US2314481A - Finishing nail - Google Patents

Description

March 23, 1943. C. a CROOKS FINISHING NAIL Filed July 5, 1941 high labor costs.

able. Iiflthe clearanc Yunnan. sT Tss PATENT; OFFICE 2,314,431 rn'nsnma NAIL Charles E.- Crooks,

nails, Inc., Chicago,

Illinois This invention relates to improvements in nails and more particularly concerns finishing nails such as are adapted for securing moldings or finishing strips, or the like, in place.

7, Conventional finishing nails are formed with small round heads of onlyslightly larger diameterthan the shanks oi the nails, so that the heads may be readily countersunk and without the formationof unduly large countersink holes in the surface of the nailed object. Because of this relatively small diameter of the finishing nails heads, these nails curing insulating or wallboard in place, and their hold upon the usually soft, thin wood of moldor finishing strips is insecure. This is pariest with respect to molding-strips g, as in window ticularly mani which are subject to weatherin screens, doors, and the like, where rusting of and decay or disintegration diately surrounding the nails and nail heads all too frequently causes failure of the hold of the nails upon the strips.

Another disadvantage of the, conventionalv round headed finishing nails is that they must be applied either by hand or by relatively complicated, cumbersome and generally unsatisfactory stationary nailing machines with resultant In any event counterslnking involves a. separate manual operation. In order to gain the advantage of a simple mathe finis ing. nails of the wood imme tempts have been made, with very indiflerent results, however, to use staples for securing moldlng strips and the like in place. Where the staples are heavy enough and large enough to'be efiective, the relatively large exposed webs or crowns of the staples or the long slot-like coun-' tersink holes made thereby, are quite objectione between the legs of the sufil staples is reduced length, the narrow sections of to an acceptable woodstraddled by qualities and durability combined with the adaptciently to limit the crowns are impractical for se-.

Chicago, 111., assignmto Spot 111., a corporation of 'especially when count 941, Serial No. 401,083

(CL-Zii-Ml' v V ability for simple and convenient high speed,

accurate machine nailing. One object of my inv driven and countersunk by means of a simple stapler-type of driving machine and which has an improved head construction that is not only small enough to present a neat and acceptable appearance at thesuriace oi the nailed object,

ersunk, but also enters into such thorough, non-shearing engagement with thenailed object as to prevent pulling therethrough even afterextensive weathering.

' chine method of driving the fasteners, some atthe legs of the driven staples and compressed by countersinking of the staples,

the defects both as and the accompanying drawing,

Another object of my invention is to provide a finishing nail having an improved head that will enter into a-novel interlocking relationship with the secured member. By this the finishing nail is adapted for uses to which prior finishing nails were unsuited, such as in securing in place figrous. insulating panels or wallboard and the li e.

Still another. object of the invention is to provide' a finishing nailthat may be supplied in adhered or" chine.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved finishing nail of the foregoing general character which maybe produced'irom readily available, low cost material by simple, high speed quantity production methods of' manuiacture.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description I in which similar characters of reference indicate similar parts throughoutthe several views.

Referring to the drawing, of which there is one sheet, I Fig 1 is an actual size fragmentary perspec tive view of a section of window screen showing the molding strip secured in place on the frame by means of my improved finishing nail;

Fig. 2 is a more or less schematic vertical sectional view through the driver end of-a, driving machine with which my improved finishing nail is adapted to be applied'in use; 7

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view on an enlarged scale taken substantially along line 3-3 oi Fig.1;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view on an enlarged scale taken substantially along line 4-4 of Fig.1; 7

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a series of the finishing nails adhered together in "stick form ention is to provide a practical, reliable finishing nail which can be 1 stick form for use in a driving ma- Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of my finishing nails on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 7 is a. perspective view of a modified form of the finishing nail; v

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of another modified form of the finishing nail; and

Fig. 9 is a-perspective view of a further modified form of the finishing nail.

By way of illustration of an important use for which my finishing'nail, generallyidentified by the numeral I5, is especially Well adapted, I have shown the same in fastening association with a wooden w dow or' door screen structure. Such a structure'gincludes aLframe [6 which is provided with a rabbet gro of a screen wire panel l8. The screen wire may be stretched by roller pressing a portion of its 1 forlreceiving the margin margin into'ia channel shaped groove I8 at the longitudinalj center of thei engaged face of the groove 'll. A thin finishing ormolding strip 20 is secured within the groove Hover the margin of the screen by ,means of the nails -l spotted at suitable'intervalsl'throughout the length of the strip.

According to my invention the finished nail I5 is of a novel construction adapting it to be driven into the members to be secured together along the supporting bar 23 successively into driving position within aguideway 24 at the front of the machine. Here adriving blade 25 is located to be driven against the head end of the nail within the guideway to drive the nail out of the lower end of the guideway and into the members to be secured together. One of the nails 'l5 is shown in full line withintheguideway 24 ready to bedriven, and in dot-dash outline in the fully driven-in position within themolding strip 20 and the frame l6. Thedriving blade 25 may be adjusted to countersink the head of the nail flush with the surface of the molding strip or as deep within the surface as desired.

In order to facilitate handling the nails for loading into themagazine 22 of the driving machine, a substantial number is preferably secured together in sidewise abutment by means of lacquer or. other suitable adhesive to form a stick of convenient length, substantially as shown in Fig. 5.

To facilitate the process of manufacturing the nails I5 and assembling them in the stick form, the heads of the nails should have means for engaging a guide bar by which thenails are maintained in alignment until they are adhered together by the adhesive, and which is substantially the counterpart of the guide bar 23 of the nailing machine. To this end, each of the nails IS in addition to having a. relativelylong nail shank 21, is also formed with a small hook shapedhead 28 which may have a substantially flat laterally extending crown and carries ashort leg 29 extending in. the same direction as theshank 21.

The ends of both the shank 2'! and theleg 29 are formed with penetratingpoints 30 and 3|, re-

spectively, by chamfering of each of their ends from respectively opposite sides to a central substantially knife edge. The edges of thepoints 30 and 3| preferably extend from side to side of the nail. The central or diametrical location of the point edges relative to the shank and leg extremities has been found of advantage in driving the nails straight.

The length of thehead 28 and also the length of theleg 29 are kept within as short limits as practicable. In a commercial form of the nail which has been found quite satisfactory for attaching screen moldings, the head of the hall has been made between about one-eighth and three-sixteenths of an inch in length, outside dimensioh, with theleg 28 of no greater and preferably shorter length, in a nail approximately seven-eighths of an inch long. The cross-sectional dimensions of the shank and head are preferably uniform throughout the nail, and thus permit full side-by-side contact of the nails IS in the stick relationship.

A preferred material for making thenail 15 comprises a flattened steel wire. This may have fairly fiat longitudinal faces at the inner and outer faces of the nail, and slightly rounded side edges. The roundness of the side edges limits the engagement, and hence the adhesive connection,

between the edges of the nails to reasonably narrow lines so that although the nails may be handled in stick form without coming apart, they will readily detach from the stick in the driving machine under the impact of thedriving blade 25.

An advantage of having thehead 28 as short as possible, is that only unobjectionably small countersink holes will be made in the face of themolding strip 20 and the small bit of m tal of the crown of the head which may possibly be exposed will not detract from the neat, finished appearance of the molding strip.

By having theleg 29 of the nail head as short as possible, a definitely advantageous result is attained in the effectiveness with which the nail will hold the relatively thin andfragile molding strip 20 in place. Thus, by'reference to Fig. 4, it will be seen that even though thehead 28 of the nail is countersunk below the surface of themolding strip 20, theshort leg 29, acting as 8. prong, penetrates only a short distance into the molding strip. Thereby, a substantial portion of the body of thestrip 20 intervenes between thepoint 3| and the rear face of the strip. This is of importance when it is considered that the grain of such a strip generally run longitudinally, and for convenience in application the nails l5 are usually'driven with the length of thehead 28 extending lengthwise of the strip. Hence there is a tendency of the section of wood 32 (Fig. 4) severed from the grain of the strip between theshank 28 and theprong 29 to shear away upon being compacted in countersinking the nail, However, since thematerial of the section 32 is backed up by the substantial, unpunctur'ed grain portion of the molding strip which intervenes between thepoint 3| of the prong and ,the rear face of the molding strip, the section 32 actually forms an interlocking anchorage for the hcok-shaped head structure of the nail.

As a result of the interlocking relationship of the section 32 of the molding strip and thehookhead 28, the nail I 5 is thoroughly anchored not only by the frictional hold upon thelong shank 21 driven into the frame l6, but also by the frictional hold upon the portion of theshank 21 that passes through the molding stripand upon the peaked as indicated at 34.

penetratingprong 29, and by the'interlocking .unaterial at opposite sides the puncture plane portion 32 ofthe strip. This, takentogether with the fact that the nail can be made of adequate weight to withstand long weathering, as-

sures that the nail will hold the fastened members together indefinitely. 1

For some purposes it may be desirable to have even less of the metal of the crown of the hookshaped nail head liable to show at the surface oi the nailed article than is the case with the relatively flat crown of thehead 28. The're may also, of. course, be other'considerations, such as the preferred or most effective shapeof the nail head for. engagement by the. end of the driving blade of the nailing machine under certain conthat the partially severed material will afford little, if any, resistance to plug-out where said members are subjected to a relative separating force, a finishing nail having a relatively ion-g shank extending entirely through -said thinner member and anchored deeply in the base memhen-said ,nail having a head of substantially hook ditions, which would dictate the particular shape 7.

01 the crown of the nail. In one modified form, the head of the nail may be form-ed on a radius as indicated at 33 in Fig. 7. In another form, as

shown in Fig. 8, the head maybe substantially In the modified form of Fig. 9, the head may be formed at an oblique .angle as indicated at 35 more or less in the nature of a barb. In each of the forms of Figs. 7, 8 and 9, it will be evident that after the nail has been countersunk into the surface of the nailed article only a bare point of the highest portion or crown of 'the nail head will be near the surface of the article.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the present invention provides'a finishing nail which is of a unique construction that practically prevents the head of the nail from pulling through the head, said intervening portion of thethinshape including a point penetrating only partially through said thinner member, and a substantial unpierced portion of said thinner member inter- 7 vening between the end of said point and the inner face of said thinner member, said head being in engaging relation to that material of the thinner member which is partially severed by the shank and point and lies within the hook of ner member forming a solid retaining bridge across the inner end of the hole formed by said point and being integral with the adjoining material of the body including said partially'severed material to reeni'orcesaid partially severed material for effecting a sound interlocking relationship with said hook-shaped head strongly resisting pulling of the head through or loose from the thinner member.

the nailed article. This is accomplished without compromising the effective proportions or weight of the material from which the nail is made. Thus, my novel finishing nail may be used effectively to secure. articles such asinsulating panels, wallboards, and the like, for which the round-headed finishing nails have been wholly impractical because of the liability of pulling through the oftentimes rather soft fibrousmaterial of such objects. Furthermore, the nail is peculiarly well adapted to be supplied in adhered or stick form for use in a driving machine, an accomplishment which has not heretofore been possible with finishing nails.

While I have illustrated and described certain preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not thereby intend to limit my invention to the specific forms disclosed, but contemplate that many modifications and alternative constructions may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of my invention.

I claim as my invention: I

1. In combination with a relatively thick base member and a relatively thinner member to be nailed together, the thinner member being of.

- relatively fragile character to the extent that 2. In combination with apair oi juxtaposed. members, one of which is a relatively thin softtextured wooden molding strip in which the grain runs longitudinally and the other of which is a substantially thicker nailing base, a finishing nail having a shank at, least twice as long as the thickness of the molding strip and extending entirely through the molding strip and deep into the nail-. ing base, an integral hook-shaped head on the outer end of said shank having the same crosssectional proportions as the shank and extendim; only a short distance laterally from the shank in the same direction as the grain runs in the molding strip, the head being countersunk within the outer surface of the. molding'strip, the head intervening solid layer being integral with and reenforcing the material of the strip that lies 1 arate it from the base and draw it away from terminating in a pointed short prong spaced from said shank to such a limited distance that, considering the diameter of the stock from which the nail is made, if said prong were projected parallel with the shank to such a distance that in the countersunk condition of the head such prong were to extend entirely through the molding strip, the material between the prong and hook would be detached and tend to be displaced as a slug in the countersinking of the head, said prong actually being substantially shorter than the thickness 01' the molding strip and wholly embedded therein, and a substantial unpunctured solid layer of the wood of the molding strip intervening between the point of the prong and the base-engaging face of the molding strip, such within the book of the nail against plug-out in response to a pull on the strip tending to septhe nail.

CHARLES E.'CROOKS.

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