Abstract: A piston for driving tacks comprises a magazine that holds a series of tacks preferably interconnected in a strip by individual casings that are detachably interconnected in side-by-side relation in the strip. As the strip advances through the magazine, the casings each containing an individual tack, are severed from the strip by a reciprocating driver which grips and advances the tack and casing and drives the tack, and then retracts to the initial position where the advancing strip forces the empty casing from the driver in the direction of strip advance. The driver has a projection thereon that contacts and ejects this empty casing upon the next advance of the driver. The gun is recocked by pneumatic recoil.

Abstract: A screw tightening apparatus comprising a motor-driven tool, a screw magazine for screws affixed to a strip-like carrier, and a screw advancing and tightening means for advancing the screws one at a time to a standby position in which a motor-driven bit may engage the screw for applying the same. A bell crank has a spring arm for advancing the screw strip and a drive arm driven by a projection on a plunger against the force of a feed spring to a cocked position, preparatory to advancement of the screw strip, the cocked position being maintained by a pivoted pawl which has a hook that locks the bell crank in such cocked position. A second projection on the plunger member engages the pawl to effect unlocking thereof near the end of a retracting stroke of the plunger member, whereby the feed spring drives the bell crank to advance the strip. A novel means for unlocking a spring-loaded axially slidable lock sleeve is provided.

Abstract: Apparatus for driving successive fasteners from a package of generally parallel fasteners flexibly serially interconnected in general row formation having a total virgin package weight greatly in excess of that which could be practically manually handled, the apparatus comprising a portable power operated fastener driving device of the type operable to be manually handled by an operator within a workpiece containing limited space, a rotary tray for supporting a coiled package of fasteners at a location spaced horizontally from the limited space within which the device is to be manually handled, and an elongated guide track of a horizontal extent sufficient to extend from the location of the rotary tray to the limited space within which the device is to be manually handled, the guide track being supported at one end in cooperating relation with the rotary tray and connected at its other end with the device for movement thereby in response to the manual handling movement of the device, the supported connection

Abstract: The illustrated apparatus includes a plunger and a cooperable anvil between which a tag and merchandise are positioned and through which a fastener specifically a pin is driven to attach the tag to the merchandise. While the pin is being driven through the tag and merchandise, a movable pin guiding and crimping member moves relative to the plunger, the tag and the pin. The pin is driven firstly through the tag, secondly through the merchandise, thirdly through the merchandise again, fourthly through the tag again, and fifthly through the tag again, and thereupon the movable pin guiding and pin crimping member is moved again to crimp the pin. A bottom tag in a stack is separated by feeding it toward the pinning zone in one machine cycle and the separated tag is positioned between the anvil and the plunger during the early part of the next machine cycle.

Abstract: The barrel assembly for attachment to a standard driving tool includes a sleeve adapted for attachment to the tool, a barrel retractably mounted in the sleeve and a bushing positioned within the sleeve and extending into a barrel bore. The barrel includes aligned entry and exit trackways to accommodate a strip containing fasteners and the bushing is adapted to position the fastener within the bore of the barrel in a first position and then in a second position engage the strip so as to clamp it in place as the driver disengages the fastener therefrom. A carriage assembly can be positioned within the end of the barrel so as to form an internal restrictive bore for the fastener in a first position and an enlarged bore in a second position so as to permit the fastener to pass therethrough.

Abstract: A fastener feed assembly for a tool such as a power screwdriver having a drive member such as a rotatable bit includes a base fixed to the tool and a nose assembly slidably related to the base. The nose assembly includes a workpiece engaging surface, and when the tool is moved toward the workpiece during a fastener driving operation, the base moves toward the nose assembly. A return spring separates the base and nose assembly when the tool is withdrawn away from the workpiece. A strip of fasteners is fed from a magazine along a feed path through the nose assembly with sequential fasteners located in a drive position. Normally the drive member is spaced from a fastener in the drive position. During movement of the tool toward the workpiece in a driving operation, the drive member moves into engagement with a fastener in the drive position, and then continues to move in order to drive the fastener into the workpiece. A pawl is engageable with the strip in order to advance the strip along the feed path.

Abstract: An apparatus for driving nails having an electrical power unit removably connected to a nail holding cartridge is disclosed. The power unit has an electric motor which drives a geared cylinder or drum. Gears on the drum intermesh with an elongated driven member having a nail engaging portion on one end thereof and being controlled in its longitudinal movement ultimately by the movment of the motor and directly by the geared drum. A barrel attached to the nail cartridge is adapted to receive nails, one at a time, from an automatic nail feeding mechanism also located in the nail cartridge. A nail holding mechanism disposed within the barrel insures that the nail is held straight throughout the nail driving operation. A nail countersinking attachment is provided for countersinking nails a predetermined distance into a nail driving material. Also, an extension attachment is provided to allow nails to be driven less than completely into a nail driving material by a predetermined amount.

Abstract: A strip of nails for use in a rapid-acting driving apparatus which includes a plurality of nails with shanks in a side-by-side closely spaced parallel array. The shanks of each of the nails in the array are secured together by a carrier of a single-component, metal-adherent plastic defining uniform envelopes for opposed sections of the periphery of each nail shank. Within the gaps between the shanks, adjacent envelopes form opposed spaced generally V-shaped folds which act as sites for easy shearing of a nail from the strip. The bond between the plastic and the nail shank is greater than the shear resistance of the carrier material between two adjacent fasteners and greater than the resistance of the workpiece encountered when fastener and carrier material penetrate the same, with the result that all the material that holds the fastener together enters the workpiece.

Abstract: A pneumatically operated nailing machine for driving nails by a main piston operated by compressed air. A nail feeding piston is actuated by compressed air, synchronous with the movement of the main piston. To make the feeding of nails smooth, a device to accelerate evacuation of compressed air from the nail feeding piston is attached and the nail feeding piston is resiliently engaged with a nail feeding pawl. The front end of the nail feeding pawl is provided with a cutting edge for cutting a steel wire connecting the nails. A nail magazine is provided with a flat nail placing plate so that the nails are always fed to a fixed position, and against which each of the contained nails is resiliently pressed. The fitting position of the nail placing plate is changeable to permit the use of nails of different lengths.

Abstract: A method and means for inserting pins into predetermined locations of a printed circuit; said means are carried along by an adhesive strip and after removal of the latter, the foremost pin drops into horizontal registry with a pusher member urging it into vertical registry with a funnel-shaped member brought over the desired location of the circuit while a pneumatic circuit operating for each pin insertion drives said foremost pin through the funnel-shaped member into said location.

Abstract: A fastener for cloth and similar materials is secured thereto by means of apparatus which includes an elongated member which is tempered in the form of a coil. Absent restraint the coil will move in a direction which is tangential to the envelope of the coil and carry therewith portions of the fastener and in cooperation with a base and a punch the members of the fastener are assembled.

Abstract: A fastener feed assembly for a tool such as a power screwdriver having a drive member such as a rotatable bit includes a base fixed to the tool and a nose assembly slidably related to the base. The nose assembly includes a workpiece engaging surface, and when the tool is moved toward the workpiece during a fastener driving operation, the base moves toward the nose assembly. A return spring separates the base and nose assembly when the tool is withdrawn away from the workpiece. A strip of fasteners is fed from a magazine along a feed path through the nose assembly with sequential fasteners located in a drive position. Normally the drive member is spaced from a fastener in the drive position. During movement of the tool toward the workpiece in a driving operation, the drive member moves into engagement with a fastener in the drive position, and then continues to move in order to drive the fastener into the workpiece. A pawl is engageable with the strip in order to advance the strip along the feed path.