Magazine for nail gun

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to a magazine for supplying connected nails, which are connected in a plane-shaped condition, to a nail gun capable of driving two or more different-length nails.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] FIG. 1 shows a nail gun 101 that includes a drive portion 102, a nose 103, and a magazine body 104. Although not shown in the drawings, the drive portion 102 includes a cylinder, a piston, and other components for generating a force for driving nails into a work piece. The nose 103 is for guiding nails 108 that are driven by the drive portion 102 toward the work piece. The magazine body 104 stores a plurality of nails 108 and includes a feeder 105. The feeder 105 feeds nails 108 one after the other to the nose 103.

[0006] As shown in FIG. 2, the nails 108 are supported by a connection band, such as tape, in a plane-shaped group of connected nails 107. Each nail includes a nail head 108aand a nail shaft 108b, the nail head 108abeing larger than the nail shaft 108b.

[0007] The nail gun 101 of FIG. 1 can use two different-length nails 108A, 108B, shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively. The appropriate nail length depends on the thickness of the work piece, such as a wooden board, to be fixed in place. For example, inexpensive short nails 108B are preferred when the work piece is thin, because a thin work piece can be fixed in place without a great deal of supporting force. On the other hand, longer nails 108A need to be used to provide sufficient supporting force when the work piece is thick.

[0008] Because different driving energy is required for different length nails, a pressure reducing value is provided to adjust to the proper air compression force required for driving the currently loaded nail type 108A, 108B into the current work piece.

[0009] As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the magazine body 104 is formed with upper and lower guide rails 106a, 106bthat enable supply of the different-length nails 108A, 108B. The upper and lower guide rails 106a, 106bguide the nail head 108aof the nails 108A, 108B so that the lower nail tip of both the long and short nails 108A, 108B is disposed at the same predetermined level.

[0010] However, the length of nails that are presently loaded in the magazine body 104 cannot be confirmed from outside of the magazine body 104. Therefore, it is difficult for an operator to judge whether the length of the current nails 108 is a proper match for the work piece to be fixed in place. As a result, the operator may operate the nail gun 101 to drive a nail with an improper length into the work piece.

[0011] Also, because it is impossible for the operator to confirm the length of the currently housed nails, the operator might erroneously load short nails 108B while long nails 108A are currently in the magazine body 104, or load long nails 108A while short-nails 108B are currently in the magazine body 104. This would result in two different length nails being housed in the magazine body 104 at the same time. When the nail gun 101 is operated repeatedly in this condition, then nails with different lengths may be driven immediately one after the other before the pressure reducing valve can change the drive force. As a result, a long nail 108A may be only partially driven into the work piece because the drive force is insufficient. On the other hand, a short nail 108B may be driven too deeply into the work piece, thereby forming an indentation in the work piece around the nail, because the driving force was excessive. Both of these conditions lower the supporting force for fixing the work piece in place. Also, the load on the nail gun 101 increases, thereby shortening the life of the nail gun 101.

[0012] It is an objective of the present invention to overcome the above-described problems and to provide a magazine that prevents different length nails from being erroneously mounted into the magazine body at the same time and that enables an operator to confirm the length of the nails currently housed in the magazine body.

[0013] To achieve the above-described objectives, a magazine according to the present invention includes a magazine body for supporting nails; a feeder for pressing nails supported in the magazine body to feed the nails toward a nose-side end of the magazine body; a nail gate movably disposed at a nail loading opening of the magazine body, and selectively allowing insertion long and short nails into the magazine body depending on position of the nail gate; and a nail gate movement prevention means that prevents movement of the nail gate while nails are supported in the magazine body.

[0014] It is describable that the movement prevention means include a wire and a spring. The spring presses the wire into engagement with the nail gate while nails are supported in the magazine body. The feeder presses the wire away from, and out of engagement with, the nail gate while no nails are supported in the magazine body.

[0015] It is desirable that the nail gate be colored differently from the color of magazine body.

[0016] It is desirable that the nail gate be provided with a recognition mark and the magazine body be provided with a plurality of nail length indications. The position of the nail gate aligns the recognition mark with a nail length indication that indicates length of nails presently insertable into the magazine body.

[0017] It is desirable that the magazine body include nail head supporting passages for supporting heads of nails loaded into the magazine body. The nail pressing portion of the feeder presses against a shaft portion of nails at a position below the nail head supporting passages so that only nails mounted with heads in nail head supporting passages proper for length of the mounted nail are pressed.

[0018] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from reading the following description of the embodiment taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

[0019] FIG. 1 is a side view showing a conventional nail gun;

[0020] FIG. 2 is a side view showing a set of connected nails that are loaded in the nail gun of FIG. 1;

[0021] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III—III of FIG. 1 showing a long nail loaded into a magazine of the nail gun of FIG. 1;

[0022] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a short nail loaded into the magazine of FIG. 3;

[0023] FIG. 5 is a side view showing a nail gun according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VI—VI of FIG. 5 showing a long nail being guided by an upper guide rail formed in a magazine body of a magazine used with the nail gun of FIG. 5;

[0025] FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a short nail being guided by a lower guide rail of FIG. 6;

[0026] FIG. 8 is a rear view showing a rear portion of the magazine body with a nail gate in an upper position;

[0027] FIG. 9 is a rear view showing the rear portion of FIG. 8 with a nail gate in a lower position;

[0028] FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken along line X—X of FIG. 9;

[0029] FIG. 11 is a front view showing the nail gate of FIGS. 8 and 9;

[0030] FIG. 12 is a side view showing the nail gate of FIG. 11;

[0031] FIG. 13 is a rear view showing the nail gate of FIG. 11;

[0032] FIG. 14 is a side view showing the nail gun with no nails in the magazine body;

[0033] FIG. 15 is a magnified side view partially in cross section showing a feeder of the magazine pressing against a wire to enable movement of the nail gate;

[0034] FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XVI—XVI of FIG. 14;

[0035] FIG. 17 is a magnified side view in partial cross section showing the wire disengaged from the nail gate while the nail gate is in the upper position;

[0036] FIG. 18 is a magnified side view in partial cross section showing the wire engaged with the nail gate while the nail gate is in the upper position;

[0037] FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view showing a short nail loaded in the wrong nail passage of the magazine;

[0038] FIG. 20 is a magnified side view in partial cross section showing the wire disengaged from the nail gate while the nail gate is in the lower position;

[0039] FIG. 21 is a magnified side view in partial cross section showing the wire engaged with the nail gate while the nail gate is in the lower position; and

[0040] FIG. 22 is a magnified side view showing a recognition mark on the nail gate and nail length indications on the magazine body.

[0041] Next, a magazine 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. According to the embodiment, the magazine 20 is used with a nail gun 1.

[0042] As shown in FIG. 5, the nail gun 1 includes a drive portion 2 and a nose 3. Although not shown in the drawings, the drive portion 2 includes a cylinder, a piston, and other components for generating a force for driving nails into a work piece. The nose 3 is for guiding nails 8 that are driven by the drive portion 2. The nail gun 1 is capable of driving either long nails 8A or short nails 8B, which have different lengths as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

[0043] The magazine 20 includes a magazine body 4, a feeder 10, a nail gate 12, a wire 13, and springs 9 and 14.

[0044] The magazine body 4 includes a front end 4cand a rear portion 4a. The front end 4cis adapted for attaching to the nose 3 of the nail gun 1. The rear portion 4ashown in FIGS. 8 and 9 is located at the opposite lengthwise end of the magazine body 4 than the front end 4c. As shown in FIG. 10, the rear portion 4aof the magazine body 4 is formed with a nail loading opening 11 and a guide groove 4b. Nails are loaded into the magazine body 4 through the nail loading opening 11. The guide groove 4bsupports the nail gate 12 movable between an upper position shown in FIG. 8 and a lower position shown in FIG. 9.

[0045] As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the magazine body 4 further includes a nail shaft passage 6cand upper and lower guide rails 6a, 6bthat extend between the nail loading opening 11 and the front end 4c. The nail shaft passage 6csupports nails 8A, 8B so that nail shafts 8bare aligned in a shaft direction, which is the vertical direction when the magazine 20 is viewed as in FIG. 5. The upper and lower guide rails 6a, 6bare separated by a distance in the shaft direction so as to support the nail tip of the two different length nails 8A, 8B at the same level.

[0046] The feeder 10 is provided within the magazine body 4 and is urged by the spring 9 toward the front end 4cof the magazine body 4. As a result, the feeder 10 presses, under urging force from the spring 9, against the lower part of the shaft portion 8bof the nail 8 that is closest to the nail loading opening 11, and presses the connected nails 7 toward the front end 4cof the magazine body 4. As shown in dotted line in FIGS. 6 and 7, a nail pressing portion of the feeder 10 is positioned below the lower guide rail 6b, or said differently, is position to the side of the lower guide rail 6bthat is the opposite side from the upper guide rail 6awith respect to the shaft direction. As a result, the pressing portion of the feeder 10 presses against the lower portion of the shaft of long nails 8A, but presses the upper portion of the shaft of short nails 8B. As will be explained later with reference to FIG. 19, the pressing portion of the feeder 10 will not press against short nails 8B that are supported in the upper rail 6a.

[0047] The nail gate 12 has a substantially inverted-U shape as viewed in FIG. 11 and FIG. 13. As shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, the nail gate 12 includes a nail head passage 12a, a nail shaft passage 12b, and upper and lower holding grooves 12c, 12d. When a nail 8A, 8B is loaded into the nail loading opening 11, the nail head 8apasses through the nail head passage 12abefore entering the upper or lower guide rail 6a, 6band the nail shaft 8b passes through the nail shaft passage 12bbefore entering the nail shaft passage 6c. The nail shaft passage 12bhas a narrower width than the nail head passage 12aso that the nail head 8aof nails can not pass through the nail shaft passage 12b.

[0048] When the nail gate 12 is in the upper position shown in FIG. 8, then the nail head passage 12ais located at the position of the upper rail 6a. When the nail gate 12 is in the lower position shown in FIG. 9, then the nail head passage 12ais located at the position of the lower rail 6b.

[0049] As shown in broken line in FIG. 5, the wire 13 is provided within the magazine body 4 extending across substantially the entire magazine body 4 in the lengthwise direction of the magazine body 4. The wire 13 is supported movable in the lengthwise direction of the magazine body 4, and is normally urged by the spring 14 rearward toward the rear portion 4aof the magazine body 4. The wire 13 includes a front end 13aand a rear end 12b. The front end 13aengages with the feeder 10 when no nails 8 are supported in the magazine body 4. On the other hand, the rear end 12bis located adjacent to the rear portion 4aof the magazine body 4 and engages, under urging force from the spring 14, with the upper or lower holding grooves 12c, 12dof the nail gate 12 when nails 8 are supported in the magazine body 4.

[0050] Next, operation of the magazine 20 will be described. When there are no nails in the magazine body 4 as shown in FIG. 14, the feeder 10 is pressed by the spring 9 to the position as close as possible to the nose 3. As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, the front end of the feeder 10 engages with the front end 13aof the wire 13 and moves the wire 13 toward the nose 3 against resistance from the spring 14. As shown in FIG. 17, the rear end 13bof the wire 13 moves away from the nail gate 12 and out of engagement with both of the grooves 12c, 12din the nail gate 12. Because the wire 13 does not obstruct movement of the nail gate 12, the nail gate 12 can move upward and downward.

[0051] To load long nails 8A into the magazine body 4, the operator slides the nail gate 12 into the upper position as shown in FIG. 17, loads long nails 8A into the nail loading opening 11, and retracts the feeder 10 to the rear of the rearmost long nail 8A. As a result, the feeder 10 presses the long nails 8A toward the nose 3 under the urging force of the spring 9. After nails 8A are loaded into the magazine body 4 in this manner, the feeder 10 no longer presses against the front end 13aof the wire 13. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 18 the urging force of the spring 14 presses the rear end 13bof the wire 13 into engagement with the lower holding groove 12d. This engagement prevents the nail gate 12 from moving downward. As a result, even if the operator mistakenly loads short nails 8B into the magazine body 4, as shown in FIG. 19 the nail tip of the short nails 8B will be supported higher than the pressing position of the feeder 10. Therefore, the feeder 10 will not supply the short nails 8B toward the nose 3. That is, even if short nails 8B are loaded into the magazine body 4 while long nails 8A are supported in the magazine body 4, there is no danger of the short nails being ejected by the nail gun 1, so the related problem of shortened life of the nail gun 1 can be prevented.

[0052] After long nails 8A are properly loaded into the nail gun 1 as shown in FIG. 5, the operator operates the nail gun 1 until all the nails 8 are spent from the magazine body 4. When no more nails are supported in the magazine body 4, then the magazine 20 will be back in the condition shown in FIG. 17, wherein the rear end 13bof the wire 13 is separated from the lower holding groove 12d. This returns the nail gate 12 into a movable condition, so that the nail gate 12 can be moved into the lower position shown in FIG. 20 and short nails 8B can be loaded into the magazine body 4. As the operator loads short nails 8B into the magazine body 4 and resets the feeder 10, as shown in FIG. 21 the wire 13 is pushed rearward by the spring 14 until the rear end 13bengages with the upper holding groove 12c, so that movement of nail gate 12 is obstructed. When the nail gate 12 is fixed in the lower position, the nail gate 12 prevents long nails 8A from being loaded into the magazine body 4.

[0053] After short nails 8B are loaded into the magazine body 4, movement of the nail gate 12 from the lower position will be obstructed as long as any short nails 8B remain in the magazine body 4. As a result, long nails 8A can not be loaded into the magazine body 4 at the same time as the short nails 8B. It should be noted that short nails 8B can be loaded into the magazine body 4 while long nails 8A are currently housed in the magazine body 4. However, this is not a problem because, as described above, in this case the feeder 10 will not press against the short nails 8B.

[0054] Next, a modification of the embodiment will be described while referring to FIG. 22. According to the modification, a confirmation mark 15 is provided on the nail gate 12 and nail length indications 16 are provided on the magazine body 4 at positions near the confirmation mark 15. With this configuration, when nails 8 remain in the magazine body 4, the operator will be able to know the length of the nails 8 based on the position of the nail gate 12. The operator can easily judge whether the nails 8 remaining in the magazine body 4 match the thickness of the work piece to be fixed in place with the nails 8, without directly viewing the nails 8 in the magazine body 4. The nail gate 12 is colored in a different color than the color of the magazine body 4 so that the position of the nail gate 12 can be easily recognized. As a result, the operator can easily determine the length of the nails 8 in the magazine body 4.

[0055] With the above-described configuration, only nails with the same length can be loaded into the magazine body. Also, because the length of nails in the magazine body can be easily confirmed, the operator can easily judge whether the nail length is appropriate for the present work piece.

[0056] As a result, the nail driving energy will always be appropriate for the nails in the manifold body, so long nails will not be only partially driven into the work piece because of a lack of driving energy and short nails will not be driven too far into the work piece because of an excess of driving energy. Related problems, such as reduction of supporting force by the nails and shortening of the nail gun's life, can be prevented.