Automatic rivet feed apparatus
AssigneeHuck International, Inc.
InventorsHarold R. Wing, David Francis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An automatic rivet feed apparatus which can be used as a retrofit to an existing power driven riveting tool or incorporated integrally into a riveting tool. A rivet strip holds each of the plurality of rivets at individual fixed positions on the rivet strip. Included is a rivet strip release hook which stops the rivets, as they are advanced one-by-one, at rivet pick-up point and releases each of the rivets from the rivet strip. A hand mounted on the end of a pneumatic ram grips the rivets at the rivet pick-up point. The pneumatic ram moves the rivet forward and rotates to place the rivet in alignment with the nose piece of the riveting tool. The pneumatic ram then retracts and inserts the mandrel of the rivet into the nose piece and returns to the rivet pick-up point to repeat the steps.
Claims9
A tool for setting blind rivets in a work piece comprising:
- a nose piece for receiving a mandrel of a rivet;
- means, responsive to a triggering signal, for drawing the mandrel into the rivet to set the rivet in the work piece;
- means for generating the triggering signal;
- a linear rivet carrier, the rivet carrier releasably holding a plurality of rivets each in one of a plurality of preselected, substantially uniformly spaced apart locations;
- means for sequentially advancing the rivet carrier so that each rivet is in turn advanced to a rivet pick-up point, the rivet pick-up point being offset from the nose piece;
- means for frictionally releasably gripping a rivet which is presented at the rivet pick-up point and removing each rivet from the rivet carrier;
- means, responsive to an actuating signal, for moving the gripping means between the pick-up point and a nose piece alignment point and for inserting the mandrel of the rivet into the nose piece, the moving means having a first position extended to a first linear distance and rotated to a first rotational position in relation to the nose piece, the moving means also having a second position which is extended to a second linear distance and rotated to a second rotational position in relation to the nose piece;
- means for generating the actuating signal;
- means for mounting, adjacent to the nose piece, the moving means such that rivets can be automatically and repeatedly moved from the pick-up point to the nose piece.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.