US3670941A - Retractable guard and guide for nailer - Google Patents

Abstract

A guide and guard plate pivoted on the head of a driver for nails or staples projects beyond the head for engagement with an edge of a crate, for example, to guide the driver head for inserting fasteners along the margin of the work. In such projected position the plate shields the safety prongs from being depressed inadvertently to condition the driver for operation. The plate can be swung into retracted position for face nailing spaced farther from the work edge by grasping a handle on it, and a spring-tensioned strip attached to the plate will return it to projected position when the handle is released.

Description

United States Patent Grinnell et al. 1 51 June 20, 1972 54] RETRACTABLE GUARD AND GUIDE 2,915,754 12/1959 Wandel ..227/s FOR NAILER 3,467,294 9/l969 Fisher ..227/& 1,074,800 l0/l9l3 King ..227/I 39 1 Inventors: Fwd GM, 2122 63rd. Swtle. 2,797,414 7/1957 Bolster .227/1 10 Wash. 98103; Clark J. Hall, 8$09-l7th P1396, Seattle, 981 15 Primary Examiner-Granville Y. Custer, Jr. 22 Filed: March 2, 1970 Ammekmben Beach [21] Appl. No.: 15,479 [57] ABSTRACT A guide and guard plate pivoted on the head of a driver for [52] U.S. Cl ..227/8, 227/1 10, 227/139, nails or stap es p ojec beyon t e h ad for engagement with 227/140, 227/1 19 an edge of a crate, for example, to guide the driver head for in- [51] Int.Cl ..B25c 7/00 "fling fasteners 31008 the margin 0f the Work- Such P 58 Field 01 Search ..227 5, 6, 7,8, 120, 140, 150, i Position the Plate shields thc Safety prongs from being 227,148, 156' 107, no 1 11 I I9, 139 depressed inadvertently to condition the driver for operation. The plate can be swung into retracted position for face nailing [56] References and spaced farther from the work edge by grasping a handle on it,

and a spring-tensioned strip attached to the plate will return it to projected position when the handle is released.

5 China, 7 Drawing figures RETRACTABLE GUARD AND GUIDE FOR NAILER The principal object of the invention is to provide mechanism having the dual function of preventing inadvertent operation of a nail or staple driver and which also will function as a guide for locating the driver head consistently for driving fasteners adjacent to an edge of a work piece.

A further object is to provide such mechanism which normally will occupy a protective position to prevent inadvertent operation of the driver, but which can be moved at will to a position inoperative to deter operation of the driver so that the driver can be used for face nailing at any location.

It is also an object to provide an additional handle which can serve the dual purpose of shifting the operation-preventing member and enabling the gun to be handled with two hands more conveniently.

An additional object is to provide mechanism for preventing inadvertent operation of a driver which is of simple and inexpensive construction, yet which is effective in operation.

FIG. I is a side elevation of a driver equipped with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the driver showing its opposite side, pans being broken away, and

FIG. 3 is a plan of the driver with parts broken away;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the driver corresponding to FIG. 1, showing parts in a different position;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation similar to FIG. 2 with parts in a different position, and

FIG. 6 is a plan similar to FIG. 3 but with parts in the different position of FIGS. 4 and 5;

FIG. 7 is a plan with parts in the position of FIG. 6 but with the work omitted and having parts broken away.

The driver I, having a pistol-grip handle 2 and a magazine 3 extending between the handle and the head 4, is of conventional type. Such a driver can be used for driving fasteners of various types such as nails, staples or corrugated fasteners. The type of magazine 3 provided for the driver will depend upon the type and size of the fasteners to be driven. Also, the size and construction of the driver itself may differ somewhat depending upon the type of fasteners being driven.

In use the operator grasps the handle 2 and pulls the trigger 5, which opens a valve controlling flow of air under pressure from the air supply line 6 to the driver head 4. While the driver shown in the drawings is of the pneumatic type, the present invention could be applied to an electric driver as well. Reciprocable safety prongs 7 are spring-pressed outwardly so as normally to project beyond the nose 8 of the driver. As long as such prongs are in the projected position shown in FIG. 7, a safety valve in the air line remains closed so that the driver cannot be operated. When these safety prongs are pressed inward, however, by engagement with a work piece, the actua tion of the driver is completely under the control of the valve actuated by the trigger 5.

The attachment of the guide and guard plate according to the present invention is carried by a fixed plate 9 attached to the side of the driver head by bolts or rivets. Such plate does not project toward the work 10 quite as far as the nose 8 of the driver, so that such plate would not interfere with the safety prongs 7 or nose 8 contacting the work. A representative workpiece is shown in FIGS. I, 2 and 3 as including the face board I0 and the backing 11. Such a face board may be the side of a crate, for example, and the backing 11 can be a stiffening or supporting strip to be secured to the face board.

The two most common types of nailing, particularly in as sembling shipping crates, are face nailing, illustrated in FIGS. I, 2 and 3, where the face board extends a substantial distance beyond opposite sides of the nailing location, and margin nailing where an edge portion 10' of a face board is secured to a backing as shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6. In the latter case, for example, nails or staples can be driven in a row along the edge portion or margin I0 of the face board into the backing I I.

In order to prevent the fastener from splitting a narrow backing I I, it is important that the fastener be driven into the backing a sufficient distance from each of its edges. The backing is, of course, hidden from the view of the operator when he is driving a fastener into the edge portion I0 of the face board, and the operator normally must use his judgment as to where to locate the nose of the driver to drive the fastener. According to the present invention a plate 12 is mounted on the head 4 of the driver to define a plane parallel to the path of movement of the fastener into the work and spaced from such path of movement a distance sufficient to insure that the fastener will be spaced adequately from both sides of the backing I I.

In the construction shown in the drawings the guide plate 12 is mounted on fixed side plate 9 by a pivot 13 defining an axis extending transversely of the fixed plate 9 and the guide plate I2 and disposed parallel to the face of the work engaged by the driver nose. The guide plate I2 is normally held by a tension strip 14, attached to the guide plate at a location spaced from its pivot, in a position projecting edgewise a substantial distance beyond the edge of the fixed plate 9 and the driver nose 8, as shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6.

The tension strip I4 may include a helical coil received in the housing 15 and acted on by a spring tending to wind up the strip. Consequently, when the strip is pulled endwise from its casing and then released, the spring in the casing will wind the coil of the strip to pull back into the casing the portion of the strip which ws withdrawn from it.

Because of the relative positions of the pivot I3, the tension strip casing I5 and the point on plate 12 at which the tension strip I4 is attached to it, swinging of the plate 12 about its pivot from the position of FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 to the position of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, will draw a stretch of the tension strip from the casing as indicated by a comparison of FIG. I with FIG. 4. Swinging of plate I2 in this manner can be facilitated by providing handle I6 on the side of the plate projecting from it generally parallel to the axis of pivot I3, which handle is shown best in FIGS. 3 and 7. When the handle is released, the spring acting on tension strip I4 will swing the plate I2 back from the retracted position of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 into the projected position of FIGS. 4, 5 and 6.

For fast nailing a workman may grasp the pistol grip 2 and pull the trigger 5 while the driver is not pressed against the work, and rely on the safety valve controlled by the safety prongs 7 to prevent operation of the driver. The nose of the driver can then be pressed toward the work at various locations and, as contact of the safety prongs 7 with the work pushes them inward, the driver will be actuated to drive a fastener. The difficulty is that the workman may inadvertently move the head of the driver toward his leg or some other object than the work momentarily sufficiently to move the safety prongs 7 inward. In such case a fastener will be driven inad vertently by the driver, which may cause injury to the workman using the driver or to another workman or to some article.

It will be seen particularly by reference to FIG. 7 that, when the guard plate 12 is in its projected position of that figure, it is virtually impossible to move the nose 8 of the driver toward an article inadvertently to effect actuation of the driver even if the trigger 5 is pulled. On the other hand, such safety prongs are readily accessible when the guard plate I2 has been swung from the projected position of FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 into the retracted position of FIGS. I, 2 and 3. In order to move the guard plate into this position, however, the operator would grasp the handle I6 so that the driver is being held much more firmly and stably by both hands.

In addition to the safety aspect of the guard plate I2 its use as a guide for margin nailing in the manner shown particularly in FIGS. 4 and 6 is very desirable. Here again the driver can be held stably by both hands, one grasping the pistol grip 2 and the other grasping the handle I6, to facilitate manipulation of the driver. When thus held the driver can be slid along the margin 10' of a workpiece, and nails or other fasteners can be driven quickly at spaced intervals either by holding the safety prongs 7 against the work, as shown in FIG. 6, and pulling the trigger 5 intermittently, or by holding the trigger depressed and moving the nailer away from the work sufficiently to allow the safety prongs 7 to be projected and then toward the work periodically at the locations where it is desirable to drive a fastener.

Similarly for face nailing, the handle 16 can be grasped and held in a position to keep the guard plate 12 retracted, and nailing can then be accomplished either by depressing the trigger periodically or by moving the nose 8 of the driver toward the work intermittently. in this type of operation also the driver can be held stably and controlled much more effectively than has been possible heretofore by the operator grasping the pistol grip 2 with one hand and the handle 16 with the other hand.

lclaim:

1. In a fastener driver having a driver body, a fastener magazine carried by the body and a driver head carried by the body, receiving fasteners from the magazine and having an aperture defining a predetermined path along which fasteners to be driven are discharged, the improvement comprising guide and guard means offset from such predetermined path defined by the fastener discharge aperture transversely of such path so as to leave the fastener discharge path through and beyond the aperture unobstructed by said guide and guard means, and pivot means offset from such predetermined path defined by the fastener discharge aperture, extending transversely of such path and mounting said guide and guard means for swinging between a projected position projecting beyond the discharge end of the fastener discharge aperture at one side of said pivot means and a retracted position located rearwardly of the discharge end of the fastener discharge aperture and at the opposite side of said pivot means.

2. In the fastener driver defined in claim 1, a handle carried by the guide and guard means which can be grasped for swinging such means away from its projected position into its retracted position.

3. in the fastener driver defined in claim I, the guide and guard means including a plate disposed ofi'set from and substantially parallel to the predetermined fastener discharge path defined by the aperture in the driver head.

4. In the fastener driver defined in claim 1, the driving head having a safety prong projectible therefrom and reciprocable to control the actuation of the driver, the pivot means extending transversely of the direction of reciprocation of the safety prong, and the guide and guard means projecting beyond said safety prong in its extended position when the guide and guard means is disposed in its projected position.

5. in a fastener driver having a driver body, a fastener magazine carried by the body and a driver head carried by the body, receiving fasteners from the magazine and having an aperture defining a predetermined path along which fasteners to be driven are discharged, the improvement comprising guide and guard means offset from such predetermined path defined by the fastener discharge aperture transversely of such path so as to leave the fastener discharge path through and beyond the aperture unobstructed by said guide and guard means, said guide and guard means including a plate disposed offset from and substantially parallel to the predetermined path of fastener discharge defined by the aperture in the driver head and projecting beyond the discharge end of the fastener discharge aperture and means mounting said guide and guard means plate for movement relative to the driver head between the position projecting beyond the discharge end of the fastener discharge aperture and a retracted position rearwardly of the discharge end of the fastener discharge aperture.

:1 a m e e

Claims (5)

1. In a fastener driver having a driver body, a fastener magazine carried by the body and a driver head carried by the body, receiving fasteners from the magazine and having an aperture defining a predetermined path along which fasteners to be driven are discharged, the improvement comprising guide and guard means offset from such predetermined path defined by the fastener discharge aperture transversely of such path so as to leave the fastener discharge path through and beyond the aperture unobstructed by said guide and guard means, and pivot means offset from such predetermined path defined by the fastener discharge aperture, extending transversely of such path and mounting said guide and guard means for swinging between a projected position projecting beyond the discharge end of the fastener discharge aperture at one side of said pivot means and a retracted position located rearwardly of the discharge end of the fastener discharge aperture and at the opposite side of said pivot means.

2. In the fastener driver defined in claim 1, a handle carried by the guide and guard means which can be grasped for swinging such means away from its projected position into its retracted position.

3. In the fastener driver defined in claim 1, the guide and guard means including a plate disposed offset from and substantially parallel to the predetermined fastener discharge path defined by the aperture in the driver head.

4. In the fastener driver defined in Claim 1, the driving head having a safety prong projectible therefrom and reciprocable to control the actuation of the driver, the pivot means extending transversely of the direction of reciprocation of the safety prong, and the guide and guard means projecting beyond said safety prong in its extended position when the guide and guard means is disposed in its projected position.

5. In a fastener driver having a driver body, a fastener magazine carried by the body and a driver head carried by the body, receiving fasteners from the magazine and having an aperture defining a predetermined path along which fasteners to be driven are discharged, the improvement comprising guide and guard means offset from such predetermined path defined by the fastener discharge aperture transversely of such path so as to leave the fastener discharge path through and beyond the aperture unobstructed by said guide and guard means, said guide and guard means including a plate disposed offset from and substantially parallel to the predetermined path of fastener discharge defined by the aperture in the driver head and projecting beyond the discharge end of the fastener discharge aperture and means mounting said guide and guard means plate for movement relative to the driver head between the position projecting beyond the discharge end of the fastener discharge aperture and a retracted position rearwardly of the discharge end of the fastener discharge aperture.

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