Field of the invention

The invention relates to a device for simultaneous attachment and folding into a low flange of at least a part of an end portion of a connecting tongue of brackets for roofing sheet to an underlay.

Background of the invention

When covering a roof with plate or sheet coverage the plates/ sheets are attached to an under-roofing, for example, by preferably brackets. These brackets are attached at regular distance along the low flange of the plates/sheets and are nailed or screwed to the under-roofing. The bracket is

provided with a connecting tongue the end portion of which is folded into the low flange to thus secure respective plate/ sheet to the under-roofing . Over this low flange with attached bracket is placed the high flange of next adjacent

plate/sheet. Then the high and low flanges are folded

together . The folding in of the free end/end portion of the connecting tongue is difficult to make by hand, since large forces are needed, and is made by means of tools.

By the Swedish document SE 528 744 C2 it is known a bracket for roofing sheet having a connecting tongue whose free part is substantially U-shaped and whose one leg/end portion has a slit. This slit makes it possible to divide the end portion of the connecting tongue into two parts, thereby facilitating a manual folding of one of these two parts into the low flange. This can be done by little force and without tools. The other part is folded in in connection with the folding together of the high and low flange.

A disadvantage of this method of attaching plate or sheet coverage for covering a roof by means of brackets is that the fastening will be divided in two operations, i.e. first the attachment of the bracket itself to the underlay/under-roofing and then folding in of at least one part of the end portion of the connecting tongue into the low flange, which increases the costs for roof covering. Summary of the invention

The object of the invention is to provide a device by means of which it is possible to simultaneously with the attachment, preferably by screwing or nailing, of the bracket to the under-roofing also folding at least a part of the end portion of the connecting tongue into the low flange.

This object is achieved by a device for simultaneous

attachment and folding into a low flange of plate or sheet coverage of at least a part of an end portion of a connecting tongue of a bracket for roofing sheet to an underlay,

characterized in that the device comprises a hollow

longitudinal housing, at a first end of which is arranged a fixed or detachably mounted driving apparatus and at a second end of which is arranged an elongated hollow means, which is axially displaceable in the housing and which projects beyond the second end of the housing, the projecting end of the hollow means is provided with a folding device comprising a pivotably mounted folding arm, the folding of at least a part of the end portion of the connecting tongue is adapted to be achieved by an axial displacement between the housing and the folding device against each other, when the folding device is pressed against the underlay, a first end of the folding arm is given a radial motion by means of an actuation means arranged at the second end of the housing, so that said first end of the folding arm folds into the low flange at least a part of an end portion of the connecting tongue of the bracket mounted in the folding device while the bracket being attached to the underlay.

Brief description of drawings The inventions is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, on which

- Figure 1 is a side view of a device according to the

invention by means of which it is possible to simultaneously with the attachment of a bracket for a roofing sheet also achieve folding in of at least a part of an end portion of the connecting tongue of a bracket into the low flange,

- Figure 2 is a further side view of the device in Figure 1,

- Figure 3 is another side view of the device in Figure 1, and

- Figure 4 is a view from below of the device in Figures 1-3. Description of preferred embodiments

As shown in Figures 1-3 a device for simultaneously fastening and folding into a low flange of at least a part of an end portion of the connecting tongue of a bracket (not shown) at roofing sheet comprises a hollow elongated housing 1, a first end 2 of which, in a preferred embodiment, is provided with a socket 3 for detachable connection to a driving apparatus (not shown) , preferably in a form of an electric screw driver or a nailer. It is obvious that, in another embodiment, the driving apparatus can be fixedly attached to the housing 1. At a second end 4 of the housing an elongated hollow means 5 is arranged, which is axially displaceably arranged in the housing 1. The means 5 can be made in the form of a shaft 5, which projects outside the second end 4 of the housing. At the end of the hollow means projecting out of the housing is arranged a folding device 10, which includes a pivotable folding arm 11.

The bracket for roofing sheet, which preferably are used together with the device according to the invention, will not be described in more detail below, since it is described in the above-mentioned patent document.

In a preferred embodiment the driving apparatus is a driving apparatus provided with a rotatable driving shaft, which can be adapted to be connected to either a long bits (not shown) or an extension shaft (not shown) , which extends through the housing 1, the hollow means 5 and into a through hole 15 in the folding device 10 (Figure 4) . In the case of the extension shaft it can either be provided with a suitable screwing means adapted for the screw which is pre-mounted in the bracket or a bits holder, in which a suitable bits for the pre-mounted screw is mounted. It should be noted that the holes in the hollow housing 1, the hollow means 5 and the folding device 10 are in line with each other.

When attaching the bracket to an underlay a folding in of at least a part of the end portion of the connecting tongue is carried out simultaneously. This is accomplished by an axial displacement between the housing 1 and the folding device 10 against each other, when the folding device is pressed against an underlay (not shown) , such as an under-roofing, a first end 11a of the folding arm 11 is given a radial movement by means of an actuation means 6 arranged at the second end 4 of the housing, so that said first end folds in at least a part of the end portion of the connecting tongue of a bracket mounted in the folding device into the low flange.

In the case of the driving apparatus being a driving apparatus having a rotatable driving shaft the axial displacement between the housing and the folding device 10 will cause the screwing means/bits to engage the screw which is pre-mounted in the bracket, and as the screw is screwed into the underlay the actuation means 6 will progressively effect the folding arm for corresponding progressive folding of at least a part of the end portion of the connecting tongue into the low flange .

The bracket is adapted to be detachably attached to the folding device 10 by clamping the connecting tongue of the bracket between a surface 20 of the folding device 10 and a first end 11a of the folding arm, and/or the bracket is secured to the folding device using at least one magnet 12 (Figure 2) .

Moreover, as can be seen from Figure 1, the folding device 10 is provided with an arm 17 projecting perpendicular to the axial direction of the hollow means 5 to form a substantially L-shaped body as seen in cross section. The folding arm 11 is pivotably mounted to the end of the arm 17 by a pin 13, about at its centre. From Figures 1-3 it can be seen that the second end 4 of the housing 1 is provided with an actuation means 6 having a first surface 7, preferably an essentially conically shaped surface 7, directed towards the folding device 10. At an axial displacement between the housing 1 and the folding device 10 towards each other the conically shaped surface 7 is adapted to come into contact with a second end lib of the folding arm 11 so as to achieve the radial movement of the first end 11a of the folding arm towards the folding device. The second end lib of the folding arm 11 has a second surface 11c, and more particularly a rounded surface 11c as seen in the axial direction, said surface being adapted to cooperate with the conically shaped surface 7 of the actuation means 6, when the housing 1 is pressed against the folding device 10 so as to achieve a radial motion of the first end 11a of the folding arm 11 and thereby folding of at least a part of the end portion of the connecting tongue of the bracket into the low flange. The folding arm 11 is biased by means of a spring (not shown) towards its starting position, which is shown in Figure 1, and the hollow means is biased towards its ejected position from the housing. The housing 1 and the hollow means 5 can thus perform a telescope motion relative to each other.

It is obvious for the man skilled in the art that the radial motion of the first end 11a of the folding arm 11 can be made by a different method than the one that has been specified above, such as that the above-mentioned interacting first surface 7 and second surface 11c are replaced by interacting toothed surfaces or a surface of the actuation means, for instance, which cooperates with a roller, a wheel or

corresponding means of the folding arm. It is also possible to adapt instead the substantially conically shaped surface in the form of the second surface 11c instead of the first surface 7, or to arrange conically shaped surfaces at both the first and the second surfaces.

From figure 3 it can be seen that the axial displacement of the hollow means 5 in the housing 1 is limited by preferably a stop means 18, preferably a screw 18, which is adapted to run in a groove formed in the housing 1, between the axial end surfaces of the groove. To prevent the bracket from turning when the bracket is attached to the underlay, the surface of the folding device directed towards the underlay is provided with at least one, preferably two, guide pins 16 adapted to cooperate with corresponding guide holes in the bracket.