Autofeed screwdriver for screws with flat head bottoms

An apparatus for driving with a power driver a screwstrip comprising threaded fasteners such as screws, which are joined together in a strip comprising:

• a housing;
• an elongate driver shaft for operative connection to a power driver for rotation thereby and defining a longitudinal axis;
• the driver shaft and housing coupled together for movement together in unison parallel the axis of the driver shaft,
• a slide body coupled to the housing for displacement relative the housing and driver shaft parallel to the axis of the driver shaft between an extended position and a retracted position;
• a spring biasing the slide body forwardly relative to the housing parallel the axis to the extended position;
• the slide body having a guideway therethrough to receive successive screws therein in coaxial alignment with the driver shaft;
• the driver shaft having at a forward end a bit,
• the driver shaft reciprocally axially movable in the guideway in movement of the slide body between the extended position and the retracted position to engage a screw carried on the strip in the guideway with the bit and drive the screw axially forwardly in the guideway severing the screw from the strip while maintaining the length of the strip substantially intact;
• the slide body having a guide channel for the screwstrip extending through the slide body transverse to the guideway and intersecting with the guideway;
• the guide channel opening into the guideway on a first side thereof as a screw-and-strip entranceway;
• the guide channel exiting from the guideway on a second side thereof opposite the entranceway as a strip exitway;
• the entranceway and exitway juxtapositioned to permit screws collated in a strip spaced in parallel relation to each other to be successively advanced along an advance line of the guide channel through the entranceway into the guideway to locate each successive screw within the guideway for driving therefrom and with spent portions of the strip from which screws have been severed to extend from the guideway via the exitway;
• a strip displacing bar mounted to the housing for sliding with the housing parallel the axis,
• the bar carried on the housing for movement relative the slide body axially of the slide body transversely across the exitway between a position rearward of the exitway where the bar does not engage the spent strip which extends from the exitway and forward positions in which the bar engages the spent strip and deflects the spent strip laterally away from the screw being driven in a direction substantially transverse to both the axis and the advance line.