Power stapler

#The invention relates to staplers and particularly to power staplers that do not require manual operation.

#Staplers are commonly used in offices and homes for stapling together sheets of paper, but may be used for stapling together other items such as textile pieces and the like. In each case the ‘sheets’ are placed on an anvil and a stapler is pressed closed. This typically presses out a staple from a remote end of a cartridge of staples and through the sheets on the anvil, and closes the staple to attach the sheets together. Such staplers are often manually operated.

#Electrically powered staplers have been proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,068,173 and 5,222,645. These patents essentially show the mechanism of a manual stapler construction that is mechanised by using force generated by an electric battery-operated motor mounted inside the stapler. Thus, mechanical limitations associated with manual staplers are not overcome although such ‘power staplers’ provide some inherent improvements and convenience by making the stapling operation at least semi-automatic.

#A preferred from of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

#FIG. 1 is an exploded isometric view of a stapler;

#FIG. 2 is an interior isometric view of the mechanism of the stapler of FIG. 1;

#Referring to the Figures, there is shown a power stapler having an outer housing 10 which defines a slot 11 for receiving edges of sheets of paper (not shown) to be stapled together. The power stapler B includes a stapling station having a horizontal anvil 12 and elongated staple carrier 13 for holding a staple cartridge. The staple carrier 13 is mounted for sliding axial movement out of the housing 10 when it is necessary to replace the staple cartridge. A removable battery compartment cover 14 provides access to replace batteries in the compartment that extends within the base of the housing 10. A recharging/power socket 20 is provided to power the stapler and/or recharge its batteries. A staple removal tool 15 is mounted for sliding movement in or under the base 10 and is mounted to allow manual movement from a position on or under the base 10 to an extended position, as shown in FIG. 1 when required for use.

#There are two moulded inner side-walls 16 and 17 that fit into the housing 10 for supporting and containing components of the stapler described below. A punch blade or punch plate 18 is carried by a support 19. The punch blade 18 with the support 19 is arranged to slide vertically The support 19 has a central aperture 21 for receiving an end of an elongate arm 22 that is best seen in FIG. 2. The arm 22 is mounted between each side-wall 16, 17 at position 30 as shown in FIG. 2. Arm 22 serves as a mounting frame for the gears.

#At each side of the arm 22 there is a lever 31. Each lever 31 has a pivot axle 23 and an elongated closed channel 24 for receiving a crank pin 25. The crank pin is mounted on the side of a gear 26, which is rotatable in a vertical plane. Intermediate gears 27, 28 and 32 connect the gear 26 to an electric drive motor 29.