Staper lockout
AssigneeTechtronic Cordless GP
InventorsJeremy Fedrigon, Thomas Evatt, Neil Wright
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A stapler includes a body; a handle coupled to the body, the handle movable between a rest position and an actuated position; a magazine configured to support a plurality of fasteners; a driver that successively drives each of the plurality of fasteners into a workpiece in response to the handle moving to the activated position; and an advancer that moves the plurality of fasteners towards the driver, wherein the advancer comprises an advancer body and a lock feature disposed at a leading end of the advancer body, and wherein the driver comprises a complementary lock feature that interfaces with the lock feature of the advancer when the plurality of fasteners is exhausted to lockout the stapler.
Claims20
A stapler comprising:
- a body;
- a handle coupled to the body, the handle movable between a rest position and an activated position;
- a magazine configured to support a plurality of fasteners;
- a driver that successively drives each of the plurality of fasteners into a workpiece in response to the handle moving to the activated position;
- and
- an advancer that moves the plurality of fasteners towards the driver,
- wherein the advancer comprises an advancer body and a lock feature disposed at a leading end of the advancer body, and
- wherein the driver comprises a complementary lock feature that interfaces with the lock feature of the advancer to lockout the stapler when the plurality of fasteners is exhausted.
A method of locking out a stapler, the method comprising:
- actuating a handle from a rest position to an activated position to drive a driver from a first position to a second position, wherein activating the handle is performed with a magazine of the stapler holding one or less fastener, wherein the one or less fastener is biased towards the driver by an advancer having a lock feature, and wherein actuating the handle to the activated position causes the driver to drive the one or less fastener from the stapler;
- allowing the handle to return from the activated position to the rest position;
- and
- causing, by the lock feature of the advancer interfacing with a complementary lock feature of the driver, the driver to lock at a third position between the first and second positions with the handle returned to the rest position.
A subassembly for a stapler, the subassembly comprising:
- a driver having a driving head to drive a fastener from the stapler and an opening extending into the driver;
- and
- an advancer configured to bias the fastener towards the driver, the advancer having a tab extending from a leading end, wherein the tab interfaces with the opening of the driver when the fastener is exhausted to lockout the subassembly and prevent the driver from resetting.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.