Patent Grant
8393511
The present invention relates to a pneumatic tool with an air duster of such a type that the pneumatic tool using compressed air as a drive source, such as a nailing machine, a screw driving machine, a screwing machine, etc. is provided with an air duster for blowing out the compressed air.
In a flooring work, for example, when a work for driving a nail into furring of floor material is conducted, minute wooden trash sometimes falls on the furring. In case where finishing material is overlaid on the furring in this state to drive another nail, the finishing material may float because of existence of the wooden trash on the furring, and the work must be started again from the beginning. In order to prevent such inconvenience, it has been heretofore accustomed to set the finishing material, after a surface of the furring has been cleaned away with an air duster, and then, conduct the work for driving the nail. However, because the air duster is separately provided from a nailing machine, it has been necessary to frequently exchange the nailing machine with the air duster, which has been extremely annoying.
Under the circumstances, in order to solve the above described inconvenience, a nailing machine provided with an air duster in itself has been known (Reference should be made to Patent Documents 1, 2 and 3). According to such structure, there is no need of exchanging the nailing machine with the air duster at every time.
However, the nailing machine provided with the air duster as described above has the following drawbacks.
(1) Because the compressed air for the air duster is taken out from the same section as an air chamber (an accumulator), oil which has been supplied to a body of the nailing machine is circulated to the air duster together with soil or the like of a hammering mechanism, and discharged. The oil which has been soiled and discharged adheres to the finishing material, and a problem of damaging an object material may occur.
(2) Because the compressed air is directly blown out from the air chamber, a blowing direction of the compressed air is different from a direction of ejecting a fastener. Therefore, when a worker uses the air duster, a direction of the pneumatic tool must be changed, which incurs bad workability. Moreover, in case where an object substance (wooden trash, for example) is small, it is difficult to target it.
(3) When the worker drives a nail into a deep corner at a lower side, he changes his hand to grip the pneumatic tool for convenience, and operates a trigger lever with his little finger, in many cases. On this occasion, the worker sometimes unconsciously presses an operating button of the air duster with his hand. In this case, because the compressed air for the air duster is taken out from the same section as the air chamber, an air pressure inside the air chamber may be lowered, and dust in vicinity of a working site may be scattered, which results in bad workability.
(4) A position where the worker grasps a grip of the pneumatic tool to put a finger on the trigger lever is slightly offset from a position where the worker puts a finger on the operating button. Therefore, when he uses the air duster, he must grasp the grip again to re-start the work, which incurs bad operability.
(5) The pneumatic tool is connected to a compressed air supply source by way of an air hose. Therefore, in case where the pneumatic tool placed on the floor is at a remote position, the pneumatic tool is sometimes drawn near, by pulling the air hose. On this occasion, the pneumatic tool is likely to be caught by a pillar or the like, and the operating button is pressed by the pillar or the like to actuate the air duster, in some cases.
(6) In case where high-pressure air is used, because the ejected air has a high pressure, wooden trash or the like is often blown off more than required. For solving this problem, there has been such a nailing machine that a pressure reducing valve is provided in an air pipeline communicated with a nozzle (Reference should be made to Patent Document 3). However, this nailing machine is heavy, because of increase of components in number, which has been a factor of high cost.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, there is provided a pneumatic tool which has substantially no risk of actuating the pneumatic tool while an air duster is used, can favorably prevent finishing material from being soiled, and can enjoy excellent workability and operability.
According to a first aspect of the invention, a pneumatic tool includes a tool body, a nose part for ejecting a nail, which is provided in a lower part of the tool body, an air chamber for storing compressed air, which is provided in the tool body, an air supply pipe for supplying the compressed air from an air supply source to the air chamber, an air duster, an air duster pipeline connected to an air outlet of the air duster, and an air duster valve for controlling supply of the compressed air to the air duster pipeline.
According to a second aspect of the invention, in the structure of the pneumatic tool in the above described first aspect, one end of the air duster pipeline is branched from the air supply pipe, while the other end of the air duster pipeline is connected to the air outlet of the air duster, and the air duster valve includes a selection operating device for selectively switching over the compressed air supplied from the air supply source to either the air outlet or the air chamber.
According to a third aspect of the invention, in the structure of the pneumatic tool in the above described first aspect, one end of the air duster pipeline is connected to the air chamber, while the other end of the air duster pipeline is connected to the air outlet of the air duster, and the air duster valve includes an opening and closing valve for opening and closing the air duster pipeline.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in the structure of the pneumatic tool in the above described first aspect, the air duster pipeline is arranged along a magazine.
According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the structure of the pneumatic tool in the above described first aspect, the air duster pipeline is arranged along the tool body.
According to a sixth aspect of the invention, in the structure of the pneumatic tool in the above described first aspect, the air outlet is arranged in vicinity of the nose part, and the air is blown out from the air outlet along a direction of ejecting a fastener.
According to a seventh aspect of the invention, in the structure of the pneumatic tool in the above described first aspect, the air duster pipeline is formed of metal.
According to an eighth aspect of the invention, in the structure of the pneumatic tool in the above described first aspect, a filter is provided in a halfway part of the air duster pipeline so as to be exchanged.
According to a ninth aspect of the invention, in the structure of the pneumatic tool in the above described first aspect, the air duster pipeline is arranged by way of a shock absorbing member.
According to a tenth aspect of the invention, in the structure of the pneumatic tool in the above described ninth aspect, the shock absorbing member includes an O-ring.
According to an eleventh aspect of the invention, in the structure of the pneumatic tool in the above described first aspect, a flow controlling mechanism is provided in the air duster pipeline.
According to a twelfth aspect of the invention, in the structure of the pneumatic tool in the above described first aspect, a retractable air jet nozzle is provided inside the air outlet.
According to a thirteenth aspect of the invention, in the structure of the pneumatic tool in the above described first aspect, an operating pipeline is branched from the air chamber, one end of the air duster pipeline is branched from the air supply pipe, while the other end of the air duster pipeline is connected to the air outlet of the air duster, the air duster valve includes a selection valve which is provided in a branch part where the air duster pipeline is branched from the air supply pipe, the operating pipeline is connected to the selection valve by way of an opening and closing valve to be operated by an operating button, and the selection valve has a valve element which is movable between a first position where an upstream side pipeline leading to the air supply source is opened to a downstream side pipeline leading to the air chamber for storing the compressed air and shut off with respect to the air duster pipeline, and a second position where the upstream side pipeline leading to the air supply source is shut off with respect to the downstream side pipeline and opened to the air duster pipeline, wherein when the operating pipeline is closed by the operating button, the valve element is moved to the first position, and when the operating pipeline is opened by the operating button, the valve element is moved to the second position.
According to a fourteenth aspect of the invention, in the structure of the pneumatic tool in the above described thirteenth aspect, the air outlet of the air duster is arranged in vicinity of the nose part, and a direction of blowing out the air from the air duster is substantially the same as the direction of ejecting the fastener by the tool body.
According to a fifteenth aspect of the invention, in the structure of the pneumatic tool in the above described thirteenth aspect, the operating button is disposed on a side face of the tool body, within a reach of a thumb or an index finger of a worker who has gripped the tool body.
According to the first aspect of the invention, the valve element of the selection valve is provided so as to move between the first position where it opens the upstream side pipeline leading to the compressed air supply source to the downstream side pipeline leading to the air chamber for storing the compressed air, and shuts off the branch pipeline for the air duster, and the second position where it shuts off the upstream side pipeline with respect to the downstream side pipeline, and opens to the branch pipeline.
The downstream side pipeline leading to the air chamber is automatically shut off, when the air duster is used. Therefore, there is almost no risk when the air duster is used. Moreover, the air duster is branched from the pipeline before the air is supplied to the air chamber, and hence, lubricating oil supplied to the nailing machine body is not circulated to the air duster together with soil on the hammering mechanism including the air chamber. Therefore, oil or soil will not adhere to a surface of an object material, even though the compressed air is blown to the object material.
According to the second aspect of the invention, the air jet nozzle of the air duster is arranged near an ejecting part, and a direction of blowing out the air from the air duster is substantially the same as the direction of ejecting a fastener by the tool body. Therefore, the worker need not change the direction of the pneumatic tool, when he uses the air duster, and workability is enhanced.
According to the third aspect of the invention, because the operating button is disposed on the side face of the tool body, the worker's hand will not press the operating button of the air duster accidentally, even though the worker changes his hand to grip the pneumatic tool, for convenience's sake, and operates the trigger lever with his little finger, on occasion of driving a nail into a lower corner part. Therefore, dust will not be suddenly scattered, and workability is enhanced.
Moreover, the operating button is arranged within a reach of the thumb or index finger of the worker who has gripped the tool body. Therefore, when the worker uses the air duster by pressing the operating button with the finger, he need not change his hand to grip the pneumatic tool, and operability is enhanced.
Further, when the pneumatic tool is drawn near by pulling the air hose during the work, there is least possibility of pressing the operating button, even though the pneumatic tool is caught by a pillar or the like. Therefore, the air duster is scarcely actuated by mistake.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention, in the pneumatic tool, the air pipeline leading to the air duster is branched from the air supply pipe for supplying the compressed air from the air supply source to the air chamber for storing the compressed air, and the distal end of the air pipeline is connected to the air outlet of the air duster. Further, the selection operating means for selectively switching over the compressed air supplied from the air supply source to the air outlet or the air chamber is provided at an appropriate position. The selection operating means and the air outlet can be respectively provided at the optimum positions on the tool body, the nose part or the grip. As the results, workability and operability of the pneumatic tool can be remarkably enhanced.
Moreover, a length of the air pipeline must be inevitably a length between the position where it is branched from the air supply pipe and the air outlet. However, it would be preferable that the air pipeline is long to some extent, because high pressure of the compressed air is reduced because of pipeline resistance while passing through the air pipeline. When the compressed air is blown out from the air outlet, it has an appropriate pressure to such an extent that wooden trash can be blown off, and therefore, there is no need of providing a particular pressure reducing valve. In addition, the air duster has a simple structure, can be produced at a low cost, and can easily control the flow.
Further, lubricating oil supplied to the nailing machine body is not circulated to the air duster together with soil on the hammering mechanism including the air chamber, and soiled oil will not adhere to a surface of an object material, even though the compressed air is blown to the object material.
According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the operating means for opening and closing the air pipeline which is branched from the air supply pipe and the air outlet can be disposed at the optimum positions on the tool body, the nose part or the grip. For example, the operating means can be arranged within a reach of the thumb or index finger of the worker who has gripped the tool body. In this manner, workability and operability of the pneumatic tool can be remarkably enhanced.
According to the sixth aspect of the invention, because the air pipeline is arranged along the magazine, it is possible to arrange the air pipeline, irrespective of positions of various complicated mechanisms which are provided in the tool body. The air pipeline which is arranged along the magazine is unlikely to be observed, and will not damage an external design of the pneumatic tool.
According to the seventh aspect of the invention, because the air pipeline is arranged along the tool body, it is possible to arrange the air pipeline inside the tool body. In this case, the air pipeline is hardly exposed to the exterior, and hence, the air pipeline will not damage the external design of the pneumatic tool.
According to the eighth aspect of the invention, the air jet nozzle is arranged in vicinity of the nose part, so that the air is blown out from the air outlet along a direction of ejecting the fastener. Therefore, when the worker uses the air duster, the direction of the pneumatic tool need not be changed, and workability is enhanced.
According to the ninth aspect of the invention, because the air pipeline is formed of metal, its rigidity is sufficiently secured. Therefore, the air pipeline will not be broken even with high internal pressure. Moreover, damage or change in shape will be unlikely to occur due to an external force. As the results, the air pipeline is resistant against aging change, and can be easily installed.
According to the tenth aspect of the invention, because the filter is provided in the halfway part of the air pipeline so as to be exchanged, in case where oil or the like is mixed in the compressed air in the air pipeline, it is possible to remove mixed substance and to blow out dry air. In addition, it is possible to exchange the filter, when it is soiled.
According to the eleventh aspect of the invention, because the air pipeline is arranged by way of the shock absorbing member, the air pipeline can be effectively prevented from vibrating to issue strange noise when the compressed air flows, during use of the air duster, and thus, the pneumatic tool can be favorably used.
Moreover, even though the air pipeline is crooked on the halfway, it can be firmly secured.
According to the twelfth aspect of the invention, because the shock absorbing member is formed as the O-ring, it can be easily obtained from a market, without necessity of newly making a mold, and remarkable reduction of cost can be attained.
According to the thirteenth aspect of the invention, the flow controlling mechanism is provided in the air pipeline, and the blowing amount from the air outlet can be controlled. As the results, it will not happen that wooden trash may be blown too far to be scattered or insufficiently swept away.
According to the fourteenth aspect of the invention, the retractable air jet nozzle is provided inside the air outlet. The air jet nozzle may be retracted when the air duster is not used, and pulled out for use to precisely blow out the compressed air to a target position.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from description of the embodiments and the attached claims.
Now, a nailing machine which is an embodiment of a pneumatic tool according to the invention will be described referring to the drawings. It is to be noted that the pneumatic tool is not limited to the nailing machine. The pneumatic tool may include a screw driving machine, a screwing machine for example, provided that it is operated using a compressed air.
A nailing machine body 1 of the nailing machine is provided with a hammering mechanism. The hammering mechanism actuates a hammering piston 3 which is slidably contained in a hammering cylinder 2, using a compressed air stored in an air chamber 4, thereby to eject a nail (a headless nail, a finishing nail, etc.) which is supplied from a magazine 6 into a nose part 9 with a driver 5 which is integrally coupled to the hammering piston 3. Supply of the compressed air into the air chamber 4 is performed by opening action of a main valve 10 in association with a trigger valve 8 which is actuated by operating a trigger lever 7. For enabling the trigger lever 7 to effectively actuate the trigger valve 8, it is necessary to push a distal end 19 of a contact arm (See
Moreover, the nailing machine is provided with an air duster 12 (See
The selection valve 15 is disposed in the aforesaid branch part. The selection valve 15 includes a valve element 18 which is provided in a valve housing 17 so as to slide in a vertical direction. The valve element 18 can move between a first position (a position as shown in
The branch pipeline 16 for the air duster (the air duster pipeline) is extended from an end cap 21 of the grip part 14 through a rear part of the magazine 6 and a front part of the magazine 6, along the nose part 9. As shown in
By the way, as specifically shown in
Further, an operating pipeline 28 is connected to the valve housing 17 of the aforesaid selection valve 15 at a position between the first O-ring 22 and the second O-ring 23. The operating pipeline 28 is branched from the air chamber 4, and provided with an opening and closing valve 30 in a halfway part thereof, as shown in
As shown in
Then, operation mode of the nailing machine having the above described structure will be described. When the air duster 12 is not used, the opening and closing valve 30 is kept at the closed position, as shown in
On the other hand, when the air duster 12 is used, the worker presses the operating button 32 with his thumb (or his index finger), while gripping the grip part 14, thereby to move the opening and closing valve 30 to the open position, as shown in
In order to stop the use of the air duster 12, it would be sufficient to detach the finger from the operating button 32. The valve stem 31 is moved by the spring 33 to the position where the operating pipeline 28 is closed, as shown in
In the state where the operating button 32 of the air duster 12 is pressed, that is, when the selection valve 15 is at the second position in
As described above, the selection valve 15 is provided so as to move between the first position where it opens the upstream side pipeline 13a leading to the compressed air supply source to the downstream side pipeline 13b leading to the air chamber 4 for storing the compressed air and shuts off the upstream side pipeline 13a with respect to the branch pipeline 16 for the air duster 12, and the second position where it opens the upstream side pipeline 13a to the branch pipeline 16 and shuts off the upstream side pipeline 13a with respect to the downstream side pipeline 13b. Accordingly, the downstream side pipeline 13b leading to the air chamber 4 is automatically shut off, when the air duster is used. Therefore, there is almost no risk at a time of using the air duster.
Moreover, the air jet nozzle 12a of the air duster 12 is arranged in vicinity of an ejecting part, and a direction of blowing out the air from the air duster 12 is substantially the same as the direction of ejecting a fastener. Therefore, the worker need not change the direction of the pneumatic tool, when he uses the air duster 12, and workability is enhanced.
Further, because the operating button 32 is disposed on the side face of the tool body 1, the worker's hand will not press the operating button 32 of the air duster 12 accidentally, even though the worker changes his hand to grip the pneumatic tool, for convenience's sake, and operates the trigger lever 7 with his little finger, on occasion of driving a nail into a lower corner part. Therefore, dust will not be suddenly scattered, and workability is enhanced.
Further, the operating button 32 is positioned within a reach of the thumb or index finger of the worker who has gripped the tool body 1. Therefore, when the worker uses the air duster 12 by pressing the operating button 32 with the finger, he need not change his hand to grip the pneumatic tool 1, and operability is enhanced.
Still further, when the pneumatic tool is drawn near by pulling the air hose, there is least possibility of pressing the operating button 32, even though the pneumatic tool is caught by a pillar or the like. Therefore, it hardly happens that the air duster 12 is actuated by mistake.
Moreover, the structure of the opening and closing valve is not limited to the one as described above. For example, in the opening and closing valve 30 as shown in
Moreover, in the opening and closing valve 30 as shown in
Then,
The relief valve 50 slides between a lower position where its lower bottom part 51 is engaged with an end of the valve housing 17 (the position as shown in
An opening 56 is formed at a center of the lower bottom part 51 of the relief valve 50. Moreover, three O-rings 57, 58, 59 respectively having a large diameter, a middle diameter, and a small diameter are circumferentially formed on an outer peripheral face of the relief valve 50, and a through hole 60 is formed between the two O-rings 57 and 58 respectively having the large diameter and the middle diameter. Further, the valve element 48 is provided with three O-rings 61 having the same diameter at a substantially equal interval on an outer peripheral face thereof.
In addition, the opening and closing valve 30 (the same as shown in
In the above described structure, when the air duster 12 is not used, the relief valve 50 and the valve element 48 are kept at the lower position by the spring 55 (the valve element 48 is at the first position), as shown in
On the other hand, when the air duster 12 is used, the opening and closing valve 30 is moved to the open position by pressing the operating button 32, as shown in
Although the pressure of the compressed air is exerted on an outer face of the lower bottom part 51 of the relief valve 50 too, the compressed air is also exerted on the open end 52 at the same time. Because a pressure receiving area of the lower bottom part 51 is smaller than that of the open end 52, the relief valve 50 will not move.
In order to stop the use of the air duster 12, it would be sufficient to detach the finger from the operating button 32. The compressed air in the operating pipeline 28 at the downstream side of the opening and closing valve 30 is leaked to the exterior through a gap at a side of the operating button. As the results, the air pressure exerted on the valve element 48 is reduced, and the valve element 48 moves upward again to return to the first position in
In case where the worker has withdrawn the air hose leading to the compressed air supply source, by mistake, from the air plug 38, in the state where the operating button 32 of the air duster 12 is pressed, that is, while the selection valve 15 is at the second position, the compressed air in the upstream side pipeline 13a of the selection valve 15 and the compressed air in the branch pipeline 16 to the air duster 12 are discharged to the atmosphere, as shown in
Then,
The valve element 64 includes a large diameter part 64a and a small diameter part 64b, and the relief piston 65 also includes a large diameter part 65a and a small diameter part 65b. Moreover, the large diameter part 65a of the relief piston 65 and the small diameter part 64b of the valve element 64 are so formed as to be engaged with each other, and further, a spring 71 is disposed between them.
The valve element 64 is so arranged as to slide between a first position where it opens the upstream side pipeline 13a leading to the compressed air supply source to the downstream side pipeline 13b leading to the air chamber 4, and shuts off the upstream side pipeline 13a with respect to the branch pipeline 16 for the air duster 12 (the position in
In addition, the opening and closing valve 30 as described above is provided between the air chamber 4 and the selection valve 15.
In the above described structure, when the air duster 12 is not used, the relief piston 65 and the valve element 64 are kept at the opposite positions to each other by the spring 71 (the valve element 64 is at the first position). At the first position, the compressed air from the compressed air supply source is continuously supplied to the air chamber 4, whereby the hammering mechanism is actuated with pulling operation of the trigger lever 7 and pushing operation of the contact arm, and the nail is ejected from the nose part 9.
On the other hand, when the air duster 12 is used, the opening and closing valve 30 is operated to open by pressing the operating button 32. Then, the compressed air is supplied to the operating pipeline 28 at the downstream side, and further, fed to the selection valve 15. As a result, the relief piston 65 moves toward the small diameter part 65b against the spring 71, as shown in
While the valve element 64 moves to the second position, the valve element 64 is brought into contact with the large diameter part 65a of the relief piston 65 thereby to slightly push back the relief piston 65 to the initial position. The relief piston 65 is stabilized when the valve element 64 has moved to the second position.
When the use of the air duster 12 is stopped, by releasing the finger from the operating button 32, the air in the operating pipeline 28 at the downstream side of the opening and closing valve 30 is leaked to the exterior. As the results, the air pressure exerted on the valve element 64 is reduced, and the valve element 64 moves upward again to return to the first position in
In case where the worker has withdrawn the air hose leading to the compressed air supply source, by mistake, from the air plug 38, in the state where the operating button 32 of the air duster 12 is pressed, that is, while the selection valve 15 is at the second position in
A tool body 101 of the nailing machine is provided with a hammering mechanism. Although not shown in the drawings, the hammering mechanism is so constructed that a hammering piston slidably contained in a hammering cylinder which is provided in the tool body 101 is actuated using a compressed air stored in an air chamber, thereby to eject a nail (a headless nail, finishing nail, etc.) which is supplied from a magazine 102 into a nose part 103 with a driver which is integrally coupled to the hammering piston. The hammering mechanism is actuated by operating a trigger lever 109.
The air chamber is an internal air room for storing the compressed air, which is mainly formed around the hammering cylinder, and continued to an air room 105 which is formed inside a grip 104 provided in a rear part of the tool body 101. An essential structure of the hammering mechanism of the tool body 101 has been known.
The compressed air is taken into the air chamber from an opening at a rear end of the grip 104 through an air supply pipe 106 which is connected to an air supply source (not shown) such as an air compressor. An air pipeline 108 (an air duster pipeline) leading to an air duster 107 is branched from the air supply pipe 106.
A distal end of the air pipeline 108 is connected to an air outlet 107a of the air duster 107 which will be described below, and the compressed air in the air supply pipe 106 flows through the air pipeline 108 by way of selection operating means (a selection operating device as an air duster valve) to be blown out from the air outlet 107a.
The air outlet 107a can be provided at an optimum position suitable for blowing off wooden trash or the like. Because the nail is driven to a position where the wooden trash has been swept away, the air outlet 107a is preferably arranged near the position of ejecting the nail, so that the compressed air may be blown out along the direction of ejecting the nail. The air outlet 107a is preferably arranged along the nose part 103, as shown in the drawing, and directed downward so that the compressed air may be blown out in parallel with the direction of ejecting the nail or in an extension of the direction of ejecting the nail.
The air pipeline 108 which is branched from the air pipeline 106 is suspended from the rear end part of the grip 104 to the rear end part of the magazine 102, and further extended in a longitudinal direction of the magazine 102, to be connected to the air outlet 107a in a front part of the magazine 102.
The air pipeline 108 is preferably formed of metal. Moreover, a front part 108a and a rear part 108b of the air pipe line 108 may be connected by a connecting member 110 including an outer tube body 110a and an inner tube body 110b which is screwed into the outer tube body 110a. In this case, an inner diameter of the outer tube body 110a may be made larger than a diameter of an end part of the inner tube body 110b to be screwed in, so that the larger a screwing amount of the inner tube body 110b is made, the smaller a flowing amount of the compressed air becomes. This connecting member 110 may be used as a flow controlling mechanism for controlling the flowing amount of the compressed air by adjusting the screwing amount.
Moreover, the air pipeline 108 is mounted to the magazine 102 by way of a shock absorbing member (elastic material 111, an O-ring 115). Specifically, as shown in
The selection operating means includes a selection valve 116 (selecting means) and operating means 117 for operating the selection valve 116. The selection valve 116 is provided at a branch part between the air supply pipeline 106 and the air pipeline 108. Although not shown, the selection valve 116 is so formed as to selectively supply the compressed air which is supplied from the air supply pipe 106 to either of the aforesaid air chamber and the air pipeline 108 for the air duster 107. The operating means 117 operates the selection valve 116 which is provided between the air chamber and the air supply pipe 106 to be opened or closed, by means of an operating button 119, thereby to supply the compressed air in the air chamber to the selection valve 116 to control the selecting operation. By pressing the operating button 119, an opening and closing valve which is ordinarily urged in a closing direction is operated to open, and the compressed air in the air chamber is fed to the selection valve 116 through a control pipe 118, thereby to actuate the air pipeline 108 in an opening direction (the air chamber is closed). Further, by blowing out the compressed air from the air outlet 107a of the air duster 107, and releasing the operating button 119, the control pipe 118 is closed thereby to actuate the air pipeline 108 in a closing direction (the air chamber is opened). In this manner, the blow of the compressed air from the air outlet 107a of the air duster 107 is stopped.
In the above described structure, when the air duster 107 is used, the air outlet 107a is directed to a target position, and the operating button 119 of the selection operating means is pressed, thereby to actuate the selection valve 116 so as to open the air pipeline 108. In this manner, the compressed air is blown out from the air outlet 107a to blow off wooden trash or the like. After the use, the finger is detached from the operating button 119 thereby to actuate the selection valve 116 so as to close the air pipeline 108 again.
As described above, according to the pneumatic tool having the above described structure, it is possible to provide the selection operating means for selecting either of the air supply pipe 106 and the branched air pipeline 108, and the air outlet 107a at the optimum positions on the tool body 101, the nose part 103 or the grip 104. As the results, workability and operability of the nailing machine can be remarkably enhanced.
Moreover, a length of the air pipeline 108 must be inevitably a length between the position where it is branched from the air supply pipe 106 and the air outlet 107a. However, it would be preferable that the air pipeline 108 is long to some extent, because high pressure of the compressed air is reduced because of pipeline resistance while passing through the air pipeline 108. When the compressed air is blown out from the air outlet 107a, it has an appropriate pressure to such an extent that the wooden trash can be blown off, and therefore, there is no need of providing a particular pressure reducing valve. In this manner, the air duster 107 has a simple structure, and can be produced at a low cost.
Further, lubricating oil supplied to the tool body 101 is not circulated to the air duster 107 together with soil on the hammering mechanism including the air chamber, and soiled oil will not adhere to a surface of an object material, even though the compressed air is blown to the object material.
The air pipeline 108 can be arranged irrespective of positions of various complicated mechanisms which are provided in the tool body 101, because it is arranged along the magazine 102. Therefore, the air pipeline 108 which is arranged along the magazine 102 is unlikely to be observed, and will not damage an external design of the pneumatic tool.
Further, the operating means 117 for the air pipeline 108 which is branched from the air supply pipe 106 and the air outlet 107a can be respectively disposed at the optimum positions on the tool body 101, the nose part 103 or the grip 104. For example, the operating button 119 can be arranged within a reach of the thumb or index finger of the worker who has gripped the tool body 101. Because the operating button 119 is disposed at this position, a right-handed worker can operate the operating button 119 in this state, by pressing it with his thumb, when he has gripped the grip 104, without changing his hand to grip it. In case where the worker is left-handed, he can operate the operating button 119 in this state, by pressing it with his index finger, when he has gripped the grip 104, without changing his hand to grip it. In this manner, workability and operability of the pneumatic tool can be remarkably enhanced.
In this connection, the air jet nozzle is arranged in vicinity of the nose part 103, so that the air is blown out from the air outlet 107a along the direction of ejecting the fastener. Therefore, when the worker uses the air duster 107, he need not change the direction of the pneumatic tool, and workability is enhanced.
Further, because the air pipeline 108 is formed of metal, its rigidity is sufficiently secured. Moreover, because the flow controlling mechanism is provided in the air pipeline 108, and the blowing amount of the air from the air outlet 107a can be controlled, such anxiety that wooden trash may be blown too far to be scattered or insufficiently swept away is eliminated.
Additionally, because the air pipeline 108 is arranged by way of the shock absorbing members 111, 115, the air pipeline 108 can be effectively prevented from vibrating to issue strange noise when the compressed air flows, during use of the air duster 107, and thus, the pneumatic tool can be favorably used. Moreover, even though the air pipeline 108 is crooked on the halfway, it can be firmly secured. In case where the shock absorbing member is formed as the O-ring 115, it can be easily obtained from a market, without necessity of newly making a mold, and remarkable reduction of cost can be attained.
The structure of the air duster 107 is not limited to the one in the above described embodiment.
For example, the air pipeline 108 may be continuously arranged so as to extend from the grip 104 along the tool body 101, as shown in
Moreover, it would be sufficient that the air outlet 107a is positioned in vicinity of the nose part 103, and the air outlet 107a may be somewhat separated from the nose part 103, as shown in
Further, as shown in
Further, connection between the front and rear air pipelines 108 is not limited to such in the above described embodiment. For example, a filter 121 may be disposed inside a connecting member 110, as shown in
By thus providing the filter 121 in a halfway part of the air pipeline 108 so as to be exchanged, in case where oil or the like is mixed in the compressed air in the air pipeline 108, it is possible to remove mixed substance and to blow out dry air, and at the same time, it is possible to exchange the filter 121, when it is soiled.
Still further, the air pipeline 108 is not necessarily branched from the aforesaid air supply pipe 106. As shown in
In this case, an opening and closing valve 125 (an air duster valve) for directly opening and closing the air pipeline 108 which interconnects the air chamber and the air outlet 107a of the air duster 107 may be actuated by operating the operating button 119, thereby to blow out the compressed air in the air chamber from the air outlet 107a of the air duster 107 according to necessity. Specifically, although in a state in
Although the invention has been fully described referring to the specified embodiments, it would be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and amendments can be added to the invention, without deviating from the sprit and scope of the invention.
The invention is based on Japanese Patent Application (Patent Application No. 2007-058761) filed on Mar. 8, 2007 and Japanese Patent Application (Patent Application No. 2007-148199) filed on Jun. 4, 2007, of which contents are hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-058761 | Mar 2007 | JP | national |
| 2007-148199 | Jun 2007 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2008/053101 | 2/22/2008 | WO | 00 | 8/25/2009 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2008/108188 | 9/12/2008 | WO | A |
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