Cap assembly and cap for automatic fastener driver
AssigneeNational Nail Corp.
InventorsRoger C. Bruins, Roger A. Vanden Berg
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A cap assembly for an automatic cap feeder and fastener driver comprises a plurality of relatively thin, domed metal discs that can be pierced by fasteners discharged from a fastener driver such as a nail gun without bending the nail or jamming the driver, with the caps being connected together by a paper backed adhesive tape mounted on the undersides of the concave caps, with the caps having outer edges that are sufficiently sharp that they sever the tape from the strip of caps when the caps are driven into a substrate after a fastener has penetrated the caps. The fastener driver includes improved feeder teeth and an anti-backup pawl that extend into recesses in the track. A cover encloses an open edge of a cap storage basket.
Claims22
A cap assembly for use with an automatic fastener driver wherein caps are fed one at a time into alignment with collated fasteners at a position wherein the fastener driver, when actuated, drives a fastener through the cap and into a substrate, the cap assembly comprising:
- a plurality of the caps connected to form a strip, the strip being arranged in a coil, with the caps being dispensed from an end of the strip extending away from the coil, the caps being formed of a resilient metal of substantially uniform thickness that is thin enough that a fastener from the fastener driver will pierce the metal without jamming or injuring the driver, each cap having an upper surface with a generally convex portion and a lower surface with a generally concave portion, the caps being interconnected by a flexible adhesive tape that extends along the caps on the lower surfaces thereof, the characteristics of the tape being such that the edge of a cap severs the tape when the cap is penetrated by a fastener driven into a substrate, the tape having a tensile strength sufficient to feed the caps without breaking the tape.
A metal cap for an automatic cap feeder employed with an automatic fastener driver, the cap comprising:
- a disk of metal having resilience and a generally uniform thickness, and being sufficiently thin that a fastener can be driven through the metal, the disk of metal having an upper surface, a lower surface, and a downwardly facing cup-shaped configuration, the lower surface having a generally flat central portion and an outer portion, the outer portion sloping downwardly from the central portion to a peripheral outer edge, the central portion being spaced above the plane of the peripheral outer edge of the disk such that, when the cap is fastened to a substrate by driving a fastener through the central portion of the cap, the central portion is resiliently deflected downwardly into contact with the substrate, while the outer portion of the cap maintains its downwardly facing cup-shape and is pressed resiliently against the substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.