Patent ID: 6089132
Filing Date: 2000-07-18
Classification: B25B,F16B,Y10S

Abstract:
An apparatus for driving with a power driver a screwstrip comprising threaded fasteners, such as screws or the like, 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;a slide body coupled to the housing for displacement parallel to the axis of the driver shaft between an extended position and a retracted position;the slide body moving relative to the housing in a cycle of operation in which the slide body moves in a retracting stroke from the extended position to the retracted position and then moves in an extending stroke from the retracted position to the extended position,the slide body having a guide channel for said screwstrip transverse to the axis,a pawl member for engagement with the screwstrip to advance the screwstrip with movement of the pawl member towards the axis to place successive of the fasteners into alignment with the driver shaft for driving by the driver shaft,a lever having a first end and a second end,the lever pivotably mounted on the slide body intermediate its first end and its second end;the first end of the lever coupled to the pawl member and the second end of the lever coupled to the housing whereby movement of the slide body axially relative to the housing (a) towards the extended position moves the pawl member towards the axis and (b) away from the extended position moves the pawl member away from the axis,the housing having an elongate cam slot having a first camming surface and a second camming surface opposite the first camming surface;the second end of the lever carrying a cam pin member slidably engaged in the cam slot between the first and second camming surfaces;the first camming surface being spaced from the second camming surface over at least a selected portion of the cam slot such that in each of a plurality of identical relative positions of the slide body and the housing:(a) when the cam pin member is engaged with the first camming surface, the lever places the pawl member at a first pawl position, and(b) when the cam pin member is engaged with the second camming surface, the lever places the pawl member at a second pawl position significantly different from the first pawl position.