Patent Application
20230069414
Not Applicable
Not Applicable.
The present invention relates generally to an extraction tool, and more particularly to a hand-operated prying tool for pulling staples and cleats from hardwood floors.
In the installation of tongue and groove hardwood plank flooring materials, pneumatic staplers are commonly used to drive staples used to adhere the planks to the floor. These staplers are designed to sit flat on top of the hardwood plank and locate against a tongued side of the plank such that they can precisely drive the staple at a 45 degree angle at a point just above the tongue.
There are two major types of staple removers, namely the pincher type remover having a pair of coaxing jaws, and a prying type remover. The prying type remover usually includes a long, flat tip which can slide under the base of a staple to pry the legs of the staple from the object to which it is attached.
Tools for prying object apart or for removing one object from another (such as a nail from a piece of wood) are quite common. Typically, a prying tool is of a robust metallic design and coarse construction, lending it high strength in most situations but not providing as much utility in situations where more careful movements are required.
Commonly, pry bars (or crowbars) are of elongated design, constructed of heavy-gauge steel and having one flattened end and one curved end with a flattened terminus. At either or both of the ends of the pry bar, the flattened portion may be configured with a notch for grasping and removing nails embedded in wood or other materials. Similarly, a hammer having a nail-removing claw may include a tapered slot con-figured to grasp a nail. In each case, the prying tool (be it a hammer, a pry bar, or another specialized tool) often utilizes the nail-grasping portion in conjunction with an integral ful-crum to lever a nail or other fastener out of the material in which it is lodged.
However, a traditional pry bar or hammer is often not the right tool for such a job, and the staple removal operation is left incomplete or is not accomplished efficiently. For example, the prying member of such a tool may be too large to engage the staple crown properly, such as to provide adequate leverage for removal. Additionally, if care is not used during staple removal with such a tool, one or both legs of the staple may break from the crown and remain lodged in the material, or the crown itself may snap, such as due to uneven distribution of upward force when leverage is applied, or lateral force when the tool engages the staple, and so forth.
As another option, a specialized staple-removal tool (or 65 staple puller) may be utilized, yielding a potentially more effective removal operation. In this case, however, the specialized tool design may require additional labor cost, with the tradeoff for complete staple removal being a slower removal process.
Other factors complicating an efficient and expedient 5 staple removal process includes erratic or non-uniform staple size, placement, density, and/or alignment over a given area, non-uniform crown clearance from the substrate material, and so forth. Also, in many applications, it is desirable to remove staples from a substrate material in a manner that not only leaves the substrate installed (such as wood flooring), but also preserves or minimizes damage to the surface thereof (such as if it is desired to re-use, or even refinish, the wood flooring).
In construction, more labor means higher cost. A small amount of time saved in pulling each spent nail from various surfaces in a building during a remodeling project can mean significant labor savings when the time savings for all of the craftsmen for the duration of the remodeling project are tallied. In short, a better nail removal tool allows talented craftsmen to spend their time on more challenging tasks.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a prying hand tool, for the extraction of staples and cleats from hardwood tongue and groove flooring planks. A staple and cleat extraction tool includes a handle attached to the flat plate shaft with prying member disposed at one ends, having a flat head section terminating in a chisel, distal edge, and forming an integral fulcrum between the shaft and the chisel distal edge.
The distal edge consists of parallel, wedge-like prying tip, separated by a square notch, tapering along its length to a sharp point at the tip, which is rounded across its width. The taper may be achieved via a forward beveled surface on the top face of the prying tip. The width of the prying tip may also taper from the bottom to the top face, with the top edges rounded and/or beveled. The configuration allows the prying tip to engage a staple and, then gradually straighten and lift it by distributing upward force evenly thereto, reducing staple breakage, and the rounded notches prevent the staple legs from lodging in the tool.
A rigid fulcrum is integrally formed in the lower section of the shaft, generally perpendicular to the axis of elongation of the shaft, about which the prying hand tool can be rotated when the engaging prying tip surface abuts an underside of the crown portion of the staple.
For example, the chisel forward edge of the prying tip may ease entry into a staple body by smoothly engaging the crown of a staple, and may also provide a self-aligning feature, for example if the tooth tip engages the staple body at an angle. The wedge shape of the prying tip allows enable engagement of staple crowns with limited vertical clearance, staple crowns that are flush with the material in which the staple is engaged.
In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this application. The drawings show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
The present invention shown in
As shown in
As substantially shown in
In accordance with embodiment of the present invention
As generally shown in
In
Moreover, as shown in
