Electric powered apparatus for dispensing individual plastic fasteners from fastener stock

Apparatus for dispensing plastic fasteners from fastener stock, each plastic fastener having a cross bar at the end of a filament, said apparatus comprising:

• a casing,
• a hollow needle mounted on said casing, said hollow needle having an inlet opening,
• a guide groove in said casing for receiving fastener stock, said guide groove being in communication with said inlet opening in said hollow needle,
• a feeder element for intermittently advancing said fastener stock loaded into said guide groove so that the cross bar of a fastener to be dispensed is fed into said hollow needle,
• an ejector rod for pushing the cross bar of the fastener fed into said hollow needle out through the tip of the needle,
• a DC motor for driving said ejector rod and said feeder element, said DC motor having a drive shaft, a positive terminal and a negative terminal,
• a converter assembly for converting rotary motion of the drive shaft of said DC motor into linear movement of said ejector rod, and
• control means for controlling the operation of said DC motor so as to produce intermittent reciprocating linear movement of said ejector rod, said control means including a trigger switch and a limit switch, said trigger switch and said limit switch each being double through switches, said trigger switch and said limit switch each having a first position and a second position, said trigger switch and said limit switch each begin normally in its first position and being coupled to said DC motor so that when said trigger switch is in its first position and said limit switch is in its first position said DC motor is deenergized, then, when said trigger switch is moved to its second position and said limit switch remains in its first position said DC motor will be energized for movement in a first direction, then, when said limit switch is moved to its second position and said trigger switch remains in its second position said DC motor will be brought to a stop, then, when said trigger switch is moved back to its first position and said limit switch remains in its second position said DC motor will be energized for movement in a second direction and then, when said limit switch is moved back to its first position and said trigger switch remains in its first position said DC motor will be brought to a stop.