Method and apparatus for producing assemblies of headed fasteners

A method for machining a strand of wire to provide assemblies of a selected number of headed fasteners, said process comprising the steps of:

• a) cutting the strand of wire into headless fasteners of a selected, uniform length;
• b) aligning the headless fasteners in a parallel relationship to each other and equally spaced a given spacing from each other;
• c) collating the headless fasteners to form a continuous web of the headless fasteners;
• d) conveying the continuous web of collated headless fasteners and aligning one headless fastener with respect to a head welding device;
• e) supplying one head at a time to the head welding device;
• and
• f) while maintaining the web stationary, actuating the head welding device to weld a head on one end of the aligned fastener of the continuous web.

Apparatus for receiving a strand of wire and producing therefrom a web of headed fasteners, said apparatus comprising:

• a) means for cutting the strand of wire into headless fasteners of a selected, uniform length;
• b) means for receiving and aligning the headless fasteners in a parallel relationship with each other and spaced from each other a given spacing;
• c) means for collating the parallel, spaced headless fasteners to form a continuous web thereof;
• d) a welding device disposed downstream of said collating means;
• and
• e) means for repeatedly conveying the continuous web of headless fasteners to said welding device and stopping said continuous web to align at least one headless fastener of the continuous web with respect to said head welding device for a period sufficient for said head welding device to weld a head to the one aligned headless fastener.

A method of affixing heads to headless fasteners, the headless fasteners assembled as a web of headless fasteners equally spaced apart a given spacing, said method comprising the steps of:

• a) conveying the web of headless fasteners to and disposing each of a first set of headless fasteners thereof in an aligned relationship to corresponding ones of a plurality of "n" head affixing devices, selected of the head affixing devices of the plurality being spaced from each other a first distance equal to the product of the given spacing and an integral number other than "n";
• b) actuating each of the plurality of head affixing devices to fasten a head to its aligned fastener of the web;
• and
• c) moving the web with respect to the plurality of "n" head affixing devices a second distance sufficient to align each of a second, different set of fasteners of the web to corresponding ones of the plurality of "n" head affixing devices.