Fastener feeding apparatus

A fastener feeding apparatus adapted for concurrently feeding a plurality of fasteners to respective driving machines, and comprising

• a housing having a pair of parallel, longitudinally extending side wall members, opposite end wall members, and a bottom plate, and so as to define a longitudinal channel extending between said end wall members,
• a plurality of discharge openings in said bottom plate of said housing and which are disposed in a longitudinally spaced apart arrangement,
• a fastener delivery chute extending laterally through one of said side wall members at a medial location along its length,
• a slide assembly mounted for longitudinal reciprocation in said channel and between a dump position and a ready position, said slide assembly comprising
• (a) an elongate bar extending longitudinally within said channel and having a side face facing toward but spaced from said one side wall member, said side face having a plurality of grooves disposed therein in a longitudinally spaced apart arrangement matching that of said discharge openings in said bottom plate,
• (b) a slide plate extending longitudinally within said channel between said side face of said bar and said one side wall member of said housing, said slide plate having a plurality of slots extending laterally therethrough and which are disposed in a longitudinally spaced apart arrangement matching that of said discharge openings in said bottom plate,
• (c) means interconnecting said bar and said slide plate so as to permit limited relative longitudinal movement therebetween and between a first position wherein said slots are aligned with respective ones of said grooves and a second position wherein said slots and grooves are non-aligned, and
• (d) spring biasing means interposed between said bar and said slide plate so as to be compressed when said bar and said slide plate are in said first position and so as to bias the same toward said second position,
• actuator means for selectively moving said slide assembly between said dump and ready positions, and such that in said dump position said slide assembly contacts one of said end wall members of said housing to cause said bar and said slide plate to assume said first position, and such that upon movement of said slide away from said dump position said spring biasing means acts to bias said bar and said slide plate to said second position,
• whereby in operation said slide assembly may be moved from said dump position to said ready position by said actuator means, with fasteners being serially loaded into said slots of said slide plate upon passing said fastener delivery chute, and said slide may then be moved to said dump position where said slots, grooves, and discharge openings become respectively aligned to cause the loaded fasteners to be transferred into respective grooves and then dropped through respective discharge openings.