Fastener driver cap feeder assembly

Abstract

A fastener driver cap feeder assembly includes a nose piece adapted to be attached to a pneumatic or explosive charge type fastener driver for receiving and supporting a fastener cap proximate a nose of the fastener driver for the pupose of driving a fastener through the fastener cap into a workpiece. The assembly also includes a track communicating with the nose piece and adapted to direct succeeding fastener caps to the nose piece, a magazine adapted to receive and hold a supply of succeeding fastener caps and communicating with the track to permit passage of succeeding fastener caps from the magazine to the track, and an intermittently operable mechanism associated with one of the track and the magazine adapted to operate in response to actuation of the fastener driver to incrementally move succeeding fastener caps from the track to the nose piece. The intermittently operable mechanism may be associated with the track and includes a spring biased feed trigger or a piston activated feed finger which engages one of the fastener caps in response to actuation of the fastener driver and incrementally moves succeeding fastener caps toward the nose piece. Alternatively, the intermittently operable mechanism may be associated with the magazine and includes a spring disposed in the magazine adapted to urge the supply of fastener caps toward the track and in turn to urge succeeding fastener caps toward the nosepiece in response to actuation of the fastener driver.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.