Apparatus for placing wire fasteners

Abstract

A tie placement apparatus having a body with a handgrip. The tie placement apparatus has a wire inlet adapted to receive a tie wire, a tie placement head, and an electric motor cooperative with the tie placement head so as to actuate the tie placement head. A first reel-holder is adapted to receive a tie wire reserve therein. The body has an attachment socket that removably receives the first reel holder. The attachment socket and the first reel holder are affixed together by an elastic latch.

Claims

1. A kit comprising: a tie placement apparatus having a body with a handgrip, said tie placement apparatus comprising: a wire inlet adapted to receive a tie wire; a tie placement head; and at least one electric motor cooperative with said tie placement head so as to actuate said tie placement head; at least one first reel-holder adapted to receive a tie wire reserve, wherein the body has an attachment socket that removably receives said at least one first reel-holder, the attachment socket and said at least one first reel-holder being fixed together by an elastic latch, wherein the attachment socket and said at least one first reel-holder have respective complementary nesting reliefs for form-fitting attachment of said at least one first reel-holder on the attachment socket, wherein the complementary nesting reliefs of the attachment socket have tracks formed by grooves on either side of said wire inlet.

2. The kit of claim 1, further comprising: a first elastic blade secured to said at least one first reel-holder, said first elastic blade forming the elastic latch, the attachment socket having a notch having a shape complementary to said first elastic blade so as to receive said first elastic blade in a latched position.

3. The kit of claim 2, further comprising: a battery positioned in the body and connected to said at least one electric motor so as to supply power to said at least one electric motor.

4. The kit of claim 3, further comprising: an electric jack connected to a battery charger for said battery.

5. The kit of claim 4, wherein said at least one first reel-holder forms a protective cap for said electric jack when said at least one first reel-holder is received on the body.

6. The kit of claim 4, wherein said electric jack and said wire inlet are positioned at a rear of the body.

7. The kit of claim 4, further comprising: a protective cover for said electric jack, said protective cover being separate from said at least one first reel-holder, said protective cover being compatible with the attachment socket of said at least one first reel-holder, said protective cover being positioned on the attachment socket when said at least one first reel-holder is removed from the body.

8. The kit of claim 7, wherein protective cover has a second elastic blade engageable with the notch in the attachment socket so as to form a latch with the notch.

9. The kit of claim 1, further comprising: at least one second reel-holder distinct from said at least one first reel-holder.

10. The kit of claim 9, further comprising: at least one of a belt and harness adapted to be placed on a back of a user, said at least one of a belt and a harness receiving said at least one second reel-holder away from the body.

11. The kit of claim 1, wherein said at least one first reel-holder has a tie-wire reel received thereon.

12. The kit of claim 1, wherein the tracks of the complementary nesting reliefs of the attachment socket extend substantially perpendicularly to an axis of engagement of the tie wire in said wire inlet.

13. The kit of claim 1, wherein the tracks of the complementary nesting reliefs of the attachment socket extend along a sliding direction, the wire inlet being positioned within an extension of the tracks along the sliding direction such that the wire inlet is flanked by the tracks.

14. The kit of claim 1, wherein the tracks of the complementary nesting reliefs of the attachment socket belong to a common plane, wherein extensions of the tracks define a surface within the common plane, the wire inlet being positioned such that the tie wire crosses the surface such that the tie wire is flanked by the tracks.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a perspective of a tie placement apparatus conforming to the invention.

(2) FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a tie placement apparatus conforming to the invention and held in the hand and shows use of the apparatus with a remote reel.

(3) FIG. 3 is a perspective, at larger scale, partially exploded, of a first reel-holder for the placement apparatus from FIG. 1.

(4) FIG. 4 is a perspective, at larger scale, partially exploded, of a cover for the placement apparatus from FIG. 1.

(5) The figures are made at an arbitrary scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

(6) FIG. 1 shows a tie placement apparatus 10 conforming to the invention. It involves the tie gun with an apparatus body 12 provided with a handgrip 14 with an activating trigger 16.

(7) The trigger serves to start the placement of a tie.

(8) A tie placement head 20 is located at the front of the apparatus. It is provided with a characteristic beak 22 for engaging with elements to be tied. Typically, the beak 22 can be engaged on a shoot or cane and training wire for fixing the shoot or cane onto the training wire by means of a twist tie.

(9) The tie placement head 20 essentially comprises a pivoting, wire-guide hook housed in the beak 22. It also comprises a feed mechanism for the tie wire for advancing the tie wire in the hook around the elements to be tied, a blade for cutting tie-wire segments, and a twister for twisting the free ends of the cut tie-wire segments and forming a tie around the elements to be tied. The assembly of these components is moved by an electric motor 18 shown schematically in broken line.

(10) The detailed operation of the tie placement head is not described here. As needed, the description from the patent EP 0,763,323 may be consulted; the present invention is an improvement on that patent.

(11) A tie-wire inlet 24 and an electric jack 26 are located at the rear of the apparatus, meaning the other end from the tie placement head 20, relative to the handgrip 14.

(12) Around the tie-wire inlet 24 and the electric jack 26, the apparatus body 12 has a socket 30 for the removable attachment of the first reel-holder 40.

(13) On either side of the wire inlet 24, the socket 30 has a nesting relief in the form of grooves, forming tracks 32 for engagement of the first reel-holder 40 by form-fitting. The tracks extend substantially perpendicularly to the axis 34 of engagement of the tie wire in the tie-wire inlet 24.

(14) The attachment socket 30 also has a notch 36 for an elastic latch described previously.

(15) The tie-wire inlet 24 can receive a tie wire 42 from a wire reel 44 supported by the first reel-holder 40 when the first reel-holder is in place on the socket 30.

(16) Alternatively, the tie-wire inlet can also receive, a tie wire 52 from a wire reel 54 supported by a remote second reel-holder 50, as shown in FIG. 2. This tie wire 52 then replaces the tie wire 42 from the reel 44 located on the first reel-holder 40. In the example from FIG. 2, the second remote reel-holder 50 is mounted on the belt 56 of a harness 58 worn by a user.

(17) The first and second reel-holders allow a use of the tie placement apparatus either in an integrated reel configuration or in a remote reel configuration.

(18) Returning to FIG. 1, the first reel-holder 40, when it is in place on the socket 30, constitutes a protective cap for the electric jack 26. The part of the first reel-holder forming the protective cap is indicated with the reference 46.

(19) When the first, removable reel-holder 40 is taken off the socket 30 of the apparatus body 12, it can be replaced there by a cover 60. The cover 60 also forms protection for the electric jack 26.

(20) The protective cover when it is in place on the socket 30 however has a notch 68 leaving clear a passage to the inlet for the tie wire 24.

(21) The principal power source for the electric motor 18 of the tie placement apparatus 10 is made up of an electric battery 70 integrated in the handgrip 14. The electric battery is shown schematically.

(22) The battery can be charged by means of a charger 72, outside the placement apparatus 10, and connected to the jack 26 by an electric cable. During charging the battery, the first reel-holder 40 and the cover 60 are removed from the socket 30.

(23) Another possibility for supplying the motor consists of using the remote battery 74 outside the placement apparatus and carried, for example, on the harness 58. The remote battery can also be connected to the jack 26. Use of a remote battery is reserved for use of the apparatus in the remote reel configuration, meaning without the first reel-holder 40. The cover 60 is also removed for connecting a remote battery 74.

(24) FIG. 3 shows the first reel-holder 40 and the reel 44 mounted on the first reel-holder in more detail. The reel 44 is shown without tie wire.

(25) It can be seen that the first reel-holder 40 has an attachment base 80 with a complementary shape to the socket 30 of the apparatus body 12. The attachment base 80 comprises in particular two projecting tracks 82 which could be engaged on the grooves forming the tracks 32 of the socket. In other words, the tracks 82 of the attachment base 80 can slide in the tracks 32 of the attachment socket 30 in a form-fitting configuration, so as to engage the first reel-holder 40 on the socket 30.

(26) The base 80 also has a partition 86 forming the cap 46 for protection and covering of the electric jack 26.

(27) An opening 88 and the partition 86 allows a tie wire to pass from the reel 44 to the tie-wire inlet 24 when the first reel-holder 40 is in place on the socket 30.

(28) The presence in the base 80 of a small folded metal blade 84 fixed to the base by a screw 85 can be seen in FIG. 3. These latter two references are shown disassembled.

(29) When it is fixed in the base 80, the metal blade 84 together with the notch 36 in the socket 30, visible in FIG. 1, forms an elastic, click-lock latch. The elbowed part of the metal blade comes to engage in the notch during placement of the first reel-holder 40 on the socket 30 and serves to retain the first reel-holder on the base.

(30) The latch is released by exerting a sufficient pulling force on the first reel-holder 40 in the axis of the tracks 82 to fold the elastic metal blade and disengage it from the notch 36.

(31) FIG. 4 shows, at larger scale, the cover 60 which could be installed on the socket 30 of the apparatus body 12 instead and in place of the first reel-holder 40. The general configuration of the cover is close to that of the base 80 described with reference to FIG. 3.

(32) The cover has a partition 66 forming a protective cap for the electric jack 26 and a notch 68 to allow passage of the tie wire.

(33) The cover 66 also has tracks 62, comparable to the tracks 82 of the base 80 from FIG. 2. The tracks 62 of the cover 60 are engageable with the tracks 32 of the socket 30 of the apparatus body 12 by form-fitting.

(34) The cover 60 also has a metal blade 64 attached by a screw 65. Just like the metal blade 84 for the base 80, the metal blade 64 serves to form an elastic latch with the notch 36 of the socket 30 of the apparatus body 12.