Device for attaching fasteners

A device for attaching fasteners has a casing having a grip, a lever supported by the casing rotatably about its upper end and urged forward, a link arm actuated by the rotation of the lever, a piston engaged slidably by the upper end of the link arm, a driving rod slidable with the piston, a hollow needle situated at the leading end of the driving rod and having a slit and a guide formed behind the hollow needle for fitting an assembly of plastic fasteners. A guide attachment which can be changed to another is removably held below the assembly fitting guide for guiding a connecting bar in the assembly in the direction of its ejection.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an improvement in the device for attaching fasteners and more particularly the device which can attach plastic fasteners continuously in one action to pieces of merchandise, such as clothes, so that each fastener may hold a tag hanging from one of those pieces of merchandise to show e.g. its price and quality.

2. Description of the Related Art

Known fasteners of the type as described are shown inFIG. 14. Before they are attached, the fasteners1form an assembly A in which they are connected to a connecting bar2by holding pins3in an equally spaced and juxtaposed relation to one another. Each fastener1has a filamentary portion4, a retaining paddle5defining its top and a lateral pin6extending at right angles to its filamentary portion4and defining its bottom, and is driven through and attached to an article, such as clothes, to hang a tag therefrom.

Various types of devices are known for attaching fasteners and each device generally has a guide extending vertically therethrough to support a fastener assembly as described above, a piston slidable by a lever and a driving rod carried at the front end of the piston for forcing the lateral pin6of each fastener into a hollow needle having a slit, whereupon the lateral pin6is severed from the holding pin3, so that the fastener1may be attached to an article. As the hollow needle is passed through a hole in a tag and forced through the article, the lateral pin6leaves the hollow needle to stay on the opposite side of the article, while the filamentary portion4leaves the hollow needle through its slit.

The device also has a mechanism for feeding the assembly A intermittently by a distance equal to the pitch between every two adjoining fasteners1, while the connecting bar2from which all the fasteners1have been separated is moved down and ejected.

As the feeding mechanism has a pawl which is rotatable to engage a holding pin3on the assembly A and move it, the combination of a plurality of arms, etc. forms a complicated structure having a large number of parts and involving a high stroke load.

When the connecting bar2is moved down to be ejected, it arrives in front of the fingers of a person holding the grip and lever to operate the device and is likely to interfere with its operation, or the holding pins3remaining on the connecting bar are likely to hurt his finger or fingers.

Therefore, there has recently been proposed a mechanism for moving the connecting bar2backward through the device to eject it from the back of the device instead of moving it down.

When the hollow needle has at its rear end a cutter for separating each fastener from the assembly, a damaged cutter requires the exchange of the whole hollow needle, even though it may be very uneconomical.

However, it may sometimes be the case that the connecting bar is so short as to stay within the device without being ejected from its back.

The following is a list of literature showing related art of which the applicant is aware:

(2) Japanese Utility Model Registration 3,112,848;

(3) Japanese Patent Application 2006-46574.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Problems which the invention is aimed at solving arise from the facts that when the ejection of the connecting bar from which the fasteners have been separated is performed by its backward movement through the device, its leading end is directed toward the operator of the device and may hurt him in e.g. the face, and that it is difficult to realize any device that is suitable for any fastener assembly length, since any assembly that is too small in length may have its connecting bar stay in the device and require the casing of the device to be disassembled for the removal of the connecting bar.

Other problems that the invention is aimed at solving arise from the facts that the known mechanism for feeding a fastener assembly is complicated in construction with a large number of parts, therefore fails easily and is expensive, and involves a high stroke load, and that a damaged cutter requires the exchange of the whole hollow needle, while the positioning of a removable cutter and its removal are troublesome.

According to one aspect of the invention, the problems as stated above are solved by a device for attaching fasteners which comprises a casing having a grip, a lever supported by the casing rotatably about its upper end and urged forward, a link arm actuated by the rotation of the lever, a piston engaged slidably by the upper end of the link arm, a driving rod slidable with the piston, a hollow needle situated at the leading end of the driving rod and having a slit and a guide formed behind the hollow needle for fitting an assembly of plastic fasteners, wherein a guide attachment which can be changed to another is removably held below the assembly fitting guide for guiding a connecting bar in the assembly in the direction of its ejection, wherein the casing has a guide groove formed on one side thereof for guiding the ejection of the connecting bar of the assembly, the guide attachment has a curved surface directed toward the ejection guide groove and the casing has a hole connected with the ejection guide groove, while the lever also has a hole, so that the connecting bar may be passed through those holes, wherein the ejection guide groove is gradually reduced in depth and width to allow the ejection of the connecting bar so that its leading end may move away from the casing, wherein one of the guide attachments has a hole formed at its bottom to allow the downward ejection of the connecting bar along the assembly fitting guide, and wherein the hole formed in the lever for the insertion of a part of the attachment has a rounded inner surface brought into sliding contact with the inserted outer surface of the attachment to prevent any clearance from occurring therebetween upon the rotation of the lever.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a device for attaching fasteners which comprises a casing having a grip, a lever supported by the casing rotatably about its upper end and urged forward, a link arm actuated by the rotation of the lever, a piston engaged slidably by the upper end of the link arm, a driving rod slidable with the piston, a hollow needle situated at the leading end of the driving rod and having a slit, a guide formed behind the hollow needle for fitting an assembly of plastic fasteners and a mechanism associated with the assembly fitting guide and having a pawl for feeding the assembly, wherein the feeding mechanism has a member rotatable by the piston pressed against its rear end, the pawl being formed at the front end of the rotatable member as an integral part thereof, wherein the rotatable member has an arcuate rear end surface held in sliding engagement with an arcuate groove formed in the front end surface of the piston and is connected to the casing by a coil spring urging it into its initial position, wherein the rotatable member has a substantially oval slot formed near its rear end, while a pin protruding from a supporting member at its front end engages in the slot to control the rotation of the rotatable member, and wherein the supporting member is positioned by an inner rib in the casing, the link arm has an angular or chevron protrusion formed on its front end surface and having an edge surface held in sliding contact with the inner rib, the angular protrusion being formed near a pin about which the link arm is supported rotatably, so that a supporting point defined in the area of their sliding contact may realize an improved stroke force.

According to further aspects of the invention, the device further includes a removable needle cap which is put on the hollow needle when it is out of use, the needle cap having a scrape pawl formed at its front end for scraping off any remaining connecting bar, wherein the device further includes a removable cutter for severing each individual fastener from the assembly along the assembly fitting guide, the cutter having a substantially L-shaped bent lower end positioned by the curved surface portion of the guide attachment pressed against it, wherein the scrape pawl at the front end of the needle cap has a cutaway portion which is engageable with the L-shaped lower end of the cutter for its removal, wherein the casing has a filament passage guide slit formed to connect the assembly fitting guide and the slit of the hollow needle and having an undulating portion to allow the paddles of the fasteners to pass therethrough, wherein the ejection guide groove has an auxiliary taper formed on its inner bottom wall surface and having an angle or chevron section, and wherein the guide attachment has elastic clips formed as integral parts thereof to set it in position, at least the clip which is positioned outside the casing terminating in an engaging pawl to produce a retaining action to hold the attachment against the casing.

Since the device for attaching fasteners according to the invention is constructed as described above, the connecting bar remaining after the separation of the fasteners from their assembly and carrying only their holding pins is progressively ejected backwardly of the casing and in a way gradually moving away therefrom without causing any fear of hurting the operator of the device or interfering with its operation and the device is suitable for use with any fastener assembly irrespective of its length. However, the use of a different attachment makes it possible to eject such a connecting bar downward without requiring the aid of any known attachment changing mechanism, and therefore without having any such trouble as might arise from the change of attachments by such a mechanism. Even if a fastener assembly may be small in length, its connecting bar can be removed from the device. The removable cutter is easy to place in position and remove.

Since the assembly feeding mechanism requires only a rotatable member having a feeding pawl at its front end and rotatable by a piston, while the range of its rotation is controlled by a pin on a supporting member, it has only a small number of parts, is less liable to trouble, is less expensive and realizes a lower stroke load and thereby a lower degree of fatigue in operation. This enables a reduction in size and weight of the device as a whole.

Even if the fastener assembly may have blocked the device or have been consumed unexpectedly, or may have too large or small a pitch between every two adjoining individual fasteners, its connecting bar can be removed easily by the scrape pawl at the front end of the needle cap.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The best mode of carrying out the invention is shown as a preferred embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawings.

The preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, in whichFIG. 1Ais a left side elevational view of a device for attaching fasteners which embodies the present invention,FIG. 1Bis an enlarged sectional view of a part ofFIG. 1A,FIG. 1Cis a longitudinal view of the part shown inFIG. 1B,FIG. 2is a right side elevational view of the device,FIG. 3is an exploded side elevational view showing its construction,FIG. 4is a top plan view of the device,FIG. 5is an enlarged perspective view showing a part of its construction,FIG. 6is another exploded side elevational view with a link arm and a cover plate removed,FIG. 7is a view showing a rotatable member and a supporting member,FIG. 8is a top plan view of a first attachment,FIG. 9is a side elevational view, partly in section, of the attachment,FIG. 10is a bottom plan view of the attachment,FIG. 11is a top plan view of a second attachment,FIG. 12is a side elevational view, partly in section, of the second attachment,FIG. 13is a bottom plan view of the second attachment,FIG. 14is a perspective view of a fastener assembly,FIG. 15is a side elevational view of a needle cap,FIG. 16is a top plan view of a different needle cap,FIG. 17is a side elevational view of the needle cap shown inFIG. 16,FIG. 18is a bottom plan view thereof,FIG. 19is a front elevational view thereof,FIG. 20is a view showing its use, andFIG. 21is a side elevational view showing the needle cap attached to the device.

The device for attaching fasteners is generally shown at10. The device10has a casing11formed from a pair of opposite members of a plastic material held together by screws and the casing11has a grip12to be held to use the device. Rubber pads13hold the device10against slipping when it is placed on a table, or the like.

A lever15has its upper end supported rotatably by a pin14in front of the grip12. The lever15has a recess15aformed in the mid-portion of its rear surface to receive a pin supporting a link arm rotatably and has also a protrusion15bformed at its lower and rear end to engage a stopper12aformed at the lower end of the grip12to hold the lever15in position.

The link arm16has a hole formed substantially at its center and the pin17formed on the grip12extends through that hole to support the link arm16rotatably. The link arm16is normally urged into its initial position by a coil spring18. The link arm16is rotatable about the pin17by the lever15pressed against its lower front surface.

A piston19has a front portion19aand a rear portion19bjoined together by a plate19cand employed for moving the piston forward and backward, respectively, and the link arm16has its upper end portion disposed between the front and rear portions19aand19bof the piston19. The piston19is held in a box-shaped guide channel20to ensure its forward and backward motion in a straight line.

A driving rod21has a rear end fixed to the front surface of the front portion19aof the piston19. Upon rotation of the link arm16by the lever15, the front portion19aof the piston19is pushed forward by the upper end portion of the link arm16and the driving rod21is moved forward in a straight line with the forward movement of the piston19.

The driving rod21extends into a hollow needle22attached to the front end of the device10. The hollow needle22is stuck through an article to attach a fastener thereto and has a slit22aformed along its side to allow the filamentary portion4of each fastener1to leave the needle when each fastener1is attached to the article from a fastener assembly A set in the device10.

The device10has an assembly fitting guide23formed near its front end for setting a fastener assembly A from above and having a portion23afor inserting the connecting bar2and a slit23bfor passing the filamentary portion4, while the lateral pin6is set in a line along the longitudinal axis of the device10.

A cutter41having an L-shaped bent lower end is removably situated at the primary end of a filament passage guide groove40allowing the passage of the filamentary portion4of each fastener1near the front end of the casing11along the assembly fitting guide23for cutting each individual fastener1off the fastener assembly A. The filament passage guide groove40has an undulating portion formed to allow the passage of the paddle portion5of each fastener1and thereby prevent any blocking of the groove.

The casing11has a recess11aformed below the assembly fitting guide23for holding removably a first or second guide attachment24or25for guiding the connecting bar2in the direction of its ejection. The first guide attachment24is used for ejecting the connecting bar2sideways and backwardly of the casing11and has a curved bottom surface24aand a pair of guide walls24band24cformed along the edges of the curved bottom surface24a. The guide wall24bterminates midway of the bottom surface, since its guiding effect can be achieved by the inner wall surface of the lever15or of the grip12as stated below, and the guide wall24bhas a rear end contacting the front surface of the lever15, while the guide wall24cand the curved bottom surface24aextend into the device10. They extend into the device through a hole15cformed in the front surface of the lever15and the hole15chas a rounded inner surface held in sliding contact with the outside of the curved bottom surface24aof the attachment24without having any clearance formed therebetween upon the rotation of the lever so that no dust may enter the inside. The guide wall24chas a rounded portion24gformed to position the cutter41at its lower end held against it.

The first guide attachment24has a pair of clips24eformed at its front end and each terminating in an engaging pawl24dand their elasticity makes it possible to set the attachment in position by a one-touch snap-in operation to hold the casing11without the aid of any screw. Each clip24ehas a rugged surface providing resistance to slipping at the time of attachment or detachment. The attachment24has a concavity24fformed to save its material. If the engaging pawl24dis formed only on one of the clips24ewhich extends on the outside of the casing11, the attachment24is very easy to detach, since it is sufficient to move the outer clip24ealone.

The casing11has an ejection guide groove26formed on one side thereof and having a width and a depth diminishing gradually from its front to rear end and the ejection guide groove26has a hole27formed at its base end and faced by the rear end of the first guide attachment24. The lever15has a hole15cformed at its upper end for receiving the rear end of the first guide attachment24. The ejection guide groove26may have an angular guide taper39formed on its bottom surface to ensure outward guiding of the connecting bar.

When the first guide attachment24is set in position, the connecting bar2remaining after the fasteners1have been separated from the assembly A is bent along the curved bottom surface24aof the first guide attachment24and has its leading end protrude through the hole27and ejected gradually along the contour of the ejection guide groove26and away from the casing11.

The second guide attachment25has a pair of clips25eformed at its front end like the first guide attachment24, can be set in position or removed in the same way and has a hole25bconnected with the assembly fitting guide23to eject the connecting bar2downwardly. If the second guide attachment25has a different number of notches on its clips from the first guide attachment24, it is possible at a glance to discern the guide attachment in use. The second guide attachment25has a protrusion25fformed along its hole25band pressed against the cutter41to position it.

Shown at28is a feeding (or rotatable) member by which the fastener assembly A set in the assembly fitting guide23is fed by a distance equal to the spacing between every two adjoining fasteners1. The feeding member28has a feeding pawl29formed from a metal at its front end and having a front end bent downward like a hook. The feeding pawl29is formed from a metal plate30fixed to the front end of the feeding member28.

The feeding member28has an oval hole31formed near its rear end and a supporting member32has an engaging pin33protruding from its front end and fitted in the hole31of the feeding member28. The supporting member32is positioned by an inner rib36in the casing11. The link arm16has an angular protrusion16aformed at its front end near the supporting pin17and held in sliding contact with the inner rib36. This mode of supporting produces an improved stroke force.

The feeding member28is urged by a coil spring34into its initial position in which the feeding pawl29stays in the assembly fitting guide23after having fed a whole fastener assembly A. The feeding member28has an arcuate rear end surface fitted slidably in an arcuate groove19dformed around the front and bottom corner of the front portion19aof the piston19so that when its rear end surface is pressed by the piston, the feeding member28may be rotated as controlled by the engaging pin33and have its front end, or feeding pawl29lifted from the assembly fitting guide23and held above it to take a standby position for another feeding operation.

Shown at37is a needle cap which is fastened to the casing11by a strap or the like so as not to be lost, and is put on the hollow needle22to prevent any possible accident when it is not in use. The needle cap37has a scrape pawl38formed at its front end for scraping out any remainder of a connecting bar2not ejected from the device10or the ejection guide groove26. The scrape pawl38makes it possible to remove easily any remainder of a connecting bar2that cannot be picked with fingers, without requiring the casing11to be disassembled. The scrape pawl38not only has a portion for catching a holding pin3to take out any connecting bar2, but also may have a side pawl38aformed near its front end and projecting laterally therefrom. The side pawl38acan be used to catch the lower end of the cutter41and detach it, or catch a holding pin3sideways and take out any connecting bar2as shown inFIG. 20, and is applicable to any assembly having a wide or narrow pitch between every two adjoining holding pins, in which case it will be convenient to turn the needle cap37to some extent.

When the lever15is loosened after the device has been started from its standby position and has driven a fastener1, the link arm16is urged by the coil spring18to push the rear portion19bof the piston19and allow it to restore its initial position and when it has been restored, the feeding member28held in the groove19dof the front portion19aof the piston19is relieved from its pressure and urged by the coil spring34into its initial position, in which its feeding pawl29engages a holding pin3in the fastener assembly A and feeds the assembly A by one pitch. Owing to its performance as described, the invention does not require any second arm as shown in Related Art Literature 2, but is free from any inconvenience caused by any such second arm interfering with the restoration of the device into its initial position.

Shown at35is a metallic cover plate held against the feeding member28for protecting it and having a concavity35aof small depth formed to prevent any undesirable movement of the driving rod21.

Although the device embodying the invention as described above is of the type which is suitable for use by a right-handed person or with a right hand, it will be alternatively possible to form the ejection guide groove26on the other side of the casing11for a left-handed person, or form one ejection guide groove26on each side of the casing11to enable a selective use of the guide attachments for the ejection of any connecting bar2on either side of the device as desired.