Tack, hammer tacker therefor, and method

A method of producing from a stock of band sheet metal, a plurality of tacks collated together in a strip in a side by side relationship for use in a tacker tool, the method comprising:

• indexing one end of said stock of band sheet metal into a workstation wherein a virtual tack head is definable on the band;
• lancing the outline of shank in the virtual tack head wherein the shank has a root origin generally at a center of geometry of the virtual tack head;
• deflecting the shank into an extended position, wherein the shank leaves behind a slot in the virtual tack head;
• separating the virtual tack head from the stock band material to produce the given tack, and, feeding the given tack to a collating station;
• repeating the foregoing to produce a successive tack;
• collating the given and successive tacks in a side by side relationship including nesting the shank of the successive tack into the slot of the given tack such that the head of the given tack occupies a relatively lower position than the head of the successive tack;
• adding disengagement-preventing means for preventing disengagement between the given tack from its side by side relationship with the successive tack until a force is exerted on the head of a tack positioned at the lowest level in the collated strip;
• and,
• repeating the foregoing, indefinitely, to produce the collated strip of tacks.

A method of producing from a stock of band sheet metal, a plurality of tacks collated together in a strip in a side by side relationship for use in a tacker tool, the method comprising:

• indexing one end of said stock of band sheet metal into a workstation wherein a square virtual workpiece is definable on the band;
• lancing the outline of a shank in the virtual workpiece wherein the shank has a root origin generally at a center of the square, and extends along and is generally co-extensive with one-half of one diagonal of the square;
• deflecting the shank into an extended position, wherein the shank leaves behind a slot in the virtual workpiece;
• separating the virtual workpiece from the stock band material to produce the given tack which includes a tack head in which said slot is formed;
• feeding the given tack without rotating its head to a collating station in a direction substantially co-axial with said slot;
• repeating the foregoing to produce a successive tack;
• collating the given and successive tacks in a side by side relationship including nesting the shank of the successive tack into the slot of the given tack such that the head of the given tack occupies a relatively lower position than the head of the successive tack;
• adding disengagement-preventing means for preventing disengagement between the given tack from its side by side relationship with the successive tack until a force is exerted on the head of a tack positioned at the lowest level in the collated strip;
• and,
• repeating the foregoing, indefinitely, to produce a collated strip of tacks.