Tension-Fed Screw Strip Guide to Prevent Jams and Tangling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional screw guns with pusher feeders face issues such as complex mechanisms, jamming, misfeeds, and tangling of flexible screw strips, requiring user intervention and time-consuming disassembly for correction.
Innovation Solution
A tension-fed fastener installation tool with a retractable elongate member and tension feeder pin that pulls the collated fastener strip through a guide, maintaining constant tension and preventing sagging, tangling, and jamming, while allowing easy access for correction and adjustable guides for various fastener sizes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a pusher feeder mechanism is used to advance the screw strip, then the screws can be fed toward the nose of the tool, but the mechanism becomes complicated and prone to jamming and misfeeds
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of pushing the screw strip forward with a complex pusher feeder mechanism, the invention inverts the approach by using a tension feeder to pull the strip backward toward the nose. This simplifies the mechanism while maintaining feeding functionality and reducing jamming issues.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the attachment element (tension feeder pin) from the complex pusher feeder mechanism, creating a separate, simpler tension-based feeding system that eliminates the need for complicated gear-driven pusher teeth and their associated actuation mechanisms.
2Ease of operation
If the pusher feeder teeth are advanced by user action, then the collated strip can be pushed toward the nose, but the mechanism requires perfect timing or creates jams requiring disassembly
Solution Approach 1:
The tension feeder system is self-actuating through the user's natural pushing motion on the tool body, which automatically tensions the elongate member to pull the strip. This eliminates the need for separate actuation mechanisms and perfect timing requirements, making the system more reliable and easier to operate.
3Productivity
If a flexible screw strip is pushed toward the nose piece, then the screws can be fed for driving, but the strip becomes difficult to manage and screws bunch or tangle
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of pushing the flexible strip forward which causes bunching and tangling, the invention pulls the strip backward toward the nose using tension. This reverse action maintains strip tension and alignment, preventing bunching and tangling while maintaining feeding productivity.
4Ease of repair
If the nose piece is disassembled to fix jams, then the jam can be corrected, but the process becomes time-consuming and frustrating
Solution Approach 1:
The tension feeder pin and elongate member are extracted as separate, easily accessible components that can be quickly removed and reattached without disassembling the nose piece. This allows jam correction to be performed rapidly by simply removing the pin, clearing the jam, and reattaching the pin, eliminating time-consuming nose piece disassembly.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The tool ensures consistent alignment and efficient feeding of fasteners, reducing jamming and misfeeds, and allows for easy adjustment and replacement of guides without additional tools, enhancing work efficiency and reducing user frustration.
Implementation Method 1
The biasing member can be a coil spring configured to exert a pulling force on the elongated member
Implementation Method 2
The biasing member can be a coil spring configured to exert a pulling force on the elongated member
Implementation Method 3
maintaining constant tension and preventing sagging, tangling, and jamming
Data Source
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AI summary
An installation tool and related methods are provided. The tool can pull a strip of collated fasteners along a collated fastener path to a guide, where individual fasteners are sequentially separated from the strip and advanced into a workpiece. The tool can include a tension feeder located downstream of the guide. The tension feeder is configured to apply tension to the strip between the guide and a leading end of the strip. The tool can include a driveshaft configured to attach to a conventional drive tool chuck or a drive tool having hexagonal type drive components. The guide can be one piece and replaceable, with a guide body and a guide head. A strip slot can be defined in the same to align a fastener head with a backstop and facilitate entry of a fastener shank in a feed slot. Related methods of use are provided.