Nail package having exteriorly ribbed rataining strips

Claim 2

In a nail package of the type comprising a plurality of nails each including a shank having a head at one end and a point at its other end, said nails being arranged in row formation with their shanks generally parallel and the heads of adjacent nails in lapped relation and means secured to opposite sides of the shanks retaining said nails in said row formation, the improvement which comprises said nail-securing means including a plurality of strips of material operable to be progressively disintegrated as the nails are progressively driven from the row formation, each of said strips being formed to provide relatively narrow thin elongated web means and longitudinally coextensive rib means, said web means extending longitudinally in the direction of extent of said row formation and transversely in the direction of extent of said shanks, the associated sides of said shanks being adhesively secured to said web means, said rib means extending longitudinally in the direction of extent of said row formation and transversely outwardly from the web means of the associated strip in a direction transverse to the direction of extent of said shanks.

Claim 3

The improvement as defined in claim 1 wherein said nail-securing means includes four strips of material, two on each side of the row formation, the rib means of each of said strips being spaced from said nail heads a different distance measured in the direction of extent of said nail shanks.

Claim 4

The improvement as defined in claim 2 wherein the web means of adjacent strips measured in the direction of extent of said nail shanks are disposed in spaced relation.

Claim 5

The improvement as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said strips is formed of a layer of heat-activatable adhesive on a backing portion.

Claim 6

The improvement as defined in claim 4 wherein said backing portion is made of an absorbent material.

Claim 7

The improvement as defined in claim 5 wherein said heat-activatable adhesive comprises a hot melt thermoplastic and said absorbent material comprises kraft paper.

Claim 8

The improvement as defined in claim 1 wherein the rib means of each strip comprises a longitudinal section of said strip folded along a longitudinally extending fold line.

Claim 9

The improvement as defined in claim 7 wherein said longitudinal section is folded along said fold line to an extant such as to define an included angle of the order of 20*.

Claim 10

The improvement as defined in claim 8 wherein said longitudinal section is disposed in the central portion Of said strip and said fold line constitutes the medial line thereof.

Claim 11

In a nail package of the type comprising a plurality of nails each including a shank having a head at one end and a work-piercing point at its other end, said nails being arranged in row formation with their shanks generally parallel and the heads of adjacent nails in lapped relation, and means secured to opposite sides of the shanks retaining said nails in said row formation for manual handling as a unit for purposes of loading the same into a magazine of a nail-driving device and mechanical handling when loaded within the magazine as by spring pressure acting upon the trailing nail resiliently urging the leading nail into a drive track to be stripped from the row formation and driven by a longitudinal driving force applied to the head, the improvement which comprises said nail-securing means comprising a plurality of relatively narrow, thin elongated strips operable to be progressively disintegrated in response to the progressive stripping of the nails from the row formation, each of said strips including a normally nontacky material capable of being activated by a relatively high heat into a flowable adhesive on one side thereof and an absorbent material stable when said normally nontacky material is heat activated into a flowable adhesive and disposed in contact with said normally nontacky material so as to generally confine the same when heat activated, said strips being folded longitudinally to from web means and rib means, said web means extending longitudinally in the direction of extent of said row formation and transversely in the direction of extent of said shanks, the associated sides of said shanks being adhesively embedded in the normally nontacky material of said web means, said rib means extending longitudinally in the direction of extent of said row formation and transversely outwardly from the web means of the associated strip in a direction transverse to the direction of extent of said shanks, said rib means defining surfaces facing in a direction away from said heads extending continuously along opposite sides of the row formation in the direction of extent thereof by which the nail package can be supported for sliding movement within the magazine.

Claim 12

In a nail package of the type comprising a plurality of nails each including a shank having a head at one end and a work-piercing point at its other end, said nails being arranged in row formation with their shanks generally parallel and the heads of adjacent nails in lapped relation, and means secured to opposite sides of the shanks retaining said nails in said row formation for manual handling as a unit for purposes of loading the same into a magazine of a nail-driving device and mechanical handling when loaded within the magazine as by spring pressure acting upon the trailing nail resiliently urging the leading nail into a drive track to be stripped from the row formation and driven by a longitudinal driving force applied to the head, the improvement which comprises said nail-securing means comprising a plurality of relatively narrow, thin elongated strips operable to be progressively disintegrated in response to the progressive stripping of the nails from the row formation, each of said strips including a normally nontacky material capable of being activated by a relatively high heat into a flowable adhesive on one side thereof and an absorbent material stable when said normally nontacky material is heat activated into a flowable adhesive and disposed in contact with said normally nontacky material so as to generally confine the same when heat activated, said strips being folded longitudinally to from web means and rib means, said web means extending longitudinally in the direction of extent of said row formation and transversely in the direction of extent of said shanks, the associated sides of said shanks being adhesively embedded in the normally nontacky material of said web means, said rib means extending longitudinally in the direction of extent of said row formation and transversely outwardly from the web means of the associated strip in a direction transverse to the direction of extent of said shanks, said rib means defining surfaces facing in a direction away from said heads extending continuously along opposite sides of the row formation in the direction of extent thereof by which the nail package can be supported for sliding movement within the magazine.

Claim 13

The improvement as defined in claim 10 wherein the rib means of each strip comprises a central longitudinal section folded along a central longitudinal fold line to define an included angle of the order of 20*.