Feeding fasteners to a workpiece

A fastener feed system for selecting a fastener needed for a particular fastening location from a fastener storage area and delivering the fastener to a workpiece where the fastener is to be installed, comprising:

• a tray comprising a block of material into which cell holes have been drilled having a floor and a grid partition arrangement defining a multiplicity of vertically elongated, upwardly opening cells for holding single fasteners in a vertical orientation said grid partition arrangement comprising the material of said block between said cell holes;
• a delivery tube for conveying said fasteners, selected and extracted from said tray, to a device for inserting said fasteners into the workpiece;
• a suction head attached to said proximal end of said delivery tube for contacting a top edge of said grid partition arrangement and applying suction to a selected cell to suck the fastener in said cell through said suction head and into said delivery tube;
• an air hole in the bottom of each of said cell holes and communicating with the bottom surface of said tray;
• whereby air can flow from below said tray up through said air hole and through said selected cell when said suction head sucks said fastener out of said selected cell;
• a motive device for positioning said suction head over said selected cell;
• and
• a control system for controlling said motive device.