The present invention relates to a portable roof clip mounting tool for fitting roof mounting clips to a support structure. The invention also relates to a roof seam clip, a feed magazine, and a method of mounting a seam edge of a metal roof panel to a support structure.
The roof of a building is often more exposed to weather and wind than other parts of a building. This puts high demands on tightness, durability and strength of a roof. Therefore, the construction of a roof is a delicate matter, often requiring special competence of the construction worker, as well as special mounting components and construction materials. Typically, roof panels are attached to a support structure using special mounting clips, which may be nailed to the support structure. EP0113753 discloses a mounting clip for holding a metal roof panel seam to a support structure.
There is a constant need for improving the safety of construction workers, in particular of those working on roofs.
It is an object of the present invention to solve, or at least mitigate, parts or all of the above mentioned problems. To this end, there is provided a portable roof clip mounting tool, for fitting roof mounting clips to a roof support structure, the portable roof clip mounting tool comprising a magazine forwarding mechanism for feeding a strip-shaped roof mounting clip magazine to a fastening tool for driving fasteners into the roof support structure. Such a tool does not require holding the roof mounting clip with one hand while attaching it; thereby, one hand of the construction worker may be freed, at least during part of the attaching operation. The usefulness of a free hand is generally significant when laying a roof, as there may be a need to keep the balance or hold on to something in order not to fall down. Furthermore, automatic forwarding of roof mounting clips to the fastening tool facilitates the mounting of roof panels and renders the work more efficient.
According to an embodiment, the roof clip mounting tool further comprises a magazine guide for guiding said magazine to the fastening tool.
According to an embodiment, the magazine forwarding mechanism of the roof clip mounting tool comprises a sled, movable along said magazine guide between a retracted position and an advanced position, and biased to said advanced position, said sled being provided with a dog configured to engage with and advance said roof mounting clip magazine in a forward direction when the sled moves from the retracted position to the advanced position, and to non-engagingly pass the roof mounting clip magazine when the sled moves from the advanced position to the retracted position; and a fastening tool holder, said fastening tool holder being reciprocatable relative to the magazine guide along a fastening tool guide between a raised position and a lowered position, said fastening tool holder being coupled to the sled so as to move the sled from the advanced position to the retracted position when the fastening tool holder is moved from the raised position to the lowered position. Such a forwarding mechanism provides a light, reliable and structurally simple feeding of the magazine. Few moving parts result in a low level of friction within the mounting tool.
According to an embodiment, the magazine guide is configured for guiding the magazine from a magazine guide entry to a magazine guide exit. Thereby, loading may be sequential, i.e. magazines may be fed sequentially into the guide at the guide entry, such that the feeding apparatus may be continuously fed with magazines. Furthermore, such a design makes the roof clip mounting tool easy to load, since a strip-shaped roof mounting clip magazine may simply be slid into the magazine guide entry, and may be automatically gripped by the dog and fed by the sled, as the case may be. According to an embodiment, the magazine forwarding mechanism is configured to allow the magazine to be freely pressed right through the feeding apparatus in the direction from the magazine guide entry to the magazine guide exit. The absence of a forwarding stop makes the forwarding mechanism simpler, lighter, and more reliable.
According to an embodiment, the fastening tool holder is coupled to the magazine guide in a manner allowing the sled to remain in retracted position when the fastening tool holder is moved from the lowered position to the raised position. By allowing the sled to return to the advanced position only by means of the sled bias, in an otherwise unconstrained, unforced manner, there is no need for an arrangement for synchronizing the advancing of the roof mounting clip magazine with the raising of the fastening tool holder; the sled will be advanced as soon as the magazine is free to move along the magazine guide. This allows for a simple and reliable forwarding mechanism which is not prone to jamming due to e.g. synchronization problems. According to an embodiment, the fastening tool holder is coupled to and arranged to move the sled by means of a wedge arrangement.
According to an embodiment, the roof clip mounting tool is configured to, when the fastening tool holder is moved from its raised position to its lowered position and thereby moving the sled from the advanced position to the retracted position, push a portion of the fastening tool or of the fastening tool holder into the magazine, such that said portion prevents the magazine from sliding in a reverse direction, said reverse direction being opposite to said forward direction. Thereby, no separate back-stop arrangement for the magazine is needed; said portion of the fastening tool or the fastening tool holder will act as a back-stop, preventing the magazine from following the sled to the retracted position.
According to an embodiment, the fastening tool holder is biased to the raised position. This makes the tool faster to use and easier to operate with only one hand, since it will automatically return to its starting position.
According to an embodiment, the sled is provided with wheels for rolling along a sled guide arranged in a magazine holder. Preferably, said wheels are arranged to roll on opposite surfaces of the sled guide. Thereby, the sled will be prevented from jamming.
According to an embodiment, the fastening tool holder is adapted for connecting to the housing of a power screwdriver. Thereby, commercially available power screwdrivers may be used, which facilitates spare parts management and reduces total system cost.
According to an embodiment, the roof clip mounting tool further comprises a folding actuator configured for actuating a pivotal folding arm of the magazine, said folding arm being adapted for folding, if a roof mounting clip of said magazine has been fed to an attaching position, at least a portion of a free end of said roof mounting clip about a roof seam edge of a roof panel. Such a tool speeds up the process of fitting roof mounting clips to be folded into a roof panel seam.
According to an embodiment, the folding actuator is coupled to a fastening tool holder so as to fold said at least a portion of a free end when the fastening tool holder is moved from a raised position to a lowered position. Such an arrangement is easy to use, and may allow feeding, folding and/or fastening the roof mounting clip in a single operation.
According to an embodiment, the folding actuator is configured as a piston to be axially moved together with the fastening tool holder. Such a construction is reliable and has few moving parts.
According to an embodiment, a lower end of said piston is provided with a guide for engaging with a mating guide of said folding arm. This reduces the risk that the piston slips off the folding arm, thereby allowing for more generous production tolerances for the roof clip mounting tool as well as the magazine.
According to another aspect, parts or all of the above mentioned problems are solved or at least mitigated by a strip-shaped feed magazine comprising a plurality of roof mounting clips to be fed to a fastening tool for fastening said roof mounting clips onto a roof support structure, the roof mounting clips being releasibly attached to and distributed along said feed magazine. By way of example, the roof mounting clips may be attached by gluing or by heat-pressing them to the magazine. Such a feed magazine allows the roof mounting clips to be efficiently and safely fed to the fastening tool, for efficient and safe fitting of the roof mounting clips to the support structure.
According to an embodiment, the feed magazine further comprises a plurality of fasteners, to be driven into said roof support structure by said fastening tool to fasten said roof mounting clips to said roof support structure, said fasteners being releasibly attached to and distributed along said feed magazine. Using such a feed magazine, a fastener and a roof mounting clip to be fastened by said fastener can simultaneously be fed to a fastening tool. Thereby, the need for separately feeding or holding the fasteners when fastening the roof mounting clips to the support structure is reduced.
According to yet another aspect, parts or all of the above mentioned problems are solved or at least mitigated by a strip-shaped feed magazine for holding roof mounting clips to be fed to a fastening tool, the feed magazine comprising a plurality of clip holders, distributed along said feed magazine, for holding roof mounting clips to be fastened onto a roof support structure by said fastening tool. Such a feed magazine allows the roof mounting clips to be efficiently and safely fed to the fastening tool, for efficient and safe fitting of the roof mounting clips to the support structure.
According to an embodiment, the feed magazine further comprises a plurality of fastener holders, distributed along said feed magazine, for holding fasteners to be driven into said roof support structure by said fastening tool so as to fasten said roof mounting clips to said roof support structure. Using such a feed magazine, a fastener and a roof mounting clip to be fastened by said fastener can simultaneously be fed to a fastening tool. Thereby, the need for separately feeding or holding the fasteners when fastening the roof mounting clips to the support structure is reduced.
According to an embodiment, said fastener holders are configured for holding a fastener at a selectable distance from said roof support structure. Thereby, one single magazine design can be used together with one single fastener length for fastening roof mounting clips of different lengths. According to an embodiment, the fastener holders are configured for holding the respective fasteners at said selectable distance from the roof support structure by means of axially separated beads.
According to an embodiment, each of said fastener holders is configured for guiding a fastener at two axially separated locations. Thereby, fasteners may be attached to said support structure with a higher precision.
According to an embodiment, each of said fastener holders has a cylindrical inner surface for guiding a fastener head, and a tapering fastener exit for guiding a fastener body.
According to an embodiment, each of said clip holders is configured as a portion of a snap-lock for engaging with a roof mounting clip having a mating portion of said snap-lock, said snap-lock being configured to release when the respective roof mounting clip is pulled in a direction towards said roof support structure. Thereby, roof mounting clips may be released from their respective holders by the respective fasteners, when the fasteners are driven into the roof support structure.
According to an embodiment, a first end of the feed magazine is provided with a first end connecting device, and a second end of the feed magazine is provided with a second end connecting device adapted to mate with a first end connecting device of another, identical strip-shaped feed magazine. Thereby, feed magazines may easily be connected in series to form an endless roof mounting clip feed, such that no complicated operation for loading or aligning the feed magazine in a roof clip mounting tool is required for each feed magazine. Preferably, said connecting devices together form a snap lock for snapping together when said feed magazine and said another feed magazine are pressed together in the longitudinal direction. Thereby, a second feed magazine can be connected in series with a first feed magazine, already present in the roof clip mounting tool, by simply pressing the ends of the feed magazines together along the direction of a magazine guide.
According to an embodiment, a plurality of said fastener holders are provided with a respective fastener, and a plurality of said clip holders are provided with a respective roof mounting clip, each of said roof mounting clips having a mounting hole in front of at least one of said fasteners.
According to an embodiment, the feed magazine further comprises a plurality of folding arms, each of which is pivotally connected to a main body portion of the magazine and adapted to fold, when pivoted, at least a portion of a free end of a respective roof mounting clip. When used in combination with an appropriate mounting tool, this speeds up the process of fitting roof mounting clips to be folded into a roof panel seam.
According to an embodiment, said folding arm is substantially L-shaped, with an upright portion and a base portion, and arranged to pivot about an upper end of the upright portion. Such a shape is particularly well suited for being pivoted by a vertically reciprocating folding actuator of a mounting tool.
According to an embodiment, the feed magazine further comprises a folding actuator guide, extending along an upper surface of the base portion, for engaging with a mating guide of a folding actuator. This reduces the risk that the folding actuator slips off the folding arm, thereby allowing for more generous production tolerances of the feed magazine.
According to an embodiment, each of said clip holders is provided with a clip back support for preventing the respective roof mounting clip from pivoting in the magazine while being folded.
According to an embodiment, each of said clip holders comprises a pair of opposite wedges for engaging with a pair of sheet metal edges of a roof mounting clip, said opposite wedges defining between them an upwardly narrowing space allowing the respective roof mounting clip to be wedged therebetween. Such clip holders are well suited for releasibly holding most types of sheet metal roof mounting clips, and in particular also those that are not provided with any designated fastening arrangement, such as a snap-lock, for connecting the roof mounting clip to the feed magazine.
According to still another aspect, parts or all of the above mentioned problems are solved or at least mitigated by a roof seam clip for fixing a seam of a metal roof to a roof support structure, the roof seam clip comprising a base plate for attaching to said roof support structure; a seam holder having a first end connected to said base plate and a second end configured for holding said seam; and a fastening arrangement for attaching the roof seam clip to a feed magazine. By way of example, the fastening arrangement may be configured as a portion of a snap-lock for engaging with a clip holder having a mating portion of said snap-lock. Such a roof seam clip may be used in a roof clip mounting tool or a feed magazine as described hereinbefore.
According to an embodiment, said portion of said snap-lock is configured as a cam-and-recess arrangement at said second end.
According to an embodiment, said portion of said snap-lock is configured as an upwardly facing hole arranged at the second end of the seam holder.
According to still another aspect, parts or all of the above mentioned problems are solved or at least mitigated by a method of mounting a roof panel to a roof support structure, the method comprising feeding a magazine holding a plurality of roof mounting clips to a fastening tool; and fastening said roof mounting clips to the roof support structure using said fastening tool.
According to an embodiment, the method further comprises feeding fasteners to said fastening tool.
According to an embodiment, the method further comprises folding said roof mounting clips about a roof seam edge of said roof panel using said fastening tool. This speeds up the process of fitting roof mounting clips to be folded into a roof panel seam
The above, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be better understood through the following illustrative and non-limiting detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention, with reference to the appended drawings, where the same reference numerals will be used for similar elements, wherein:
a is a diagrammatic view in section and in perspective of the strip-shaped feed magazine of
b is a diagrammatic view in section and in perspective of the strip-shaped feed magazine of
a is a diagrammatic view in perspective of two strip-shaped feed magazines, similar to those of
b is a diagrammatic view in perspective of the two strip-shaped feed magazines of
a is a diagrammatic view, partly in section, illustrating the feeding apparatus of
b is a diagrammatic view, partly in section, illustrating the feeding apparatus of
c is a diagrammatic view, partly in section, illustrating the feeding apparatus of
d is a diagrammatic view, partly in section, illustrating the feeding apparatus of
e is a diagrammatic view, partly in section, illustrating the feeding apparatus of
f is a diagrammatic view, partly in section, illustrating the feeding apparatus of
a is a diagrammatic view in perspective, partly in section, of a machine for nailing roof mounting clips to a support structure, the machine being provided with a feeding apparatus for feeding the magazines of
b is a diagrammatic view in perspective, partly in section, of the machine illustrated in
a is a diagrammatic view in section and in perspective of a fourth embodiment of a strip-shaped feed magazine partly loaded with nails and roof mounting clips;
b is a diagrammatic view in perspective of a nail-punch for use with the magazine of
a is a diagrammatic view in perspective, partly in section, of a lower portion of the feeding apparatus of
b is a diagrammatic view in perspective, partly in section, illustrating the feeding apparatus of
c is a diagrammatic side view, partly in section, illustrating the feeding apparatus of
The exemplary roof mounting clips 14 of
Referring now to
Returning to
As is illustrated in
a illustrates a first feed magazine 10a and a second feed magazine 10b of the same type as the feed magazine 10 illustrated in
Even though not illustrated in
The magnified view of
A magazine forwarding mechanism 85 comprises a sled 86, which is movable along a sled guide extending along the magazine guide 71. The sled guide is formed as a sled housing 88, which is arranged in the magazine holder 70 above the magazine guide 71. The sled 86 is provided with a pair of magazine driving dogs 90 for advancing the magazine 10 by engaging with the feed lock apertures 20 of the magazine 10 (
The screwdriver holder 68 is guided relative to the magazine holder 70 by means of a screwdriver guide 94, which is rigidly joined with the magazine holder 70. The screwdriver holder 68 is slidingly connected to an outer surface of the screwdriver guide 94, such that the screwdriver holder can be vertically reciprocated relative to the magazine holder 70 along an axis A between a raised position and a lowered position. The screwdriver guide 94 also has a circular cylindrical inner space 95 forming a guide for a screwdriver bit 96. The circular cylindrical inner space 95 opens into the magazine guide 71. The screwdriver bit 96 is connected to, and arranged to be rotated by, the power screwdriver 64, and has a lower end 98 shaped as a cross-head screwdriver interface facing the magazine guide 71. Clearly, the lower end 98 of the screwdriver bit 96 may have any other suitable screwdriving interface, such as a torx interface.
An upper portion 100 of the sled 86 extends upwardly through an opening 102 (
a illustrates the feeding apparatus 66 at rest, and with the screwdriver holder 68 in its raised position. The sled 86, which is illustrated in section, is in its advanced position. Each of the magazine driving dogs 90 is pivotally connected to the sled 86, and downwardly biased by means of a respective compression spring 113 so as to protrude into the magazine guide 71 when at the lowermost position illustrated in
c illustrates how the feeding apparatus 66 is positioned for fitting a roof mounting clip 14 to a support structure 115, for holding an upright seam edge 111 of a metal roof panel 119 to the support structure 115. The upright seam edge 111 is to be subsequently joined with a mating seam edge of an adjacent metal roof panel in a non-illustrated manner, so as to form a roof seam. After joining the seam, the seam will be held to the support structure 115 by the roof mounting clip 14 attached thereto.
The feeding apparatus 66 is placed on the surface of the support structure 115 such that the abutment surfaces 82 (
The power screwdriver 64 is operated so as to rotate the screwdriver bit 96 and the screw 12, while continuing the downwards motion of the power screwdriver 64, such that the body 36 (
d illustrates the situation when the screw 12 has been screwed all the way into the support structure 115, and fixed the roof mounting clip 14 to the surface of the support structure 115 such that the roof seam edge 111 is held onto the support structure 115 by the hook 26 of the roof mounting clip 14. In
In order to advance the magazine 10 along the guide, the power screwdriver 64 is raised, said raising being assisted by the bias of the screwdriver holder bias spring 99.
f illustrates the situation when the screwdriver holder 68 has returned to the raised position. The screwdriver bit 96 has now released the screw holder 16 of the magazine 10, thereby allowing the magazine 10 to be forwarded to the next, i.e. second, indexing position. This is achieved by the sled 86, engaging with the magazine 10 via the magazine driving dogs 90, moving from the retracted position (
When the feeding apparatus 66 approaches the end of the magazine 10, i.e. when most of the screws 12 and roof mounting clips 14 of the magazine 10 have been screwed to the support structure 115, a second magazine may be slid into the magazine guide 71 and snapped to the magazine 10 already present in the feeding apparatus 66, in the manner described in detail with reference to
As can be seen in
According to a second embodiment (not illustrated) of the roof mounting clip feed magazine, the feed magazine may be void of any screw holders, i.e. it may be configured for holding roof mounting clips only. Such a configuration may, if needed, be provided with a separate back-stop arrangement. In fact, no back-stop arrangement is required for any of the feeding apparatuses described in this disclosure; instead, the magazine and feeding apparatus may be designed so as to provide a sufficient friction between the longitudinal magazine edge 78 (
a-b illustrate a hand-held machine 162 for attaching roof mounting clips to a support structure. Again, the machine 162 comprises a feeding apparatus 166, which forms a portable roof clip mounting tool adapted for fitting roof mounting clips 14 to a roof support structure 115. The feeding apparatus 166, which is adapted for feeding the feed magazine 110 of
The feeding apparatus 166 comprises a nail gun holder portion 168 for attaching to the housing 169 of the nail gun 164; alternatively, the nail gun holder portion 168 may be integral with the housing 169 of the nail gun 164, such that the nail gun 164 and the feeding apparatus 166 together form a single, integral tool. Similar to the feeding apparatus 66 of
a illustrates the nail gun 164 in the raised position. The nail gun 164 is loaded, i.e. the nail punch member 196 is in a retracted position, ready to strike downwards along the nail punch guide 195.
The magazine 110 is advanced by the feeding apparatus 166 in a manner similar to that described herein before with reference to
Then, the nail gun holder 168 may be raised again, such that the sled 86, when returning to its advanced position illustrated in
b illustrates the nail gun 164 when in its lower position, the nail gun 164 still being loaded. When in this position, the nail gun 164 may be fired, the nail punch member 196 thereby accelerating downwards along the nail punch guide 195, striking the nail 116 through the roof mounting clip 14 and into the support structure 115. The punching force may be adjusted such that the roof mounting clip 14 is pulled free from the clip holder 18 of the magazine 110. Alternatively, the height of the side walls 80 (
Typically, the nail gun 164 automatically reloads, i.e. automatically retracts the nail punch member 196 again after firing. The nail gun 164 may be powered by any suitable power means; commonly available nail guns are often powered by e.g. compressed air, explosive cartridges, combustible gas or electricity.
a illustrates a fourth embodiment of a feed magazine. The feed magazine 210 is in most aspects similar to the feed magazine 110 of
According to a fifth embodiment (not illustrated) of the roof mounting clip feed magazine, the feed magazine may be void of any nail holders 116, i.e. it may be configured for holding roof mounting clips 14 only. Nails or staples may be fed separately, using any suitable nail or staple feeding mechanism known in the art, directly to the nail gun, which may punch the separately fed nails or staples through the base plate 22 of the roof seam clip 14. The base plate 22 of the roof seam clip 14 does not need to be provided with through-holes 28 for allowing the nails to pass; instead, nails may be punched through the sheet metal of the base plate 22, thereby forming their own through-holes during mounting.
The protrusions 318 need not be circular cylindrical. A suitable friction engagement with a circular through-hole 314 may be obtained by e.g. a cylindrical protrusion having e.g. a star-shaped cross-section. Furthermore, a protrusion 318 need not be strictly cylindrical; as an exemplary alternative, it may be provided with a waist (not illustrated) for receiving the periphery of the corresponding through-hole 314, such that the protrusion 318 defines a knob forming a snap-lock together with the respective through-hole 360. An alternative is illustrated in
The feeding apparatus 566 is also provided with an optional, removable screwdriver holder extension 523, which allows the construction worker to adjust the total height of the feeding apparatus 566, and thereby select the most comfortable and ergonomic working position when installing roof mounting clips. Clearly, the screwdriver holder extension 523 should be combined with a longer screwdriver bit 96 (
Another difference between the two embodiments 66, 566 is that the wedge arrangement 504 of the feeding apparatus 566 is turned upside down as compared to the wedge arrangement 104 of the feeding apparatus 66. The wedge surfaces 506 are provided on the upper portion 500 of the sled (not shown), whereas the sled retracting dogs 508 are provided on the screwdriver holder 568. Thereby, the wedge arrangement 504 of
In an alternative embodiment (not illustrated), the roof mounting clips 614 may be individually held in an upright position, i.e. turned 90° about an axis perpendicular to the feeding direction of the magazine 610, such that they can be packed tighter along the magazine 610. In such an embodiment, each roof mounting clips 614 may, after having reached the attaching position of the feeding device, be individually tilted to a horizontal position before being attached to the support structure. The magazine 610 may also be free from screw holders, and screws may be separately fed to the power screwdriver.
The seam holder 724 comprises an upright portion 725, an upper end of which is twice folded approximately 90° to form an essentially rectangularly U-shaped hook 726, as seen in profile, for engaging with the roof seam. The free end 758 of the hook 726 is divided into two tabs 758a, 758b by a slit 727, thereby facilitating folding of at least one of these two tabs about a roof seam edge of a roof panel. The slit 727 may, by way of example, be a clip formed by plate-shears or the like. It is however preferred, though, that the slit 727 has a non-zero width, such that the tabs 758a-b do not engage with each other when one of them is folded. Such a non-zero-width slit 727 may be formed e.g. by sawing, by expanding a clip, or by any other suitable method known to those skilled in the art. Preferably, the slit 727 has a width of at least 0.1 mm, and more preferred, at least 0.3 mm.
Again, the magazine 710 is provided with a row of screw holders 16 extending along the magazine 710. Each screw holder is associated with a respective pair of opposite wedges 718 for holding a roof mounting clip 714. The opposite wedges 718 define between them an upwardly narrowing space, allowing the respective roof mounting clip 714 to be wedged between them by pressing it upwards in the view of
Each roof mounting clip position of the magazine 710 is also provided with a respective clip back support 717, against which the back surface of the upright portion 725 of the respective clip 714 is allowed to rest, and a free end support 719 for supporting the free end 758 of the hook 726 of each clip 714. The clip back and free end supports 717, 719 also assist in holding the clips 714 in the magazine 710 by friction.
Moreover, each roof mounting clip position of the magazine 710 is provided with a respective folding arm 723, which is connected to a main body portion 721 of the magazine 710. Each folding arm 723 has the shape of an “L”, the upper end 701 of the upright leg of the “L” being connected to the main body portion 721. The upper end 701 of the upright leg of the “L” is thin enough to allow bending, such that the folding arm 723 may be forced to pivot about said upper end 701. A respective aperture 729 is arranged in the main body portion 721 of the magazine 710 to allow accessing the base leg of the L-shaped folding arm 723 from above. The operation of the folding arms 723 will be described in greater detail further below, with reference to
a-c schematically illustrate the operation of a hand-held machine 762 comprising a feeding apparatus 766. For reasons of clarity, the upper parts of the machine 762 are not illustrated; it will be appreciated that they may be similar to the corresponding upper parts of the machine 62 described hereinbefore. The interior parts of the feeding apparatus are not illustrated for the same reason; it will be appreciated that the feeding mechanism of the feeding apparatus 766 may correspond to that of the feeding apparatus 66 described hereinbefore. Moreover, one of the side walls 80 (
Starting with
After having positioned the feeding apparatus 766 in the position determined by the roof seam guide 709, the roof mounting clip 714 will have been correctly positioned over the roof panel seam edge 711.
Turning now to
To reduce the risk that the folding piston 735 slips off the folding arm 723, the lower end of the folding piston 735 is provided with a guide groove 761, which mates with a guide ridge 763 extending along the upper surface of the pivot arm 723.
c illustrates the machine 762 and the roof mounting clip 714 after the folding and screwdriving operations have been finalized. The magazine 710 is now ready to be indexed to the next position by lifting the fastening tool holder 68 in the manner described hereinbefore with reference to
The invention has mainly been described above with reference to a few embodiments. However, as is readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art, other embodiments than the ones disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended patent claims.
For example, the feed magazines 10, 110, 210, 310, 710 described hereinbefore holds clips 14, 314, 714 and fasteners 12, 112 in a one-to-one or one-to-two relationship. However, the magazine may, as an alternative, be arranged for holding any suitable number of fasteners per clip. The fasteners need not all be spaced by the same distance along the magazine, since the feeding apparatus may allow non-uniform indexing of the magazine, e.g. by having the feed lock apertures 20 located at non-uniform distances along the magazine 10, 110, 210, 310, 710. Moreover, the feed lock apertures 20 need not be configured as through-holes; instead, they may be configured as e.g. notches in the longitudinal edge 78 of the magazine. In fact, any other suitable structure may be used for engaging with the magazine driving dogs 90 instead of apertures 20, such as protrusions distributed along the magazine. Alternatively, the dogs 90 may engage with the roof mounting clips 14 instead of with the magazine 10, 110, 210, 310, 710.
The feeding apparatus 66 described with reference to
The constructions disclosed herein may also be implemented in embodiments outside the currently claimed scope. Such embodiments may be the subject of divisional applications. By way of example, the feeding apparatuses 66, 166, 566 described hereinbefore may be used for feeding fastener magazines, such as screw magazines or nail magazines holding exclusively screws or nails, to e.g. a power screwdriver or nail gun, respectively.
Similarly, each of the magazines 10, 110, 210, 310 described hereinbefore may be modified to hold fasteners only, so as to form a strip-shaped feed magazine for holding fasteners, such as screws or nails, to be fed to a fastening tool, such as a power screwdriver or nail gun.
Similarly, the clip holders 18, 318, 418 may be shaped for holding components to be fastened other than roof mounting clips, such as other types of building brackets used in construction.
The feed magazines 10, 110, 210, 310, 710 described hereinbefore have features that may be regarded as separate inventive concepts. By way of example, the beads 38, 40, 41 may be used for holding a fastener in a selectable axial position also in a feed magazine that is not provided with clip holders. The same reasoning applies to the snap-lock arrangement for snappingly connecting two feed magazines in series, as well as to the concept of axially guiding a screw at two separate axial positions for higher precision; also those concepts may be applied to magazines holding exclusively screws or nails.
The roof clip mounting tool 766 can be used for mounting roof mounting clips to the roof seam by merely folding them about the seam edge of the roof panel, i.e. without driving a fastener into the roof support structure. Fasteners may be driven into the roof support structure in a subsequent operation, using another tool. Thereby, a fastening tool is not needed for attaching the clip to the roof seam, and the folding actuator may be operated by any suitable means other than a fastening tool, such as a handle. Hence, parts or all of the problems mentioned in the background section of this disclosure are solved by a portable roof clip mounting tool, for fitting roof mounting clips to a seam edge of a roof panel, the roof clip mounting tool comprising a magazine forwarding mechanism for feeding a strip-shaped roof mounting clip magazine, and a folding actuator for folding, when a roof mounting clip of said magazine has been fed to an attaching position, at least a portion of a free end of said roof mounting clip about said seam edge. Other features and embodiments are apparent from the description hereinbefore and the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1151012-0 | Oct 2011 | SE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/SE2012/051182 | 10/31/2012 | WO | 00 | 4/29/2014 |