The present invention relates to a combustion-type power tool, and more particularly, to such power tool capable of driving a fastener of driving such as a nail, an anchor, and a staple into a workpiece by igniting a mixture of air and gaseous fuel, which in turn causes a linear momentum of a piston.
U.S Pat. Nos. U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,474, U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,722, U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,162, U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,473, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,209 disclose a combustion type power tool in which motive power of a piston is generated upon ignition of air-.fuel mixture to drive a fastener such as a nail and a rivet into a workpiece.
The power tool generally includes a housing frame, a head cover, a combustion chamber frame, a cylinder, a piston, a driver and blade. The head cover is positioned at one end of the housing frame. The combustion chamber frame is reciprocally movable and abuttable on the head cover. The cylinder is disposed in the housing frame. The piston is reciprocally movable within the cylinder. The driver blade is attached to the piston to drive the fastener by the movement of the piston. A sealed combustion chamber is defined by the head cover, combustion chamber frame, cylinder, and piston when the combustion chamber frame is in abutment with the head cover. A gas canister accumulating therein a combustible fuel is provided in the housing frame. An ignition plug is provided to generate a spark for igniting air-fuel mixture when the fuel is injected and vaporized in the combustion chamber. Upon explosive combustion, the piston is rapidly moved to move the driver blade so that the fastener is driven into the workpiece.
In the conventional combustion type nail gun described in the publications, a switch having a mechanical junction or contact is used. A remarkably large impact force is imparted on the nail gun body at a time of nail driving operation such as not less than about 1000 G. On the other hand, a commercially available mechanical switch such as a micro-switch provides a tolerance against impact of about 100 G.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a combustion type power tool capable of using a commodity type switch such as a micro-switch to reduce a cost despite of the application of excessive impact force to the tool body due to fastener driving operation or the like.
This and other object of the present invention will be attained by a combustion-type power tool including a housing, a cylinder head, a cylinder, a piston, a combustion chamber frame, an elastic member, and a switch.
The housing has one end and another end. The handle is provided on the housing. The cylinder head is disposed at the one end of the housing. The cylinder is disposed in and fixed to the housing. The cylinder defines an axial direction. The cylinder has one end positioned at the one end side of the housing and another end positioned at the another end side of the housing. The piston is slidably disposed in the cylinder and reciprocally movable in the axial direction. The combustion chamber frame is disposed in the housing and movable in the axial direction. The combustion chamber frame is abuttable on the cylinder head to provide a combustion chamber in cooperation with the cylinder head and the piston. The elastic member is provided on one of the housing and the handle. The switch is provided on one of the housing and the handle through the elastic member. The switch has one end portion facing to the one end side of the housing. The elastic member covers the one end portion.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a combustion type power tool including a housing, a cylinder head, a cylinder, a piston, a combustion chamber frame, an resilient member, and a trigger.
The housing has one end and another end. The cylinder head is disposed at the one end of the housing. The cylinder is disposed in and fixed to the housing. The cylinder defines an axial direction. The cylinder having one end positioned at the one end side of the housing and another end positioned at the another end side of the housing. The piston is slidably disposed in the cylinder and reciprocally movable in the axial direction. The combustion chamber frame is disposed in the housing and movable in the axial direction. The combustion chamber frame is abuttable on the cylinder head to provide a combustion chamber in cooperation with the cylinder head and the piston. The resilient member attached to the handle. The trigger is provided on the handle through the resilient member.
In the drawings;
A combustion-type power tool according to an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to
The combustion-type nail driver 1 shown in
The trigger 36 is in an inverted L shape and made from a plastic material as shown in
The combustion-type nail driver 1 also has a canister housing 29 at one side of the housing 2 from which the handle 4 extends. A gas canister 30 (see
A nose 7 extends from near the lower end of the housing 2. The nose 7 is integral with a cylinder 20 described later and has a tip end abuttable on a workpiece 28. The nose 7 is adapted for guiding sliding movement of a driver blade 23a described later and for guiding the nail driven into the workpiece 28. A push lever 9 is reciprocally slidingly movably supported to the nose 7, and projects from the tip end 7a of the nose 7.
As shown in
A compression coil spring 22 is interposed between the connector section 12B and the cylinder 20 for normally urging the push lever 9 in a protruding direction from the housing 2. When the housing 2 is pressed toward a workpiece 28 while the push lever 9 is in abutment with the workpiece against a biasing force of the compression coil spring 22, an upper portion of the push lever 9 is retractable into the housing 2.
A cylinder head 11 is fixedly secured to the top of the housing 2 and substantially covers the open top end of the housing 2. A motor 18 is disposed at one side of the cylinder head 11 opposite the combustion chamber 26 as will be described later. An ignition plug (not shown) is disposed in the vicinity of the motor 18 and the ignition position is directed toward the combustion chamber 26.
The cylinder head 11 has a handle side in which is formed a fuel ejection passage 25 which allows a combustible gas to pass therethrough. One end of the ejection passage 25 opens at the lower surface of the cylinder head 11. Another end of the ejection passage 25 serves as a gas canister connecting portion 25a in communication with a gas canister 30.
The combustion-chamber frame 10 is provided in the housing 2 and is movable in the lengthwise direction of the housing 2. The uppermost end of the combustion-chamber frame 10 is abuttable on the lower surface of the cylinder head 11. The combustion-chamber frame includes a base chamber frame 10a and a chamber head 10b connected integrally using a bolt 10c (see
The cylinder 20 is fixed to the housing 2. An outer peripheral surface of the cylinder 20 is in sliding contact with the inner circumference of the combustion-chamber frame 10 for guiding the movement of the combustion-chamber frame 10. The cylinder 20 has an axially intermediate portion formed with an exhaust hole 21. An exhaust-gas check valve 21A is provided to selectively close the exhaust hole 21.
A piston 23 is slidably and reciprocally movably provided in the cylinder 20. The piston 23 divides an inner space of the cylinder 20 into an upper space above the piston 23 and a lower space below the piston 23. The driver blade 23a extends downwards from the lower surface of the piston 23 to the nose 7, so that the tip end of the driver blade 23a can strike against the nail (not shown). A bumper 24 made from an elastic material such as rubber is disposed at a lower side of the cylinder 20. The piston 23 strikes against the bumper 24 when the piston 23 is moved downward toward a bottom dead center.
When the upper end of the combustion-chamber frame 10 abuts the cylinder head 11, the cylinder head 11, the combustion-chamber frame 10, and the upper cylinder space above the piston 23 define a combustion chamber 26 (see
The housing 2 has a lower portion formed with an exhaust port 2a. The first and second flow passages 27A and 27B allow a combustion gas and a fresh air to pass along the outer peripheral surface of the cylinder 20 for discharging these gases through the exhaust port 2a of the housing 2. Further, the above-described intake port 3a is formed for supplying a fresh air into the combustion chamber 26, and the exhaust hole 21 discharges combustion gas generated in the combustion chamber 26.
The motor 13 has a fan shaft 18A, and a fan 19 positioned in the combustion chamber 23 is fixed to a tip end of the fan shaft 13A. Rotation of the fan 19 performs the following three functions. First, the fan 19 stirs and mixes the air with the combustible gas as long as the combustion-chamber frame 10 remains in abutment with the cylinder head 11. Second, after the mixed gas has been ignited, the fan 19 causes turbulence of the air-fuel mixture, thus promoting the turbulent combustion of the air-fuel mixture in the combustion chamber 26. Third, the fan 19 performs scavenging such that the exhaust gas in the combustion chamber 26 can be scavenged therefrom and also performs cooling of the cylinder 20 when the combustion-chamber frame 10 moves away from the cylinder head 11 and when the first and second flow passages 27A and 27B are provided.
A plurality of ribs 10A protrudes radially inwardly from the portion of the combustion chamber frame 10, the portion defining the combustion chamber 26. Each rib 10A extends in the axial direction of the combustion chamber frame 10. The ribs 10A promote stirring and mixing of the air and the combustible gas in the combustion chamber 26 in cooperation with the fan 18.
A switch accommodating portion 31 is provided in the lower side of the canister housing 29. A push switch 32 is stored in the switch accommodating portion 31. The push switch 32 is a commodity type micro-switch covered with a switch protection member 33 made from an elastic material such as a rubber as shown in
As shown in
The switch accommodation portion 31 of the handle 4 has a wall whose surface is in conformance with the configuration of the switch protection member 33.
As shown in
Next, operation of the combustion-type power tool 1 will be described. In the non-operational state of the combustion-type nail driver 1, the push lever 9 is biased downward by the biasing force of the compression coil spring 22, so that the push lever 9 protrudes from the lower end of the nose 7. Thus, the uppermost end of the combustion-chamber frame 10 is spaced away from the cylinder head 11 because the combustion-chamber frame 10 is in association with the push lever 9 through the arm section 12A. Further, a part of the combustion-chamber frame 10 which part defines the combustion chamber 26 is also spaced apart from the top portion of the cylinder 20. Hence, the first and second flow passages 27A and 27B are provided. In this condition, the piston 23 stays at the top dead center in the cylinder 20.
With this state, if the push lever 9 is pushed onto the workpiece 28 while holding the handle 4 by a user, the push lever 9 is moved upward against the biasing force of the compression coil spring 22. At the same time, the combustion-chamber frame 10 which is connected to the push lever 9 through the connection unit 12 is also moved upward, as shown in
In accordance with the movement of the push lever 9, the gas canister 30 is tilted toward the cylinder head 11. Thus, the injection rod 30a of the gas canister 30 is pressed against a gas canister connecting portion 25a of the cylinder head 11. Therefore, the liquidized combustible gas in the gas canister 30 is ejected once from the ejection port of the fuel ejection passage 25 into the combustion chamber 26.
Further, in accordance with the movement of the push lever 9, the first plate 10D fixed to the combustion-chamber frame 10 pushes up the second plate 49 whereupon the switch 32 is turned ON to supply electric power to the motor 18 and start rotation of the fan 19. Rotation of the fan 19 in the combustion chamber 26 in which a hermetically sealed space is provided, stirs and mixes the ejected combustible gas with air in the combustion chamber 26.
In this state, when the trigger switch 5 provided at the handle 4 is turned ON, spark is generated at the ignition plug 50 to ignite the combustible gas. As a result of combustion, volumetric expansion of the combustion gas occurs within the combustion chamber 26 to move the piston 23 downwardly. Accordingly, the driver blade 23a drives the nail held in the nose 7 into the workpiece 28 until the piston 23 strikes against the bumper 24.
After the nail driving, the piston 23 strikes against the bumper 24, and the combustion gas is discharged out of the cylinder 20 through the exhaust hole 21 of the cylinder 20. When the inner space of the cylinder 20 and the combustion chamber 26 becomes the atmospheric pressure, the exhaust-gas check valve 21A is closed. Combustion gas still remaining in the cylinder 20 and the combustion chamber 26 has a high temperature at a phase immediately after the combustion. The heat is absorbed through the inner surfaces of the cylinder 20 and the combustion-chamber frame 10, and the temperature of these components is also increased. However, the absorbed heat is released to the atmosphere through the outer surfaces of the cylinder 20 and the combustion-chamber frame 10.
Combustion heat of the combustion gas is absorbed into such components as the cylinder 20, so that the combustion gas is abruptly cooled down and a volume of the combustion gas is decreased. Thus, the pressure in the sealed space in the cylinder 20 above the piston 23 further drops to less than the atmospheric pressure, creating a so-called “thermal vacuum”. Accordingly, the piston 23 is moved back to the initial top dead center position.
Thereafter, the trigger switch 5 is turned OFF, and the user lifts the nail driver 1 until the push lever 9 is separated from the workpiece 28. As a result, the push lever 9 and the combustion-chamber frame 10 move downward due to the biasing force of the compression coil spring 22. In this case, the fan 19 keeps rotating for a predetermined period of time in spite of OFF state of the trigger switch 5 because of an operation of a control portion (not shown). In the state shown in
As described above, since the main switch section 5a of the trigger switch 5 is attached to the handle 4 through the resilient member such as the spring 38, transmission of the impact force at the time of faster driving operation to the main switch section 5a can be moderated by the spring 38. Since the switch protection member 33 has pawls 33A, the push switch 32 can be positioned stably in switch protection member 33. Further, the cover 34 can prevent the switch protection member 31 from being disassembled from the handle 4 after the switch protection member 33 protecting the push switch 32 is installed in the handle 4. The cover 34 also serves to cover and protect the wire 35.
Since, the push switch 32 is covered with the switch protection member 33, transmission of the impact force about 10 times as large as the tolerance against impact at the time of faster driving operation to the push switch 32 can be moderated by the switch protection member 33. Accordingly, this construction prevents the push switch 32 from break down by the impact force damaging to the mechanical junction of the push switch 32 and the impact force causing chattering to cause frictional wearing in the junction. Since it is not necessary to use a photoelectric switch for reducing the mechanical junction of the combustion-type nail driver 1, production cost of the combustion-type nail driver 1 can be reduced.
A combustion type power tool according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
Impact force imparted on the tool body depends on the condition of using the tool. However, generally, the largest impact is applied when the piston 23 strikes against the bumper 24, and the second largest impact is applied when the combustible gas is ignited and exploded. A force directing upward, i.e., directing to the head cover 3 is applied to the push switch 32 when the piston 23 strikes the bumper 24, and a force directing downward, i.e., directing to the nose 7 is applied to the push switch 32 at the time of ignition and explosion. Therefore, the switch protecting member must at least includes the upper segment 133A in order to protect the push switch 32 against the large impact force. This protection can be improved by providing the lower segment 133B. Further, the left segment 133Cc and the right segment 133D can prevent the push switch 30 from is accidental displacement due to impact.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
P2005-043278 | Feb 2005 | JP | national |
P2006-014463 | Jan 2006 | JP | national |