Fastening machine

A fastening machine of the type used to drive fasteners from an end of a clip of fasteners into a work product, the clip of fasteners comprising fasteners connected to one another in an elongated clip of aligned, parallel fasteners, said fastener machine including a guide means having a fastener discharge end, a drive element at the discharge end of said guide means for driving the endmost fastener at one end of the clip from the clip of fasteners on said guide means, and fastener advancing means for maintaining the endmost fastener of the clip of fasteners on said guide means at a position adjacent said drive element, the improvement therein comprising,

• said fastener advancing means including at least one clip engaging element positioned out of alignment with the length of the clip of fasteners and drive means for intermittantly urging said clip engaging element into contact with an intermediate portion of said clip and for urging said clip along the length of said guide means toward said drive element,
• a discharge gate with a front fastener bearing surface movable toward and away from the fastener discharge end of said guide means, said discharge gate when in its closed position being in spaced relation to said guide means and forming therewith a fastener discharge gap through which said drive element drives the endmost fastener from said clip and when in its open position is displaced further from said guide means,
• said discharge gate including a fluid actuated cylinder arranged to control movement of said discharge gate toward and away from the discharge end of said guide means, said cylinder comprising system logic to relieve pressure from said discharge gate at specified times,
• whereby any fasteners jammed in the fastener discharge gap will tend to urge the discharge gate to move away from the discharge end of the guide means and the jammed fastener will tend to fall clear of said fastener discharge gap.

A fastening machine of the type used to drive fasteners from an end of a clip of fasteners into a work product, the clip of fasteners comprising fasteners connected to one another in an elongated clip of aligned, parallel fasteners, said fastener machine including a guide means having a fastener discharge end, a drive element at the discharge end of said guide means for driving the endmost fastener at one end of the clip from the clip of fasteners on said guide means, and fastener advancing means for maintaining the endmost fastener of the clip of fasteners on said guide means at a position adjacent said drive element, the improvement therein comprising,

• said fastener advancing means including at least one clip engaging element positioned out of alignment with the length of the clip of fasteners and drive means for intermittantly urging said clip engaging element into contact with an intermediate portion of said clip and for urging said clip along the length of said guide means toward said drive element,
• said clip engaging element comprises a first pair of inside cam plates straddling said guide means, a second pair of outside cam plates straddling said inside cam plates, said inside and outside cam plates including engaging cam surfaces which cooperate to urge said inside cam plates toward and along the length of said guide means in response to the movement of the cam plates toward the drive element.

A stapling mechanism of the type used to drive into a work piece inverted U-shaped staples, each staple having two parallel side legs and a cross leg connected at its ends to an end of a side leg, a plurality of said staples being connected together in a parallel, aligned and stacked fashion to form clips, each said clip having a front staple, a rear staple and a plurality of intermediate staples, said staple machine including a rectilinear staple guide, a drive element at one end of said staple guide for driving the frontmost staple from a clip of staples positioned on said staple guide, and staple advancing means for maintaining said frontmost staple of a clip at a position adjacent said driver element, the improvement therein comprising,

• said rectilinear staple guide having a width slightly smaller than the space between the parallel side legs of said U-shaped staples, two parallel vertical sides of a height taller than the legs of said U-shaped staples, and a length greater than the length of one said clip of staples, the width, vertical sides and length of said rectilinear staple guide forming a shape which allows at least one said clip of staples to be positioned in longitudinally straddled relationship on said rectilinear staple guide, said rectilinear staple guide having a discharge end positioned adjacent to said driver element,
• said staple advancing means including two inside cam plates, each of said inside cam plates located adjacent and parallel to one of the vertical sides of said rectilinear staple guide, said inside cam plates comprising a rectilinear main body extending generally parallel to said rectilinear staple guide with cam surfaces formed thereon,
• said staple advancing means also including two outside cam plates, said outside cam plates straddling said inside cam plates, said outside cam plates including cam surfaces formed thereon, said cam surfaces being of a shape such that when said inside cam plates are moved along their lengths toward the discharge end of said rectilinear staple guide, the cam surfaces of said inside cam plates and of said outside cam plates engage each other and wedge said inside cam plates toward lateral engagement with the clip of staples on said rectilinear staple guide and urge the clip of staples toward the discharge end of said rectilinear staple guide,
• said staple advancing means additionally including a power means in driving relation with respect to said inside cam plates, said power means providing an intermittent reciprocating motion to said inside cam plates,
• a positioning means for basing said inside cam plates toward a predetermined spaced relationship with respect to said rectilinear staple guide, and
• a front staple bearing surface positioned adjacent the discharge end of said rectilinear staple guide and forming with said rectilinear staple guide a staple discharge gap between said front staple bearing surface and the discharge end of said rectilinear staple guide, said gap being of a size and shape to pass only the frontmost staple from the clip of staples on said rectilinear staple guide.