Emhart Inc.

Usm Corporation

Donald P Viscio

Raymond H Varian

Sidney D Schwartz

Charles F Smart

Anthony D'Aquila

Peter C Thomas

David W Newton

Thomas P Shamaly

Robert A Gentile

Peter E Kraus

William D Hylwa

Arthur R Weeks, Jr

A ball device for setting blind rivets is provided. The device features one or more rows of balls of at least three balls per row, and a taper section which cooperates with the balls to grip the mandrel of the blind rivet. Upon movement of the taper section, the balls dig into the mandrel to grip, and consequently pull the mandrel in the desired direction. The device features a longer life than similar devices utilizing jaws to grip the mandrel.

Ball device for setting blind riverts

A device for locking a threaded insert into a prepared hole in a parent material. The device includes a locating portion, a locking portion and a gripping portion which is removed upon installation. The locating portion comprises a finger which is positioned in a preformed slot in the external threads of the threaded insert. The locking portion, which extends outwardly from the locating portion, is driven across the corresponding threads of the parent material to shear and distort the threads and lock the insert in place. The gripping portion which extends outwardly from the locking portion is used by the installer to position the device during installation and is then broken off.

Screw thread locking insert

The magnetized punch of the tool breaks off the tang and holds the tang until the punch is withdrawn into an opening in a vacuum conduit. The tang is thereby removed from the punch and it becomes entrained in a vacuum flow, detected and accounted for before passing into a collection chamber.

Tool for breaking and removing tang of an inserted wire coil insert

A pneumatic actuator includes an splined shaft which cooperates with a cam follower so that displacement of the shaft is purely axial for a substantial portion of its forward displacement but the final displacement portion rotates the follower and hence the transfer arm.

Rivet delivery device

Apparatus and method for automated and semi-automated installation of blind rivets, comprising mechanical, pneumatic, and electronic subassemblies, with self-diagnostic capabilities. The system includes a rivet transfer arm external to the installation tool, which receives pneumatically fed rivets in a 'home' position and transfers the rivets to an 'advanced' position of alignment with the tool's nosepiece. A mandrel collection system routes separated mandrels from the tool to a remote receptacle through a channel under vacuum. Various sensors detect rivet placements, mechanism positions, and air pressure conditions, and signals from such sensors together with user inputs are received by a central processing unit (CPU). The CPU diagnoses the state of the installation system, produces command signals for a plurality of solenoid valves to regulate the system pneumatics, and reports status and fault conditions to the operator. The operating software may include self-correction routines, as for example one which recognizes unsuccessful loading of a rivet into the nosepiece and reattempts loading with a new rivet.

Method and apparatus for automatically installing mandrel rivets

A device for automatically presenting mandrel rivets to the nosepiece of a rivet installation tool, which receives rivets from a supply in a slidably mounted transfer arm while the arm is in a retracted position, and axially and radially moves the arm relative to the tool axis to a position of alignment with receiving jaws within the tool. The rivet is then propelled into the tool's nosepiece from the transfer arm by an air blast. The presentation device may be separately mounted within a rivet installation machine, or may be mounted to the tool body in a hand-held configuration. A first version provides successive, separately actuated axial and angular movements of the transfer arm, while a second version provides simultaneous axial and angular movement of the arm. The rivet is held within the transfer arm by a vacuum, which vacuum may be rapidly changed to a positive pressure on command to propel the rivet from the arm into the tool.

Growing community of inventors

Danbury, CT, United States of America

Donald P Viscio