Patent ID: 7124922

Claim:
A safety mechanism for a self-powered tool that ejects and drives fasteners into a working surface, comprising: a housing having a striker slidable along a path therein; a plurality of fasteners disposed within the housing along the path of the striker; a spring biasing the striker into the fasteners; a release lever selectively linked to the striker; a hooking bar pivotably engaging the housing and biased into the path of the striker before the fasteners; a sensor bar extending from the housing at a sensing end of the sensor bar and engaging the hooking bar at an engaging end of the sensor bar, wherein the sensor bar translates linearly in the housing, and the engaging end of the sensor bar selectively engages the hooking bar to generate a pivoting motion; and wherein the sensing end of the sensor bar engages the working surface which translates the engaging end of the sensor bar into the hooking bar to pivot the hooking bar against a rib of the housing and out of the path of the striker.