Patent ID: 7481346

Claim:
In a manually swingable hammer-type stapling tool including an elongate housing having a striker movably mounted thereon adjacent a forward end thereof, a staple driving blade mounted on the housing adjacent said forward end and movable relative to the striker along a staple discharge path when the moving striker impacts against a surface, a staple magazine carried on said housing and containing a row of staples urged toward the staple discharge path so that a leading staple of the row is disposed in said staple discharge path below said driving blade, and a cap supply and feeding arrangement mounted on the housing for positioning a cap in a discharge position wherein it is disposed below the leading staple and transversely intersects the staple discharge path so that movably impacting the striker against the surface causes the driving blade to eject the leading staple which penetrates the cap and the surface, comprising the improvement wherein the cap supply and feeding arrangement includes a cap magazine containing therein a significant number of individual caps disposed in adjacent and joined edge-to-edge relationship to define a connected strip of caps, and a manual feeding mechanism for advancing a leading cap of said strip into said discharge position independently of the staple-ejecting impact of the striker against the surface, said feeding mechanism including a manually moved trigger member which is engaged and moved by a user to control advancing of the leading cap into the discharge position.