Abstract:
A nail guiding structure of the present invention is disposed inside of the nail gun having a nail rail. The nail guiding structure includes one or more supporting members and a holding mechanism. The supporting member can move between a first and a second position, wherein the supporting member can move toward the first position to elastically push nails in the air gun, so that the nails can be vertically held in front of the nail rail. The holding mechanism can selectively hold the supporting member, so that the supporting cannot move back to the second position. Thereby, a user can move the holding mechanism to adapt for different thicknesses of nails. Only one nail can move to the front of the nail rail every time when a punching board of the nail gun punches. Consequently, the problems of nail jamming or crookedly stapling are prevented.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a nail guiding structure and a nail gun having the nail guiding structure. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     A nail gun projects out nails with its punching board. And a nail guiding structure may be disposed in front of a nail rail of the nail gun so as to hold nails on the nail rail and avoid nails from being stuck in the nail gun. 
     A nail guiding structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,665, wherein the FIG. 1 of said patent shows the extension parts 8, 9 can selectively pivot to the front of its nail rail and abut against nails so as to hold the nails. And its FIG. 3 further discloses that guiding parts 52, 62 are pivoted with a shaft 33, and the flexible base element 70 pushes the guiding parts 52, 62 to pivot toward the nail rail. 
     However, the nail guiding structure of said patent is only available for one thickness of nails. If a user loads thinner nails into the nail gun, two nails might be disposed in front of the nail rail, so that its punching board will punch two nails in the same time, and the nails will be crooked, deformed or even stuck in the nail gun. 
     Therefore, the present invention is arisen to obviate or at least mitigate the above mentioned disadvantages. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The main object of the present invention is to provide a nail guiding structure for different thicknesses of nails. 
     To achieve the above and other objects, a nail guiding structure of the present invention is adapted to be disposed inside a nail gun which has a nail rail, and the nail guiding structure is adapted to be disposed in front of the nail rail. The nail guiding structure includes a guiding panel, at least one supporting member, at least one pushing means and at least one holding means. 
     The guiding panel is vertically disposed in front of the nail rail. The guiding panel has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The first surface faces toward the nail rail, and the guiding panel is formed with at least one positioning slot. The positioning slot is concavely formed on the first surface of the guiding panel. 
     The supporting member corresponds to the positioning slot and is slidably disposed in the positioning slot so that the supporting member can slide between a first position and a second position. The supporting member has a supporting end and a pushing end. The supporting end protrudes out of the first surface when the supporting member is located in the first position. The supporting end approaches the first surface when the supporting member moves toward the second position. The pushing means is adapted to elastically push the pushing end, so that the supporting member has a tendency to move to the first position. The holding means is adapted to selectively hold the supporting member, so that the supporting member is stopped from moving to the second position. 
     Thereby, the supporting member of the present invention can keep the nails vertically disposed before being punched out by the punching board of the nail gun. The holding means can selectively hold the supporting member, so that the supporting member can slide back to the second position or other position before reaching the second position when the nails abut against the supporting member. Consequently, the supporting member can be abutted against by different thicknesses of nails, and make the punching board punch one nail each time in order to prevent the nails from being crooked or stuck in punching movement. 
     The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiment(s) in accordance with the present invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a stereogram showing a nail gun comprising a preferred embodiment of a nail guiding structure in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a breakdown drawing showing part of the  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 2A  is a stereogram showing the guiding panel of a preferred embodiment of a nail guiding structure in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a stereogram showing part of the  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a sectional drawing showing part of the  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIGS. 5-9  are schematic drawings showing the use of a preferred embodiment of a nail guiding structure in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIGS. 10-12  are sectional drawings showing another preferred embodiment of a nail guiding structure in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 1 to 4 , the present invention provides a nail guiding structure for being disposed inside of a nail gun which has a nail rail. The nail guiding structure is adapted to be disposed in front of the nail rail. The nail guiding structure includes a guiding panel  10 , at least one supporting member  20 , at least one pushing means, and at least one holding means. 
     The guiding panel  10  is vertically disposed in front of the nail rail, and the guiding panel  10  has a first surface  11  and a second surface  12  opposite to the first surface  11 . The first surface  11  faces the nail rail, and the guiding panel  10  is formed with at least one positioning slot  13  (there are two positioning slots in this embodiment). The positioning slot  13  passes through the first surface  11  and the second surface  12  of the guiding panel  10 . Preferably, the first surface  11  of the guiding panel is formed with a guiding groove  14  which extends vertically. The guiding groove  14  is adapted to guide a punching board  2  or a nail to slide straightly along the guiding groove  14 . 
     The supporting member  20  is formed corresponding to the quantity of the positioning slot  13 , and the supporting member  20  is slidably disposed in the positioning slot  13 , so that the supporting member  20  can slide between a first position, as shown in the  FIGS. 5 and 6 , and a second position, as shown in the  FIGS. 7 and 8 . The supporting member  20  has a supporting end  21  and a pushing end  22 , as shown in  FIG. 5 . The supporting end  21  protrudes out of the first surface  11  when the supporting member  20  is located in the first position. The supporting end  21  approaches the first surface  11  when the supporting member  20  moves toward the second position. Preferably, the supporting end  21  is even with the first surface  11 , and the pushing end  22  protrudes out of the second surface  12 . To be specific, the supporting member  20  has a supporting surface  211  on two sides of the supporting end  21 , and the supporting surface  211  extends out of the first surface  11 . Thereby, the supporting surface  211  is parallel to the extending direction of the nail rail or the guiding groove so as to hold nails in the nail gun. 
     The pushing means is adapted to elastically push the pushing end  22 , so that the supporting member has a tendency to move to the first position. In this embodiment, the pushing means includes at least one pair of elastic members  30  corresponding to the supporting member  20 . The pair of the elastic members  30  respectively pushes two corresponding sides of the supporting member  20 . Thereby, the supporting member  20  can be pushed with balanced forces so as to move smoothly and horizontally. Preferably, the pushing end  22  is formed as the shape of battlements, so that the pushing end  22  has many convex portions and concave portions. And each elastic member  30  is disposed on one of the convex portions. In other possible embodiments of this present invention, the quantity of the elastic member can be one or more than two pieces, and the elastic member abuts against the middle part of the supporting member  20 . Further, to prevent the supporting member  20  from departing from the positioning slot  13 , the supporting member  20  can have a stopping portion  24  which is near the second surface. The stopping portion is located outside of the positioning slot  13 . Thereby, when the supporting member  20  is located in the first position, the stopping portion  24  pushes the guiding panel  10  so as to limit the supporting member  20 , so that the supporting member  20  is avoided from completely departing from the first surface  11  of the positioning slot  13 . 
     The holding means is adapted to selectively hold the supporting member  20 , so that the supporting member  20  cannot move to the second position. Preferably, when the holding means holds the supporting member  20 , the supporting member  20  only can move from the first position to the third position which is between the first and the second position, as shown in  FIG. 9 . More specifically, the holding means includes a holding member  41 , and the holding means can further comprise a flip plate  42  and a connecting plate  43 . 
     The holding member  41  is slidable between a holding position and an open position. The holding member  41  faces the second surface  12  and holds the supporting member  20  so as to stop the supporting member  20  from moving to the second position when the holding member  41  is located in the holding position. The holding member  41  is departed from the supporting member  20  when the holding member  41  is located in an open position, so that the supporting member  20  can slide between the first position and the second position. Preferably, the holding member  41  holds one of the convex portions on the pushing end  22  of the supporting member  20 . The holding member  41  can be formed with a through hole  411  slightly larger than the elastic member  30 , so that the holding member  41  does not push the pushing means or the elastic member  30  while moving. 
     The flip plate  42  is adapted to slidably be disposed on a shell surface of the nail gun for a user to flip. The flip plate  42  links up with the connecting plate  43 , and the connecting plate  43  further links up with the holding member  41 . To be specific, the connecting plate  43  is formed with a convex post  431 . The holding member  41  is correspondingly formed with a notch  412 . The convex post  431  abuts against the notch  412 , so that the connecting plate  43  brings the holding member  41  to move. Thereby, when the flip plate  42  moves, the flip plate  42  brings the connecting plate  43  to move, and the connecting plate  43  further brings the holding member  41  to move between a holding position and an open position. Preferably, the length of the notch  412  is larger than the convex post  431 , so that the flip plate  42  will move a distance to abut against the notch, and then bring the holding member  41  to move. In other possible embodiments of the present invention, the holding member  41  can directly extend and protrude out of a shell surface of the nail gun, so that a user can directly flip the holding member  41  to move. Or, the flip plate  42  can directly link up with the holding member  41 , so that the flip plate  42  can be moved to bring the holding member  41  to move between the holding position and the open position. 
     The nail guiding structure of the present invention can be disposed inside of the nail gun. In addition to the nail guiding structure, the nail gun further includes said nail rail, a punching board  2 , and a shell  1 . The above-mentioned components are disposed inside of the shell  1 . And the flip plate  42  is slidably disposed on a surface of the shell. The nail rail is adapted to support nails to slide along an extending direction of the nail rail, and the punching board  2  is adapted to selectively punch the nails out. 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 5 to 9 . The nail guiding structure of the present invention is available for different sizes of U-shaped nail. Please further refer to the  FIGS. 5 and 6 , when the punching board  2  moves outside of the nail guiding structure, the supporting member  20  is pushed to move to the first position by the pushing means, and the holding member  41  can be moved to the open position. Please refer to the  FIGS. 7 and 8 , when the nails  3  are placed in the guiding groove  14 , the nails  3  can push the supporting member  20  to the second position, so that the nail  3  can be smoothly disposed in the guiding groove  14 , and the nails  3  can be punched out with the punching board  2 . Please refer to  FIG. 9 , when the nail gun is loaded with thinner nails, the holding member  41  can be moved to the holding position, so that the holding member  41  holds the supporting member  20 . When the thinner nails  3  are placed in the guiding groove  14 , because the supporting member  20  cannot move to the second position, the supporting member  20  can push the nails  3  and make only one nail to be disposed in the guiding groove  14  for each time the punching board punching. Thereby, only one nail will be punched in each punching movement, so that it can prevent too many nails  3  from being disposed in the guiding groove  14 , and even the thinner nails can be punched out normally. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 10 . In another embodiment of the present invention, the holding member  41  can also be formed with plural abutting surfaces  413 . The abutting surfaces  413  are formed in a step-like shape, so that the holding member  41  can be moved to different positions. When the holding member  41  is located in the holding position, the holding member  41  can abut against the supporting member  20  with its abutting surfaces of different positions, so that the supporting member can correspond to different thicknesses of nails. 
     Besides, the supporting member of the present invention can be pushed by nails. When a user wants to load T-shaped nails or other shaped nails into a nail gun comprising the nail guiding structure, the user only needs to fill those nails into the nail gun directly before using. The supporting member pushes the sides of those nails and makes those nails ready to be punched out without further switching the holding means or the flip plate. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 11 , in other possible embodiments of the present invention, the positioning slot can be concavely formed and without passing through the second surface, so that the elastic member  30  can be directly disposed in the positioning slot, and the elastic member  30  can push the supporting member to the first position. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 12 , the present invention can further changes the position of the holding member so as to make the holding member disposed near one side of the first surface. In this way, the holding member still can hold the supporting member and provide the same effect as the previous embodiments. 
     Accordingly, the present invention mainly uses the holding member to hold the supporting member so as to allow users to load nails with different thicknesses. In addition, the supporting member also adapts for different shapes of nails like T-shaped nails, U-shaped nails, and so on. Thereby, the present invention is available for different thicknesses and shapes of nails.