Fastener-driving tool

Claim 1

A pneumatically powered low profile fastener-driving tool comprising a housing provided with a cylinder adapted to have the upper end thereof normally closed by aN adjustably mounted poppet valve; manually operable trigger means mounted on said housing for controlling the movement of the poppet valve to an open position relative to the upper end of said cylinder; a drive piston mounted for reciprocatory movement within said cylinder and carrying an elongated depending driver blade, the latter having a portion thereof protruding from the underside of said housing, said piston normally assuming a static position adjacent the upper end of said cylinder when said trigger means is at rest and said poppet valve is in a closed position, said piston moving through a drive stroke only when said trigger means is manually manipulated causing the poppet valve to assume an open position; a nose section mounted on and protruding from the underside of said housing, said nose section including a sectional guide means encompassing the driver blade protruding portion; safety means adjustably mounted on said nose section for movement between extended and retracted positions, said safety means, when in a retracted position, causing said trigger means to be responsive to manual manipulation and, when in an extended position, causing said trigger means to be non-responsive to manual manipulation; a removably mounted magazine of collated fasteners; and a fastenerfeed assembly mounted on said nose section and on which said magazine is removably mounted, said assembly including a cylindrical member, a pneumatically responsive feed piston mounted for reciprocatory movement within said cylindrical member to effect intermittent feeding of a collated fastener from said magazine into alignment with said driver blade only when the latter has moved a predetermined amount in one direction, said feed piston being biased to move in a direction towards said guide means, and conduit means having a first portion in communication with the cylinder within said housing and a second portion in a free-floating pneumatically sealed relation with the cylindrical member of said feed assembly; said driver blade being provided with a substantially planar elongated first surface in slidable engagement with a section of said sectional guide means, elongated narrow second surfaces of substantially like configuration disposed along opposite peripheral sides of said first surface and extending angularly in substantially one direction from said first surface, and an enlongated reinforcing rib formed on a third surface opposite said first surface, said third surface having portions thereof disposed on opposite sides of said rib converging from said second surfaces towards the base of said rib, the thickness of said blade in vicinity of said reinforcing rib and said second surfaces being substantially the same, said second and third surfaces of said blade being in slidable engagement with a section of said sectional guide means.