Plastic nail and a plastic nail strip for an automatic hammer

• US 3,915,299 A
• Filed: 08/16/1974
• Issued: 10/28/1975
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/1971
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Mataichi Miyaoku
• Original Assignee: Mataichi Miyaoku
• Inventors: Miyaoku, Mataichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Summer, Leonard
• Application Number:
  US05/498,034
• Time in Patent Office: 438 Days
• Field of Search: 206/345,343 85/17,21
• US Class Current: 206/345
• CPC Class Codes: F16B 15/08 formed in integral series but easily separable
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 411/907 Elastomeric

Abstract

A hard plastic nail, having resistance to a compressing force of a hammer stroke, as a component for a series of nails joined side-by-side to form a strip, for feeding into an automatic hammer and to be driven through material to be nailed, such as wood and/or plastic sheeting and supports, is provided with accurately positioned perforations, running through its width perpendicularly to its longitudinal axis and in the central plane of the strip. The dimension of the shank of each nail in the direction normal to the aforesaid plane of the strip, preferably is greater than its thickness, that is, its transverse dimension in said plane. A thin plastic belt of low shearing resistance and having a cross-section to essentially fit the perforations, is threaded through the perforation of each nail thus connecting them into the strip, so that a portion of the belt with the nail through which it is threaded is severed or sheared by the hammer stroke. The nail head is elongated in the direction normal to the aforesaid plane of the strip, to thereby form projections which mate slidingly with the corresponding conventional grooves of the hammer and the shank has a shape to clear any portions of the interior of the hammer, to thus permit a free sliding of the nail strip through a conventional magazine of the hammer. Preferably perforations are provided in each nail for two plastic belts to connect the nails into a strip, one perforation being adjacent the nail-head surface and the other in the upper half of the shank near its center. The belt has a consistency permitting easy shearing by the hammer stroke, while the plastic nail has a greater hardness offering resistance to the driving force of the hammer. The tip of the nail has a length from about 1 to 1 1/2 times that of the cross-sectional diameter of the shank. The shank may be formed with voids or serrations, permitting penetration into them of the surrounding material after the nail has been driven through it to thus effect greater holding power.

Claims

1. A nail strip for use in an automatic nail-driving machine, comprising, a plurality of nails of plastic having relatively great hardness, each having a central longitudinal axis, a head, a one-piece shank and at least one perforation through its shank, normal to said axis, and a web of plastic material of hardness less than that of said nails, said web frictionally passing through all said perforations to interconnect said nails in sideby-side relation, into a strip.

2. A nail strip as claimed in claim 1, there being one perforation through each said shank positioned in the half thereof contiguous to said head.

3. A nail strip as claimed in claim 2, the cross-section of the shank of each nail, normal to its longitudinal axis being an elongated hexagon of lesser dimension in the plane of the strip than in the direction normal to said plane.

4. A nail strip as claimed in claim 2, the cross-section of the shank of each said nail in a plane normal to said longitudinal axis being square.

5. A nail strip as claimed in claim 2, the cross-section of the shank of each said nail in a plane normal to said longitudinal axis, being oval.

6. A nail strip as claimed in claim 2, there being a second perforation in and through the shank of each nail, spaced below said one perforation and positioned in the upper half of said shank, and a second web passing through all the second perforations in said nails.

7. A nail strip as claimed in claim 6, said second perforation in each nail being located about one-third the length of the shank, below its head.

8. The nail strip of claim 1, said nails being of methyl methacrylate, said web being selected from the group consisting of polyethylene and polyvinyl.