An Improved Implement for Feeding and Driving in Nails.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Aug., 1892-Accepted, 17th Sept.. 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Implement for Feeding and Driving in Nails.
A communication to me from EDMUND LEHMANN, of Bautzen, in the Empire of
Germany.
I, EDMUND EDWARDS, of the firm of Edwards and Co., Patent Agents, and
Engineers, of 35, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement and accompanying drawing, that is to say:
This invention relates to an improved implement for feeding and driving in nails
or pins such as are used for nailing up small boxes (for instance cigar boxes) or for
nailing on shields and plates of sheet metal, or for attaching small ornamental
articles and the like.
By means of the said implement the nails or pins can be driven in exactly at the
desired point on the work which is being treated by depressing a plunger.
The inconvenience and difficulty of grasping and holding up very small pins such
as are sometimes used are dispensed with. In comparison with the mode of driving
in nails by repeated blows of a hammer much time will be saved by using the new
implement. The said implement permits not only an easy and rapid driving in of
the nails but also prevents them from being spoiled by bending.
In order that the invention may be more fully understood, reference is made to
the accompanying sheet of drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a vertical section through the improved implement.
Figure 2 is a section on the line x-x (Figure 1).
Figure 3 is a horizontal cross section of the implement on line 2-z (Figure 1).
Figure 4 is a top view of the screw-plug.
Figure 5 is a vertical section of the implement similar to Figure 1, but shewing
the parts in their working position.
Figure 6 is a vertical section on the line
y-y (Figure 5).
Figure 7 is a horizontal cross section on the line (Figure 5).
=
Figures 8 and 9 are detailed sections on an enlarged scale of parts of the
implement.
Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.
The improved implement consists of a socket or casing y provided with a
magnetical spring plunger e sliding in the interior hollow of the socket of a shoot b
connected with the said socket and adapted to feed in the nails, and of a hopper a
arranged above the shoot. The nails or pins in the hopper a fall successively
through the hole a² of the bottom plate a' into the shoot upon the inclined edges
of which their heads will rest and support them, and they will then slide along
one by one to the socket and beneath the plunger as hereinafter described.
The socket g carries at its upper end in a lateral notch a block having a groove
or slot, in which the shoot bis guided by means of a flange b', projecting at right
angles from the shoot 6 (Figure 9). The shoot 6 opens to the socket so that the
passage of the shoot communicates with a special channel i arranged in the wall of
the socket g.
At its lower end the socket g is closed by means of a screw plug k
having a central perforation for the plunger e and a slot communicating with the
said perforation and with the channel i. The slot k¹ is provided with an enlarged
and inclined guiding groove for the heads of the nails (Figures 2 and 4).
To the head piece or top of the plunger is fixed a slotted connecting link
liding in a suitable vertical groove in the block h. The connecting link provided
vith an oblique slot embraces the sliding blocks 6' attached to the shoot b, which
liding blocks have also corresponding inclined slide faces.

page_text: The operation of the implement is as follows:-
When not in use the plunger of the implement is held by the spring fat such a
height that its lower end is directly above the central opening of the screw-plug k.
A further raising of the plunger will be prevented by means of the connecting
link striking against the under side of the shoot as shewn in Figure 1. Every
time the plunger arrives at this position, the oblique sliding faces of the connecting
link cause a lateral movement of the shoot in the block h so that the passage of
the shoot comes right in front of the vertical channel i, and the foremost nail of
the row hanging upon the upper edges of the shoot can slide or slip into the
channel (Figures 3 and 9). The nail then drops downward through the channel i
and is caught up in the slot k', the head of the nail resting in the inclined guiding
groove with which the slot is provided at its upper end. As soon as the nail has
reached the position described it will be attracted by the lower end of the plunger e
by means of its magnetic force or attraction so that the nail hangs freely in the
central perforation of the screw plug . By now pressing the plunger e, the nail
guided in the central perforation will be driven into the work, while the shoot 5
containing the nails is moved in a lateral direction by means of the oblique sliding
faces of the connecting link and the sliding blocks so that the passage of the
shoot no longer coincides with the channel i but is shut up by means of the wall of
the socket g, as shewn in Figure 7.
In order that only the foremost nail may slip from the shoot into the channel i
at the end of the upward stroke of the plunger, there is fixed to the block h a wedge
shaped arm (Figure 9) entering a suitable slot of the shoot b, when the latter is
moved laterally, and sliding between the first and the second nail so that the nail
next to the channel i, that is to say, the first nail in the shoot b, is caused to slip
into the channel i, while the other nails resting on the shoot are kept back.
To prevent the nails from sliding back in the shoot when turning or inclining
the implement during its use whereby the foremost nail will be prevented from
slipping into the channel i, the upper edges of the shoot bare provided with steps
or shoulders (Figures 1 and 5) a special step or shoulder being provided for the
foremost nail, as shewn by Figure 8.
The central perforation of the screw plug k communicates with the atmospheric
air by means of a small hole g' for preventing a partial vacuum from being formed
in the interior of the casing or socket g during the upward stroke.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :
An improved implement for feeding and driving in nails or pins consisting of a
magnetic spring plunger e sliding in a casing g, a hopper a into which the nails are
fed, and a shoot moveably jointed to the casing g and oscillated laterally backward
and forward by means of an oblique slotted connecting link / fixed to the spring
plungere, so that after a nail has been driven in, the passage of the shoot coincides
with a channel i provided in the wall of the casing, and an arm causes the
foremost nail to slip off from the shoot and to drop through the channel i so as to
come within the reach of the magnetic plunger, by which the nail will immediately
be attracted and will be driven in as soon as the plunger is depressed.
Dated this 15th day of August 1892.
EDWARDS & Co.,
35, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.