Patent Publication Number: US-2021162553-A1

Title: Feeder for swageable lockbolt collars and method of using same

Description:
This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/159,216 filed on Oct. 12, 2018 and incorporates herein the entirety of that application. 
    
    
     This document discloses a method and apparatus for feeding swageable collars to a presentation position on a swaging tool in such a fashion that the collars may be serially swaged onto the shanks of pre-located lockbolts in a convenient and efficient fashion. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     Background of the Invention 
     A well-known mechanical fastening system involves the use of lockbolts each having a head and a grooved shank designed to receive a swageable collar which, after being placed on the shank, is deformed into substantially permanent association with the lockbolt shank. The finished lockbolt has fastening characteristics similar to conventional rivets. 
     The process for installing lockbolts begins with placing the lockbolts in preformed holes in the parts to be joined; the shanks of the lockbolts are exposed awaiting the placement of collars thereon and the swaging of those collars into permanent association with the lockbolt shank by a manually operated tool. 
     The operator of the tool places a collar on each lockbolt and thereafter triggers the tool to swage; i.e., deform the collar into permanent association with a grooved portion of the lockbolt shank. The tool also typically breaks off a portion of the shank known as a “pintail”. 
     Collar feeders can be separate from the swaging tool; for example, expired U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,521 assigned to Huck International shows a hand-held collar dispenser with spring bias clips  44  feeding collars one at a time to a presentation or “ready” position. Another collar feeder is described is U.S. Pat. No. 9,511,416 assigned to Gage Bilt Inc. of Clinton Township Michigan, the Applicant in the present application. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to the apparatus aspect of the subject matter disclosed herein, a collar feeder device is constructed separate from, but easily attached to, the nose assembly of a swaging tool such as the model GB731 available from Gage Bilt Inc. of Clinton Township, Michigan. The collar feeder device comprises four main components: a rear stationary body, a lower assembly, a front movable body, and an actuator assembly. The rear body is configured with a male internal tab that can be lined up on a female slot located on the barrel-like nose assembly of the swaging tool, allowing the device to be set radially while also allowing the device to stop on the shoulder of the barrel that controls how far the device goes onto the barrel ( FIGS. 15 &amp; 16 ) (Ref: Gage Bilt LGP06-2480-45CF). The lower assembly  10  is adapted to be pivotally attached to a front movable body  100 . The lower assembly carries a gripper that transfers collars from a loading position to a presentation position. The actuator assembly responds to the tool being pushed against a workpiece to initiate pivotal and retraction movement between the front movable body, rear stationary body and the lower assembly during a collar installation process. 
     The term “presentation position”, as used herein, refers to the ready position of a collar at the front of the feeder device and in alignment with the operating axis of the swaging tool whereby an operator can slide the collar onto the exposed shank of a pre-positioned lockbolt. The term “loading position” refers to the position of collars being fed into the device for serial application to lockbolt shanks prior to being raised to the presentation position. 
     As further described herein, with respect to an illustrative embodiment of the invention, the actuator assembly is located on the front of the front movable body  100  assembly and includes a pair of parallel spring arms providing a resilient “collapse” function that produces the pivotal motion between the front movable body and lower assemblies. 
     In operation, the operator places the actuator in contact with a work surface adjacent the exposed shank of a lockbolt and with a collar in alignment with the lockbolt shank but not yet swaged. The operator thereafter pushes the tool forward such that the front of the actuator assembly contacts the surface of the workpiece in which a collarless lockbolt has been placed for final attachment. This forward push compresses springs in the aforementioned actuating arms, releasing a collar onto the lockbolt. The operator then pulls the trigger on the tool to swage the now in-place collar. This resilient compression action also causes the actuating arms to bottom out inside the front movable body  100  thus causing the front movable body and the lower body to remain stationary while the barrel of the nose assembly and the rear stationary body are drawn forward swaging the collar by the use of secondary springs  30 . When the operator withdraws the tool, the lower assembly springs  32  re-extend; the lower assembly then pivots back up and a gripper mounted on the lower assembly picks up the next collar from the supply and places it in the presentation position. 
     The feeder device is adapted to be connected to a collar supply device such as an air-driven tube loaded with serially-arranged co-axial collars. In brief, movement between the front movable body and lower feeder assemblies, caused by steps performed by the tool operator, transfers collars one at a time between the outlet of the supply tube and a presentation position on the front movable body assembly. As the operator places a collar on a lockbolt, activates the tool to swage the collar and withdraws the tool from the finished lockbolt, the feeder automatically places the next collar in the presentation position. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       The inventive subject matter disclosed herein has both apparatus and method aspects, both of which are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, showing an operative embodiment of the apparatus invention in detail. The drawings are to scale unless otherwise indicated. 
         FIG. 1  is a side view of a collar feeder mounted on a Gage Bilt Model GB731 swaging tool; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the feeder apparatus mounted on a swaging tool nose piece; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a pintail type lockbolt mounted in a pair of plates to be fastened together and is not to scale as far as representing the entire spectrum of workpieces that can be joined by lockbolts; 
         FIG. 4  is a front perspective of the feeder moving a collar onto a lockbolt, but with the lower assembly still in the raised position; 
         FIG. 5  is a side view, partly in section, showing the tool and feeder placing a collar on a lockbolt before swaging; 
         FIG. 6  is a side view of the feeder approaching a lockbolt ready for receipt of a collar; 
         FIG. 7  is a side view of the feeder in section showing details of the actuator assembly after a collar has been swaged; 
         FIG. 8  shows the feeder placing a collar on the lockbolt but not yet urged forward to compress the springs in the actuator assembly; 
         FIG. 9  shows the feeder in section and in the same position as shown in  FIG. 8 ; 
         FIG. 10  shows the feeder after it has been pushed against the workpiece to pivot the lower assembly down to pick up the next lockbolt collar from the supply tube; 
         FIG. 11  shows the feeder in the same position as  FIG. 10 , but in section to show interior detail of the actuator assembly; 
         FIG. 12  is a side view in section of the feeder tube in the front moveably body assembly; 
         FIG. 13  is an exploded view showing all of the parts of the feeder device; 
         FIG. 14  is a side view in section of the feeder showing the lower assembly and the front moveable assembly when the barrel and the rear stationary body are urged forward during the swaging of the collar; 
         FIG. 15  shows the unique design of the female slot on the barrel of the nose assembly and the male tab on the rear stationary body; 
         FIGS. 16A and 16B  show the rear stationary body apart from the nose assembly and fully engaged into the slot on the barrel of the nose assembly and positioned against the shoulder, respectively. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION AN ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to the Figures, the collar feeder device  10  is shown both individually and as mounted on the nose assembly  12  of a Gage Bilt Model GB731 swaging tool  14 . The feeder device  10  comprises a rear stationary body assembly  16  configured to be removably mounted on the nose assembly  12  of the swaging tool  14 , a movable front assembly  100  and a pivotal lower assembly  18  having a gripper adapted to receive collars serially from a collar magazine tube  44  and transfer them, one at a time, to a “presentation” position in line with the nose assembly. The assembly  16  is partially split by a longitudinal slot to allow mounting the device on the nose assembly. Screws  15  tightens the two sides to secure device  10  in place on the nose assembly  12 . The lower assembly  18  has “dog leg” shaped arms that straddle the front moveable assembly  100  and the rear stationary assembly  16 . The lower assembly arm members  18 A and  18 B are connected to the rear stationary assembly  16  at the rearward end by means of a pivot pin  20  which receives one of the screws  15  and allows the lower assembly arms to move angularly about the axis of pivot pin  20  between a raised “presentation” position shown in  FIGS. 2, 3, 8, and 9  and a lower loading position shown in  FIGS. 10 and 11 . Slots  101  become parallel to the nose assembly when the lower assembly reaches the loading position thus allowing the lower and front movable assemblies to remain stationary while the barrel and the rear stationary body are urged forward during the swaging process of the collar. 
     The arms  18 A and  18 B are each configured with diagonal slots  22  which receive the shanks of shoulder bolts  24  threaded into slidable elements  34  in the front movable body assembly  100  to cause the pivotal motion between the front movable body  100  and rear stationary body  16  and  18  respectively as hereinafter described. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the actuator assemblies  26 ,  28 A- 28 B which are housed within left and right tubular portions  29 A and  29 B of the front movable body assembly  100 . Screws  47  are sunk into recesses in member  27 . Within each of the tubular assemblies  29 A and  29 B are comprising primary springs  32  (see  FIG. 13 ) as well as slide rods  34  between the springs to allow the actuator assembly  28 A- 28 B to be resiliently moved toward the rear stationary body assembly  16  by pressure exerted by an operator who places the contact members  27 A- 27 B against a workpiece and pushes the tool  14  and the feeder assembly  10  toward the workpiece as hereinafter described. In the embodiment illustrated, a second stage of movement can be caused by the tool in performing swaging operation. The primary springs  32  in the illustrated embodiment have a lower spring compression coefficient than the secondary springs  30  and therefore compress to a greater extent than the secondary springs when the operator pushes the device  10  toward the workpiece  33  in which lockbolts  31  are pre-installed. As an alternative, the operator can fully depress a set of assemblies by pushing against a workpiece surface. 
     The lower assembly carries a number of components including a gripper  36  with left and right arms connected to the lower assembly by screws  35  and held in a closed or gripping position by means of a spring  38  that fits into blind holes on the bottom of the gripper elements as shown in  FIG. 13  to hold a lockbolt collar in the presentation position ready to be applied to the shank of a lockbolt. The gripper is opened by cams  41 A and  41 B mounted on the front movable body  100  assembly to open and receive a collar from the magazine  44  when the lower assembly is moved down to the lower position shown in  FIG. 10 . 
     The lower assembly  18  also carries a metal stop plate  40  which is screwed onto the forward distal ends of the parallel legs in front of the gripper  36 . 
     The device  10  is connected to receive collars from an attached tubular magazine  44  which may be in the form of a flexible hose. The collars are driven toward the locator stop plate  40  by air pressure from a source (not shown) so that the collars continue to arrive into the loading position against stop plate  40  one at a time. 
     The tool has a trigger  49  which the operator uses to trigger the swaging operation once the lockbolt in the presentation position has been appropriately placed on the shank of a lockbolt and the tool and feeder assembly are urged toward a work surface as described above. Details of the power tool are omitted herein but can be seen in full in the product brochure available at http://gagebilt.com/installtools/manuals/GB731-MANUAL.pdf. The nose assembly details are described in the document available at http://www.gagebilt.com/noseassembly/data_sheets/LG P06-2480-45.pdf. The contents of these websites are incorporated herein by reference. 
     Turning now to  FIGS. 2 through 12 ,  FIG. 2  shows in perspective the feeder device  10  with a lockbolt collar  48  in the presentation or “ready” position and the lower assembly  18  in the fully raised position. This is evident from the position of the shoulder bolts  24  at the lower ends of slots  22  and it will be understood from reference from  FIG. 13  that the shoulder bolts  24  are threaded into the slidable rods  34  which are part on the compressible spring assemblies through slots  52  in the tubular portions  29 A and  29 B of the front moveable body assembly  100  so that movement of the rods toward the rear of feeder  10  causes a camming function driving the shoulder bolt shanks upwardly in the slots  22  and causing counter-clockwise pivotal motion of the lower assembly  18  as hereinafter described. Limit stops are provided on the upper and lower assemblies, more specifically,  FIGS. 9, 11, and 13  show stop pads  70 A,  70 B on the front movable body assembly  100  and pads  71 A,  71 B on the lower assembly  18  to limit downward motion of the lower assembly  18  relative to the front movable body assembly  16 . Similarly, stop pads  72  on the front movable body assembly and co-acting pads  73 A,  73 B on the lower assembly limit upward movement of the lower assembly  18  back toward the front movable body assembly  100  to the position shown, for example, in  FIG. 7 . 
     The side view of  FIGS. 6 and 8  shows the feeder  10  mounted on the nose assembly of the tool  14  and with lower assembly  18  still in the raised position. The feeder assembly  10  ready to place a lockbolt collar onto the shank  31  of lockbolt. 
       FIG. 10  shows the feeder device  10  advanced forwardly so that the collar in the presentation position is now on the shank of the lockbolt and the actuator assembly  28 A- 28 B are in contact against the surface of the work piece  33 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 10 and 11 , the operator pushes the feeder device and the tool forward against the work surface, fully compressing the primary spring assemblies and driving the shoulder bolts upwardly along the slots  22  to pivot the lower assembly  18  downwardly to open the gripper jaws. The lockbolt collar in the presentation position is thereby free so that the nose assembly  12  of the swaging tool  14  can perform the swaging function as well the function of pulling the pintail off of the lockbolt shank where it becomes waste. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 10 and 11 , compression of the secondary springs occurs during the swaging and pulling functions performed by the nose assembly  12  in the tool  14  as shown in  FIG. 12 , the magazine tube  44  is bent downwardly as necessary. Before reaching the full down position shown, i.e., when only springs  32  are compressed, the inside face of member  37  prevents collar  48 B from moving fully forward where it can be picked up by gripper  36 . When the springs  30  are compressed by the final forward motion of the feeder device  10  in the swaging step, the lower assembly moves to the position shown, allowing the collar  48 B to move between the now open jaws of the gripper and where the locator stop plate  40  stops and positions the collar. The lockbolt collar  48 B is then picked up by the lower assembly and will be raised up into the presentation position once the operator releases pressure on the tool and backs it away from the finished, swaged collar on the previous lockbolt. The tube  44  is stationary and connects to fitting  50  (see  FIG. 11 ). Fitting  50  attaches to front movable body upper assembly  100 . The front movable body upper assembly has an internal channel that the collars travel through to the loading position 
     As shown in  FIGS. 10 and 11 , the operator has swaged the collar pressure on the tool; i.e., the lower assembly  18  is still in the down position and the swaging process is in operation so as to swage the collar onto the lockbolt shank and put sufficient axial load onto the pintail of the lockbolt to break it off to complete the installation process. 
       FIG. 7  shows the feeder  10  is pulled away from the swaged fastener and both primary and secondary springs re-expand to their uncollapsed positions driving the lower assembly  18  with a newly loaded collar back to the raised starting position such that the next collar from magazine  44  is now in the presentation position ready to be inserted on the next lockbolt shank and to begin the process over again. 
     Summarizing the apparatus, the feeder  10  is mounted on a nose assembly capable of swaging collars on lockbolts, and the front movable body assembly is connected to an air-driven collar supply. Springs  30 ,  32  urge the actuation members  28 A- 28 B away from the body of the front movable body assembly  100  and the shoulder bolts  24  reside in the lower ends of slots  22  as shown in  FIG. 8 . The cams  41  allow the gripper  36  to hold a collar in the presentation position. When members  28 A- 28 B are pushed against workpiece  33 , springs  32  collapse, bolts  24  ride up slots  22  to pivot the lower assembly  18  down; simultaneously, cams  41 A,  41 B open the gripper  36  to allow the next collar to be picked up from the magazine  44 . 
     SUMMARY OF OPERATION 
     Summarizing the method of operation of the feeder device  10 , the device is attached to the nose assembly of a swaging tool and to a supply of serially-arranged swageable collars. A collar is brought to the presentation position in axial alignment with the nose assembly anvil and steered by the operator onto a lockbolt shank. The operator pushes the device  10  against the workpiece surface to compress the primary springs  32  in the upper assembly  100  and drop the lower assembly  18  down. This opens the gripper to release one collar onto the lockbolt and make ready to receive the next collar from magazine  44 . The operator presses the trigger on the tool  14  to swage the collar that has been placed on a lockbolt shank. This action fully compresses the springs  30 ,  32  and opens the gripper. The operator then withdraws the tool and feeder device, allowing the primary and secondary springs to expand, raising the lower assembly legs and bringing a new collar up to the presentation position. The operator can perform these steps with one hand. 
     While the invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiments but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, which scope is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and methods of use as is permitted under the law. For example, the device can also operate with one set of springs which are fully compressed by the operator, thus eliminating the two-stage compression function described above.