Fastener driving tool with improved magazine and feed mechanism

Claim 1

A fastener driving tool for driving successive fasteners supported in vertically extending parallel row formation by a horizontally elongated thin walled plastic carrier strip which includes a series of longitudinally spaced pairs of upper and lower fastener retaining walls, each pair of upper and lower walls extending generally horizontally and being disposed in generally vertical spaced parallel relation with respect to one another, a vertical wall connected between one pair of corresponding edges of each pair of upper and lower walls, the lower walls being longitudinally interconnected at their edges opposite from said one edge, a continuous wall longitudinally interconnecting the upper walls at their edges opposite from said one edge, said continuous wall extending vertically downwardly from the opposite edges of said upper walls and terminating in a lower edge forming a continuous longitudinally extending gap therebelow and above the interconnected opposite edges of said lower walls, said upper and lower walls having longitudinally spaced aligned pairs of openings formed in a central portions thereof configured to releasably support the fasteners with the axes extending vertically in a parallel row formation with respect to one another in such a way that the fasteners including the heads thereof can be moved axially therefrom without substantially unbalanced transverse forces being applied thereto, the lower edge of said continuous wall having a multiplicity of notches therein opening into said gap spaced apart a longitudinal distance generally equal to the longitudinal spacing between fasteners, said tool comprising a tool body having means defining a fastener drive track, a fastener driving element mounted in said drive track for movement through successive operative cycles each including a drive stroke and a return stroke, a magazine providing a interior space for retaining a coiled carrier strip with supported fasteners, guide passage means leading from said magazine to said drive track along which a leading end portion of said strip with supported fasteners can be moved, and fastener feeding means for moving the leading end portion of the strip with fasteners along said guide passage means, said feeding means including a L-shaped member having a horizontally extending portion and a vertical portion extending upwardly therefrom, said L-shaped member being disposed with respect to said guide passage means such that the horizontal extending portion extends through the gap in said strip and the vertically extending portion extends alongside the inner surface of the continuous wall of said strip, said feeding means including feeding pawl means mounted for movement through successive operative cycles each of which includes a feed stroke and a return stroke, and means for effecting movement of said feeding pawl means such that the same will be engaged within a strip notch at the end of each return stroke so that said strip will be moved with said feeding pawl means during the drive stroke thereof.