US3612378A

US3612378A - Wing-headed fasteners and tool attachments for applying fasteners

Info

Publication number: US3612378A
Application number: US800362A
Authority: US
Inventors: Richard W Pabich
Original assignee: Acme Lane Co Inc
Current assignee: Acme Lane Co Inc
Priority date: 1967-11-24
Filing date: 1969-02-12
Publication date: 1971-10-12
Anticipated expiration: 1988-10-12
Also published as: US3727821A

Abstract

Tool attachments associated with air tools that force nails or other fasteners into members. Uniquely formed wing-headed fasteners and tool attachments are correspondingly adapted to each other to enable the wing-headed fasteners to be pivotally mounted to said members with the nails from the tool for releasably holding a first member, such as a cabinet backing in a position relative to a second member such as a cabinet frame therebehind.

Description

mite States Patent [72] Inventors Richard W. Pabich c/o Acme-Lane Co. 4904 W. Fullerton, Chicago, 111.; Richard W. Treiber, deceased, late of Glenview,1ll. 60639 by Louise Treiber executrix, 1340 Sherwood Road Glenview, 111. 60639 21 Appl. No. 800,362

[22] Filed Feb. 12, 1969 45 Patented Oct. 12, 1971 Continuationin-part 01 application Ser. No.

615,831), Feb. 13, 1967, now abandoned and a continuation-in-part of 689,939, Nov.

24, 1967, now Patent No. 3,429,013, and a continuation-in-part of 777,652, Nov. 21, 1968.

[54] WING-HEADED FASTENERS AND TOOL ATTACHMENTS FOR APPLYING FASTENERS 1 1 Claims, 16 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 227/8, 227/76, 227/120, 227/130 [51] Int. Cl 1825c 1/04 [50] Field of Search 227/1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 21,48, 76, 120, 130, 153; 29/432,434, 464

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,194,324 7/1965 Langas 227/8 X 3,319,864 5/1967 Adams 227/76 Primary Examiner-Granville Y. Custer, Jr. A!t0meyA1ter, Weiss & Whitesel ABSTRACT: Tool attachments associated with air tools that force nails or other fasteners into members. Uniquely formed wing-headed fasteners and tool attachments are correspondingly adapted to each other to enable the wing-headed fasteners to be pivotally mounted to said members with the nails from the tool for releasably holding a first member, such as a cabinet backing in a position relative to a second member such as a cabinet frame therebehind.

PATENTEB [m1 2 l9?! SHEET NF 3 INVENTOR RICHARD w. PABICH RICHARD W. TREIBER ATTORNEY PATENTEBUEH 2 I975 SHEET 2 BF 3 FiGlO ---u. r f

5, G1 I n I S H6. H Q4? (3 FIGJB INVENTORS RICHARD W. PABICH RICHARD W TREIBER BY flZZ m /Vm ATTORNEYS PATENTED UN 1 2 I97! SHEET 3 BF 3 FIGJG INVENTORS RICHARD W PABICH RICHARD W. TREIBER ATTO RNEYS WING-BEADED FASTENERS AND TOOL ATTACHMENTS FOR APPLYWG FASTENERS This invention relates to improved wing-headed fasteners and tool attachments for applying the wing-headed fasteners with a minimum of cost and time. This is a continuation-inpart of our previously filed and since abandoned patent application entitled IMPROVED WlNG-I-IEADED FASTENER AND TOOL ATTACHMENT FOR APPLYING FASTENER, Ser. No. 615,830, Filing Date Feb. 13, 1967, as well as our previously filed continuation-in-part applications entitled IMPROVED WlNG-I-IEADED FASTENER WITH TOOL ATTACHMENTS AND METHOD FOR APPLYING FASTENER," Ser. No. 689,939, Filed Nov. 24, 1967 now Pat. No. 3,429,013, issued Feb. 25, 1969, and TOOL AT- TACHMENTS FOR IMPROVED WING-HEADED FASTENER AND METHODS FOR APPLYING FASTENER," Ser. No. 777,652, Filed Nov. 21, 1968. Also, please see copending application Ser. No. 63984, filed July 23, 1970 to continue prosecution of claims divided out of this case.

For many years the electronics industry, among others, has been faced with the problem of reassembling imperfect units such as television sets after the same have been assembled. Of principal concern is the necessity of removing and thereafter replacing threaded fasteners which are normally used in fastening the backing members of television cabinets, or the like. The cost involved in the operation adds considerably to the unit cost of the product being manufactured and thus there is a definite need for obviating the removal and replacement of the threaded fasteners.

Several attempts have been made in the past to remedy this problem by using fasteners which do not have to be removed from the cabinet in order to enable removal of the cabinet backings which they secure. Such fasteners do exist and although they obviate problems of removal, it is more difficult to install these new fasteners than it is to install the old and well-known threaded fasteners.

As explained in our previous applications, we have obviated the disadvantages attendant with utilizing common-threaded fasteners for securing first members, such as cabinet backing members, to second members, such as cabinets, by providing fasteners which enable the backing of a cabinet to be removed expeditiously without removal of the fasteners. In addition, the fasteners can be positioned and applied automatically with our new tools and processed thereby obviating the difficulties involved with initially applying or installing the fasteners. It was thus a primary object of our invention covered under US. Pat. No. 3,429,013 to provide new and improved fasteners which can removably associate a cabinet backing or the like, with a cabinet so that the backing can be assembled and disassembled with a minimum amount of time and effort. It was a further object of this invention to provide new and improved fasteners that removably associate a cabinet backing, or the like, with a second member such as a cabinet in order that the backing can be removed from the cabinet without removal of said fastener.

It is an object of our invention to provide new and improved fasteners and the attachments for an air tool to thereby adapt the tool especially for our new and improved fasteners. The attachments enable our new and improved fasteners to be associated with members at a predetermined location with respect to key slots in those members.

It is even still further an object of this invention to provide new and improved systems for positioning fasteners such as described herein with respect to nail-driving tools in order to associate the fasteners with members by driving nails therethrough.

While we previously disclosed interconnected fasteners of the type described, as well as attachments with automatic-nailing tools that provided automatic means for successively severing each of the fasteners after they are positioned for fastening by the nails as explained in our previous patent applications, an improved mode of interconnecting and of severing of the interconnecting or gate portions of the fasteners is described herein. Also, the tops and bottoms of the fasteners were not formed for maximum efficiency from the standpoint of both receiving the nails as well as from the standpoint of operation after the nails were driven through the fasteners.

Thus, we have provided an improved interconnecting system for the wing-headed fasteners, as well as a means and method of severing the interconnected. fasteners more adroitly then previously.

Other and further objects of this invention will become readily apparent from reading the description in light of the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side-elevational view illustrating our invention used with an automatic-nailing tool that is powered by compressed air;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a portion of the tool attachment of our invention illustrating its mode of association with the automatic-nailing tool of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view looking in the direction of the arrows 33 of FIG. 2 at the portion of that tool attachment of our invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view illustrating how a nail fastener is forced through one of our new and improved wing-headed fasteners to secure the same fastener and therefore a first member such as a cabinet backing to a second members, such as a cabinet frame;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along a plane passing through the lines 55 in FIG. 4 and looking in the direction of the arrows to illustrate how the tool attachment of the first mentioned application cooperates with a key slot to locate the wing-headed fastener and nail in a certain position relative to said key slot;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 4 illustrating how our new and improved wing-headed fastener is held in position with the wing head substantially transverse to the key slot with its wing portions forced against the backing surface by a nail;

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating our new and improved wingheaded fastener in relation to the key slot in the cabinet backing where the wing-headed fastener has an open position (shown by the solid lines) and a closed position (shown in phantom); and

FIG. 8 is a cutaway view of the actuating piston member of the air tool illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a side-elevational view illustrating an embodiment of our invention of this application with an automatic-nailing too] where the improved fastener is illustrated in a spacedapart interconnected relationship;

FIG. 10 is a bottom view of the automatic-nailing tool widi the tool attachment of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the bottom of the tool attachment of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a sectional view of FIG. 11 taken along a plane passing through the lines 12-12 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 13 is a sectional view of FIG. 11 taken on a plane passing through the line 13-43 and looking in the direction of the arrows in FIG. 11;

FIG. 141 is a fragmentary front view of FIG. 9 showing a portion of the tool attachment;

FIG. 15 is a fragmentary view of the bottom of FIG. 9 showing a portion of the tool attachment; and

FIG. 16 is a partial-sectional view of FIG. 15 down the center of interconnected fasteners illustrating the improved fasteners and the cutting mechanism of FIG. 9-15 in opera tion.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout, our new and improved wing-headed fastener 10 and tool attachment 12 are shown in FIGS. 1-8 in connection with an air tool which is commonly used for driving nails. Exemplary embodiments thereof have heretofore been illustrated and described in US. Pat. Nos. 2,872,901, 3,081,741, 3,081,742, 3,056,964, 3,056,965 and in the previously mentioned applications for Letters Patent.

As illustrated in F108. 1, 3 and 8, the air tool 14 has a cylinder head 16 that is supplied with compressed air to drive a reciprocating piston 18 in order that nails 20 which are held in the magazine 22 thereof are forced through an aperture 20a in the tool attachment 12. It will be noted that the tool attachment 12 is associated with the lower portion of the air tool 14 by fastening members 12a. The tool attachment 12 comprises a pair of

apertured plates

13, 13a. The plates are contiguously positioned and form the aperture 20a therebetween for purposes of enabling the nails 20 in the magazine 22 to be forced therethrough by the piston 18 upon actuation of the trigger 22a of the air tool 14. The attachment 12 has a pair of spaced-

apart noses

15, 15a, which have inner sides with pposing

arcuate edges

17, 17a to receive and hold the wingheaded fasteners in position in connection with the air tool 14.

The wing-headed fasteners 10, as illustrated in FIGS. 4-7, are intended for use in cooperation with a first member, such as a cabinet backing 23 to removably associate the backing with a second member such as a cabinet 24 in order that when it is desired to remove the cabinet backing, the same can be removed without removing the fasteners. The first member or cabinet backing 23 has a key slot 26 which substantially conforms to a cross section of our new and improved wing-headed fastener 10 as illustrated in FIG. 7.

As illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, the wing-headed fastener 10 has a central body portion 28 with top and bottom ends 28a, 28b, respectively. A pair of

wing portions

30, 30a, project from the central body portion in opposite directions. The wing portions preferably have flat upper endsand inclined lower ends 31, 32 having the lowest points thereof at the outside and rising upwardly at points closer to the central axis thereof. The

wing portions

30, 30a are preferably composed of resilient material such as plastic and the lowest points thereof are accordingly deflected upward toward the top end of said wingheaded fastener when forced against the cabinet backing 23. Such deflection causes pressure to be exerted on the surface underneath the fastener to secure the fastener and fastened member.

It will be noted from FIGS. 4 and 6 that the lower ends of the wing portions 30, 300 are rounded so that when it is desired to rotate the fastener, friction is minimized. Also, the central body portion 28 has an opening 10a with a recess 10b formed therein through the central axis thereof from the top to the bottom for receiving a nail 20 in order to attach the wing-headed fastener 10 to the said second member.

In operation, the air tool 14 of the above first filed application, with its magazine filled with nails 20 has an improved wing-headed fastener 10 releasably held by the attachment 12 as illustrated in FIG. 5. The central body portion 28 of the fastener 10 is held by the

arcuate edges

17, 17a so that the aperture 10a in the wing-headed fastener 10 is aligned with the intended path of the nails 20. Thereafter the

noses

15, 15a of the tool attachment 12 are positioned in the key slot 26, as illustrated in FIG. 5 in order that the wing-headed fastener has its

wing portions

30, 30a positioned substantially transverse to the key slot 26 and therefore in contact with the backing member 23 of the cabinet 24. Thus, when the air tool 14 is actuated a nail 20 is forced through the aperture 20a, the aperture 10a of the wing-headed fastener 10 and finally into engagement with the cabinet 24 as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 6. When a nail 20 is driven through a wing-headed fastener 10, it is attached to the cabinet 24. When the tool is lifted away from engagement with the cabinet back, the wing-headed fastener slides free of the

arcuate edges

17, 17a.

' The wing-headed fasteners open and closed positions are illustrated in F IGS. 5 and 7. In FIG. 7, the wing-headed fastener is in its open position and is in alignment with the key slot 26 in order that the backing 23 can be removed from the cabinet without removing the fastener 10. The wing-headed fasteners closed position is illustrated in phantom in FlGS. 5 and 7 where the wing portions thereof are in contact with the backing of the cabinet in a substantially transverse position with respect to the key slot in order to secure the backing 23 to the cabinet 24. It will be further noted that in order to enable easy rotation of the wing-headed fasteners, the nails 20 are driven into the cabinet a predetermined distance which gives optimum pressure on the wing-headed fastener in addition to allowing selected rotation thereof, when this is desired.

In FlGs. 9-14 the improved embodiments of wing-headed fasteners and tool attachments are shown. Therein, an automatic nailing tool 34 is illustrated in combination with a series of fasteners 36 which form a strip 37 and are interconnected by means of interconnecting portions or gates 36a. By being interconnected, the wing-headed fasteners 36 can be automatically moved to a position where they can be simultaneously separated from each other and applied rapidly and efficiently in holding the members together, as will be explained hereafter.

The nailing tool 34 is patterned after the conventional nailers illustrated in the aforementioned patents and patent applications and described in connection with FIGS. 1-8. The air tool is provided with an actuation trigger 39 and a handle 40. A tool attachment 35 is added to tool 34 and includes a nail magazine 42 with nails (not shown) positioned therein in order that they can be driven through the mouth of the tool.

At the bottom of the tool is an aperture 46 which is shaped to allow the sides of the wing-headed fasteners to move from the tool after the fasteners have been severed and fastened to a member. For convenience of expression, the aperture 46 is hereinafter called a characterized aperture," which implies that the shape of the aperture corresponds to the shape of the fastener. This aperture is best seen in FIG. 15 where it is defined in the front by the

pins

86, 87 and in the back by the forward shoulders 86a, 87a, of the magazine. The aperture 46 leads from a channel 47 which is formed in the wing-headed fastener magazine 48. The channel 47 includes undercut slots 47b for receiving the

wings

30, 30a of the fasteners to thus slidably receive and capture the strip 37 in the channel 47. The strip 37 of the fasteners 36 are spring biased on one end by the spring means 50 and are stopped at the front end by a first cutoff means 81. The first cutoff means is sandwiched between a fastener plate 82 and magazine 48. A second cutoff means 83 is located proximate to the fasteners at the front end of the strip of fasteners and enables each of the individual fasteners 36 to be severed after they are positioned for fastening by the nails as will be explained hereafter.

The channel 47 which with undercut slots 47b is shaped in conformity to the cross section of the fasteners as illustrated in FIG. 13 has an opening 52 proximate to the rear end thereof which accepts the strip of fasteners 36 upon their insertion therein.

The spring means 50 has a front or pusher member 51 attached to a retainer shaft member 53 having a rear peg member 54 extending therefrom. The rear peg member is sized so that it can be moved through the opening 52, as well as be slidably received in the slots 47b. The spring means 50 can be held in place at the rear of the machine by the force of the spring pushing member 51 against strip 37 and peg 54, against retaining means such as posts 55. Thus, spring 53 is compressed between pusher 51 and peg 54.

Handle means such as handle 56 is shown as integral to spring retainer shaft 53. In facilitates properly positioning the spring means 50 into an out of the opening 52. The spring retaining shaft slides through journal 57 (FIG. 15) so that pusher member 51 rides on the shaft and pushes against the rear end of the strip of fasteners 37, responsive to the exertion of the spring force caused by the compression of the spring 53. The member 51 is slidably contained in groove 47a of channel 47. The wings of the winged fastener also are slidably contained in groove 47a of channel 47. Member 51 is on the same level as the top of the winged fastener, the shaft fits into the groove 47 above the winged fastener. The shaft is shown broken away for convenience; actually it extends almost the entire length of the magazine 48, that is the length of shaft 53 plus the length of member 51 reaches from posts 55 to the characterized aperture 46.

The strip of fasteners is loaded into the machine this way. First, the handle 56 is pulled toward the front of the tool (upwardly as viewed in FIG. 10). The peg 541 is lifted on when it reaches the opening 52. Next, the shaft 53 is pulled toward the back of the tool (downwardly as viewed in FIG. 10). As the shaft is so pulled, the pusher plate 51 is withdrawn through the opening 52. Then the entire assembly of the rod 53, spring 50, peg d, and pusher plate 51 is entirely separated from the tool.

Next, a strip of fasteners is inserted into channel 417 via the opening 52. The winged heads 30, 30a extend outwardly into channels 47b (F 1G. 13), and the central bodies of the fasteners fit into the space between the walls of channel 417. Then, the pusher plate 51 is inserted into opening 52, the shaft 53 passes over the top of the strip fasteners, and the pusher plate 51 abuts against the back of the strip of fasteners. The handle 56 is pulled toward the forward end of the tool (upwardly as viewed in FIG. until the peg 5d clears the back of the opening 52. Then, the peg 541 is pushed down into opening 52 and into channel 47b. The compression of spring 50 pushes the strip of fasteners forward toward the characterized aperture, and the peg 56 is pushed backward against the posts 55.

Means are provided for cutting and trimming each fastener as it is severed from the strip of fasteners. More particularly, this means comprises fore and aft guillotine blades 01, 101 (FIG. 16). The blade 101 severs the interconnection 36a, and the blade 01 trims off any stub remaining after the blade 101 makes its cut. The blade 01 is a first cutoff means attached to the fastener plate 02 by pins 06, 07 (F116. and cooperates with the characterized aperture 46 to locate the fasteners 36 for activation as illustrated in FIGS. 15 and 16. The exact nature and construction of the pins 06, 07 is not material to the invention. In this particular case, they may be threaded bolts which pass through holes (not shown) in blade 01 and turn into threaded holes (also not shown) in part 02. The heads on these bolts (seen in FIG. 15) secure the blade 01 in place.

It will be noted that the second cutoff means 03 has a bottom plate 90 which has a protrusion 100 extending downward therefrom, as well as a cutter 101 extending upward toward the interconnecting gate means 36a of each of the fasteners 36 positioned in the characterized aperture 416. The cutoff means 02 is spring biased away from the tool by the spring means 102 and 103 which are interposed between the machine and the cutoff means 03 at a location where a pair of reciprocally actuatable piston members 1041 and 105 extend from the nailing tool. These pistons include central guide pins 104, --105 slidably attached to the tool in any suitable manner and surrounded by bias springs 102, 1103. For example, the part 02 may include an enlarged internal bore, and the

pins

104, 105 may include enlarged heads which slide in these enlarged bores. Of course, other suitable means may also be provided, such as telescoping posts, for example.

It will be noted that the safety catch 100 of the nailing tool must be completely depressed for the trigger 39 to be actuated. The safety catch 100 is associated with the release lever or piston 10') to enable the trigger 39 when the piston 1107 is depressed.

Means are provided for depressing the safety catch when the fastener 36 in aperture 66 is properly positioned relative to the slot in the first member. A protrusion 99 extends from the fastener plate 02 so that it can cooperate with a protrusion 100 extending from cutting means 03 to be constrainingly received in a key slot to locate the improved fasteners 36 in a predetermined location relative to the key slot and to locate the fastener in order that it can be forced against a cabinet backing, or the like, upon actuation of a nail. Thus, when the

protrusions

99, 100 are fitted into a slot in a first member and when the wing-headed fastener is positioned so that the main body portion thereof is clear of the cutter 101, then the second cutter means 03 and the piston 107 is depressed to enable the trigger 39. More particularly, when piston 107 is depressed, it in turn depresses the safety catch 100, which in turn through the portion of safety catch 100 (not shown), reaching under the trigger 39, enables the trigger 39, when operated to press against the pressure valve control button shown immediately beneath the trigger, in any well known manner. it the fastener 36 is not properly positioned in the key slot 26, it will support the tool in a lightly elevated position and, therefore, interfere with the above described movement of the safety catch mechanism.

As best shown in FIG. 16, the improved wing-headed fasteners 36 are joined by gates 36a to form a strip 37. Means are provided at the bottom of the fasteners to obviate the formation of burrs when the nail is driven. through the nail receiving opening 30 and to minimize friction when rotating the fastener between the opened and the closed positions. More particularly, hole 30 extends into a truncated conically shaped flaring aperture 30a at its bottom. This prevents burrs which may be caused by the nails from extending beyond the bottom of the fastener and also minimizes surface contact with the second member to ridge 39. The top of hole 36 is shown with countersunk portion 3311.

FIG. 16 also shows the positions of the cutters 01, 101. When the

protrusions

99, 100 are in the slot 26, the cutting edge of the cutter 101 is contiguous to the gate 36a immediately adjacent the main body section of the fastener 36 so that is in characterized aperture 46, since plate 03 is then depressed against

springs

104, 105. Similarly, the cutting edge of cutter 01 is contiguous to the remains of the gate that were cut by cutter 101 when the previous fastener 36 was installed. When the nail is forced through hole 30, the fastener strip is forced against the cutter so as to sever the gates.

To review the operation of the tool 34! and attachments thereof, the strip of interconnected fasteners 37 are placed in the slotted magazine compartment and the spring means 50 is urged against the interconnected fasteners 37 to position them successively for activation and fastening. The cutoff means 01 and 03 operate to sever and trim each of the fasteners 36 when they are being nailed. As each fastener 36 is nailed, another fastener is actuated by the spring means 50 to a positionwhere it is in the characterized aperture 66 and ready for nailing. The fasteners are located by means of the

protrusions

99, 100 as before described.

Thus, from an understanding of the operation of our invention it can be seen that the invention has fulfilled the stated objects in a remarkably unexpected fashion. Not only does the new and improved wing-headed fastener enable expeditious removal of the cabinet backings, or the like, but also the new and improved attachments and process described herein in connection with the fasteners enables the wing-headed fasteners to be installed easily, rapidly and with a minimum of cost.

While we have illustrated preferred embodiments of our invention, the scope thereof is intended to include other embodiments which are suggested by this disclosure. For instance, it is conceivable that other shapes of attachments for associating the wing-headed fasteners with driving tools could be employed to achieve the objectives herein disclosed and suggested.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A tool that holds clips of nails and operates to individually drive nails through wing-headed fasteners and into base members,

said wingheaded fasteners being used for removably attaching first members to said base members,

said nails driving a portion of said wing-headed fasteners through said first members for pivotal attachment to said base member, each of fasteners comprising an apertured body portion and laterally extending wing portions,

a plurality of said fasteners being formed into strips, said tool comprising magazine means for holding the wing headed fasteners,

said tool and magazine combination having a characterized aperture means therein,

said aperture being structurally formed to enable passage therethrough of individual ones of said wing-headed fasteners,

said characterized aperture being located in the path of the driven nails, feeding means for automatically placing successive ones of the wing-headed fasteners of the strip into position in said characterized aperture with the aperture means of said wing-headed fastener being in the path of the driven nails,

severing means for separating the positioned wing-headed fasteners from said strip to enable the separated wingheaded fastener to pass through said characterized aperture, whereby said wing-headed fastener is fastened to said base member by said driven nail,

said severing means comprising a bottom plate parallel to the bottom of said magazine means,

spring-biased means for maintaining said bottom plate spaced apart from said magazine means while enabling said bottom plate to be positioned juxtaposed to said magazine means,

locating means for positioning the tool relative to a key slot in said first member to pivotally attach said wing-headed fastener for rotation to registry with said key slot whereby said first member is removably attached to said base member,

said locating means comprising first protrusion means downwardly disposed from said bottom plate in line with a central axis of said magazine means and having its outer periphery removed from the path of said driven nails at a distance which fits into said key slot measured along the longitudinal axis of said key slot from a chord line passing transverse to the key slot at its widest portion to the end of the key slot, and

second protrusion means on the other side of said characterized aperture in line with the extended central axis of said magazine means and removed from the path of said driven nails by a distance which also fits into said key slot.

2. The tool of claim 1 wherein said magazine means comprises an elongated member,

channel means extending lengthwise in said elongated member for slidably retaining said strip of said wingheaded fasteners so that said strip can be moved therethrough to successively locate each of said wingheaded fasteners in alignment with the path of said driven nails.

3. The tool of claim 2 wherein said channel means comprises a first channel section at the bottom of said elongated member,

said first channel section being dimensioned to slidingly accommodate the bottom of said body portion of said wingheaded fastener, but also being smaller than said at least one wing portion,

said first channel section leading into an undercut channel section above said first channel section,

said undercut channel section extending lengthwise in said elongated section and being dimensioned to slidingly accommodate said at least one wing portion, whereby said wing-headed fasteners are retained in said magazine means.

4. The tool of claim 3 wherein said channel means further comprises a loading aperture in said elongated member removed from said characterized aperture means,

said loading aperture being wider than the dimension of said wing-headed fastener at said at least one wing portion, thereby enabling the insertion of said strips into said slot means.

5. The tool of claim 4 wherein said feeding means comprises spring means for forcing said strip toward said characterized aperture means.

6. The tool of claim 5 wherein said spring means comprises a spring retaining shaft,

spring biased pusher means slidingly held in said undercut channel section,

journal means on said spring plate for receiving said shaft to slidingly couple said spring biased usher to said shaft,

a secon channel section above sai undercut channel section for slidingly accommodating said journal means and said shaft,

stop means on the one end of said shaft for securing said shaft in said magazine,

a coil spring mounted around said shaft between said stop means and said spring biased pusher means whereby said compression spring forces said spring biased pusher means toward the other end of said shaft,

hold means in said magazine means at the end of said slot means opposite said characterized aperture means for holding said spring means in said second channel means,

the length of said shaft plus said spring biased pusher means being substantially equal to the distance between said holding means and said characterized aperture means, whereby said spring means forces all of the wing-headed fasteners on said strips to said characterized aperture, and

handle means on said spring means to facilitate placing and removing said spring means in and from said magazine means respectively.

7. The tool of claim 6 wherein said handle means comprises a portion of said shaft means bent to extend from said holding means to said loading aperture.

8. The tool of claim 5 wherein said severing means are provided for cutting an interconnecting gate between adjacent wing-headed fasteners in said strip when one of said driven nails is driven into the aperture of said wing-headed fastener thereby ejecting said wing-headed fastener from said characterized aperture.

9. The tool of claim 8 wherein said severing means comprises a bottom plate parallel to the bottom of said elongated members,

spring biased piston means for maintaining said bottom place spaced apart from said elongated member,

a bottom plate cutting edge upwardly disposed from said bottom plate toward said slot means, and

said bottom plate positioned so that when said bottom plate is juxtaposed to said elongated member against the spring bias of said spring biased piston means, said bottom plate cutting edge being contiguous to said interconnecting gate means at the body of said wing-headed fastener in the characterized aperture.

10. The tool of claim 9 wherein cutting means are provided at the side of said aperture opposite said severing means for trimming the interconnecting gate means thereat,

said cutting means comprising trim cutting edge means contiguous to said interconnecting gate means at the junction of said gate means and the body of said wing-headed fastener.

11. The tool of claim 1 including trigger enabling means for enabling the operation of said tool to actuate the nails,

said trigger enabling means comprising means operated responsive to the location of said first and second protrusion means in the key slot and to said bottom plate means being positioned juxtaposed to said magazine means for enabling the ejection of said nails.

Claims

1. A tool that holds clips of nails and operates to individually drive nails through wing-headed fasteners and into base members, said wing-headed fasteners being used for removably attaching first members to said base members, said nails driving a portion of said wing-headed fasteners through said first members for pivotal attachment to said base member, each of fasteners comprising an apertured body portion and laterally extending wing portions, a plurality of said fasteners being formed into strips, said tool comprising magazine means for holding the wing-headed fasteners, said tool and magazine combination having a characterized aperture means therein, said aperture being structurally formed to enable passage therethrough of individual ones of said wing-headed fasteners, said characterized aperture being located in the path of the driven nails, feeding means for automatically placing successive ones of the wing-headed fasteners of the strip into position in said characterized aperture with the aperture means of said wingheaded fastener being in the path of the driven nails, severing means for separating the positioned wing-headed fasteners from said strip to enable the separated wing-headed fastener to pass through said characterized aperture, whereby said wing-headed fastener is fastened to said base member by said driven nail, said severing means comprising a bottom plate parallel to the bottom of said magazine means, spring-biased means for maintaining said bottom plate spaced apart from said magazine means while enabling said bottom plate to be positioned juxtaposed to said magazine means, locating means for positioning the tool relative to a key slot in said first member to pivotally attach said wing-headed fastener for rotation to registry with said key slot whereby said first member is removably attached to said base member, said locating means comprising first protrusion means downwardly disposed from said bottom plate in line with a central axis of said magazine means and having its outer periphery removed from the path of said driven nails at a distance which fits into said key slot measured along tHe longitudinal axis of said key slot from a chord line passing transverse to the key slot at its widest portion to the end of the key slot, and second protrusion means on the other side of said characterized aperture in line with the extended central axis of said magazine means and removed from the path of said driven nails by a distance which also fits into said key slot.

2. The tool of claim 1 wherein said magazine means comprises an elongated member, channel means extending lengthwise in said elongated member for slidably retaining said strip of said wing-headed fasteners so that said strip can be moved therethrough to successively locate each of said wing-headed fasteners in alignment with the path of said driven nails.

3. The tool of claim 2 wherein said channel means comprises a first channel section at the bottom of said elongated member, said first channel section being dimensioned to slidingly accommodate the bottom of said body portion of said wing-headed fastener, but also being smaller than said at least one wing portion, said first channel section leading into an undercut channel section above said first channel section, said undercut channel section extending lengthwise in said elongated section and being dimensioned to slidingly accommodate said at least one wing portion, whereby said wing-headed fasteners are retained in said magazine means.

4. The tool of claim 3 wherein said channel means further comprises a loading aperture in said elongated member removed from said characterized aperture means, said loading aperture being wider than the dimension of said wing-headed fastener at said at least one wing portion, thereby enabling the insertion of said strips into said slot means.

6. The tool of claim 5 wherein said spring means comprises a spring retaining shaft, spring biased pusher means slidingly held in said undercut channel section, journal means on said spring plate for receiving said shaft to slidingly couple said spring biased pusher to said shaft, a second channel section above said undercut channel section for slidingly accommodating said journal means and said shaft, stop means on the one end of said shaft for securing said shaft in said magazine, a coil spring mounted around said shaft between said stop means and said spring biased pusher means whereby said compression spring forces said spring biased pusher means toward the other end of said shaft, hold means in said magazine means at the end of said slot means opposite said characterized aperture means for holding said spring means in said second channel means, the length of said shaft plus said spring biased pusher means being substantially equal to the distance between said holding means and said characterized aperture means, whereby said spring means forces all of the wing-headed fasteners on said strips to said characterized aperture, and handle means on said spring means to facilitate placing and removing said spring means in and from said magazine means respectively.

9. The tool of claim 8 wherein said severing means comprises a bottom plate parallel to the bottom of said elongated members, spring biased piston means for maintaining said bottom place spaced apart from said elongated member, a bottom plate cutting edge upwardly disposed from said bottom plate toward said slot means, and said bottom plate positioned so that when said bottom plate is juxtaposed to said elongated member against the spring bias of said spring biased piston means, said bottom plate cutting edge being contiguous to said interconnecting gate means at the body of said wing-headed fastener in the characterized aperture.

10. The tool of claim 9 wherein cutting means are provided at the side of said aperture opposite said severing means for trimming the interconnecting gate means thereat, said cutting means comprising trim cutting edge means contiguous to said interconnecting gate means at the junction of said gate means and the body of said wing-headed fastener.

11. The tool of claim 1 including trigger enabling means for enabling the operation of said tool to actuate the nails, said trigger enabling means comprising means operated responsive to the location of said first and second protrusion means in the key slot and to said bottom plate means being positioned juxtaposed to said magazine means for enabling the ejection of said nails.