Patent Publication Number: US-6212980-B1

Title: Screw aligning and guiding device having arrangement which facilitates loading and unloading of screw strip

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to a screw aligning and guiding device, and more particularly to a screw aligning and guiding device having an arrangement which facilitates loading and unloading of a screw strip into and out of the device. 
     Numerous screw aligning and guiding devices have heretofore been designed which are adapted to be used with screw strips which have a number of screws supported thereon. The screw aligning and guiding devices are designed to sequentially feed screws into alignment with a bit end of a shaft driven by an electrically powered drill. The screw aligning and guiding devices are also designed to sequentially guide such screws during advancement thereof into a workpiece of such shaft. 
     In order to sequentially feed screws into alignment with the bit end of the shaft, the previously designed screw aligning and guiding devices have incorporated various pawl and ratchet mechanisms. Such mechanisms operate to engage one of the screws supported on an associated screw strip and urge the screw, and consequently the entire screw strip, upwardly toward a desired position. Typically, the previously designed screw aligning and guiding devices have utilized various springs to generate the biasing force needed to urge the screw strip upwardly. 
     The pawl and ratchet mechanisms, along with their associated springs, tend to be quite complex arrangements. Further, the interaction of the mechanical parts of the pawl and ratchet mechanism with the screws of the screw strip, make loading and unloading of the screw strip into and out of the device a somewhat difficult and complicated task. 
     What is needed therefore is a screw aligning and guiding device which overcomes one or more drawbacks of the previously designed devices. For example, what is needed is a screw aligning and guiding device which possesses a mechanism for urging a screw strip upwardly to a desired position in the device which is relatively less mechanically complex. Moreover, for example, what is needed is a screw aligning and guiding device which enables very easy loading and unloading of an associated screw strip into and out of the device. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for sequentially aligning a number of screws with a screwdriver and guiding the number of screws during advancement by the screwdriver. The apparatus includes a body which includes (i) a channel adapted to receive a screw strip having the number of screws supported thereon, (ii) a feed passage adapted to sequentially receive the number of screws from the channel, and (ii) a guide track having a planar segment and an inclined ramp segment. The apparatus further includes a movable pawl which travels on the guide track through the planar segment and the inclined ramp segment, wherein (i) the movable pawl contacts at least one of the number of screws when both the movable pawl is located in the planar segment of the guide track and the screw strip having the number of screws supported thereon is located in the channel, and (ii) the movable pawl is spaced apart from all of the number of screws when both the movable pawl is located on the inclined ramp segment of the guide track and the screw strip having the number of screws supported thereon is located in the channel. 
     Pursuant to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a screw driver assembly which includes a shaft having a screw engaging end. The assembly further includes a body which includes (i) a channel adapted to receive a screw strip having a number of screws supported thereon, (ii) a feed passage adapted to sequentially receive the number of screws from the channel and guide the number of screws during advancement by the shaft, and (iii) a number of rails. Moreover, the assembly includes a movable pawl which travels on the number of rails, wherein (i) the movable pawl is positioned to contact at least one of the number of screws in the channel when both the movable pawl is located on a first portion of the number of rails and the screw strip having the number of screws supported thereon is located in the channel, and (ii) the movable pawl is spaced apart from all of the number of screws when both the movable pawl is located on a second portion of the number of rails and the screw strip having the number of screws supported thereon is located in the channel. 
     According to still another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a screw aligning and guiding device. The device includes a body which includes (i) a channel adapted to receive a screw strip having a number of screws supported thereon, and (ii) a feed passage adapted to sequentially receive the number of screws from the channel and guide the number of screws during advancement by a screwdriver. The device further includes a movable pawl which is movable relative to the body, wherein (i) the movable pawl is positioned to contact at least one of the number of screws in the channel when both the movable pawl is located at a first orientation with respect to the body and the screw strip having the number of screws supported thereon is located in the channel, and (ii) the movable pawl is spaced apart from all of the number of screws when both the movable pawl is located at a second orientation with respect to the body and the screw strip having the number of screws supported thereon is located in the channel. The screw strip used in the device has an upper end and a lower end. And the movable pawl is located at a vertical position which is interposed between the upper end and the lower end when (i) the movable pawl is located at the second orientation with respect to the body, and (ii) the screw strip having the number of screws supported thereon is located in the channel. 
     It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and useful screw aligning and guiding device. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved screw aligning and guiding device 
     It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a screw aligning and guiding device which possesses a mechanism for urging a screw strip upwardly to a desired position in the device which is relatively less mechanically complex. 
     It is still another object of the present invention to provide a screw aligning and guiding device which enables very easy loading and unloading of an associated screw strip into and out of the device. 
     Other objects and benefits of the present invention can be discerned from the following description and accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a left side elevational view of a screw aligning and guide device which incorporates the features of the present invention therein; 
     FIG,  2  is an enlarged side elevational view of a first housing portion of the screw aligning and guiding device of FIG. 1, with the first housing portion shown rotated 180° relative to its position depicted in FIG. 1 so as to show its internal structures and components thereof; 
     FIG. 3 is a right side elevational view of the screw aligning and guiding device of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is an enlarged side elevational view of a second housing portion of the screw aligning and guiding device of FIG. 1, with the second housing portion shown rotated 180° relative to its position depicted in FIG. 3 so as to show its internal structures and components thereof; 
     FIG. 5 is a top elevational view of the screw aligning and guiding device of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the exit opening of the screw aligning and guiding device of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 7 is a front elevational view of the screw aligning and guiding device of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a lower portion of FIG. 7 showing the ramp member which is defined by the body of the screw aligning and guiding device; 
     FIG. 9 is an elevational view of a strip having a number of screws supported thereon which is used with the screw aligning and guiding device of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 10 is a partial cross-sectional view of the movable pawl of the screw aligning and guiding device of FIG. 1 cooperating with one of the rails of the body; and 
     FIG. 11 is an enlarged view of FIG. 7 but showing the handle of the movable pawl removed from the device for clarity of description. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, a specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 3, there is shown a screw aligning and guiding device  10 . The device includes a first housing portion  11  as shown in FIG. 2, and a second housing portion  12  as shown in FIG.  4 . The first and second housing portions  11 ,  12  are preferably made from a 20% glass-filled nylon material, however, other types of thermoplastic materials may be used to make the housing portions  11 ,  12 . The first housing portion  11  cooperates with the second housing portion  12  to form a body  13  having a handle  14  which enables a user to conveniently manipulate the device  10  during use thereof. 
     The device  10  is adapted to receive a screw strip  15  having a number of screws  16  supported thereon (see FIG.  9 ). The screw strip includes an upper end  18  and a lower end  20  as shown in FIG.  9 . FIGS. 1 and 3 show the screw strip  15  and a number of screws  16  received within the device  10 . Note that at certain times during operation of the device  10 , an upper portion of the strip  15  extends out of an exit opening  17  defined in the top of the device  10 , and a lower portion of the strip  15  extends out of an entrance opening  19  defined in the bottom of the device  10  as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. The screws  16  may be any suitable type or possess any suitable size. For example, the screws  16  may be 2″ yellow zinc coated screws. Alternatively, for example, the screws  16  may be 2″ galvanized deck screws. 
     FIG. 2 shows the interior of the first housing portion  11 . Note that FIG. 1 shows the exterior of the first housing portion  11 . FIG. 2 shows the first housing portion rotated 180° relative to its position shown in FIG. 1 so as to expose internal structures and components thereof. The first housing portion  11  defines a channel portion  22 , a feed passage portion  24 , a screw head recess portion  26 , and a guide track  28 . The guide track  28  includes a pair of rails  30  which are spaced apart from each other so as to define a slider gap  32 . The first housing portion  11  further includes a number of support ribs  34  positioned in a pattern to provide stability to the device  10 . 
     FIG. 4 shows the interior of the second housing portion  12 . Note that FIG. 3 shows the exterior of the second housing portion  12 . FIG. 4 shows the second housing portion rotated  180 ° relative to its position shown in FIG. 3 so as to expose internal structures and components thereof. The second housing portion  12  defines a channel portion  35 , a feed passage portion  36 , and a screw head recess portion  38 . The second housing portion  12  further includes a number of support ribs  40  positioned in a pattern to provide stability to the device  10 . 
     The channel portion  22  and the channel portion  35  cooperate to define a strip and screw channel though which the screw strip  15  and the number of screws  16  supported thereon are advanced during operation of the device  10 . The second housing portion  12  further includes a number of guide members  42  as shown in FIG. 4 which function to guide the screw strip  15  during advancement through the strip and screw channel. 
     The feed passage portion  24  and the feed passage portion  36  cooperate to define a feed passage adapted to sequentially receive screws  16  therein and guide the screws during advancement thereof by a shaft  44  having a bit end which is adapted to meshingly engage the head of a respective screw  16  (see FIG.  2 ). Note that the shaft  44  is driven by an electrically powered drill  46  as schematically shown in FIG.  2 . 
     The screw head recess portion  26  and the screw head recess portion  38  cooperate to define a screw head recess which functions to allow vertical advancement of the screws  16  while preventing lateral advancement of the screws  16  (except for the uppermost screw on the screw strip  15 ) during operation of the device  10 . Note that FIGS. 2 and 4 show a number of screws (in phantom) having their heads located in the screw head recess. Only selected screws  16  are shown supported by the screw strip  15  in FIGS. 2 and 4 for clarity of description. However, it should be noted that the screws  16  advancing though the device  10  would typically be supported on the screw strip  15  in a manner as shown in FIG.  9 . 
     The device  10  further includes a movable pawl  48  which includes a spring  50  and a movable slider assembly  52 . The spring  50  possesses a coil-shape in its relaxed, non-stressed state. During operation of the device  10 , the spring  50  is located in a spring recess  54  which is defined by the first housing portion  11 . An end portion of the spring  50  is secured to the slider assembly  52  by a fastener  56  which extends through the slider gap  32  as shown in FIG. 2 (see also FIG.  10 ). The spring  50  is preferably a stainless steel constant force spring. The spring  50  travels in sliding contact on the pair of rails  30  of the guide track  28  on the interior side of the housing portion  11  as shown in FIGS. 2 and 10. 
     The slider assembly  52  includes an external handle  58  which travels in sliding contact on the pair of rails  30  on the exterior side of the housing portion  11  as shown in FIG.  1 . The slider assembly  52  further includes an internal plate  60  which is positioned in contact with the spring  50  as shown in FIG.  10 . The slider assembly  52  further includes a finger  62  which is secured to both the external handle  58  and the internal plate  60  by the fastener  56 . FIG. 10 shows a cross-sectional view of the components of the slider assembly  52  cooperating with one of the rails  30 . 
     During operation of the device  10 , the finger  62  is urged upwardly by the spring bias of the spring  50 . As a result, the finger  62  contacts one of the screws  16  and urges such screw  16 , and consequently, the entire screw strip  15  and all of the other screws  16  supported thereon upwardly until the uppermost screw  16  is positioned within the feed passage  24 ,  36  as shown in FIG. 2 Thereafter, the drill  46  is operated to rotate the uppermost screw  16 . Rotation of the uppermost screw  16  causes such screw to separate from the screw strip  15  in a conventional manner. Then, advancement of shaft  44  causes advancement of such screw  16  whereby the structure of the device  10  which defines the feed passage  24 ,  36  guides the screw  16  during its advancement within the device  10 . Thereafter, continued rotation of the screw  16  by the shaft  44  causes the screw  16  to be advanced into a workpiece such as a piece of wood. 
     After the uppermost screw  16  is advanced into the workpiece and the shaft  44  is retracted out of the feed passage  24 ,  36 , the next uppermost screw  16  is advanced into the feed passage  24 ,  36  in a similar manner. Once the spring  50  retracts substantially completely into the spring recess  54  such that slider assembly  52  is moved to its uppermost position, the slide pawl must be cocked or otherwise manually pulled downwardly to again generate spring bias to urge the screw strip  15  and the screws  16  supported thereon in an upward direction. 
     In order to prevent the screw strip  15  and the associated screws  16  from being pulled downwardly while the movable pawl is being cocked downwardly, the device  10  further includes a stationary pawl  64 , The stationary pawl  64  includes an end portion which extends into the strip and screw channel  22 ,  35  so that such end portion contacts one screw  16  supported on the strip  15  as the movable pawl is being cocked downwardly thereby preventing further downward travel of the screw strip  15  and the associated screws  16 . FIG. 4 shows the screw  16  which is positioned next to the uppermost screw  16  contacting the stationary pawl  64 . 
     The stationary pawl  64  is secured to the second housing portion  12  by a fastener  66 . A pair of guards  67  are positioned adjacent to the stationary pawl  64  as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 to provide protection to the stationary pawl  64  from inadvertent contact. 
     The guide track  28  includes a planar segment  68  and an inclined ramp segment  70  as shown in FIG.  11 . In particular, the rails  30  extend for a first distance in a substantially planar manner from a point A to a point B. Then, the rails  30  extend in an inclined ramp-like manner from the point B to a point C. To this end, the first housing portion  11  includes a ramp member  72  defined therein as shown in FIG.  11 . 
     When both the movable pawl  48  is located on the planar segment of the guide track  28  and the screw strip  15  having the number of screws  16  supported thereon is located in the strip and screw channel  22 ,  35 , the movable pawl  48  contacts at least one of the number of screws  16  so as to urge the screw strip  15  and associated screws  16  upwardly. In particular, when both the movable pawl  48  is located on the planar segment of the guide track  28  and the screw strip  15  having the number of screws  16  supported thereon is located in the strip and screw channel  22 ,  35 , the finger  62  of the movable pawl  48  is urged into contact with a lower side of a corresponding screw  16  as shown in FIG. 2 so as to urge the entire screw strip  15  and associated screws  16  upwardly. 
     After all of the screws  16  associated with one screw strip  15  are utilized, and it is desired to load a new screw strip  15  having associated screws  16  supported thereon into the device  10 , a user grasps the handle  58  of the movable pawl  48  and urges it downwardly against the spring bias of the spring  50  from its actual position shown in solid lines in FIG. 1 to a loading position shown in phantom in FIG.  1 . This action causes the slider assembly  52  to be advanced in sliding contact with the rails  30  to the loading position shown in phantom in FIG.  1 . Now with the slider assembly  52  positioned in such loading position, the new screw strip  15  with its associated screws  16  is advanced upwardly into the strip and screw channel  22 ,  35  until its upper most screw is positioned in the feed passage  24 ,  36 . 
     When the movable pawl  48  is located on the inclined ramp segment  70  of the guide track  28  and the screw strip  15  having the number of screws  16  supported thereon is located in the strip and screw channel  22 ,  35 , the movable pawl  48  is spaced apart from all of the number of associated screws  16 . In particular, when both the movable pawl  48  is located on the inclined ramp segment  70  of the guide track  28  and the screw strip  15  having the number of screws  16  supported thereon is located in the strip and screw channel  22 ,  35 , the finger  62  of the movable pawl  48  is spaced apart from all of the number of associated screws  16 . Moreover, when the movable pawl  48  is located at this orientation relative to the first housing portion  11 , the movable pawl  48  (including its finger  62 ) is located at a vertical position which is interposed between the upper end  18  of the screw strip  15  and the lower end  20  of the screw strip  15 . 
     Thereafter, once the new strip  15  and associated screws  16  are loaded into the strip and screw channel  22 ,  35 , the movable pawl  48  is released thereby allowing the slider assembly  52  to be urged upwardly by the spring bias of spring  50  until the finger  52  contact one of the screws  16  to urge the entire strip  15  and its associated screws  16  upwardly. 
     If it is desired to remove a partially full screw strip from the device  10  (i.e. a screw strip  15  from which a number of screws have been removed, yet some are still remaining on the screw strip), the present invention facilitates such removal. In particular, in order to remove such partially full screw strip, the handle  58  is advanced onto the inclined ramp segment  70  to a location as shown in phantom in FIGS. 7 and 8. Thereafter, with the handle  58  located on the inclined ramp segment  70 , the user grasps an end portion of the stationary pawl  64  which is extending out of the body  13  as shown in FIG.  5  and pulls the stationary pawl  64  in a direction indicated by arrow D. Pulling the stationary pawl  64  in such a direction moves the stationary pawl  64  out of the strip and screw channel  22 ,  35  so as to allow the strip  15  along with the associated screws  16  to be freely advanced downwardly out through the entrance opening  19  of the body  13 . 
     While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only the preferred embodiments and methods have been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention are desired to be protected. 
     There are a plurality of advantages of the present invention arising from the various features of the screw aligning and guiding device described herein. It will be noted that alternative embodiments of the screw aligning and guiding device of the present invention may not include all of the features described yet still benefit from at least some of the advantages of such features. Those of ordinary skill in the art may readily devise their own implementations of the screw aligning and guiding device that incorporate one or more of the features of the present invention and fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.