Patent ID: 7556138

Claim:
An apparatus for collating nails, each having a head and a shank, said apparatus comprising: a nail feed mechanism for orienting and feeding a plurality of said nails with their heads in proper orientation; a nail indexing and feed wheel receiving said nails from the nail feed mechanism and indexing the nails into a plurality of circumferential spaced grooves formed in the wheel for orienting the nail shanks in a generally vertical orientation; a drive mechanism for rotating the nail indexing and feed wheel for orienting the nail shanks in a horizontal orientation after 180° of rotation; a conveyor for receiving the nails from the nail indexing and feed wheel in the horizontal orientation and for placing said nails in a horizontal spaced relationship and conveying said nails away from said wheel; and a collating station in communication with the conveyor for collating the nails to form a continuous strip.