Patent ID: 6968989

Claim:
A manually operable device for driving a nail into a substrate, comprising: an elongated barrel having an inner end and an opposite surface contact end, and a bore extending from the inner end to the surface contact end; an elongated drive rod disposed within the bore of the barrel and capable of linear reciprocal movement within the barrel; the drive rod having an interior working end for striking the nail so that the nail can be driven into the substrate; a handle attached to the drive rod and extending from the inner end of the barrel; a safety cable having a first end secured to the handle and the second end secured to the barrel adjacent the inner end thereof; a spring clip attached to and freely slidable along the length of the safety cable, the spring clip capable of attachment to and detachment from a clothing article of a worker so that the device can be attached to the clothing article for retrieval therefrom; the safety cable having a length sufficient to allow the drive rod to be withdrawn from the inner end of the barrel with the safety cable securable to the handle and barrel so that the nail can be back loaded into the inner end of the barrel; and the handle attached to the drive rod and extending rearward from the inner end of the barrel so a reciprocal back and forth motion exerted on the handle is transmitted to the drive rod for reciprocating the drive rod and driving the nail into the substrate.