Method of forming a stacked assembly of roofing caps
A staple or nail gun assembly includes a staple or nail gun, a cap feeding device and a cap having a peripheral rim disposed on its underside, a marginal edge on its upper side adjacent a central portion having the shape of a truncated cone. The staple or nail gun and the cap feeding device are generally disposed at opposite ends of the handle of the staple or nail gun. The cap feeding device includes a base, a cap container and a shuttle, and feeds caps sequentially as they are affixed by the gun. The caps are coaxially stacked by means of a coaxial plastic cord or wire with retaining means at the respective ends or in a tubular container with a flanged end. The caps may also be stacked on a rod or held together by melting.
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This application is a continuation-in-part of pending U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 10/435,737 (filed May 9, 2003), also entitled “Stacked Assembly of Roofing Caps” and fully included herein by reference, and claims priority benefit thereof and of the parent applications of said application Ser. No. 10/435,737. Application Ser. No. 10/435,737, in turn, was a division of pending U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 09/648,335 (filed Aug. 25, 2000), entitled “Staple or Nail Gun Assembly, Cap Gun Feeding Device for Staple or Nail Gun, and Cap Assembly” and fully included herein by reference, and claims priority benefit thereof and of the parent applications of said application Ser. No. 09/648,335. Application Ser. No. 09/648,335, in turn, was a continuation-in-part of U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 09/438,983 (filed Nov. 12, 1999), entitled “Staple or Nail Gun Assembly, Cap Feeding Device for Staple or Nail Gun, and Cap Assembly” and claimed priority benefit of said application Ser. No. 09/438,983, which has now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,310 (issued Oct. 16, 2001). Application Ser. No. 09/648,335 also claimed priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Application 60/150,534 (filed Aug. 25, 1999), entitled “Stacked Felt Caps for the Rapid Feeding Felt Cap Gun,” and also claimed priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Application 60/160,672 (filed Oct. 21, 1999), entitled “Stacked Feltcaps Held Together with Plastic Line or Wire or Tube.” Application Ser. No. 09/438,983, in turn, claimed priority of U.S. Provisional Application 60/108,174 (filed Nov. 13, 1998), entitled “Rapid Feeding Felt Cap Gun & Felt Caps Glued Together.”
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENTNot applicable.
REFERENCE TO COMPACT DISC(S)Not applicable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to a cap feeding device for a staple or nail gun, as well as a staple or nail gun assembly and a cap assembly for use with a cap feeding device.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONAutomatic nail guns, powered by compressed air or electricity, are used, for example, to attach roofing material, such as tarpaper, to the roof of a house. A generally flat cap is often used with each nail. A nail penetrates the cap and the tarpaper and protrudes into the underlying roof structure, attaching the roofing material to the roof surface.
Typically, an operator must manually place and hold a cap under the nose of a nail gun and then trigger the gun to drive a nail through the cap into the roof structure. The manual placement of caps presents a serious safety hazard to the operator because the operator's hand is close to the nose of the gun when a nail is driven through the nose of the gun. In addition, manual placement of caps is time-consuming and inefficient.
A cap feeding device may be employed to reduce the risk associated with manual placement of caps and to improve the efficiency of roofing operation. The cap feeding device automatically places a cap under the nose of a nail gun, and then the nail gun drives a nail through the cap and into the underlying roof structure.
A conventional cap feeding device generally includes a cap container and a base having a channel. The base extends between the cap container and a position under the nose of the nail gun. Caps are fed into the channel of the base from the cap container and pushed to the position under the nose of the nail gun. When the gull is triggered, a nail penetrates and dislodges the cap under the nose of the nail gun and protrudes into the underlying roof structure. The feeding of the caps under the nose of the nail gun is coordinated with the ejection of the nails through the nose of the nail gun, so that a cap is placed under the nose of the gun before the gun is triggered to expel a nail.
Conventional cap feeding devices have a number of drawbacks. For example, conventional cap feeding devices are generally heavy, putting additional stress on the operator's hand holding the nail gun. Also, many conventional cap feeding devices can only be installed close to the front end of a nail gun, making the nail gun not only heavy but also unbalanced with most of the weight placed at the front end of the gun. This makes the nail gun difficult to handle and may put stress on the operator's hand and wrist. In addition, with so many components placed near the nose of the gun, it is difficult to see the position of the nose of the gun, making a precise placement of a nail difficult.
The conventional cap feeding devices are installed close to the front end of the gun because designers need to place a conventional cap container close to the nose of the gun to reduce the weight of the cap feeding device. The reason is that in many devices a cap is pushed directly from the cap container to a position under the nose of the nail gun. Thus, if the cap container is far from the nose of the gun, a long shuttle is needed to push a cap from the container to the position under the nose of the nail gun through the channel of the base. In addition, an actuator, such as an air cylinder, with a long displacement is also needed to drive the shuttle. The displacement of the actuator should be about the same as the distance between the cap container and the nose of the nail gun. A long shuttle and actuator increase the weight and size of the cap feeding device. With the cap feeding device placed near the nose of the gun, the shuttle and actuator, thus the cap feeding device can be made lighter, smaller and less expensive.
Caps for automatic nailing guns are available in a wide variety of shapes and packaging. Most caps for felt roofing products are sold in bulk and must be applied singularly with each nailing operation. Automatic nailers for roofing including magazines containing caps are available, however, for a variety of-reasons, have not found wide usage. Most of the disadvantages of nailers including magazines of roofing caps are related to the unwieldiness of the apparatus, and somewhat to the lack of reliability or uniformity of operation. Automatic nailing machines adapted for installing roofing caps are illustrated in such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,362 to Omli; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,445,297; 5,184,752; and 5,042,142. None of these prior automatic roofing nailers provide the versatility and ease of usage, incorporate the use of an inventive roofing cap or disclose a convenient packaging of stacked caps which may be readily inserted into the magazine of an automatic roofing nailer. Not only does the cap of the present invention lend itself to convenient packaging, but it also provides superior reliability in its ability to be routinely fed through the magazine chamber of the nailing machine for reliable operation, but the configuration which provides the fit, reliability and stackability also provides a cap which delivers superior performance in holding the material to be attached such as roofing felt to the roof or siding materials.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThis invention provides a compact, light-weight cap feeding device that overcomes the problems associated with conventional nail guns and cap feeding devices.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a device, which is used to feed, staple or nail caps having a diameter, includes a base, a container and a shuttle. The base includes cap feeding and cap holding chambers, and a channel connecting the two chambers. The distance between the cap feeding and cap holding chambers is at least twice the diameter of the caps. The container has a generally cylindrical configuration and is substantially perpendicular to the base. The container is operatively associated with the cap feeding chamber and is adapted to feed caps stored in the container into the cap feeding chamber one cap at a time. The shuttle is adapted to slide within the channel of the base and is adapted to move a cap at the cap feeding chamber through the channel towards the cap holding chamber by a distance equal to a diameter of the cap.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a staple or nail gun assembly includes a staple or nail gun and a cap feeding device. The staple or nail gun has a head portion and a handle portion. The head portion has an opening through which a staple or nail is expelled. The handle portion has first and second ends, the first end being attached to the head portion. The cap feeding device includes a base, a container and a shuttle. The base includes cap feeding and cap holding chambers, and a channel connecting the two chambers. The distance between the cap feeding and cap holding chambers is at least twice the diameter of the caps. The container has a generally cylindrical configuration and is substantially perpendicular to the base, facilitating the transfer of caps from the container to the cap feeding chamber. The container is operatively associated with the cap feeding chamber and is adapted to feed caps stored in the container into the cap feeding chamber one cap at a time. The shuttle is adapted to slide within the channel of the base and is adapted to move a cap at the cap feeding chamber through the channel towards the cap holding chamber by a distance equal to a diameter of the cap.
In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, a cap assembly for use with a cap feeding device includes a plurality of concentrically stacked staple or nail caps. Each cap has two opposite surfaces, and at least one of the surfaces of each cap is attached to one of the surfaces of another cap.
The cap feeding device and the staple or nail gun assembly of the present invention are compact and light-weight and thus have a number of advantages over the prior art. The weight of a staple or nail gun assembly in accordance to the present invention is substantially balanced. The weight of the staple or nail gun is mostly located at the front end of the gun handle, while the weight of the cap feeding device, especially the weight of the cap container, is mostly located at the rear end of the gun handle. Further, although the cap container is not placed near the nose of the gun, an actuator with a long displacement is not needed because a cap is not pushed directly from the cap feeding chamber to the cap holding chamber. The cap in the cap feeding chamber is pushed by the shuttle towards the cap holding chamber by a distance equal to the diameter of the cap (if the cap is circular). This cap pushes the cap in front of it in the channel towards the cap holding chamber by the same distance. The last cap is pushed into the cap holding chamber, where a staple or nail penetrates the cap in the cap holding chamber when the gun is triggered. In other words, there are at least three caps in the channel of the base, one at the cap feeding chamber, one at the middle position and one at the cap holding chamber. Each time after the gun is triggered, the caps are moved towards the cap holding chamber by a distance equal to the diameter of the caps. In addition, because most of the components of the cap feeding device are not located near the nose of the gun, an operator is able to see the nose of the gun better, allowing him to more precisely aim the nose of the gun.
Additional objects of the present invention are roofing caps having a disk-like circular shape including a peripheral ridge on the lower surface of the cap and a central portion being in the shape of a truncated cone exhibiting a flat plateau in the central portion of the truncated cone. Alternative embodiments of the cap include a lateral peripheral rim on the upper surface of the cap providing a complimentary surface for receiving the peripheral ridge of the adjacent stacked cap.
In accordance with still further objectives of the present invention are stacking means by which a plurality of caps may be stacked in vertical relation and retained for inventory and shipment and later inserted into the magazine of a nailing machine with a minimum of effort. Alternative embodiments of such stacking means include the caps having a hole centrally disposed in the plateau whereby a plastic cord or wire may be strung through the adjacent holes of stacked caps in which the lower portion of the cord or wire is terminated by a releasable fixture and the upper end may be terminated with such as a loop. Alternative means of stacking caps within the invention include caps having disposed thereon a retaining stud on the upper or lower surface of the cap and the opposite surface having a complementary receiving hole disposed therein. Additional alternative means of stacking caps include a skewer rod through the caps or melting the caps together in a stacked assembly. The inventive caps may similarly be retained in stacks by means of an adhesive, such as a hot melt adhesive, disposed between adjacent surfaces of stacked caps.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the preferred embodiment shown in
As stated above, the cap feeding device 40 includes a base 50, a cap container 60 and a shuttle 80. The base 50 has a cap feeding chamber 52 and a cap holding chamber 54, and a channel 56 connecting the two chambers 52, 54. The container 60 is used to store nail caps 140 and to feed the caps 140 to the cap feeding chamber 52 of the base 50 one cap at a time. The shuttle 80 is operatively associated with the channel 56 of the base 50 and pushes a cap at the cap feeding chamber 52 towards the cap holding chamber 54 through the channel 56.
As illustrated in
In a preferred embodiment shown in
The base 50 has a generally flat, elongated rectangular configuration and is used to transport caps 140 from the cap feeding chamber 52 to the cap holding chamber 54 under the nose 32 of the nail gun 20. The cap feeding and cap holding chambers 52, 54 are disposed respectively near the first and second ends 86, 88 of the base 50. The distance between the cap feeding and cap holding chambers 52, 54 is such that the cap feeding chamber 52 (and thus the cap container 60) is near the rear end 26 of the handle portion 22, and the cap holding chamber 54 is under the nose 32 of the nail gun 20. The cap feeding chamber 52 includes an indentation having a configuration similar to that of the caps 140 for accommodating a cap. In the illustrated embodiment, for example, the cap feeding chamber 52 includes an indentation having a circular configuration which is similar to the flat circular configuration of the caps 140. The cap holding chamber 54 has a generally circular through hole having a configuration similar to that of caps 140.
A cap holding mechanism may be provided to hold a cap in the cap holding chamber 54 and to allow a cap to go through the cap holding chamber 54 when a nail is ejected through the nose 32 of the nail gun 20 and strikes the cap. The cap holding mechanism 53 used in the illustrated embodiment is shown in
The channel 56 extends between the cap feeding chamber 52 and the cap holding chamber 54. At the cap feeding chamber 52, the channel 56 extends beyond the cap feeding chamber 52 and intersects the first end surface 86 of the base 50 to form an opening 90. Preferably, the bottom surface of the cap feeding chamber 52 is flush with the bottom surface of the channel 56 so that a cap disposed in the cap feeding chamber 52 can be pushed into the channel 56 towards the cap holding chamber 54. At the cap holding chamber 54, the channel 56 does not extend beyond the cap holding chamber 54 so that a cap can only be fed to the cap holding chamber 54 from the channel 56 but not beyond cap holding chamber 54. The channel 56 has a cross section similar to the cross section of the caps 140. For example, the channel 56 in the illustrated embodiment has a rectangular cross section with its width similar to the diameter of the caps 140 and with its height similar to the height of the caps 140. In this way, only one cap can be pushed into the channel 56 from the cap feeding chamber 52, and the channel 56 can accommodate only one cap at any particular position.
As illustrated in
As shown in
The positioning of the valve 110, thus the movement of the piston 108 and the shuttle 80, is coordinated with the relative movement of the nail gun 20 and the cap feeding device 40. The nail gun 20 and the cap feeding device 40 are pivotably attached to each other at a joint 150. A spring 120 disposed between and connected to the nail gun, 20 and the cap feeding device 40 normally biases the cap feeding device 40 and the nail gun 20 against each other and keeps the nose portion 32 of the nail gun 20 apart from the cap holding chamber 54 of the base 50. When the base 50 is placed on a roof surface and the nail gun 20 is pressed towards the base 50, the spring 120 is compressed, allowing the nose portion 32 to be positioned just above the cap holding chamber 54. In this position, the nail gun 20 can be triggered to expel a nail through the opening 34 of the nose 32.
The coordination between the movement of the shuttle 80 and the relative movement between the nail gun 20 and the cap feeding device 40 can be explained while referring to the schematic drawing in
The operation of the nail gun assembly 10, which includes the cap feeding device 40, can be described while referring to
Referring now to
Roofing washer 140 illustrated in varying preferred embodiments in
Referring now to
Because of the various previously mentioned surface features of caps 140 enable a smooth, consistent, reliable feeding of a bottom cap in a stack through a feeding shuttle 80 as illustrated, caps may be conveniently stacked through several inventive means. Cap 140 illustrated in
A third alternative of assembling a stack of caps is illustrated in
Rod 220 further has a grasping loop portion 226. To use this fourth alternative embodiment, the stacked assembly of caps is lowered into the feeding tower or container of a cap gun. The user then grasps the portion 226 while holding the stacked assembly of caps within the cap gun as by using a finger or thumb, and the user then pulls the rod 220 from the stacked assembly of caps, thereby causing the tip 222 and reduced-diameter neck 224 to become disengaged from bottom cap 140a as the entire rod is withdrawn from the stacked assembly of caps, which are left in the gun for subsequent dispensing and nailing by the gun.
The use of a rigid retaining rod 220 as shown in
To create this stacked assembly of caps 140, the caps are preferably stacked within a sled 232 having a hinged lid 234 that opens for loading as shown in
The stacked assembly of caps 140 is thus retained together by the melted portions 230 and can be easily loaded into the feeding tower or container of a cap gun. As the gun dispenses each bottom-most cap, as by a reciprocating shuttle or the like, the plastic material of the melted portion holding the bottommost cap to the adjacent cap above will become broken, and the bottommost cap will become separated from the stacked assembly of caps and will be dispensed.
An advantage of this embodiment is that the stacked assembly of caps can be easily removed as a unit from the feeding tower or container of the cap gun if the gun becomes jammed, so as to permit unjamming of the gun with subsequent reloading of the remaining caps of the stacked assembly. Other prior art solutions and other embodiments do not have this advantage that the caps remain held together in a stacked assembly when removed from the cap gun. A further advantage of this embodiment is that no rod or thermoplastic cord or string is required to hold the stacked assembly of caps together.
Various modifications may be made with respect to caps 140 and the stack retaining mechanisms without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention which is defined by means of the appendant claims. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appendant claims the present invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.
Claims
1: A stacked assembly of roofing caps for use with a cap feeding device and adapted for use with a fastener having an elongated shank for securing a roof member to a roof deck, said assembly comprising a plurality of coaxially stacked said roofing caps, each said roofing cap having two opposite surfaces, said two opposite surfaces being an upper surface and a lower surface, wherein each said roofing cap has a centrally-disposed connecting stud extending upwardly from said upper surface a distance of less than one-half the thickness of said roofing cap between said upper and lower surfaces, and said lower surface has disposed therein a centrally-disposed complementary hole in said lower surface, said connecting stud of one of said roofing caps being received in a frictional fit within said complementary hole of another of said roofing caps when said one of said roofing caps and said another of said roofing caps are placed in coaxially stacked relation.
2: A stacked assembly of roofing caps for use with a cap feeding device and adapted for use with a fastener having an elongated shank for securing a roof member to a roof deck, said assembly comprising a plurality of coaxially stacked said roofing caps, each said roofing cap having two opposite surfaces; and at least one of the surfaces of each roofing cap being removably glued to one of said surfaces of another said roofing cap.
3: A stacked assembly of roofing caps for use with a cap feeding device and adapted for use with a fastener having an elongated shank for securing a roof member to a roof deck, said assembly comprising a plurality of coaxially stacked said roofing caps, said stacked assembly being disposed within a cylindrical tube having a length at least as long as said stacked assembly, said roofing caps being selectively retained within said cylindrical tube at one end of said tube.
4: The stacked assembly as recited in claim 3, wherein said cylindrical tube includes selectively-deformable inwardly-extending flanges at said one end of said tube, said flanges being of a length to secure said caps from exiting said tube at said one end of said tube prior to an axial force being exerted on said stacked assembly sufficient to deform said flanges in the direction of said one end.
5: The stacked assembly as recited in claim 3, wherein said roofing caps are selectively retained within said cylindrical tube at said one end by an adhesive label thereat.
6: A stacked assembly of plastic roofing caps for use with a cap feeding device and adapted for use with a fastener having an elongated shank for securing a roof member to a roof deck, said assembly comprising a plurality of coaxially stacked said plastic roofing caps, wherein adjacent caps are joined together at a melted outer circumferential portion thereof.
7: A stacked assembly of roofing caps for use with a cap feeding device and adapted for use with a fastener having an elongated shank for securing a roof member to a roof deck, said assembly comprising a plurality of coaxially stacked said roofing caps having two opposite surfaces, said two opposite surfaces being an upper surface and a lower surface, each said roofing cap having a centrally-located orifice extending therethrough from said upper surface to said lower surface; said stacked assembly of roofing caps including upper caps and further including a bottommost cap whose centrally-located orifice has a smaller diameter relative to that of said centrally-located orifices of said upper caps; said stacked assembly of roofing caps including a rigid rod being disposed through said centrally-located orifices of said roofing caps, said rod having a tip of a larger diameter than said smaller diameter of said centrally-located orifice of said bottommost cap and said rod having a neck adjacent said tip and said neck having a reduced diameter relative to said larger diameter of said tip, said neck being received within said centrally-located orifice of said bottommost cap.
8: A method of forming a coaxially-stacked assembly of a plurality of plastic roofing caps for use with a cap feeding device and adapted for use with a fastener having an elongated shank for securing a roof member to a roof deck, wherein adjacent caps are joined together at a melted outer circumferential portion thereof, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a stacked assembly of plastic roofing caps;
- (b) providing a heating means selected from the group consisting of a flame, a laser, hot air, and a heating element; and
- (c) using said heating means to heat said stacked assembly of plastic roofing caps along a longitudinal portion thereof such that adjacent caps become meltingly held together at said melted outer circumferential portion thereof.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 22, 2006
Publication Date: Nov 9, 2006
Applicant: PneuTools, Incorporated (Memphis, TN)
Inventor: Frederick Lamb (McCalla, AL)
Application Number: 11/473,509
International Classification: F16B 43/00 (20060101);