COILED ASSEMBLY OF CONNECTED FASTENERS

Abstract: An assembly of connected nails (4) formed by spacing a multiplicity of nails (2) uniformly and mutually parallel, fastening the arrayed nails in position with a flexible connecting member (1), and rolling up the resultant band of nails in a coil, which assembly is constructed so that the heads of the nails in one ply (52A, 52C, 52E, 52N) of said coil adjoin the shanks of the nails in the immediately next ply (52B, 53D, 52F) of said coil, the heads of the nails in the successive plies of said coil are alternately staggered in the axial direction of said coil between radially adjacent plies, and the opposite axial ends (6) of said coil have substantially flat surfaces.

Description: COILED ASSEMBLY OF CONNECTED FASTENERS This invention relates to a coiled assembly of fasteners, e.g. nails, to be used by means of an automatic nailing machine, and more particularly to a coiled band having a multiplicity of fasteners such as nails spaced uniformly and parallelly and linked serially with a flexible connecting member. In an automatic nailing machine, a multiplicity of nails loaded in advance on a magazine are successively fed one by one to a discharge unit and fed out to provide an efficient nailing action. In order that the multiplicity of nails with which the aforementioned magazine is loaded may be successively fed accurately to position within a nose serving as the discharge unit, there has heretofore prevailed the practice of uniformly and parallelly spacing the multiplicity of nails, connecting the spaced nails with a strip of flexible connecting member made of copper wires or plastic line, for example, and spirally coiling the produced band of nails to ensure ease of handling. When the band or array of connected nails is spirally coiled in conventional fashion, the heads of the nails in inner plies are superposed on those immediately next outer plies or vice versa so that the continuous line drawn through the heads of the nails gradually rises or falls in the direction from the periphery to the core of the coiled assembly. At the other axial end of the coiled assembly, the pointed ends of the nails gradually rise or fall in the direction from the periphery to the core of the coiled assembly. The height of the coiled assembly of connected nails, namely the dimension in the axial direction, is from the level of the pointed ends of nails in the outermost or innermost ply of the coil to the level of the heads of nails in the innermost or outermost ply. Either of the conventional assemblies of connected nails suffers from a disadvantage that the overall height of the spiral coil of connected nails is far greater than the length of the individual nails so that the coil of connected nails takes up a fairly large space. Further, since the heads of the nails in inner plies are disposed either above or below those of the nails in the immediately next outer plies, there ensues a disadvantage that the coil tends to come loose in the axial direction and fails to retain the individual nails in a tightly bundled state. When the conventional assembly of connected nails is placed in a container such as a storage tray or loaded on a magazine within an automatic nailing machine, for example, the overall load of the connected nails tends to concentrate at the pointed ends of nails in the outermost ply or innermost ply. Thus, either of the conventional assemblies has a disadvantage that such pointed ends of nails tend to injure the bottom surface of the container. For the coil of connected nails to rest on the floor of its container in such a manner that the overall load of the connected nails may be uniformly distributed to the pointed ends of all the nails, the bottom surface of the container must be formed in a complicate shape conforming to the lower contour of the coil of connected nails. To accommodate the coiled assembly of the connected nails which has large outside dimensions as described above, the magazine which is charged with the connected nails inevitably assumes a large space. Such an addition to the size of the magazine causes an increase in the size of the automatic nailing machine and restricts the freedom with which the automatic nailing machine is designed. Similar disadvantage arise in the case of other types of fastener to be automatically applied to a workpiece. This invention has issued from the efforts directed to overcoming the various disadvantages suffered by the conventional connected fasteners. It aims to decrease the overall height of an assembly of connected fasteners rolled up in a coil for insertion in a container. Accordingly, the present invention provides a coiled assembly of connected fasteners (2) each fastener (2) having an elongate shank (8) with an enlarged head (5) and an end (6) shaped to facilitate entry into a workpiece, said multiplicity of fasteners (2) being serially connected by flexible connecting means (1) so that successive fasteners (2) are parallel with one another and oriented end-to-end similarly with respect to one another, connected fasteners (2) being rolled into a coil, characterised in that in said coil the heads (5) of fasteners (2) in each turn of the coil lie generally at the same level and the heads (5) of fasteners (2) in successive turns alternate periodically between lying at a higher level and at a lower level than the heads (5) of the fasteners (2) in the preceding turn. The term "higher" in this context is used to mean displaced in a first direction along the axis of the coil and the term "lower" to mean displaced in the opposite direction along the axis of the coil. The invention will be illustrated by the following description of an illustrative embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a portion of an array of connected nails in a stretched or flat condition prior to being wound up so as to illustrate the relationship between individual nails and the connecting elements by which they are connected; FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of a conventional spirally coiled assembly of connected nails; FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 of another conventional spirally coiled assembly; FIG. 4 is a partially omitted side elevational view of a coiled assembly of connected nails embodying the principles of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a partially omitted top plan view of the coiled assembly of FIG. 4; and FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIGS. 2 and 3 of the coiled assembly shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 1 illustrates typical conventional connected nails. The connected nails as shown use two metallic wires as a connecting member 1. This connecting member 1 is fastened to the shanks 3 of a multiplicity of nails 2 as illustrated in FIG. 1 so that the nails 2 will be spaced uniformly and parallelly to give rise to a serial aggregate or array of nails 4. Concerning the disposition of the axes of the individual nails 2 relative to the aforementioned connecting member 1, one type of array has the individual nails so disposed that the axes perpendicularly intersect the direction in which the connecting member 1 is laid and another type of aggregate has the individual nails disposed so that the axes slightly diagonally intersects the direction of the connecting member 1. In accordance with conventional practice, the array of nails 4 is rolled in a spiral coil having one ply wrapped around another, with the heads of the individual nails in one ply adjoining those in the immediately next ply as illustrated in FIG. 2. Since the aforementioned conventional array of connected nails is rolled up in a coil consisting of plies 50A-50N in such a way that the heads 5 of the individual nails in one ply adjoin the shanks of the individual nails in the immediately next inner ply, the heads 5 of the nails in the innermost ply 50A assume the highest position and the heads 5 of the nails in the outermost ply 50N and lowest position. In the case of these connected nails, therefore, at one axial end of the tubular magazine, the heads 5 of the nails in inner plies are superposed on those immediately next outer plies so that the continuous line drawn through the heads of the nails gradually rises in the direction from the periphery to the core of the tube of the magazine. At the other axial end of the tubular magazine, the pointed ends 6 of the nails gradually rise in the direction from the periphery to the core of the tube. The height L of the coiled aggregate of connected nails, namely the dimension in the axial direction of the tubular magazine, is from the level of the pointed ends 6 of nails in the outermost ply 50N of the coil to the level of the heads 5 of nails in the innermost ply 50A. FIG. 3 illustrates another conventional coiled assembly of the array of nails. In this case, an array of nails 4, such as is illustrated in FIG. 1, is rolled up in a spiral coil in such a manner that the heads 5 of the nails in inner plies adjoin the shanks 3 of the nails in the immediately next outer plies. More specifically, the heads 5 of the nails in the outermost ply 51A assume the highest level and the heads 5 of the nails in the successively inner plies 51B-51N occupy levels gradually lower than the level in the outermost ply. The heads 5 of the nails in the innermost ply 51N assume the lowest level in all the plies. In the case of these connected nails rolled up in a coil, therefore, at one axial end of the coiled assembly, the heads 5 of the nails in outer plies are superposed oA those in immediately next inner plies so that they gradually descend in the direction from the periphery to the core of the assembly. At the other axial end of the coiled assembly, the pointed ends 6 of the nails gradually ascend in the direction from the periphery to the core of the assembly. In the case of this assembly of connected nails, the overall height L of the nail assembly is from the level of the heads 5 of nails in the outermost ply 51A to the level of the pointed ends 6 of nails in the innermost ply 51N. As indicated above, any of the conventional assemblies of connected nails has suffered from a disadvantage that the overall height L of the spiral coil of connected nails is far greater than the length of the individual nails 2 so that the coil of connected nails takes up a fairly large space. Further, since the heads 5 of the nails in inner plies are disposed either above or below those of the nails in the immediately next outer plies, there ensues a disadvantage that the coil tends to come loose in the axial direction and fails to retain the individual nails in a tightly bundled state. When the conventional assembly of connected nails is placed in a container such as a storage tray or loaded on a magazine within an automatic nailing machine, for example, the overall load of the connected nails tends to concentrate at the pointed ends 6 of nails in the outermost ply 50N in the case of the assembly of FIG. 2 or at the pointed ends 6 of nails in the innermost ply 50N in the case of the assembly of FIG. 3. Thus, either of the assemblies under discussion here has a disadvantage that such pointed ends 6 of nails tend to injure the bottom surface of the container. For the coil of connected nails to rest on the floor of its container in such a manner that the overall load of the connected nails may be uniformly distributed to the pointed ends 6 of all the nails, the bottom surface of the container must be formed in a complicate shape conforming to the lower contour of the coil of connected nails. To accommodate the coiled assembly of connected nails which has large outside dimensions as described above, the magazine which is charged with the connected nails inevitably assumes a large space. Such an addition to the size of the magazine causes an increase in the size of the automatic nailing machine and restricts the freedom with which the automatic nailing machine is designed. Like the conventional connected nails described above, the connected nails according to the present invention use two metallic wires 1 as a flexible strip of connecting member as illustrated in FIG. 1. A multiplicity of nails 2 are spaced uniformly and mutually parallelly so that the wires 1 may be fused on one side of the shanks 3 of the individual nails 2. Consequently, the multiplicity of nails 2 is connected in a serially arrayed state to constitute one wholly integrated assembly of nails 4. When the assembly of the connected nails 4 is placed in an automatic nailing machine (not shown) and put to use, the individual nails are supported so as to be sequentially fed one by one into a nose serving as the discharge unit and the foremost nail within the nose is stably supported in position by the second and following nails through the medium of the aforementioned metallic wires 1. In the present embodiment, the individual nails are so disposed that the axes of these nails slightly obliquely intersect the direction in which the metallic wires 1 are stretched. In accordance with the principles of the present invention, the aforementioned array of nails 4, for example, is first rolled tubularly to form the innermost ply 52A of a coil as shown in FIGS. 46. In this case, a proper cylindrical member (not shown) is used as the jig on which the array may be wrapped. After the array has been rolled up in a coil on this cylindrical member, this member may be pulled out of the coil. In this manner, the coil can be easily obtained. Then, around the innermost ply 52A, the second ply 52B, the third ply 52C, and so on are successively wound spirally until the outermost ply 52N. These plies from the innermost ply 52A through the outermost ply 52N are formed so that the heads 5 of the nails in the odd-numbered (first, third, and so on) plies 52A, 52C, 52E, ... assume a level higher than the heads of the nails in the evennumbered (second, fourth, sixth, etc.) plies 52B, 52D, 52F, ... Thus, the heads 5 of the nails in the even-numbered plies 52B, 52D, 52F, ... adjoin the shanks 3 of the nails in the odd-numbered plies 52A, 52C, 52E, ... The heads 5 of the nails in the successive plies of the coil from the innermost ply 52A through the outermost ply 52N form alternately rising and falling levels. To be more specific, in the state in which the assembly of connected nails is rolled up in a coil in the present embodiment, the heads 5 of the nails in the odd-numbered plies 52A, 52C, 52E, ... assume a substantially equal level and the heads 5 of the nails in the evennumbered plies 52B, 52D, 52F, ... similarly assume a substantially equal level. Further, the nails in the odd-numbered plies 52A, 52C, 52E, ... are staggered from those in the even-numbered plies 52B, 52D, 52F, ... by a size roughly equalling the height of one head 5 of nail (this size is slightly larger than the thickness of the head of nail in the present embodiment because the individual nails are disposed slightly aslant relative to the direction of the connecting member and the heads of the nails are likewise disposed aslant). The nails in the successive plies of the coil, therefore, are alternately staggered in the vertical direction and their alternating axial positions adjoin by the heads of the nails. As described above, in the coil of connected nails of the present invention, the nails in the successive plies of the coil have their heads alternately staggered in the axial direction of the coil between radially adjacent plies, the overall size of the coil can be reduced to a small outside shape. Further, because the heads of the nails are alternately staggered in the vertical direction between adjacent plies as described above, otherwise possible loosening of the individual nails from the whole coil can be completely prevented so that the coil may be retained intact. As regards the shape of the axial end faces of the coil of connected nails, the heads and the pointed ends of the nails are disposed in substantially flat planes. When this coil is set in position inside a container or in a magazine, it rests stably on the floor of the container or magazine. Thus, the connected nails can be stored or set in position safely in the container or magazine without the possibility of the overall load of the connected nails being concentrated only to part of the pointed ends of nails. Owing further to the reduction in overall size of the coil, the magazine for accommodating the connected nails in the automatic nailing machine can be formed in a proportionally small size. By the same token, the size of the automatic machine itself can be reduced. It thus will be seen that the objects of this invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. It will be realized, however, that the foregoing preferred specific embodiment has been shown and described for the purpose of illustrating the functional and structural principles of this invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A coiled assembly of connected fasteners (2) each fastener (2) having an elongate shank (8) with an enlarged head (5) and an end (6) shaped to facilitate entry into a workpiece, said multiplicity of fasteners (2) being serially connected by flexible connecting means (1) so that successive fasteners (2) are parallel with one another and oriented end-to-end similarly with respect to one another, connected fasteners (2) being rolled into a coil, characterised in that in said coil the heads (5) of fasteners (2) in each turn of the coil lie generally at the same level and the heads (5) of fasteners (2) in successive turns alternate periodically between lying at a higher level and at a lower level than the heads (5) of the fasteners (2) in the preceding turn. 2. A coiled assembly as claimed in Claim 1 characterised in that for each turn in said coil the heads (5) of the fasteners (2) in each adjacent turn lie at a higher level than the heads (5) of the fasteners (2) in said turn or lie at a lower level than the heads (5) of the fasteners (2) in said turn. 3. A coiled assembly of connected fasteners formed by a multiplicity of fasteners (2), each having an elongated shank (8) with an enlarged head (5) on one end thereof and the opposite end (6) shaped to facilitate entry into a workpiece, said multiplicity of fasteners being connected by flexible connecting means in an array in which successive fasteners are parallel with one another and oriented end-to-end similarly with respect to one another, the array of fasteners being rolled up in successive plies into a coiled assembly in which the heads of the fasteners pf each ply are superposed with respect to the heads of the fasteners of an adjacent ply and engaged with the shanks of the fasteners of an adjacent ply, characterized in that the array of interconnected fasteners being rolled up in a coiled assembly in which the superposed relationship of the heads of successive fasteners being coiled with respect to the adjacent heads of the preceding ply is periodically alternated between the inner heads being superposed and the outer heads being superposed in accordance with a predetermined pattern of alteration resulting in the formation of coil ends which are of relatively flat shape as compared with the conically shaped coil ends formed when the superposed relationship is not alternated as the array of fasteners is rolled up. 4. A coiled assembly as defined in Claim 3, wherein the predetermined pattern of alternation comprises alternating after each complete ply is rolled up. 5. A coiled assembly as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said fasteners (2) are nails. 6. A coiled assembly as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said flexible connecting means (1) comprises a pair of parallel wires welded across the shanks (8) of the fasteners (2). 7. A coiled assembly as claimed in Claim 6, wherein said parallel wires are welded across the shanks in slighly oblique relation thereto. 8. A automatic fastening machine comprising a magazine containing a coiled assembly of fasteners as claimed in any preceding claim and means for automatically ejecting fasteners in turn into a workpiece. 9. . A method for applying a fastener to an article comprising detaching a fastener from a coiled assembly of fasteners as claimed in any preceding claim and driving the fastener into the article.

Inventors: MASHIMO, KAZUHIKO, C/O MAX CO. LTD., YAMADA, TOSHIO, C/O MAX CO. LTD.
Applicants: MAX CO., LTD., STANLEY-BOSTITCH, INC.
Application year: 1984
Main classification: F16B15
IPC codes: B25C1, F16B15