Abstract:
A nail magazine for use in a nailing gun equipped with a firing pin having a fixed stroke includes a nailing seat having a nail slot for the passing of nails and a guide groove for guiding reciprocating motion of the firing pin of the nailing gun. A striking block is positioned in the guide groove of the nailing seat and movable along the guide groove between a standby position and a striking position where the striking block is forced by the firing pin to drive one of the nails out of the guide groove.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates generally to a nail magazine and, more particularly, to such a nail magazine that is suitable for use in a nailing gun equipped with a firing pin having a fixed stroke.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     A nailing gun is mainly comprised of a gun body with a firing mechanism, and a nail magazine adapted to accommodate nails. The nail magazine comprises a nailing seat connectable to the gun body of the nailing gun. The nailing seat has a nail slot for the passing of the nails, and a vertical guide groove adapted to guide reciprocating motion of a firing pin of the firing mechanism. Upon each down stroke of the firing pin, a nail is driven out of the nailing seat into a workpiece.  
         [0005]     In order to effectively drive nails into the workpiece (for example, wood), the moving distance of the firing pin is fixed subject to the length of the nails to be used, i.e., a nailing gun is designed to use a specific type of nails. Therefore, a nailing gun designed for use with square-shaped nails is not suitable for driving U-shaped nails. On the contrary, a nailing gun designed for use with U-shaped nails is not suitable for driving square-shaped nails. Further, there is known a nailing gun specifically designed for driving insulated nails for fastening wire pipe. This design of nailing gun cannot be used to drive square-shaped nails or U-shaped nails. Therefore, a consumer may have to prepare many different types of nailing guns for use with different nails.  
         [0006]     Therefore, it is desirable to provide a nail magazine that eliminates the aforesaid drawback.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     It is the main object of the present invention to provide a nail magazine, which has a striking block set below the firing pin of a nailing gun and movable between a standby position and a striking position for driving a nail into the workpiece upon each down stroke of the firing pin. Simply by changing the striking block, the nail magazine can accommodate different nails for use with the nailing gun equipped with the firing pin having a fixed stroke.  
         [0008]     It is still another object of the present invention to provide a nail magazine, which saves equipment cost.  
         [0009]     To achieve these objects of the present invention, the nail magazine for use in a nailing gun equipped with a firing pin having a fixed stroke comprises a magazine body for accommodating nails therein, a nailing seat, a front cover, a nail pusher and a striking block. The nailing seat is fixedly fastened to the magazine body and has a guide groove for guiding reciprocating motion of the firing pin, and a nail slot formed in a lower groove section of the guide groove for the passing of the nails accommodated in the magazine body. The front cover is covered on the nailing seat and defines with the guide groove of the nailing seat a passage for the passing of the firing pin. The nail pusher is mounted inside the magazine body for pushing the nails inside the magazine body toward the nail slot. The striking block is positioned in the guide groove of the nailing seat and movable between a standby position and a striking position where said striking block is forced by the firing pin to drive one of the nails out of the guide groove. Biasing means, such as a spring, provides a biasing force to the striking block for returning the striking block from the striking position to the standby position.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is an exploded view of a nail magazine according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a schematic front view of the nail magazine according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing the striking block in the standby position.  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is similar to  FIG. 2  but showing the striking block moved to the striking position.  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is an exploded view of a nail magazine according to the second preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  is a schematic front view of the nail magazine according to the second preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing the striking block in the standby position.  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  is similar to  FIG. 5  but showing the striking block moved to the striking position.  
         [0016]      FIG. 7  is a schematic drawing showing the use of same stroke of firing pin with different embodiments of nail magazine according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0017]     A nail magazine according to the present invention is designed for use in a nailing gun having a firing pin  100  of fixed stroke.  
         [0018]     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a nail magazine  1  in accordance with the first preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown comprised of a magazine body  10 , a nail pusher  14 , a nailing seat  20 , a front cover  30 , a striking block  40 , and biasing means embodied as two spring members  50 .  
         [0019]     The magazine body  10  is comprised of two symmetrical half shells  11  and  12  and a nail guide  13 . According to this embodiment, the nail guide  13  is adapted to carry U-nails A (see  FIG. 3 ). The magazine body  10  is used with the nail pusher  14 . The nail pusher  14  is comprised of a push member  15  and a follower spring  16 , and adapted to push nails forwardly toward the nailing seat  20 . Because the magazine body  10  and the nail pusher  14  are of the known design, no further detailed description in this regard is necessary.  
         [0020]     The main features of the present invention are outlined hereinafter. The nailing seat  20  is fixedly fastened to the front end of the magazine body  10 , having a vertical guide groove  22  formed of an upper groove section  221  and a lower groove section  222  in the front side  21 . The width of the lower groove section  222  is greater than the upper groove section  221 . The nailing seat  20  further comprises an upper shoulder  23  and a lower shoulder  24  respectively disposed at top and bottom ends of the lower groove section  222 , and a nail slot  25  formed in the lower groove section  222  of the guide groove  22  for the passing of the aforesaid U-nails A.  
         [0021]     The front cover  30  is fastened to the outer (front) side of the nailing seat  20 , defining with the vertical guide groove  22  of the nailing seat  20  a firing pin passage (not shown) for the passing of the firing pin  100  of the nailing gun. The striking block  40  and the spring members  50  are set in between the front cover  30  and the nailing seat  20 . For easy understanding of the action of the firing pin  100 , the front cover  30  is not shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 .  
         [0022]     The striking block  40  is set in the vertical guide groove  22  of the nailing seat  20 , and movable between a standby position P 1  (see  FIG. 2 ) and a striking position P 2  (see  FIG. 3 ). The top side  41  of the striking block  40  is a flat surface. The striking block  40  has two top projections  42  reversely disposed at two sides in flush with the flat top side  41 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , and suspended in the lower groove section  222 . The bottom side  43  of the striking block  40  curves inwards to fit the smoothly arched upper part of the U-nails A.  
         [0023]     The biasing means, which is embodied as the two spring members  50 , is provided for returning the striking block  40  from the striking position P 2  to the standby position P 1 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the spring members  50  are provided at two opposite lateral sides of the striking block  40 , each having a top end respectively stopped against the bottom side of each projection  42  and a bottom end stopped against the lower shoulder  24 .  FIG. 2  shows the extended status of the spring members  50  to force the projections  42  of the striking block  40  against the upper shoulder  23 , and the striking block  40  is set in the standby position P 1  and kept away from the bottom end of the firing pin  100  at a distance.  FIG. 3  shows the striking block  40  forced downwards by the firing pin  100  to the striking position P 2 , at this time the spring members  50  are compressed, and the bottom side  43  of the striking block  40  drives the U-nail A out of the nailing seat  20 , finishing the nailing action. When the firing pin  100  returned to its former position, the spring members  50  are released to push the striking block  40  back to the standby position P 1 .  
         [0024]     Technically, the striking block can be made having a flat bottom side for driving square-shaped nails.  
         [0025]      FIGS. 4 and 5  show an alternate form of the nail magazine. According to this embodiment, the nail magazine  2  is adapted to accommodate nails B for holding down wiring pipes. The nails B each comprise an insulator b 1  and a metal nail body b 2  (see  FIG. 5 ). The nail magazine  2  is comprised of a magazine body  60 , a nail pusher  62 , a nailing seat  70 , a front cover  64 , a striking block  80 , and two spring members  90 . The magazine body  60 , the nail pusher  62 , and the front cover  64 , are not identical to like members in the aforesaid first embodiment of the present invention, however they are of the known art, not within the scope of the improvement of the present invention, and therefore no further detailed description is necessary in this regard.  
         [0026]     The main features of the nail magazine  2  are outlined hereinafter. The vertical guide groove  71  of the nailing seat  70  comprises a relatively narrower upper groove section  711  and a relatively wider lower groove section  712 . The nail slot  72  is formed in the lower groove section  712  for the passing of the nails B. The striking block  80  and the spring members  90  are set in between the front cover  64  and the nailing seat  70 .  FIG. 5  shows the status of the nail magazine before firing of the firing pin  100 .  FIG. 6  shows the firing pin  100  fired and the striking block  80  moved to the striking position.  
         [0027]     In either of the aforesaid two embodiments of the present invention, two guide rods (not shown) may be set in the lower groove section of the vertical guide groove of the nailing seat and respectively inserted through the spring members and the two projections of the striking block to guide vertical movement of the striking block in the vertical guide groove of the nailing seat stably.  
         [0028]     As stated above, the invention sets a striking block below the firing pin and above the striking position to achieve nail striking action upon down stroke of the firing pin.  FIG. 7  shows the firing pin  100  has a fixed stroke S, and the nail magazine  1  (for U-nails A) or nail magazine  2  (for wiring pipe binding nails B) installed in the body of the nailing gun. By means of the down stroke to drive the striking block, the nailing action is done, i.e., one nailing gun can be selectively used with different alternate forms of the nail magazine for different nails, saving much equipment cost.