EP0678361B1 - Fastener-driving tool - Google Patents

Abstract

The gun has a combustion chamber made to receive a powder cartridge, an igniter for the powder, a barrel for the combustion gases and a striker which expels the fixing pin through a guide (7) with a shuttle (34). The shuttle has a mechanism to return it to its firing position and dampers (32,38) to absorb the shock from its action. The dampers are located in a kinematic circuit which actuates the shuttle and are designed to cease operation in the event of excessive wear. The kinematic circuit comprises a sliding rod (11) a double pivoted lever (46) and an additional lever with one end articulated to the first lever and the other sliding. The rod is actuated by a pin (3) mounted on the barrel holder (61) which slides along the barrel to close the combustion chamber. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to an indirect fire sealing apparatus as defined by the characteristics of the preamble to the claim 1.

Such a device is used for, for example, fixing steel plates on metal or concrete support structures for mounting roofs or floors.

Such a device is already known. It is in particular described in EP-A-0 535 826.

As a buffer, it is generally used a buffer comprising a rod, an end head, with which the counterweight is intended to cooperate, and a centering washer, of the same section as the head, mounted on the rod between the head and its penetration end.

The closing of the combustion chamber and the arrival of the shuttle in position should also be concomitant.

The wear of the parts after a certain number of operating cycles and, even in new condition, manufacturing tolerances create a risk that at the time of firing, the shuttle is not correctly positioned and therefore the buffer is not precisely in the axis of the buffer guide and the barrel.

In this case, the drive of the buffer by the counterweight would cause the attachment of the head or of the pad washer to the rim of the bore of the pad guide downstream of the shuttle and would destroy the pad.

The present invention aims to eliminate such a risk.

To this end, the invention relates to an apparatus of the type mentioned in claim 1.

The invention therefore provides, at the end of the action of the means for controlling the means for closing the combustion chamber and means for displacement of the shuttle, to dissociate the displacement of the shuttle from the chamber closed. When the shuttle comes to a stop in its position fire, normally, the combustion chamber is not yet completely closed; continued actuation of the displacement means of the shuttle, with that of the chamber closing means, by the means of command, is therefore absorbed by the damping means. In case of wear maximum, it can be expected that the damping means no longer exert no action.

In other words, the invention provides for a displacement stroke additional, or "overtravel", of the shuttle, in which it is therefore never trained, and which compensates for manufacturing tolerances and the play caused by the wear of the parts, thus anticipated.

In the preferred embodiment of the apparatus of the invention, the means of movement of the shuttle include a drive drawer mounted movable in the shuttle against the action of damping return means, the drawer moving in the shuttle as soon as it stops in its firing position, the damping means thus being arranged at the end of a kinematic chain of displacement of the shuttle.

We could also provide them at the beginning of the chain.

Other damping means could be imagined such as, for example, a shock absorbing spring inside the kinematic chain of moving the shuttle.

• la figure 1 représente une vue de profil de l'appareil de l'invention;
• la figure 2 représente une vue, partiellement en coupe, du porte-canon, du canon et du guide-tampon de l'appareil de la figure 1, en position de repos;
• la figure 3 représente les pièces de la figure 2, en position de tir;
• la figure 4 représente une vue en perspective inversée, et avec arraché, du guide-tampon de l'appareil, en position de chargement de tampon;
• la figure 5 représente une vue en coupe axiale du guide-tampon de la figure 4 et
• la figure 6 représente une vue en perspective du guide-tampon similaire à celle de la figure 4, mais en position de tir.

The invention will be better understood with the aid of the following description of the preferred embodiment of the apparatus of the invention, with reference to the appended drawing, in which

• Figure 1 shows a side view of the apparatus of the invention;
• 2 shows a view, partially in section, of the gun holder, the barrel and the buffer guide of the device of Figure 1, in the rest position;
• 3 shows the parts of Figure 2, in the firing position;
• FIG. 4 shows an inverted perspective view, with parts broken away, of the tampon guide of the apparatus, in the tampon loading position;
• FIG. 5 represents a view in axial section of the buffer guide of FIG. 4 and
• 6 shows a perspective view of the buffer guide similar to that of Figure 4, but in the firing position.

Referring to Figure 1, the apparatus comprises a rear handle 1 and a side handle 2, a combustion chamber 3, with its cover 4, its push-button 9 for opening the hood, its wheel 10 and its slider 5 for adjusting power, a trigger 6, a buffer guide 7, a tube 8 for feeding buffers, a shuttle displacement rod 11.

The combustion chamber 3 is provided at the rear of the barrel 60, of the front end of which is attached the buffer guide 7. The barrel 60 is mounted sliding in a gun holder 61 intended to receive, before closing the cover 4, a cartridge disc 62, one of which is intended to be covered by the barrel 60 in firing and closing position of the combustion chamber 3. The gun holder 61, axis 20, carries a finger 63 for controlling the movement a buffer loading shuttle. The finger 63 extends, on the side of the gun holder, parallel to its axis 20.

The device is a standing fire device. The sealing pads are inserted into tube 8. To put the device in the firing position, close the combustion chamber 3 and place a buffer in the buffer guide 7, in the axis of the barrel and the counterweight, the operator, by the handles 1, 2, puts the device pressing against the support material intended to receive the tampon and press on the device to lower the barrel holder against the action of springs 61 towards the buffer guide 7. During the resting, the rear of the barrel comes cover a cartridge and close chamber 3 and finger 63 goes down to actuate the rod 11. The firing is carried out by the trigger 6. To reset the appliance and actuate the return catch of the counterweight in the firing position, the operator takes out the bearing.

The buffer guide 7 essentially comprises three bores. A first central through bore, longitudinal, with end portion 21, of cross section corresponding to that of the buffers, and with an inner portion 22, of cross section narrowed corresponding to that of the counterweight, extends in the extension the barrel of the aircraft. A second blind bore 23, transverse, orthogonal to the longitudinal bore 21, 22, receives a receiving shuttle 34 of buffer. These two bores are intersecting, the shuttle bore 23 comprising, near its bottom 24, an annular shoulder 25 of abutment shuttle bus. A third through bore 26 extends, on the side of the buffer guide, parallel to the central bore 21, 22. It receives the rod 11 of shuttle movement. As this one is itself moved against the action of a compression spring 27, the bore 26 has a portion enlarged 28, for this spring 27, extending between the shoulder formed between the two bore portions 26, 28 and the head 29 of the rod 11.

Between the inner end 30 of the tampon guide, through which the central bore portion 22 of narrowed section, and the mouth of the bore transverse 23, the buffer guide has a passage opening for pad around which the end piece 31 of the supply tube 8 is fixed.

The shuttle 34, shaped to slide in the bore 23, comprises essentially two sleeves juxtaposed and orthogonal to each other. A first outer sleeve 32, which receives a displacement drawer 33, and the bore 23 are coaxial. A second inner sleeve 35 has a parallel axis to axis 20 of the device. The central bore of the sleeve 32 has a portion outer 36 of enlarged section to receive, between the shoulder between the two bore portions and the head 37 of the drawer 33, a spring compression damper 38. The central bore of the sleeve 35 has a section corresponding to that of the buffers.

The pads have a rod 39, with a head 40 and a pointed end 41. A centering washer 42, with the same outside diameter that the head 40 is slid over the rod 39.

The shuttle displacement rod 11 carries a lug 43 extending through a light 44 formed in one of the arms 45 of a link 46, with two arms in V 45, 47, pivotally mounted around an axis 48, driven into the buffer guide 7 and orthogonal to the axis 20 of the device and to the axis of the bore of shuttle 23. The link 46 is articulated to another link 49 whose end free carries a displacement lug 50 extending through a light of the outer shuttle sleeve 32 and integral with the drawer 33.

In summary, when the device is supported, the gun holder 61 slides on the barrel 60 to, on the one hand, order the closing of the chamber combustion 3, by covering the barrel by the barrel holder, and, on the other hand, control the movement of the shuttle 34 by sliding the finger 63 which causes the rod 11 to slide, which pivots the link 46 which, at its turn, rotates the articulated end to it of the rod 49 which causes the other end of the connecting rod 49 to slide, bearing the lug 50.

By sliding, the rod 11 lowers its lug 43 which is forced to slide in the light 44 of the arm 45 of the link 46, which constrains the link 46 to rotate. As the firing cycles continue, the cooperation of the lug 43 with the edges of the light 44 and the relative displacement of the rods can cause a widening of this light and play in the rods which could limit the rotation of the rod 46 and therefore the translation of the shuttle 34 if the invention had not been proposed.

First, the spacing, at rest, between the finger 63 and the rod 11 is determined so that the support entails, in addition to closing the combustion chamber 3, the sliding of the rod 11 over a length which, taking into account the arrangement and dimensions of the rods 46, 49, of the light 44 and the position of the lug 43 on the rod 11, should slide the shuttle 34 beyond its abutment shoulder 25. Secondly, when the shuttle 34 abuts on this shoulder, continuing the descent of the rod 11 continues to actuate the kinematic chain of the rods which, by the lug 50, slides in the shuttle 34 the drawer 33 against the action of the spring 38. The head 37 of the drawer 33 is then retracted inside the bore 36 of the shuttle (Figure 6). The additional shuttle construction run 34, made impossible by the stop 25, is therefore absorbed by the drawer 33 and its spring 38. This additional stroke, or overtravel, therefore makes it possible to overcome the wear of the parts of the kinematic chain for moving the shuttle 34.

In reality, in the example considered, there are two almost identical kinematic chains on each side of the apparatus, comprising, in common, the rod 11.

A buffer having been loaded by gravity into the sleeve 35 of the shuttle 34, just before the device is pressed down (Figure 5) and the shuttle 34 coming certainly in abutment against the shoulder 25, the pad, at the end of the setting support, is perfectly aligned with the bore portion 21, in the axis 20 of the device. Under the action of the flyweight, it will be trained in this portion bore 21, in front of the shuttle 34, without being hooked by the flange 70 of this bore portion 21 and therefore without being damaged.

It will be noted that, to maintain the following buffer in the end piece 31 of the feed tube 8, and also without damaging it when the shuttle 34, this comprises a lateral ramp 71 for raising the buffer.

Finally, there is provided in the shuttle 34, in a lower bore 72, a ball 73 buffer retainer, subjected to the action of a spring, not shown, for retain the tampon until it is trained when firing.

Claims (10)

1. Driving apparatus with indirect firing, intended to be used by an operator in a standing position, comprising

   a combustion chamber (3) intended to receive a powder cartridge (62),

   means (6) for igniting the powder of the cartridge,

   a barrel (60) and a plunger in the barrel intended to be driven by the combustion gases of the powder,

   a fastener-guide (7) intended to receive a fastener (39-42) intended to be driven by the plunger into a support material,

   a shuttle (34) in the fastener-guide (7) mounted to move from a position for loading the fastener to a position for firing and driving the fastener by the plunger,

   displacement means for causing the travel of the shuttle (34) from one of said positions to the other, and

   means (61) for controlling at the same time means (60, 61) for closing the combustion chamber (3) and means for the displacement of the shuttle (34), characterized by the fact that

   the displacement means (63, 11, 43, 46, 49, 50, 33, 37) are arranged to bring about an additional travel of the shuttle in order to compensate for manufacturing tolerances or the wear of said displacement means (63, 11, 43, 46, 49, 50, 33, 37) after a certain number of operating cycles of said apparatus, and

   damper means (32, 38) are provided in order, when the shuttle (34) has reached its firing position (25), to absorb said additional travel and the action of said displacement means (63, 11, 43, 46, 49, 50, 33, 37).
2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, in which, in the case of maximum wear, the damper means (32, 38) are arranged so that they no longer exert any action.
3. Apparatus according to Claims 1 and 2, in which the damper means are disposed within a kinematic chain for the displacement of the shuttle.
4. Apparatus according to one of Claims 1 and 2, in which the damper means (32, 38) are disposed at the end of a kinematic chain (11, 46, 49) for the displacement of the shuttle (34).
5. Apparatus according to Claim 4, in which the damper means (32, 38) are disposed at the end of the kinematic chain (11, 46, 49, 50).
6. Apparatus according to Claim 5, in which the means for the displacement of the shuttle comprise a driving slide (33) mounted to move in the shuttle (34) against the action of return damper means (38), the slide (33) moving in the shuttle (34) as soon as it has come into abutment (25) in its firing position.
7. Apparatus according to Claim 6, in which the kinematic chain comprises a lug (50) with which the slide (33) is integral.
8. Apparatus according to one of Claims 5 to 7, in which the kinematic chain comprises a sliding displacement rod (11), a first pivoting connecting-rod (46), with two V arms (45, 47) and a second connecting-rod (49) pivoted by one end to the former and whereof the other end is mounted to slide.
9. Apparatus according to Claim 8, in which the displacement rod (11) supports a lug (43) extending through an aperture (44) provided in one arm (45) of the two arms of the first pivoting connecting rod (46).
10. Apparatus according to one of Claims 8 and 9, in which the sliding of the displacement rod (11) takes place under the action of a finger (63) supported by a control barrel-holder (61) arranged to receive the powder cartridge (62) and to slide on the barrel (60) in order to close the combustion chamber (3).

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