State of the art Stapling guns of the type described above are already known. However, the disadvantage of these is that since the magazine rails are moved relative to each other between the loading position and the operating position, the mounting of the movably attached rail in the stapling gun body must be manufactured to a smaller tolerance, which means that, in the operating position, the rails are not fixed exactly relative to each other in the lateral direction, as a result of which the distance between the rails may vary depending on the position assumed by them relative to each other when they are moved to the operating position. This discrepancy may vary depending on the accuracy to which the rails have been manufactured or on how worn they have become and, in those cases in which the rails have assumed a position in which their relative misalignment is a maximum, may easily cause a situation, when the gun is used to eject nails, in which the

nails, when fed forward by the feeding device at the front end of the rails, may assume a side-by-side position in which they become wedged against each other, causing the nails to jam and preventing them from being fed forward and reaching the outlet opening. This means that the stapling gun becomes jammed and fails to operate satisfactorily, which is highly inconvenient to the user.

Problem Thus, there exists a need to provide a magazine for a stapling gun of a design such that the magazine rails, when moved to the operating position, are located relative to each other in a lateral position that cannot vary due to the manufacturing tolerance or wear of the rails.

Solution The invention now proposed overcomes the problems described by means of a magazine of the type described in the introduction, which is characterised in that the front ends of the rails, when the second rail is moved to the operating position, are retained in a fixed lateral position relative to each other by means of fixing devices arranged on the rails, at least one of which devices is flexible.

The present invention is also characterised in that the fixing devices incorporate a contact boss provided on a first wall of the second rail and a flexible tab provided on the second wall of the second rail, which tab and contact boss extend in an outward direction from the respective walls, in that the distance between the respective outer edges of the contact boss and tab is marginally greater than the distance between the inner surfaces of the first and second walls respectively, of the first rail, and in that the contact boss comes into contact with one of the inner surfaces of the first rail and the tab into flexible contact with the other inner surface of the said rail when the rails are brought together into the operating position.

The present invention is further characterised in that the distance between the respective outer edges of the tab and contact boss is 0.05-0. 3 mm greater than that between the inner walls of the first rail.

The present invention is yet further characterised in that the said distance is 0.1-0. 2 mm greater than that between the inner walls of the first rail.

Brief description of figures The invention will hereinafter be described with reference to the appended figures, of which: Fig. 1 is a general view of a stapling gun in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a view showing the stapling gun in Fig. 1 from underneath; Fig. 3 is a view corresponding to Fig. 2 in which the magazine rails have been separated into a loading position; Fig. 4 is a view of the first magazine rail forming part of the invention; Fig. 5 is a view of the second magazine rail forming part of in the invention; Fig. 6 is a view showing fastening elements in the form of nails; Fig. 7 is a view showing fastening elements in the form of staples; Fig. 8 is a view of the second magazine rail from the front; Fig. 9 is a view of the first magazine rail from the front; Fig. 10 is a view of the first and second magazine rails from the front, with the rails moved to the operating position and loaded with nails; Fig. 11 is a view of the magazine rails at an angle from the front and in the operating position, and Fig. 12 is a view corresponding to Fig. 11 in which the rails have been moved in the direction of the loading position.

Preferred embodiment Fig. 1 shows a stapling gun 1 placed on a workpiece 2. The stapling gun comprises a gun body 3 and an operating lever 4. The lever is connected in known manner to a driver 5, which driver and connection are indicated only by dashed lines in the figure. The operating lever 4 is supported on the pivot pin 6, which is also indicated by a dashed line, and the driver is operated by the lever 4. Downward movement of the operating lever towards the stapling gun body raises the driver in the direction of the double arrow U and, in an upper position, the driver is disengaged from the lever and is driven downward in the direction of the double arrow U by a spring (not shown in the figure), which is tensioned as the driver is raised. The front of the stapling gun is indicated by the figure 7 and its rear edge by the figure 8.

Figs. 2 and 3, which show the stapling gun from underneath, show the magazine 9, which comprises a first rail 10 and a second rail 11. In Fig. 2, the rails have been brought together into an operating position and in Fig. 3,

rail 11 has been retracted into a loading position in which loading of fastening elements can take place. The fastening elements are shown in Figs. 6 and 7 and, as the figures show, may consist either of nails 12 or staples 13. In the figures, the fastening elements are shown assembled in stack form. Figs. 2 and 3 also show an outlet opening 14 arranged at the front end of the stapling gun, through which opening the fastening elements are expelled by the driver 5. The outlet opening may form part of the rails or may be incorporated in the stapling gun body 3, in which case the rails are located very close to the opening.

Figs. 4 and 9 show the first rail 10. In Fig. 4, the rail is shown from the side facing the underside of the stapling gun and, in Fig. 9, the rail is shown in cross section from the side facing the front end of the stapling gun 7. The figures show that the rail is a channel section consisting of a first wall 15 and a second wall 16 joined by an intermediate wall 17, which walls form a cavity 18. The intermediate wall 17 is provided with a first cylindrical hole 19 and a second cylindrical hole 20, as well as with a rectangular hole 21 whose function will be clear from the description below.

Figs. 5 and 8 shows the second rail 11. In Fig. 5, the rail is shown from the side which is entered in the cavity 18 of the first rail 10 when the rails are brought together into the operating position and, in Fig. 8, the rail is shown in cross section as seen from the front. As shown in Fig. 8, the second rail is also a channel section consisting of a first wall 22 and a second wall 23 joined by an intermediate wall 24. The figures further show that the walls 22 and 23 terminate respectively in outward-facing flanges 25 and 26, whose function will be clear from the description below. The rail is loaded with fastening elements in the form of nails 12 which, by means of a feeding device 27 mounted on the rail 11 in known manner, feeds the nails to the front end of the rail. Fig. 5 further shows that the rear end of the rail is provided with a clip 28, whose function will be described below.

Figs. 2-5 show that the first rail 10 is permanently attached to the stapling gun body 3 by securing devices 29 using holes 19 and 20. Although only one securing device is shown in the figures, it is obvious that a second securing device is used to secure the rail permanently to the stapling gun body using hole 20. The second rail 11 is located with its channel section in the cavity 18 of the first rail and connected movably to the stapling gun body by the fact that the flanges 25 and 26 run respectively in known

manner in guide grooves 30,31 provided in the stapling gun body, which grooves are indicated only by dashed lines in Figs. 2 and 3. When the second rail 11 is moved to the position shown in Fig. 2, the rail is secured in the longitudinal direction in this position relative to the first rail by means of the clip 28, which engages in the opening 21 in the first rail 10.

Figs. 8-10 show the rails in cross section, viewed from the front end of the rails. The first wall 22 of the second rail is provided with a contact boss 32, which extends outward from the wall, and the second wall 23 of the rail is provided with a tab 33, which extends outward from the wall in a direction opposite to that of the contact boss. The distance between the respective outer edges of the contact boss and tab is indicated by b. In Fig. 9, the distance between the inner surfaces 34 and 35 of the first and second walls, 15 and 16 respectively, is indicated by B. Fig. 10 shows the relationship between the first and second rail when the second rail is moved to the operating position. The figure shows that a space 36 is formed between the rails and that fastening elements in the form of nails 12 are positioned in this space. The figure also shows that since the contact boss 32 is in contact with the inner surface 34 of the wall 15 and that the tab 33 is in contact with the inner surface 35 of the wall 16, the second rail 11 is fixed positively in the lateral direction relative to the first rail 10, which direction is indicated by the double arrow S in Fig. 10. Thus, the contact boss 32 and tab 33 and the walls 15 and 16 respectively act as fixing devices to determine the relative lateral positioning of the rails.

Figs. 11-12 show how the second rail is moved to the operating position. In Fig. 12, the second rail has been moved backward in the manner shown in Fig. 3 and in Fig. 11, the rail has been moved to the operating position in the guide slots 30,31 (not shown in the figure) and, in this position, the tab 33 has yielded inward in a flexible manner towards the cavity 18 in the rail 10, creating flexible contact between the wall and tab. Making the distance b 0.05 to 0.3 mm greater than the distance B ensures that the second rail is fixed securely relative to the first rail and it has been shown to be particularly advantageous to make the distance 0.1-0. 2 mm greater.

As shown in Fig. 5, the front edge of the contact boss 32 is provided with a radius R which facilitates movement of the second rail to the operating position.

In the figures, the second rail is shown movably connected to the stapling gun body by a sliding arrangement. The second rail may, however, without departing from the concept of the invention, be pivotably connected to the stapling gun body and may, therefore, be swung into the operating position.

Furthermore, it is not necessary to take up the full difference in size between the rails by flexing of the tab since the some of the difference can also be taken up by slight flexing of the wall 22 in the direction of the tab wall 23.