The present invention relates to power tools, and more particularly to gas spring fastener drivers.
There are various fastener drivers used to drive fasteners (e.g., nails, tacks, staples, etc.) into a workpiece known in the art. These fastener drivers operate utilizing various means (e.g., compressed air generated by an air compressor, electrical energy, flywheel mechanisms) known in the art, but often these designs are met with power, size, and cost constraints.
The present invention provides, in one aspect, a fastener driver comprising a driver blade movable from a retracted position to an extended, driven position for driving a fastener into a workpiece, a gas spring mechanism for driving the driver blade from the retracted position to the driven position, the gas spring mechanism including a storage chamber cylinder containing a pressurized gas, means for determining a pressure in the storage chamber cylinder, and an indicator activated in response to the determined pressure in the storage chamber cylinder being less than a predetermined pressure value.
The present invention provides, in another aspect, a method of operating a fastener driver. The method comprises initiating a fastener driving operation by moving a driver blade, with a gas spring mechanism, from a retracted position toward a driven position, determining a pressure of pressurized gas in a storage chamber cylinder of the gas spring mechanism, and indicating to a user of the fastener driver when the determined pressure in the storage chamber cylinder is less than a predetermined pressure value.
Other features and aspects of the invention will become apparent by consideration of the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.
Before any embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the following drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
With reference to
With reference to
In operation of the fastener driver 10, the lifter assembly 42 drives the piston 22 and the driver blade 26 to the retracted or ready position by energizing the motor 46. As the piston 22 and the driver blade 26 are driven to the ready position, the gas above the piston 22 and the gas within the storage chamber cylinder 30 is compressed. Once in the ready position, the piston 22 and the driver blade 26 are held in position until released by user activation of a trigger (
As shown in
In some embodiments, the controller 62 may use other techniques to determine the pressure of the compressed gas in the cylinders 18, 30. For example, the controller 62 may monitor a current draw on the motor 46 when operating the lifter assembly 42 to return the driver blade 26 and piston 22 to the ready position which, using an algorithm, can calculate, estimate, or determine pressure in the cylinders 18, 30. When the controller 62 determines that the current (and/or power) draw on the motor 46 is below a predetermined threshold indicating that the pressure of compressed gas in the cylinders 18, 30 has fallen below a predetermined pressure threshold, the controller 62 may activate the low-pressure indicator 58 to provide a low-pressure alert to the user. In other words, the controller 62 is operable to correlate the current, voltage, and/or power, consumed by the motor 46 to a corresponding pressure value within the cylinders 18, 30.
With reference to
Various features of the invention are set forth in the following claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 62/419,863 and 62/419,801, both filed on Nov. 9, 2016, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
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