The invention relates to a press-in connecting element for inserting into a permanently deformable flat metal material or a component or workpiece produced therefrom, by joining and pressing. The press-in element includes a head section and a shaft section, which adjoins the head section along a longitudinal axis (LA) and which is set back relative to the head section. The shaft section is made up of at least a joining section, which directly adjoins the head section and which has a lateral surface having knurling (RA), and a press-in section, which adjoins the joining section along the longitudinal axis (LA). Especially advantageously, the knurled joining section has a first diameter (d1) and the press-in section has a second diameter (d2) and the second diameter (d2) is less than the first diameter (d1), the second diameter (d2) corresponding approximately to the initial diameter (D) of the joining section before the knurling (RA) is formed in the lateral surface or approximately to the first diameter (d1) minus half of the knurling depth (T).

There are provided a bolt caulking method and a bolt caulking device which ensure supply and caulking of a bolt as a single operation. The method is a bolt caulking method including supplying a bolt into a nose piece having a vertical hole, and lowering a punch from above to drive the bolt into a metal plate. The bolt is supplied through a pipe connected to a side of the nose piece, and dropped into a vertical hole formed in the nose piece along an inclined hole formed at a tip end of the pipe with a head part of the bolt being located on the topside. Thereafter, the punch which ejects air from a central hole is lowered within the vertical hole to drive the bolt into a metal plate while holding the bolt at a lower part of the vertical hole by the ejecting air flow.

A stand for hosting a Multiple Stud Tensioning Machine (MSTM) for tensioning working studs, the stand comprising a first assembly designed to lie on a floor, and a second assembly designed to receive the MSTM and movable in translation with respect to the first assembly thanks to a translation system.

A clinch-in fastener with a cylindrical body having a top, a bottom, sides and an axial internal bore. The fastener has a single shank at the bottom end of the body having a top surface orthogonal to the bore and a chamfer tapering to the bottom of the body. The top surface of the shank is adapted for receiving the cold flow of material surrounding a receiving hole of a workpiece. The shank may have a plurality of notches in its outermost edge that extend through both the top surface of the shank and the chamfer. The bore of the fastener extends completely through the fastener body from top to bottom and may be threaded. A fastener installation system having a tool with means for affixation to a rotary and vertically reciprocal element of an industrial machine. The tip of the tool has a distal end face with at least one arcuate displacer adapted for deforming a workpiece as the tool rotates and is pressed against the workpiece. A bore within the tip holds a fastener installed by the tool. The displacer is vertically and radially tapered along an arcuate ridge centered about the axial bore. The width of the displacer is also tapered to a point.

An insertable fastener installation apparatus for a flat substrate has a thickness, T. A roller press station is used to press T-nuts into holes in the substrate. An optical vision system detects the location of the holes in the moving substrate and aligns the t-nuts with the holes. A computer controlled pick and place robot takes T-nuts from an escapement of a hopper feed system and aligns, but does not fully insert, the t-nuts in the substrate. A conveyor system feeds the substrates through the optical vision system, the pick and place robot station and the roller press station. A first roller is spaced apart from a second roller by a gap in the roller press station and the gap is less than the thickness of the substrate. The hopper feed system includes a bulk hopper, a bowl, a track and an escapement.

A component assembly is described which consists of a component and an element attached to the component and formed as an alignment element. The element has a head part, a component contact surface provided at an end face of the head part and a collar arranged inside the component contact surface and projecting away from it. The collar has a cross-sectional shape which is non-circular. The collar is inserted with clearance into an aperture of the component formed complimentary to the cross-sectional shape of the collar and has outer surfaces which converge in the direction of the said end face of the head part and with respect to the central longitudinal axis of the element and form an acute angle with the latter. The marginal region of the aperture of the component adjacent to the component contact surface extends into recesses formed between the collar and the end face of the head part but does not reach the base of the recesses, with a free space arising which ensures a lateral alignment movement of the element relative to the component. An axial separation of the element from the component is prevented as a result of material overlap of the component material with the collar within the recesses. Elements and methods for manufacture of the component assembly are also claimed.

A clinch-in fastener with a cylindrical body having a top, a bottom, sides and an axial internal bore. The fastener has a single shank at the bottom end of the body having a top surface orthogonal to the bore and a chamfer tapering to the bottom of the body. The top surface of the shank is adapted for receiving the cold flow of material surrounding a receiving hole of a workpiece. The shank may have a plurality of notches in its outermost edge that extend through both the top surface of the shank and the chamfer. The bore of the fastener extends completely through the fastener body from top to bottom and may be threaded. A fastener installation system having a tool with means for affixation to a rotary and vertically reciprocal element of an industrial machine. The tip of the tool has a distal end face with at least one arcuate displacer adapted for deforming a workpiece as the tool rotates and is pressed against the workpiece. A bore within the tip holds a fastener installed by the tool. The displacer is vertically and radially tapered along an arcuate ridge centered about the axial bore. The width of the displacer is also tapered to a point.

A gag bar with a cam surface is used to reciprocate a kicker pin in a ram-driven punch assembly into the bore of a pierce nut in a pre-mounting position. The kicker pin and punch assembly are thereafter driven toward a workpiece to install the pierce nut in the workpiece and to fully separate a slug formed during the pierce nut entry from the workpiece. The gag bar and punch are thereafter reciprocated to allow the next pierce nut to be put in position.

A fastener assembly includes an elongated fastener body with a head end part. A propelling member supported on the fastener body, wherein the propelling member has a lengthened shape, wherein a portion of the lengthened shape extends around the head end part of the fastener body. A method of propelling the fastener assembly is also provided.

A bolt setting method and device for a nail-shaped bolt with a head and a shaft, ending in a tapered manner. The bolt setting method includes: joining the bolt into a component with a deforming stroke during which the bolt reaches a first joining speed of ?4 m/s and the shaft completely penetrates the components with a portion of a maximum diameter with respect to a shaft length, without a bottom side of the head abutting the at least one component, and after the deforming stroke, driving the bolt into the at least one component until a head abutment of the bottom side of the head on the at least one component by at least one friction stroke with which a frictional connection between the shaft and the components is overcome and with which the bolt reaches a second joining speed that is smaller than the first joining speed.