Abstract:
An elongated rivet bag holding a quantity of blind rivets ready for use in an automatic rivet setting tool. The rivets are connected along an elongated flexible rivet carrying strip by having a distal portion of each mandrel inserted or pierced through the carrying strip and positioned and stored in a random orientation within the rivet bag which is openable at an upper end thereof to render the rivets and strip ready for use. A blind rivet feed device for feeding the rivet-loaded strip into the nose of the automatic rivet setting tool is also provided along with a rivet strip collection bag for the empty strip.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not applicable 
     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC 
     Not applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates generally to automatic riveting devices, and more particularly to a rivet holding container or bag and rivet feed system for an automatic feed blind or pop-rivet setting device. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Considerable technological effort has been expended in developing blind or pop or mandrel-type rivets, hereinafter collectively referred to as blind rivets, and the associated manually operated devices for setting such rivets. The primary requirement for setting blind rivets is to support the enlarged flange of the rivet body against an anvil or rivet table with the rivet body inserted through a closely mating hole in a work surface. The mandrel extends axially through the rivet table and is gripped by jaws which tension and pull the mandrel rearwardly, expanding the body of the rivet to a point where the mandrel is fractured away. Thus, blind rivets are particularly useful in situations where a conventional riveting tool does not have access to both sides of the working surfaces to be rivet-connected together. 
     What appears to be a second stage in the development of blind rivets has been toward the automatic setting of the rivet wherein a source of power such as a motor, a pneumatic actuator or hydraulics are utilized to replace manual effort in expanding and setting the rivet through mandrel pull. 
     This riveting technology has also expanded into the development of automatic riveting devices which include an automatic feed means for the rivets themselves. Prior to such development, the user has been required to manually insert each fresh rivet into the rivet table one at a time. Because these devices still require the user to depress an actuator or trigger to set each rivet, these devices are referred to as “semi-automatic” rivet machines having an automatic feed. 
     The bulk of these automatic feed rivet devices fall generally into two categories. The first category is one wherein the nosepiece and/or rivet table is pivotally or arcuately connected wherein these components swing apart radially outwardly from one another so that a new rivet may be passed forward longitudinally from behind this arrangement into position, whereupon the nosepiece and/or rivet table components are closed around the rivet body and mandrel with the flange of the rivet against the distal end surface of the rivet table. 
     The second general category of automatic rivet feed means is directed to an external arm arrangement which swings or pivots a fresh rivet into coaxial alignment forwardly of the rivet anvil and then either automatically draws or allows the rivet to be manually moved rearwardly wherein the mandrel enters the longitudinal aperture of the rivet anvil. 
     Despite this considerable effort and incentive in developing such an automatic feed rivet setting device, only one such machine has successfully been marketed and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,873. A rivet magazine is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,497. 
     The present invention provides an improved rivet container or bag for compactly holding a large quantity of blind rivets for such a rivet setting tool, which in prototype and pre-production form, has operated successfully and reliably to date. This invention also offers a fully automatic rivet magazine feed system for an accompanying riveter which will set rivets automatically as quickly as an operator can act to position each new rivet head into another hole in the work surface and activate the riveter. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention is directed to an elongated rivet bag holding a quantity of blind rivets ready for use in an automatic rivet setting tool. The rivets are connected along an elongated flexible rivet carrying strip by having a distal portion of each mandrel inserted or pierced through the carrying strip and positioned and stored in a random orientation within the rivet bag which is openable at an upper end thereof to render the rivets and strip ready for use. A blind rivet feed device for feeding the rivet-loaded strip into the nose of the automatic rivet setting tool is also provided along with a rivet strip collection bag for the empty strip. 
     It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved container or bag for holding a quantity of rivets for automatic feed into an automatic rivet setting tool for setting blind rivets which includes an automatic rivet feed arrangement. 
     It is still another object of this invention to provide an improved economically manufactured one-piece container or bag for holding a quantity of rivets as part of an automatic blind rivet feed arrangement for riveting devices. 
     Still another object of this invention is to provide a uniquely configured automatic rivet feed system which both applies proper tensioning for rivet feed into the nose of an automatic rivet setting tool and also collects or gathers the rivet carrying strip into a separate collection bag for disposal or reuse. 
     In accordance with these and other objects which will become apparent hereinafter, the instant invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
         FIG. 1  is a right side elevation view of the invention attached to a semi-automatic rivet setting tool. 
         FIG. 2  is a left side perspective view of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is an enlarged left side broken perspective view of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is a right side perspective view of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 5  is a side elevation view of an elongated rivet container or bag filled with blind rivets attached to a flexible carrying strip. 
         FIG. 6  is an enlarged view of the upper portion of  FIG. 5 . 
         FIG. 7  is a view of  FIG. 6  showing the upper open end of the bag assembly opened and ready for use. 
         FIG. 8  is an enlarged broken view of the central portion of  FIG. 6 . 
         FIG. 9  is a side elevation broken view of the rivet feed system of the invention. 
         FIGS. 9A ,  9 B and  9 C are section views of alternate embodiments in the direction of arrows  9 - 9  in  FIG. 9 . 
         FIG. 10  is a rear perspective view of  FIG. 9 . 
         FIG. 11  is a front perspective view of  FIG. 9 . 
         FIG. 12  is a perspective view of another embodiment of an enlarged rivet container filled with a larger quantity of blind rivets attached to a flexible carrying strip. 
         FIG. 13  is yet another embodiment of a rivet container also filled with blind rivets attached to a flexible carrying strip. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Prior Art 
     The complete specification and drawings disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,136,873, 5,184,497 and 5,206,085 all of which are owned by the assignee of this application, are incorporated herein by reference and are repeated herein. 
     Referring now to the drawings, and firstly to  FIGS. 1 to 4 , a semi-automatic rivet setting tool as disclosed in the referenced patents is there shown generally at numeral  12  as a support element of the overall invention shown generally at numeral  10 . The rivet setting tool  12  includes a main housing  24  and an attached pneumatic pressure tank  18  with pressurized air feed line  20  connected thereto. The housing  24  includes an actuation trigger  22  which controls the internal operation of the tool  12  to fracture the mandrel  36  of each pop rivet  30   a  introduced into the nosepiece  26 , the rivet setting mechanism as described in the referenced patents. 
     The invention  10  further includes a rivet feed system  14  and a container or bag  16  filled with rivets  30  attached to an elongated strip of flexible plastic or MYLAR carrying a quantity of rivets  30  in evenly spaced relation therealong. The distal end portion of each of the mandrels  31  of each rivet  30  is pierced through the flexible plastic strip  50  which is of sufficient strength and resiliency to retain the tip portion of each of the rivets  50  in the position shown until such time as the carrying strip  50  delivers each rivet  30  successively into the transverse slot formed into the nosepiece  26  of the rivet setting tool  12 . For clarity, each rivet is generally referred to at numeral  30  while the particular rivet shown in position within the nosepiece  26  is referred to as  30   a . Further, the portion of the carrying strip  50  loaded with rivets prior to entering the nosepiece  26  is referred to at numeral  50  while the portion of the carrying strip which no longer contains rivets is referred to as  50   a.    
     Referring particularly to  FIGS. 5 ,  6 ,  7  and  8 , a rivet magazine in the form of an elongated flexible transparent rivet bag is there shown generally at numeral  16  formed of an elongated thin flexible sheet plastic material into a bag  70  wherein the sides and bottom thereof are sealed. A length of rivet strip  50  loaded with rivets  30  as above described is filled into the open upper end  72  of the bag  70  by simply allowing gravity to randomly wind and stack the elongated loaded carrying strip starting at the bottom of the bag and working upwardly. Vibration during this loading process facilitates more dense nesting of the loaded rivet strip  50  into the bag  70 , after which the open upper end is folded over at  72  and heat sealed at  76  best seen in  FIG. 6 . The upper free end of the MYLAR carrying strip  50  extends from a small open portion  74  to facilitate opening of the sealed bag  70  after which it is hung on spindle  42  shown in  FIGS. 1 to 4 . This spindle  42  is provided to support another embodiment of a conventional plastic magazine not directly associated with the present invention. 
     Note that the length and width of the bag  70  may vary and hold smaller and substantially larger quantities of rivets  30  depending upon the practical needs of the rivet setting tool  12 . In a production setting, the disposable bag  70  may be elongated and widened to hold as many as upwards of 1000 rivets compactly within this packaging concept. 
     Once the loaded rivet bag  16  is opened by tearing heat seals at  76  and properly supported on spindle  42  of the rivet setting tool  12 , the upper exposed distal end portion of the carrying strip  50  is fed through the nosepiece  26  and pulled until one of the rivets  30   a  has engaged into the nosepiece. The end of the carrying strip  50  is then drawn rearwardly into the rivet feed mechanism  14  as best seen in  FIGS. 9 to 11 . The rivet feed mechanism  14  includes a tubular body  38  which interconnects with the main body  24  of the rivet setting tool  12 . A tightenable clamp  36  secures the rivet feed mechanism  14  directly to and in alignment with the main body  24  of tool  12 . A pneumatic motor  40 , also actuated through internal air passages to the pneumatic pressure tank  18 , is interconnected to rotate a second drive wheel  46  in the direction of arrow D in  FIG. 9 . A tension adjust knob  48  controls the amount of clutch action or slippage to produce an appropriate amount of tensioning of the carrying strip  50 / 50   a  as will be described herebelow. 
     A first drive wheel  44  is fitted within the outer flanges of the second drive wheel  46  and is oriented elevation-wise so that the respective axes of these drive wheels  44  and  46  cause the carrying strip  50   a  to wind between the perimeters of these drive wheels  44  and  46  as best seen in  FIG. 9 . An arcuate retainer member  56 , pivotally connected to shaft  34 , opens in the direction of arrow C in  FIG. 9  and is tensionable against the carrying strip  50   a  as shown in solid in  FIG. 9 . By this arrangement, as the second drive wheel  46  is rotated in the direction of arrow D, an appropriate amount of tensioning causes the carrying strip  50   a  to be drawn in the direction of arrow A between and through the drive rollers  44  and  46  to draw the loaded portion of the carrying strip  50  through the nosepiece  26  to successively deliver each rivet  30   a  one at a time as the previously positioned rivet is set. Thus, the rivet feed into the nosepiece  26  as described in the referenced patents is fully automatic, greatly increasing the speed at which rivets may be successively set. 
     A carrying strip collection bag  60  as best seen in  FIGS. 1 to 4  is releasably attached to a support collar  54  which is connected to the distal end of the retainer member  56 . This tubular collar  54  is engageable within the open upper end  62  of collection bag  60  by internal elastic tensioning means or a drawstring. The portion of the empty carrying strip  50   a  discharging in the direction of arrow B through the collar  54  is guided into the collection bag  70  and self winds to compact and store the carrying strip  50   a  for convenient reuse or disposal. 
     Note in  FIGS. 9A ,  9 B and  9 C, various embodiments are provided to insure proper tensioning and feed of the MYLAR carrying strip  50   a  therethrough. The preferred embodiment in  FIG. 9C  includes elastomeric O-rings  47  which are stretched and positioned around the inner hub of drive wheel  46 . Because these elastomeric O-rings  47  are easily replaceable when worn, service to insure smooth tensioning and feed of the carrying strip  50   a  through the feed mechanism system  14  is insured. 
     A mandrel collection container  28  in the form of a transparent cylindrical tubular member is connectable to the rear end of the housing  38 . Rather than discharge spent mandrels  31  onto the ground after each successive rivet has been set, the mandrels  31  travel through the tubular body of the main housing  24  and the feed housing  38  into the mandrel container  28  for collection and disposal. A threaded cap  29  facilitates emptying of this mandrel container  28  when visually filled. 
     In  FIG. 12 , another embodiment of the rivet container is there shown generally at numeral  60  holding a quantity of rivets  30  attached to a flexible strip  50 . In this embodiment  60 , in the form of a truncated pyramid, the opening  62  is smaller than the base to facilitate steady and controlled removal of the rivet strip  50  as the rivets are installed. In  FIG. 13 , another embodiment of the rivet container is there shown generally at numeral  70  in the form of a barrel. The opening  72  is slightly reduced in size from that of the lower portion of the container  70 , again to facilitate rivet strip  50  removal as the rivets  30  are consumed. 
     While the instant invention has been shown and described herein in what are conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention, which is therefore not to be limited to the details disclosed herein, but is to be afforded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent apparatus and articles.