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US 2003/0192930 A1Published application
Stacked assembly of roofing caps
AssigneePneuTools, Incorporated
InventorFrederick W. Lamb
Life of this patent
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AssigneePneuTools, Incorporated
InventorFrederick W. Lamb
Estimating the term…
A staple or nail gun assembly includes a staple or nail gun, a cap feeding device and a cap having a peripheral rim disposed on its underside, a marginal edge on its upper side adjacent a central portion having the shape of a truncated cone. The staple or mail gun and the cap feeding device are generally disposed at opposite ends of the handle of the staple or nail gun. The cap feeding device includes a base, a cap container and a shuttle. The base has a cap feeding chamber and-a cap holding chamber and a channel connecting the two chambers. The container is used to store staple or nail caps and to feed the caps to the cap feeding chamber of the base, one cap at a time. The shuttle is operatively associated with the channel of the base to move a cap at the cap feeding chamber towards the cap holding chamber through the channel by a distance equal to the diameter of the cap. The caps are coaxially stacked by means of a coaxial plastic cord or wire with retaining means at the respective ends or in a tubular container with a flanged end.
A device for feeding staple or nail caps, each cap having a diameter, the device comprising:
A staple or nail gun assembly, comprising:
A cap assembly for use with a cap feeding device, the assembly comprising a plurality of co-axially stacked staple or nail caps, each cap having two opposite surfaces, wherein at least one of the surfaces of each cap is attached to one of the surfaces of another cap.
21 A roofing cap adapted for use with a fastener having an elongated shank and an enlarged diameter head for securing a roof member to a roof deck, said cap comprising:
A cap according to claim 21 wherein the width of said marginal edge is at least twice the width as the peripheral land.
A cap according to claim 21 wherein the surface of said truncated cone forms an angle with the plane of the marginal edge of between about 10° and about 30°.
A cap according to claim 21 wherein said lower surface has a central portion extending inwardly from said peripheral land describing a truncated cone.
A cap according to claim 21 wherein said cap has a centrally located orifice extending through said cap from said upper surface to said lower surface.
A coaxially stacked assembly of a plurality of caps according to claim 21 wherein a plastic cord is disposed through the coaxial orifices of said caps and terminates in an enlarged portion adjacent each of the ends of said stacked assembly.
A cap according to claim wherein a connecting stud is disposed centrally in the truncated portion of said upper surface, said stud extending upwardly from said upper surface a distance of less than one half the thickness of said cap between said upper and lower surfaces, and said lower surface has disposed therein a complementary hole centrally located in said lower surface, whereby a stud of a second similar cap is received in a frictional fit within said hole when two caps are placed in coaxially stacked relation.
A coaxially stacked assembly of a plurality of caps according to claim 21 wherein said stacked assembly is disposed in a cylindrical tube having a length at least as large as said stacked assembly and said tube at one end includes selectively deformable inwardly extending flanges of a length to secure said caps from exiting said tube prior to an axial force being exerted on said stack sufficient to deform said flanges in the direction of said flanged end.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Backward citations are indexed for grants only.
Staple-feeding devices , e.g. with feeding means, supports for staples or accessories concerning feeding devices: co-ordinating with the feed of a…
Nail feeding devices: for corrugated nails and marking tags
Hand-held nailing or stapling tools
Term end not estimated
Drawings are temporarily unavailable. Open the PDF at USPTO
This invention relates to a cap feeding device for a staple or nail gun, as well as a staple or nail gun assembly and a cap assembly for use with a cap feeding device.
Automatic nail guns, powered by compressed air or electricity, are used, for example, to attach roofing material, such as tarpaper, to the roof of a house. A generally flat cap is often used with each nail. A nail penetrates the cap and the tarpaper and protrudes into the underlying roof structure, attaching the roofing material to the roof surface.
Typically, an operator must manually place and hold a cap under the nose of a nail gun and then trigger the gun to drive a nail through the cap into the roof structure. The manual placement of caps presents a serious safety hazard to the operator because the operator's hand is close to the nose of the gun when a nail is driven through the nose of the gun. In addition, manual placement of caps is time consuming and inefficient.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a staple or nail gun assembly according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side view of a cap container of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, where the cover is in the open position.
FIG. 3 is the side view of the cap container shown in FIG. 2, where the cover is in the closed position.
FIGS. 1-8 illustrate one example of the staple or nail gun assembly 10 of the present invention. The staple or nail gun assembly 10 includes a staple or nail gun 20 and a cap feeding device 40. The staple or nail gun 20 has a handle portion 22 and a head portion 30. The handle portion 22 has front and rear ends 24, 26, the front end 24 being attached to the head portion 30. The cap feeding device 40 includes a base 50, a cap container 60 and a shuttle 80. The base 50 includes a cap feeding chamber 52 and a cap holding chamber 54, and a channel 56 connecting the two chambers 52, 54. The container 60 is used to store staple or nail caps 140 and to feed the caps 140 to the cap feeding chamber 52 of the base 50 one cap at a time. The shuttle 80 is movably disposed in the channel 56 of the base 50 and is adapted to move a cap at the cap feeding chamber 52 towards the cap holding chamber 54 through the channel 56.
In the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the staple or nail gun 20 is an automatic nail gun powered by compressed air, although any staple or nail gun can be used with an embodiment of present invention, including a staple or nail gun powered, for example, by electricity. The head portion 30 of the nail gun 20 includes a nose portion 32 and a barrel having an opening 34 at the nose portion 32. The nail gun 20 may also include a nail container 36 connected to the head portion 30. The nail container 36 holds a plurality of nails and feeds the nails into the barrel one nail at a time. The head portion 30 may also include a piston-cylinder arrangement, in which a piston is movably disposed in a cylinder and divides the cylinder into first and second chambers. When the nail gun 20 is triggered, compressed air is supplied to the first chamber of the cylinder to push the piston towards the nail in the barrel. The piston strikes the nail in the barrel to eject the nail through the opening 34 at the nose portion 32. Then compressed air can be supplied to the second chamber to return the piston to the retracted position. Alternatively, the piston may be returned to the retracted position with any alternative device such as a spring. Because the head portion 30, which contains most of the nail gun components, is disposed at the front end 24 of the handle portion 22, the weight of the staple or nail gun 20 is mostly placed at the front end 24 of the handle 22.
As stated above, the cap feeding device 40 includes a base 50, a cap container 60 and a shuttle 80. The base 50 has a cap feeding chamber 52 and a cap holding chamber 54, and a channel 56 connecting the two chambers 52, 54. The container 60 is used to store nail caps 140 and to feed the caps 140 to the cap feeding chamber 52 of the base 50 one cap at a time. The shuttle 80 is operatively associated with the channel 56 of the base 50 and pushes a cap at the cap feeding chamber 52 towards the cap holding chamber 54 through the channel 56.