Fastener installation tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12502740-B2
Application number	US-202217978337-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 1, 2022
Priority date	May 9, 2017
Publication date	Dec 23, 2025
Grant date	Dec 23, 2025

Abstract

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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A fastener installation tool, comprising:
a. a casing having a top end, a bottom end, and a central rotational axis; b. a spindle fixed to said top end of the casing and adapted for affixation to a rotary and vertically reciprocal element of an industrial machine; c. a tip at the bottom end of the casing having at least one wedge shaped displacer extending axially from an end surface of the tip adapted for deforming a workpiece by pushing material of the workpiece radially inward as the tip rotates and is pressed against the workpiece; and d. an axial bore within said tip adapted for holding a fastener installed by the tool.

2 . The tool of claim 1 , wherein said tip has a distal end surface orthogonal to the axial bore which is constructed and arranged to engage and deform the workpiece.

3 . The tool of claim 1 , including a displacer on said distal end surface.

4 . The tool of claim 3 , wherein said displacer is vertically tapered along an arcuate ridge centered about said axial bore from a back end of greatest height down to a front end of minimum height where the ridge meets the end face.

5 . The tool of claim 4 , wherein an inside edge of said displacer is chamfered from the ridge to the axial bore.

6 . The tool of claim 5 , wherein said displacer is chamfered from the displacer ridge to an outer edge of the displacer.

7 . The tool of claim 6 , wherein the width of said displacer is tapered such that the front end of said displacer intersects said distal end surface at a point.

8 . The tool of claim 7 , including two displacers located 180 degrees apart around the central rotational axis.

9 . The tool of claim 8 , wherein said displacers are substantially identical and wherein the length of each displacer extends approximately 90 radial degrees around the central rotational axis from the front end to the back end.

10 . The tool of claim 1 , including fluid communication channels extending from the spindle to the tip for providing a vacuum at the tip when the spindle is connected to a vacuum source, wherein the vacuum holds the fastener within the tip bore while the tool body rotates.

11 . The tool of claim 10 , further including a center punch extending axially through said axial bore and into the fastener when the fastener occupies the tip.

12 . The tool of claim 1 used with a milling machine that may be connected to said spindle.

13 . The tool of claim 1 , further including a spring-biased fastener pusher constructed and arranged to apply an axial insertion force on a fastener within the tip.

14 . A fastener installation tool, comprising:
a. a cylindrical tool body having a first closed axial end, cylindrical side walls, and a second open end having a central, axially-extending blind bore; b. a wedge-shaped displacer extending axially from the open end of the tool body and surrounding the opening of the bore; c. a compression spring seated at one end in the bottom of the bore and connected at the other end to a pressure plate having a shape and size that compliments the shape and size of the central bore and permits the pressure plate to freely reciprocate within the bore; wherein when the fastener is inserted into a blind hole in a workpiece, the tool engages the fastener and the workpiece, and wherein as the tool is rotated, the displacer of the tool is constructed and arranged to cold deform inwardly the material surrounding the blind hole onto a material receiving portion of a fastener.

15 . The tool of claim 14 wherein the tool is configured to cold deform a central raised area in the bottom of the blind hole into the fastener.

16 . A fastener installation tool, comprising:
a. a casing having a top end, a bottom end, and a central rotational axis; b. a spindle fixed to said top end of the casing and adapted for affixation to a rotary and vertically reciprocal element of an industrial machine; c. a tip at the bottom end of the casing adapted for deforming a workpiece as the tip rotates and is pressed against the workpiece; and d. an axial bore within said tip adapted for holding a fastener installed by the tool; and
wherein said tip has a distal end surface orthogonal to the axial bore which is constructed and arranged to engage and deform the workpiece and including a displacer on the end surface wherein said displacer is chamfered from the displacer ridge to an outer edge of the displacer.

17 . A fastener installation tool, comprising:
a. a casing having a top end, a bottom end, and a central rotational axis; b. a spindle fixed to said top end of the casing and adapted for affixation to a rotary and vertically reciprocal element of an industrial machine; c. a tip at the bottom end of the casing adapted for deforming a workpiece as the tip rotates and is pressed against the workpiece; and d. an axial bore within said tip adapted for holding a fastener installed by the tool including fluid communication channels extending from the spindle to the tip for providing a vacuum at the tip when the spindle is connected to a vacuum source, wherein the vacuum holds the fastener within the tip bore while the tool body rotates.

Assignees

• Penn Eng & Mfg Corp

Inventors

• Maloney Michael J
• Bentrim Brian G

Classifications

• B21J15/04

  Riveting hollow rivets mechanically · CPC title

• F16B37/068

  by deforming the material of the support, e.g. the sheet or plate · CPC title

• B21D39/031

  Joining superposed plates by locally deforming without slitting or piercing · CPC title

• B21J15/12 Primary

  with tools or tool parts having a movement additional to the feed movement, e.g. spin {(B21J15/027 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B21J15/02

  Riveting procedures · CPC title