Commonly, fastener-driving tools, such as powder-actuated tools, are arranged to drive fasteners of a known type comprising a shank defining an axis and having a tip at one end, a head integral with the other end of the shank, and a washer carried by the shank with an interference fit. Such fasteners are exemplified in Almeras et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,003.
In such a fastener, the washer is carried near but in spaced relation to the tip and is moveable axially toward the head when the fastener is driven with the washer bearing against a workpiece. The head diameter and the washer diameter are approximately equal.
As exemplified in Almeras et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,003, it is known for such a tool to be muzzleloaded with such fasteners, which are loaded one at a time. As exemplified in Pfister U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,643, it is known to load a plurality of different fasteners into a powder-actuated tool, via a carrier strip fed laterally into the tool.
A common use of a powder-actuated tool, as exemplified in Almeras et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,003, is to attach metal decking members to steel structural members or concrete floors. For such a use, it would be highly desirable to adapt such a tool so as to facilitate its use by a standing worker. Neither a muzzle-loaded tool nor a strip-loaded tool would be entirely satisfactory, since the worker would have to lift the tool or to stoop whenever it was necessary to reload the tool.
Thus, there has been a need, to which this invention is addressed, for a better approach to loading fasteners into a fastener-driving tool, such as a powder-actuated tool, so as to facilitate its use by a standing worker.