and including a fastener drive track having a drive axis;
• a magazine assembly including a magazine pusher slidably disposed in the magazine assembly for feeding a number of fasteners successively along a fastener channel to the fastener drive track of the nosepiece assembly;
• a driver member provided in the housing and configured for movement along the drive axis to drive a lead fastener into a workpiece;
• a motor disposed within the housing and configured to drive the driver member along the drive axis;
• a power source providing power to the motor;
• a controller configured to control a supply of power from the power source to the motor and initiate a drive sequence;
• a lever having a first end and a second end opposite to the first end, the first end of the lever disposed in the fastener channel when there is less than a predetermined number of fasteners in the magazine assembly;
• a sensor target disposed on the second end of the lever;
• and
• a sensor having a sensing zone, the sensor configured to sense a characteristic of the sensor target within the sensing zone, that indicates that there is less than a predetermined number of fasteners in the magazine assembly and send a signal to the controller in response to the characteristic,
• wherein when the controller receives the signal from the sensor, the controller inhibits the drive sequence, and
• wherein when there is a predetermined number of fasteners in the magazine assembly, the sensor target is outside of the sensing zone and when there is less than a predetermined number of fasteners in the magazine assembly, the sensor target is inside the sensing zone.

A fastening tool comprising:

• a housing;
• a nosepiece assembly connected to the housing and including a fastener drive track having a drive axis;
• a magazine assembly including a magazine pusher slidably disposed in the magazine assembly for feeding a number of fasteners successively along a fastener channel to the fastener drive track of the nosepiece assembly;
• a driver member provided in the housing and configured for movement along the drive axis to drive a lead fastener into a workpiece;
• a motor disposed within the housing and configured to drive the driver member along the drive axis;
• a power source providing power to the motor;
• a controller configured to control a supply of power from the power source to the motor and initiate a drive sequence;
• a lever having a first end and a second end longitudinally opposite to the first end, the lever configured to pivot in response to a change in force applied to the first end thereof;
• a sensor target disposed on the second end of the lever and having a characteristic that changes in response to the change in force;
• a sensor configured to sense the characteristic of the sensor target and send a signal to the controller in response to the characteristic;
• and
• an indicator operatively connected to the controller to receive an activation signal therefrom,
• wherein when the controller receives the signal from the sensor, the controller inhibits the drive sequence and initiates activation of the indicator, and
• wherein when there is less than a predetermined number of fasteners in the magazine assembly, the first end of the lever is configured to enter the fastener channel.

A fastening tool comprising:

• a housing;
• a nosepiece assembly connected to the housing and including a fastener drive track having a drive axis;
• a magazine assembly including a magazine pusher slidably disposed in the magazine assembly for feeding a number of fasteners successively along a fastener channel to the fastener drive track of the nosepiece assembly;
• a driver member provided in the housing and configured for movement along the drive axis to drive a lead fastener into a workpiece;
• a motor disposed within the housing and configured to drive the driver member along the drive axis;
• a power source providing power to the motor;
• a controller configured to control a supply of power from the power source to the motor and initiate a drive sequence;
• a lever having a first end and a second end opposite to the first end, the first end of the lever disposed in the fastener channel when there is less than a predetermined number of fasteners in the magazine assembly;
• a sensor target disposed on the second end of the lever;
• a sensor having a sensing zone, the sensor configured to sense a characteristic of the sensor target within the sensing zone, that indicates that there is less than a predetermined number of fasteners in the magazine assembly and send an output signal to the controller in response to the characteristic, and
• at least one visual indicator operatively connected to the controller to receive an indicator activation signal therefrom,
• wherein when the controller receives the output signal from the sensor, the controller inhibits the drive sequence,
• wherein the at least one visual indicator is activated by the controller when the sensor detects the characteristic of the sensor target that corresponds to a state of the magazine assembly having less than a predetermined number of fasteners, and
• wherein when there is a predetermined number of fasteners in the magazine assembly, the sensor target is outside of the sensing zone and when there is less than a predetermined number of fasteners in the magazine assembly, the sensor target is inside the sensing zone.

A lockout assembly in a fastening tool having a magazine assembly including at least one magazine pusher slidably disposed in the magazine assembly for feeding a number of fasteners successively along a fastener channel, a power source, and a controller configured to control a supply of power and initiate a drive sequence, the lockout assembly comprising:

• a pivotable lever engageable with the fastener channel and having a first end configured to enter the fastener channel when there is less than a predetermined number of fasteners in the magazine assembly and a second end that moves in a direction opposite to the first end when the first end enters the fastener channel;
• a magnet disposed on the second end of the pivotable lever and having at least one of a magnetic orientation and a magnetic flux that corresponds to a state of the magazine assembly having less than a predetermined number of fasteners;
• and
• a Hall effect sensor configured to sense at least one of the magnetic orientation and the magnetic flux of the magnet and send a signal to the controller in response to the magnetic orientation or the magnetic flux,
• wherein when the controller receives the signal from the Hall effect sensor that indicates that there is less than a predetermined number of fasteners, the controller inhibits the drive sequence.