APPARATUS FOR ANCHORING FASTENERS MOUNTED IN A STRIP AND STRIP FOR RECEIVING THE FASTENERS FOR THE APPARATUS

The- invention relates to an apparatus for anchoring fasteners mounted in a strip, comprising, upstream of a mouth, a loader for receiving a strip of fasteners, having means for feeding fasteners automatically to the mouth of the apparatus.

The loader comprises a magazine extending inside a handle roughly perpendicular to the axis of the apparatus, meaning the axis of its gun.

The magazine has a channel for receiving a strip of fasteners and a slider for pushing the strip. The slider slides on two flanges extending lengthwise and projecting t inwards into the magazine. Fixed to the rear of the slider, to its portion furthest from the axis of the apparatus, is one end of a restoring spring for moving the slider. The other end of the spring is attached to a so-called holder component which is pushed against the housing of the apparatus by the shell of the handgrip/loader, thus unwinding the spring in part above the fasteners present in the loader. Thus, as the spring attempts to wind itself up to the front of the loader, near the axis of the apparatus, the slider tends to push the strip of fasteners towards the axis of the apparatus.

The strip of fasteners comprises a strip of jackets connected together and containing the fasteners for anchoring, and this strip is inserted into the magazine

channel in a simple manner, sideways, moving inwards from •the outside, through the opening of the channel.

If the holder guides the fasteners from above them, in the sense of guiding their heads, it has been found that the slider restoring spring is unwound partly above the heads of some of the fasteners and therefore acts somewhat unexpectedly as a barrier for these fasteners which may rise towards it. However, it is a cause of deterioration to the spring and therefore of poor operation of the apparatus. Either way, the action of the strip during firing is uncertain and can result in poor operation of the apparatus.

It is an object of the invention of the present application to solve this difficulty.

For this purpose, it relates firstly to an apparatus for anchoring fasteners mounted in a strip, comprising, upstream of a mouth, a loader having a channel for receiving a strip of fasteners and open to allow the sideways insertion of a slider for pushing the strip towards the mouth and restoring means for pushing the slider towards the mouth, which apparatus is characterized in that the channel for receiving the strip has at least one inward-projecting segment to act as a lateral guide rail for the strip.

The strip can therefore no longer move, which reduces the risks of defective functioning.

The guide segment preferably extends lengthwise in the channel along a length of strip holding several fasteners .

The invention also relates to a jacket-receiving strip suitable for the apparatus of the invention.

Conventional strips therefore comprise a succession of holding jackets joined together in single file, each having a holding sleeve between two collars which guide the fasteners into the mouth, or fastener guide, of the apparatus, the diameter of the collars being approximately equal to the width of the receiving channel of the loader.

Because of the lateral insertion of the strips into the channel of the magazine of the loader of the apparatus of the invention, on the one hand, and because of the guide segment projecting into the channel, on the other hand, the insertion of a strip into the loader would no longer be possible.

The invention therefore also relates to a strip for receiving anchor fasteners for the apparatus of the invention, comprising a plurality of holding jackets joined together in single file, each comprising a sleeve for holding a fastener between two guide collars, which strip is characterized in that the homologous collars of a succession of jackets within the strip are trimmed on one side.

Being trimmed, the strip can be inserted into the channel of the magazine of the loader and get past the lateral guide projection before being pushed toward the fastener guide and locked in place by the guide projection in the manner of a bayonet.

To allow the strip to be inserted either way round, the trimmed collars are trimmed on two approximately diametrically opposite sides.

Advantageously, the succession of jackets with trimmed collars extends between two equal-length successions of jackets with untrimmed collars for convenient positioning of the strip in the magazine.

A clearer understanding of the invention will be gained from the following description of the preferred embodiment of the apparatus and of the strip of jackets of the invention, with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which

- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the loader, including a small area cut away, and also showing the housing of the apparatus;

- Figure 2 is a perspective view of the shell of the handgrip of the loader;

- Figure 3 is a perspective view of the slider;

- Figure 4 is a perspective view of the loader cap;

- Figure 5 is a perspective view of the restoring spring of the slider;

- Figure 6 is a perspective view of the strip of jackets of the invention, suitable for ^' the apparatus shown in

Figures 1 - 5; and

- Figure 7 is a perspective view of the strip of Figure 6, with the fasteners held in the jackets.

The apparatus shown in the drawing, having axis 1, comprises a housing 2, in which are mounted a gun and a gun holder as well as, at the front, a mouth or fastener guide. Of the housing 2, the front end part 3, in which the fastener guide is housed and from which it projects, is continued approximately at right angles by a loader 4.

The loader 4 comprises a feed magazine 5 mounted on a front handgrip base 6 and covered, when in operation, by a rear shell 7 which closes and protects the magazine and is shaped to be gripped by the hand. The housing front part 3 and the loader 4 open into each other.

The magazine 5 basically consists of a channel 13 with two parallel walls 8, 9 from which there extend inwards two flanges 10, 11 acting as guide rails for a slider 12, on the one hand, and as supports for the fastener 43 holding jackets of a loading strip 40, on the other. The channel 13 opens laterally towards the rear of the apparatus via a window 14 through which a strip can be inserted.

Between the magazine 5 and its base 6 there extend two flanges 15, -16 along which the shell 7 can slide to allow loading of a strip or to close the magazine again before using the apparatus.

A holder 17 is mounted so as to slide along the channel 13 by two outward-projecting flanges 18, 19 on the walls 8, 9 of the channel that are essentially continuations of the inward flanges 10, 11, and by two feet 20 with runners 21 on the cap.

The holder 17 has two sideways studs 24 designed to slide in two slots 25 in the handgrip shell 7 and the two components are put together, the two components being held in this position by a pin driven through the orifices 26 and 27 of two pairs of side faces 28 and 29, of the cap and of the shell, respectively.

The slider 12 slides along the channel 13 guided by the flanges 10, 11 situated between two pairs of lengthwise external ribs 30, 31 running along the two side walls 32, 33 of the slider.

The slider 12 has a pushing leg 34, for pushing a strip of fasteners received in the channel towards the axis 1 of the apparatus and two sideways-projecting rear fins

35, 36 on which the side faces 28 of the holder bear so as to push the slider towards the far end of the channel, away from its opening into the fastener guide, and thus enable a strip of fasteners to be inserted through the window 14 into the channel 13.

Lastly, one end 38 of a spiral spring 37 is fixed to the rear of the slider 12, in this case beyond the two- fins 35, 36, the remainder of the spring 39 being housed between the side faces 28 of the holder 17 where it is retained by the pin driven through the orifices 26, 27 of both the holder 17 and the handgrip shell 7.

The apparatus described above is designed to receive strips of fasteners such as will now be described.

The strip 40 comprises a string of holding jackets 41 joined together in single file, each jacket comprising a sleeve 42 for holding a fastener 43. The sleeve is positioned between two guide collars 44, 45, and the head 46 of the fastener is able to rest on one 44 of the two collars .

The homologous collars 45, meaning collars basically situated in a common plane, of a succession of jackets, and in the present case of four central jackets, the strip here comprising ten jackets, are trimmed in the present case on both sides, with their edges 47 no longer curvilinear but planar and basically in a common plane.

Once the fasteners have been inserted, the trimmed collars are those 45 which are furthest from the collars 44 near the heads 46 of the fasteners 43.

It was indicated earlier that the apparatus is designed to receive strips such as that described above. Here, on the inside face 50 of the wall 8 of the channel 13, is a projecting segment 51, its length approximately equal to

the length of the succession of jackets 41 having the trimmed collars 45, its thickness approximately equal to the depth trimmed off the circular-sector collars 45, and its width approximately equal to the height of the sleeves 42 of the jackets 41. The guide segment 51 projects at a position on the wall 8 which, as will be seen, allows a strip to be fitted bayonet-fashion.

It will be observed that it is helpful if this segment is chamfered on its rear edge 52 to facilitate the insertion of strips into the magazine.

Having described the apparatus and a strip of fasteners, we now turn to the operation of the apparatus and its loader.

With the holder 17 being in contact with the walls 8, 9 of the channel 13 of the magazine 5 of the apparatus loader 4 on the one hand, and connected to the shell/handgrip 7 on the other, and with the slider 12 mounted in the channel 13 and connected to the holder 17 by the spring 37, the operator slides the handgrip 7. to the end of the loader furthest from the housing 2, 3 to expose the magazine loading window 14.

The operator takes a strip 40 and inserts it into the channel 13, through the window 14, in such a way that the shanks of the jackets 43 are forwards, the trimmed edges 47 of the collars 45 of the sleeves 41 being - before insertion (which is also ahead of the collars 44) - more or less lined up with the projecting segment 51.

After passing the projecting segment 51, the strip makes contact with the inward flanges 10, 11 of the channel.

The operator then simply pushes the shell handgrip 7 towards the axis 1 against the housing 2, 3, pushing with it the holder 17 which causes the spring 37 to unwind and forces the leg 34 of the slider 12 against the strip 40, moving the strip along the flanges towards the axis 1 of the apparatus, so that the projecting segment 51 contacts the collars of untrimmed jackets, so locking the strip in the channel in the manner of a bayonet mounting.

The projecting segment 51 acts as a guide rail for the strip 40, which can now move only in the direction of insertion into the fastener guide.

It will be observed that because the collars 45 of the jackets 41 are trimmed on both sides, it is possible to insert the strip either way into the magazine.

It will be realized too that two opposing inward- projecting segments could be provided in the receiving channel .