Fastener positioning device

A fastener positioning device is illustrated wherein an elongated member is slidably carried within a housing, the elongated member having a notch at the forward end thereof opening at the front end and on one side of the elongated member for receiving an enlarged fastener with the shank depending through the notch, and a retaining leaf spring engaging the enlarged head of the fastener. Means are provided for moving the elongated member forwardly while the retaining means supports and maintains the fastener within the notch during forward movement of the elongated member, but freeing the fastener when the elongated member is in forward position to permit retraction of the elongated member.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Fastener positioning devices in a wide variety of constructions have been 
provided heretofore. Such devices are usually stationary although portable 
devices of sorts have been utilized. Many of the positioning devices of 
the prior art have utilized impact means having a magnitized head for 
receiving and positioning the head of fasteners fed from various fastener 
feeding devices. Problems have arisen in connection with such devices in 
that there have been no reliable means for insuring that the fasteners 
will be received from the feeding device every time in a desired position 
by the magnitized impact head. Such reception of the fastener would be 
complicated were the positioning device mobilized to move from one 
position to another. A recent effort to provide effective means for 
aligning the fastener is exemplified by the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 
3,765,588 which utilizes magnitized means for aligning the shank of the 
fastener means. The entire arrnagement is movable laterally in response to 
movement of the impact means. The fastening means which may be utilized 
therewith are limited, since a particular shank construction is required. 
Moreover, since the fastening means are not positively positioned, such 
would be of questionable value if utilized with a mobile structure where 
positive positioning is necessitated due to vibration encountered when 
moving the entire apparatus from place to place while discharging and 
impacting fasteners. 
Accordingly, it is an important object of this invention to provide a 
fastener feeding and positioning means capable of use with a vehicle which 
may be moved to position the fasteners in a desired sequence and position 
on an extensive nailable area such as a roof deck and the like. Devices 
constructed in accordance with the present invention have particular 
utility in connection with the fastening down of felts, sheet metal, and 
paper, etc., utilized in vermiculite, metal and wood, etc. deck 
constructions. 
Another important object of the invention is to provide positive means for 
positioning fasteners which maintain the positioning of the fastening 
means positively at all times until they are positioned by a magnetized 
impact head immediately prior to impact. 
Another important object of the invention is to provide a positive 
fastening positioner which will work every time to position fasteners and 
which will require a minimum of attention while in operation and a minimum 
of maintenance thereafter. 
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It has been found that a reliable fastener positioning means may be 
provided by utilizing an elongated slidable member having an open ended 
notch carried by the forward end of the slidable member for receiving a 
fastener having an enlarged impact receiving head with the shank depending 
through the notch together with a retaining means which engages the 
fastener while in the notch and which maintains engagement with the head 
of the fastener during the advancing movement of the elongated member to 
position the impact receiving fastener head for reception by a magnetized 
impact imparting head. The elongated member is then withdrawn, the 
retaining means being so as not to interfere with the shank while the 
positioning means is withdrawn so as not to interfere with the action of 
the impact head while driving the fastener into position with the shank 
passing into the nailable structure which is to be fastened by the 
fastening device.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The drawing illustrates a device for positioning fasteners, said fasteners 
having an enlarged impact receiving head and an elongated shank portion 
extending outwardly from an intermediate position thereof, including a 
housing A. An elongated member B is slidably carried by the housing. A 
notch C carried at one end of the elongated member is open at an end and 
side of the elongated member for receiving a fastener supporting the head 
with the shank projecting through the notch. A retaining means D, in the 
form of a leaf spring, is carried by the housing on one side of the head 
remote from the shank. The leaf spring has a bearing member E positioned 
forwardly of the notch supporting the head in the notch. Means F are 
provided for moving the elongated member forwardly while the fastener is 
retained in the notch by the force of the spring for positioning the 
fastener prior to rearward movement of the elongated member. 
Referring more particularly to FIG. 1, a wheeled vehicle is illustrated 
having a support plaform 10 carried by a pair of forward wheels 11 and a 
pair of rearward wheels 12. The plaform 10 carries a pair of rearwardly 
and upwardly projecting handles 13 and 14. A feeding device is positioned 
on the platform 10 between the wheels and includes a feed bowl 15 having 
suitable vibrating means schematically illustrated at 16 for feeding 
fasteners into an open track 17 defined between spaced guide rail means 18 
and 19. The enlarged head portions of the fastening means ride on the 
rails 18 and 19 with the enlongated shank portions thereof depending 
through the open track 17 as will be described in greater detail below. 
It will be observed that an axle 11a which carries the forward pair of 
wheels 11 (FIG. 2) carries a variety of cams 20. These cams are utilized 
to actuate a fluid operated mechanism controlling the feeding and 
impacting of the fasteners utilized with the device. The cam means 20 is 
illustrated as depressing a lever 21 which is pivoted as at 22 on the 
valve 23 for actuating a pneumatic valve 23 causing air to flow through 
the line 24 and the fittings 25 and 26 to the line 27. This actuates the 
piston of the cylinder 28 to advance the positioning mechanism moving a 
single fastener forwardly to be received by the magnitized impact head of 
the impactor 29 as will be explained in greater detail below. 
For automatic operation, a valve 30 is carried adjacent the gripping 
portion 14a of the handle 14 so that a leve 31 pivoted as at 32 may be 
manually depressed causing air from a suitable supply to be fed through 
the line 33 to the valve 23. An engine 34 drives a compressor 35 carried 
by the platform 10 which supplies air through the line 36 to the valve 30. 
For manual operation, a valve 37 may be hand operated through the lever 38 
to selectively supply air through the line 39 to the fittings 25 and 26 
for operating the cylinder 28 as desired. 
The elongated member B of the fastener positioning device is withdrawn 
preparatory to impact by the impactor 29. The valve 40 is actuated by 
engagement of a depending link 41 carried by the lever 42 which is engaged 
by an outwardly projecting stop 43 carried by the elongated member B for 
actuating the valve 40 to supply air through the line 44 to the cylinder 
29a of the impactor and to move the elongated member B toward the right 
hand side in FIG. 2. The impactor head 45 is magnitized and is carried by 
a rod 46 carried by a piston (not shown) within the cylinder 29a. 
Referring more particularly to FIGS. 3 and 4, the fasteners are illustrated 
in broken lines as having an enlarged impact receiving head 46 and a shank 
portion 46a which extends into the open trackway 17 between the guide 
rails 18 and 19 which support the enlarged head 46 for feeding the 
fasteners to the positioning device hereof. 
The housing A is illustrated as including an elongated upper plate 47, 
supporting end frame members 48 and 49 each of which has a slot 50 in the 
lower portion thereof for permitting longitudinal sliding movement of the 
elongated slide member B. The slide member B had connected on one end a 
piston rod 28a projecting from the piston of the cylinder 28 as by the 
bracket member 51. 
It will be observed that the notch C is defined by a U-shaped member 52 
whose vertical legs present a free upper surface 53 and by a pair of 
spaced vertical stops carried forwardly thereof so that the slot opens 
forwardly and provides sufficient depth to accommodate the shank of the 
fastener. The U-shaped member 52 is fastened to the elongated member B and 
by a bracket 52b welded to both members as at 52c. One of the legs opens 
laterally as at 52a. 
The leaf spring D has connection as at 54 between the plate 47 and the end 
frame member 48. The elongated sliding member B carries the fastener 46 
forwardly to the position shown in FIG. 5 with the fastener retained by 
the force of the spring D in position to be received by the magnetic head 
45 of the impact member 29. 
It will be observed that the leaf spring D extends substantially 
horizontally and rearwardly to support the adjacent upper portion of the 
head 46 of the fastener so that the shank portion 46a depends within the 
slot C. 
The slide B is moved forwardly by actuation of the means F including the 
cylinder 28 and rod 28a. When in forward position as illustrated in FIG. 
5, the enlarged head 46, is freed of encumbrance by the spring D and is in 
a position to be received by the magnetic head 45 permitting the elongated 
slide member B to be freely withdrawn to a position as illustrated in FIG. 
7. When the slide member B is withdrawn to a sufficient extent as 
illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, the depending link 41 moves about its pivot 
41a moving the lever 42 upwardly to actuate the valve 40 which permits air 
to flow to the cylinder 29 through the line 44 producing impact causing 
the shank to pass into the nail receiving portion such as for fastening 
felt, sheet metal, paper, etc. 61 to a vermiculite, metal, wood, etc. deck 
62. 
It will be observed that the fastener feeding means including the track 
defined by the rails 18 and 19 feed a supply of fasteners by gravity for 
reception one at a time at the open side of the notch C. This supply of 
fasteners is interrupted by the elongated member B upon forward movement 
thereof so that the notch is no longer in registry with the supply moving 
down the track, thus, temporarily cutting off the supply until the notch 
is in position to receive another fastener during another succeeding 
operation of the apparatus. 
While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described using 
specific terms, such description is for illustrative purposes only, and it 
is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without 
departing from the spirit or scope of the following claims.