Abstract: A removable rivet which includes a shank and a preformed head located at at least one end of the shank, the shank being insertable through workpieces and being capable of being permanently deformed to rivet the workpieces together. The rivet includes an annular groove at the junction of the shank and the head, the annular groove extending radially inwardly of the diameter of the shank, thereby to facilitate separation of the head from the shank when a drill of diameter substantially equal to that of the shank is applied to the head of an installed rivet co-axially with the shank until the drill meets the annular groove; an annular rim carried by the head of the rivet for cooperating with a drill, thereby to locate the drill co-axially with the annular groove; and abutment faces carried by the head of the rivet for engaging dogs of a non-rotating sleeve of the drilling apparatus thereby to prevent rotation of the rivet under the influence of the rotating drill.

Abstract: A tubular body (74, 102) having a deformable internal annular skirt is made from a blank (10, 80) having a stopped bore (20) which terminates at an end wall (24). First, an aperture (40) is formed in the end wall (24) to provided a through bore, of which a main region is provided by the formerly stopped bore (20). The aperture (40) is made to taper towards the main region and to a diameter substantially smaller than that of the main region. Material peripherally of the aperture (40) is then swaged towards and into the main region, and radially outwardly in the main region, thereby forming the swaged material into a skirt. The tapering aperture (40) can be formed by use of a punch (30) and a die (32) having a die aperture (36) larger than the punch diameter. By making the aperture (40) not radially symmetrical, the resulting skirt (70, 98) can be made of unequal lengths on opposite radii.

Abstract: A self-plugging blind fastener suitable for fastening apertured sheets together, and of the type comprising a body having a shank, headed at one end, and an axial bore in which is disposed an elongate stem which, in use, is pulled to expand the shank and lock part of the stem in the body, has an improvement for locking the stem in the body. The head end of the bore is of reduced diameter and presents a stop-shoulder. The stop-shoulder is an annular skirt partly separated from surrounding material by an annular cleavage, and presents a planar stop-face facing away from the head-end. The stem comprises a plug which is connected by a breakneck to a stem-tail for pulling the plug into the bore of the body. The plug has an annular locking recess spaced from the breakneck, and is radially enlarged on the side of the locking recess remote from the breakneck to provide a plug-shoulder and shank-enlarging means.

Abstract: An apparatus for the pull-through blind installation of a headless tubular ferrule in a hole in a workpiece at a position therealong spaced from the nearer face of the workpiece includes an annular anvil for supporting the ferrule inside the workpiece hole; anvil supporting means for initially supporting the anvil at a position inside the workpiece hole; a mandrel having a stem extending through the anvil aperture; and an enlarged head.

Abstract: A self-plugging blind rivet, of the kind comprising a tubular body having a head and a shank which is deformed by means of a headed stem which is disposed in the body and pulled so as to form a blind head and, if necessary, to cause the shank to bulb so as to grip workpieces of lesser thickness than the maximum for which the rivet is designed, is so shaped and dimensioned as to avoid the need for a crimping or hardening operation to be performed on the shank. Thus the shank is made of uniform hardness, and has a waist and a tail portion, the waist being of reduced external diameter compared with the tail portion, and the tail portion having a length B and an external diameter D which are related to satisfy the expressionB=mD+nwhereinB is the length in millimeters, of the tail portion;D is the external diameter, in millimeters, of the tail portion;n is a length, in millimeters, of from 2.15 to 2.73 millimeters, andm is a number from 0.373 to 0.527 inclusive.

Abstract: A self-plugging blind rivet 10 comprises a tubular body 14 having a preformed head 34 at one end, and in the bore 36 of which a headed stem 12 is disposed. The stem 12 projects from the head 34 end of the body 14, and the head 18 of the stem 12 is substantially enclosed by a region 42 of the body 14 remote from the preformed head 34. The head 18 of the stem 12 abuts a shoulder 44 provided by a region 43 of the body 14 in which the diameter of the bore 36 is reduced and the wall is thickened. Axially spaced apart annular grooves 46, 48 in the external surface of the body 14 define between them a portion 50 which will collapse to form a blind head when the body 14 is compressed axially by pulling the stem 12 while supporting the preformed head 34. Finally, the stem head 18 may be pulled into the reduced diameter region 40 of the bore 36 and thereby cause the blind head to be reshaped and forced into compressive engagement with work being fastened.

Abstract: For use in a robotically operated workstation, apparatus for installing fasteners, for example tubular blind rivets, comprises a pneumatically operated fastener installation tool 16. The tool 16 has a part in the form of a headed mandrel 22 which is loaded with and carries a finite supply of the fasteners, a gripping and pulling actuator 26 and a nose assembly 21 which provides an abutment 18 for supporting successive rivets while the mandrel is pulled to draw its head through and set the rivet. For reloading the tool with further fasteners, after use, the apparatus includes a nest 96b for detaching and receiving the mandrel 22, together with the nose assembly 21, from the actuator 26, and a similar nest 96a provided with another nose assembly and another mandrel fully loaded with fasteners which it presents and attaches to the actuator 26.

Abstract: Repetition pull-through blind riveting apparatus (10), of the type comprising a reusable and reloadable mandrel with an enlarged head which is pulled through each tubular rivet in turn to install the rivet is provided with a safety device (141) for counting the total number of times the mandrel has been pulled. The apparatus includes pneumatically-operated mandrel pulling device, and a counter (132) counts the number of times the pressure of the air powering the pulling device reaches a pressure slightly below that required to pull the mandrel head through a rivet. The counter (132) is arranged to actuate, when a safe limit number of pulls has been counted, both a shut-off valve (137) to shut-off the supply of pressure air to the mandrel pulling device, and a visual indicator (135). The visual indicator (135) may be actuated at a warning count number rather lower than the safe limit number.

Abstract: Fastener installation apparatus, for installing fasteners such as blind rivets of the type which includes a washer-like member (13) which is free to fall away from the installed fastener, is provided with temporary retaining means for temporarily retaining the washer-like member on the installation apparatus after installation of the fastener. The temporary retaining means comprises a pair of gripping faces (42, 42) which project forwardly from the reaction faces (25, 25) of a pair of members (40 or 48) which are part of the nosepiece of the apparatus. The gripping faces (42, 42) close together automatically to grip the washer-like member as the installation apparatus installs a fastener, and draw apart again to release the washer-like member as the installation apparatus returns to be ready to receive a further fastener for installation.

Abstract: Apparatus for automatically installing blind rivets includes structure for automatically feeding new rivets one at a time to the front of the rivet installation head. Each rivet is supported in the appropriate position by a pair of support fingers (36,36) whilst the installation head (19) advances towards the rivet. The rivet feeding structure is provided with rivet guiding fingers (51,51) which guide the rivet stem (41) into the approaching anvil aperture (48) in the installation head. As the installation head continues to advance, it pushes out of the way first the guiding fingers (51,51) and then the support fingers (36,36) so that the rivet can reach the workpiece and be installed in it.

Abstract: The rivet comprises a tubular body 12 having a shank 14 having a rivet head at one end and an end portion 32 of which is tapered externally and internally towards the other (tail) end 20. A stem 10, disposed in the bore 18 of the body, has a stem-tail 22 which projects from the head end and breaks off when the rivet is set, a plug 24 in the bore 18, and a terminal head 28 abutting the tail-end 20. The diameter of the plug is reduced progressively and stepwise towards the terminal head, providing an abutment 50 and an annular groove 29 between the terminal head 28 and the abutment 50. Material of the end portion 20 extends into the groove to maintain the body and stem assembled, and enters further into the groove during setting of the rivet.The rivet is set by pulling the stem tail while supporting the body, causing the shank to collapse into a bulge which provides a blind head.The external tapering of the portion 32 promotes bulging at a lower applied force than would otherwise be required.

Abstract: A self-plugging blind rivet (10) embodies lockingly interengageable members in the form of a headed tubular rivet body (12) with a bore (20) which reduces in diameter towards the head (18), and a mandrel (14) for setting the rivet. The mandrel (14) has a break-off stem (60) and a plug portion (62) which is left in the bore (20) of the rivet body (12) after setting the rivet. The plug portion (62) engages the end of the body (12) remote from the head (18) and has radially projecting longitudinal splines (102) which form grooves in the body (12) when pulled into the reduced diameter region (26) of its bore, and has a cylindrical swaging portion (84) which swages material of the body into parts of the grooves along which the splines (102) have passed so as to lock the plug (62) in the bore (20) and prevent its retraction from the set rivet.

Abstract: A blind rivet for fastening apertured sheets comprises a tubular shell having a head at one end, and a mandrel having an enlarged head which when pulled into the bore of the shell deforms the shell to produce a blind head. The mandrel has a breaker groove at which it breaks when the rivet is fully placed, leaving the mandrel head plugging the shell. The mandrel head has an integral peripheral skirt which can be deformed outwardly by a tool used for placing the rivet, so that the skirt engages the shell and prevents the mandrel head from being pushed out of the bore of the shell. The mandrel head is adapted to wiredraw after the blind head has been formed so that the mandrel will break substantially flush with the head of the shell when fastening either thick or thin sheets.

Abstract: In a blind self-plugging rivet of resilient nylon-66 material the stem head has an annular projecting barb adjacent the breakneck, and the shell has a short counterbore at its head end into which the barb expands, when the stem head is fully pulled into the shell, to assist in locking the stem head in the shell. At its tail end the shell bore has a plurality of annular faces arranged step-wise, to engage behind the end face of the stem head over a range of possible positions of the latter depending on the thickness of the riveted members.

Abstract: An anvil for a blind riveting tool for locking the plugs of self-plugging blind rivets. The anvil has a central aperture (11), an annular abutment face (13) peripherally of the aperture (11) and a rim (14) radially inwardly of the abutment face (13) and peripherally of the aperture (11). The rim (14) projects forwardly of the abutment face (13) and has a forward end face (16) which is inclined rearwardly and outwardly and provided with generally concave recesses (15) which extend radially across the end face (16) and divide it into a plurality of lands (20) which during placing of a rivet operate to swage part of the mandrel of the rivet into locking engagement with the shell of the rivet.