Removable holding member for stacked roofing washers

[0001] The present invention relates to a holding member that extends through stacked roofing washers and includes a removable end piece which is disengaged from the holding member by a force.

[0002] A conventional stacked roofing washers assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,580, and generally includes a plurality of roofing washers which are collated by a flexible member extending through respective central apertures in the roofing washers. A formation such as a knot is formed at an end of the flexible member after the flexible member extends through the roofing washers so that the stacked roofing washers can be hanged when pulled from the other end of the flexible member. The formation can be deformed if the flexible member is forcibly pulled way from the stacked of roofing washers. The deformed knot is so deformed that it is able to be forcibly pulled through the central apertures. Nevertheless, the deformation of the formation cannot be controlled and could be slightly too large to be pulled through the central apertures. Therefore the central apertures could be enlarged or even damaged. This affects the function of the washers when a nail extends through the enlarged central apertures.

[0003] The present invention intends to provide a holding member that is made of flexible material and includes a removable end piece which has a flexible and expandable spikes so as to expand to contact the last one washer in the stacked washers. The end piece can be forcibly disengaged from the holding member by pulling the holding member.

[0004] The present invention relates to a roofing washers assembly which comprises a plurality of stacked roofing washers and each roofing washer has a central aperture. A positioning roofing washer is located at an end of the stacked roofing washers and has a positioning aperture which is smaller than the central aperture. An elongate holding member has a removable end piece connected to a first end thereof and the end piece has expandable spikes extending outward from the end piece. The holding member extends through the central apertures of the stacked roofing washers by the end piece and the expandable spikes are pushed inward when passing through the positioning aperture, and then expand outward after the expandable spikes passed out the positioning aperture.

[0005] The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention.

[0014] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, the stacked roofing washers assembly of the present invention comprises a plurality of stacked roofing washers 10 and each roofing washer 10 has a central aperture 12. A positioning roofing washer 101 is located at an end of the stacked roofing washers 10 and has a positioning aperture 11 which is smaller than the central aperture 12.

[0015] An elongate holding member 20 has a sharp tip (see FIG. 6) at a first end 20 thereof and the sharp tip is inserted and connected to a removable end piece 22. The end piece 22 has expandable spikes 23 extending outward from the end piece 22 and being capable of being pushed inward. The end piece 22 has a sharp tip so that the holding member 20 conveniently extends through the central apertures 12 of the stacked roofing washers 10 and the positioning washer 101 by the end piece 22. A ring 21 is connected to a second end of the elongate holding member 20.

[0016] As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the expandable spikes 23 are pushed inward when passing through the positioning aperture 11 and then expand outward after the expandable spikes 23 went out the positioning aperture 11. The expandable spikes 23 contact an underside of the positioning roofing washer 101.

[0017] Referring to FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, the stacked roofing washers 10 can be hanged by holding the ring 21 so that the user can easily put the stacked roofing washers 10 into the magazine 31 of the roofing staple gun 10. The user then pulls the ring 20 away from the stacked roofing washers 10, the end piece 22 is forcibly disengaged from the first end of the holding member 20 and the sharp tip at the first end of the holding member 20 can easily go through the positioning aperture 11 and the central apertures 12.

[0018] While we have shown and described the embodiment in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.