FASTENED The present invention relates to an implement for fastening tool intended to serve as an interface between a fastener driven by the tool and a part to be fastened, through the fastener, on a support material.

There are commonly used as implements washers being located between the head of the fastener and the part to be fastened so as including to increase the bearing surface and to distribute the tightening effort on the part.

In a preferential, although non exclusive example of the invention, the fastener is a nail and the part to be fastened may be a tile. Thus, such a washer avoids in addition the direct contact of the nail head with the tile and, consequently, the chipping risks for the latter further to the forced ejection of the nail by the fastening tool (nailing machine) and the fastening thereof into the support material, such as a roof batten, through the tile.

The problem with such washer-type implements is that the operator must, at each firing of the nailing machine, manually position the washer on the tile, at the selected place, and hold it in place until the moment where it abuts the tool nose against the external face of the washer.

It then often occurs that the operator moves somewhat the washer with respect to the selected place (being able to be defined by a hole arranged in the tile for passing the nail rod), and/or the tool with respect to the washer, so that the latter (the washer and the tool) are neither any longer correctly aligned nor faced towards the selected place, thereby leading to an inappropriate eccentric fastening and the tile degradation. The operator can even let drop the washer that should be positioned again on the right place.

An object of the present invention is to remedy such problem and the resulting disadvantages.

With this end in view, the implement for fastening tool to fasten a part to be fastened on a support material, the tool comprising a receiving nose for a fastener adapted to be driven by the tool in the support material through the part to be fastened, is remarkable in that it is arranged to be introduced into the nose, to serve as a fastener with respect to the tool and to provide the centring of the fastener through the part to be fastened to the support.

Thus, the implement before firing is held in the tool nose, avoiding to lose it, and serves as an intermediate centring member with respect to the tool (and then to the fastener) and the part to be fastened at the firing time, thereby guaranteeing in the example the alignment between the tool and the hole in the tile and, therefore, the centring of the hole with respect to the hole in the tile.

Moreover, the implement according to the invention is also arranged to serve as a damper between the tool and the part to be fastened at the firing time upon the fastening of the fastener, and to provide sealing between the part and the fastener when the latter is fastened to the support material.

Thus, to the holding and centring functions are added the damping function, avoiding part degradation, and the sealing function after setting the fasteners.

In a preferred exemplary embodiment, the implement presents a longitudinal shape of an axis of revolution and comprises three coaxial portions being able to cooperate respectively with the tool, with the tool and the part, and with the part.

In particular, the first portion can comprise a centring and holding peg being able to cooperate with a receiving housing for the tool nose and to receive the fastener, the second portion, extending the peg, can comprise a collar as a damping and sealing, and the third portion, extending the collar, can comprise a centring plot to cooperate with a passing hole of the part.

Advantageously, the peg is cylindrical and forcedly introduced into the nose housing, guaranteeing centring and tightening, and the plot is conical so as to be engaged into the passing hole of the part, providing insertion facility and self- centring .

For example, the implement is made in an elastically deformable material, which can be a natural or synthetic material, or similar. The important thing is that it is not degraded over the time, after tile setting, including under the sun ray effects .

The invention will be better understood with the help of the following description of an exemplary implement serving as an interface between a fastener and a part to be fastened, in reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein: - Fig. 1 schematically represents a longitudinal section view of an exemplary embodiment of the implement arranged between a fastening tool and the part to be fastened, before the tool being operated; and

- Fig. 2 represents a longitudinal section of the implement after tool operation, the fastener having fastened the part to the support material.

Referring to Fig. 1, the implement 1 according to the invention is inserted between a fastening tool 2 and a part to be fastened 3 on a support material 4, through a fastener 5 intended to be propelled by the tool.

In the exemplary application being described hereinunder, the fastening tool 2 is a nailing machine as known per se, only the nose or front end 6 of which is schematically shown, and the fastener 5 is a nail, only the rod 8 of which is visible and is arranged in a bore 7 of the tool, adapted for guiding and ejecting the nail, ending up in the nose 6. The part to be fastened 3 is a tile with a passing hole 9 for the rod 8 of the nail, and the support material 4 is a roof batten, generally made of wood.

The implement 1 aims at particularly providing a nail centring and supporting function with respect to the tool and the tile, a tile protection function further to the proper nailing and a sealing function between the nail being fastened and the tile.

To do so, the implement 1 structurally presents, in such exemplary embodiment of Fig. 1, a cylindrical revolution shape of an axis A and comprises three successive distinct coaxial portions. A first portion is peg-shaped 10 in a circular section, which is adapted to engage itself into a cylindrical reception housing 11 arranged in the nose 6 of the tool. It can be seen herein that the bore 7 of the tool axially ends up in that reception housing 11 being diametrically larger than the bore.

Such cylindrical peg 10, of a length being lower than the housing depth, is adjusted in the housing so as to be advantageously held in place therein in order that the implement 1, once the peg 10 within the housing, cannot go out of the tool nose. Furthermore, the nail 5 can be previously manually mounted, through the rod 8 thereof, in the crossed face 13 of the peg, and then introduced into the bore 7 (the housing 11 receiving the peg 10), or can come from a usual loader mounted on the tool.

A second portion of the implement 1, extending the first one, is shaped in a collar 12, the section, also circular, of which is larger than the centring and holding peg 10 of the implement. Thus, as can be seen on Fig. 1, such collar 12 abuts, through the transversal face 14 thereof turned to the tool, against the transversal face 15 of the nose, thereby forming a driving abutment for the implement 1 into the tool 2, and provides for the shock absorption upon firing between the propelled nail and the part.

A last third portion of the implement extends in turn the second one, and it is defined by an advantageously conical centring plot 16 from the other transversal face 17 of the collar. The free end 18 of such conical plot 16 has a lower diameter than the passing hole 9 arranged in the tile 3, whereas the opposed end 19 of the plot, on the collar side, has a larger diameter than the hole 9. It can be thus understood that, when the peg 10 is introduced into the housing 11 of the nose so as to hold the implement 1 within the tool, the conical plot 16 can then be easily engaged within the hole 9 by insuring a self-centring of the implement.

Such embodiment of the implement 1 thus guarantees the centring with respect to the tool 2 and the centring with respect to the tile 3, so that, through the two centrings (the cylindrical peg and the conical plot via the implement) thereof, the tool axis and the tile hole axis are substantially confused and aligned on the same longitudinal axis A of the implement .

Consequently, the nail 5 will be thoroughly centred and aligned along such axis, as been shown on Fig. 1 before firing. Moreover, the implement 1 being engaged into the nose 6, it remains within the latter before positioning the conical plot in the tile hole.

To do so, the implement material is preferably elastically deformable and can be an elastomer, being natural or synthetic, but resistant, for such application, to weather conditions, such as the solar rays (UV) . The deformation of the cylindrical peg 10 in the housing 11 thus guarantees the anchoring of the implement 1 to the tool 2.

The firing triggering through the operator acting on the trigger of the tool 2 results in the ejection of the nail 5 from the tool. The rod axially crosses the implement 1, and then the hole 9 of the tile 3 so as to get driven in the batten wood 4, whereas the nail head 20 applies against the transversal face 13 of the peg 10, thereby driving the implement 1.

The latter, under the action of the nail 5, gets deformed, as shown on Fig. 2. Besides the fact that the collar 12 has served as a damper between the tool and the tile, thus allowing the integrity of the latter to be preserved, the deformation of the portions 10, 12, 16 being pressed against each other guarantees a sealing, on the one side, between the fastened nail 5 and the implement 1 and, on the other side, between the tile 3, at the level of the rim 21 of the hole 9, and the implement.

As a reminder, the nail can be come from a loader connected to the tool or can be inserted through its pointed rod in the transversal face of the peg, and then introduced, with the implement, into the tool bore. The functions of centring the tool with the part to be fastened, supporting the fastener, holding the implement in the tool before firing, protecting the part and sealing between the nail and the part are provided in totality by the implement itself.