State of the art Staple magazines of the type described above are common. However, the disadvantage of these earlier magazines is that a clearance must necessarily be provided both between the staple strip legs and the sides of the staple rail, and between the contact means and the said sides, with the result that the staple strip and feeding device may assume a lateral position relative to each other on the staple rail such that the contact faces of the feeding device are displaced to the side of the staple legs. In most cases, the result is that the feeding device moves forward while the staple strip remains in position on the rail, causing at least one of the staple legs to become positioned between the rail side and the feeding device, which usually causes the leg to become jammed between the contact face and the rail side and prevents the feeding device from feeding the staple strip forward.

Problem Thus, there exists a need for a staple magazine forming part of a stapler of the type described above, which does not suffer from the disadvantage that the feeding action is lost if the feeding device and staple strip take up a

lateral position such that the contact faces of the feeding device fail to come into contact with the staple legs.

Solution The present invention overcomes the above disadvantages by means of a staple magazine of the type described in the introduction, which is characterised in that the feeding device is provided with a third means which is in feeding contact with the crown part of the staple strip.

The present invention is also characterised in that the third means extends in an upward direction from the staple rail to a height which is higher than that of the staple strip above the staple rail.

The present invention is further characterised in that the magazine housing incorporates a stop which prevents the staple strip from lifting from the staple rail.

The present invention is yet further characterised in that the third contact means extends upward from the staple rail to a height which is higher than that at which the magazine housing stop prevents the staple strip from lifting.

Brief description The invention will hereinafter be described with reference to the appended figures, of which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a stapler containing a stapling magazine according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1 in which the half of the housing facing the viewer has been omitted and in which a base surface is also shown; Fig. 3 is a view from underneath of the stapler shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a detail view of a staple rail incorporated in the invention, which view also shows a staple strip and a feeding device; Fig. 5 is a view corresponding to Fig. 4 showing the stapler from above ; Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of the part of the staple rail indicated by A-A in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a view from the front of the stapler shown in Fig. 1 and in which view the housing in the area below the line B-B is rendered transparent, and Fig. 8 is an enlarged view of the area B-B in Fig. 7.

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Proposed embodiment Fig. 1 shows a stapler 1 which consists of a stapling gun 2 comprising a staple gun body 3 and a trigger handle 4. Fig. 2 shows that the staple gun body 3 houses a staple magazine 5 comprising a staple rail 6 and a staple housing 7, which is shown only in general terms in the figure. The staple rail carries staples 8 stored in the form of a staple strip 9. The staple strip is fed forward towards an outlet opening 11, seen in Fig. 3, by means of a feeding device 10 arranged on the staple rail, which direction of feed is indicated by the arrow F. The feeding device 10 is acted on in the direction F by a pretensioned elastic means which is not shown in the figures, but which may consist of a coil spring or any other known, pretensionable elastic means known to one skilled in the art. A driver 12 is arranged in a known sliding manner at the outlet opening. The driver is connected to a leaf spring 13 and is in connection with a trigger handle 4. The trigger handle 4 is pivotably connected to the staple gun body 3 by means of a pivot pin 14. When the handle 4 is moved downward in the direction of the staple gun body, which direction is indicated by the arrow N, the driver 12 is raised, which direction is indicated by the arrow U, and the leaf spring 13 is simultaneously tensioned. When the trigger handle is moved to its lowermost position, the connection between the driver and handle is released and the leaf spring drives the driver forcibly in the downward direction, which direction is the opposite of the direction U, whereby a staple fed to the to the outlet opening by the driver is driven through the outlet opening into the base surface 15 in which the staple is intended to be secured. Since this function does not form part of the present invention, it will not be described here other than as part of the above schematic description.

Fig. 4 shows the staple rail 6 in detail. The figure shows that the rail comprises guides 16,17, which extend along the rail, as well as a first rail side 18 and a second rail side 19. The figure also shows the staple strip 9, which comprises a number of staples 8 located side by side and comprising a first leg 20 and a second leg 21 with an intermediate crown 22. The first leg 20 is placed along the rail side 18 and the second leg 21 along the rail side 19. The figure also shows that the feeding device 10 comprises a first 3

contact means 23 located along the rail side 18 and in feeding contact with the staple leg 20. The feeding device is further provided with a second contact means 24 located along the rail side 19 and in contact with the second leg 21 of the staple, which is not clearly apparent from Fig. 4, but is shown clearly in Fig. 6.

Fig. 3 shows how the staple rail is mounted in the staple gun body 3. The staple gun body 3, which is shown from underneath, comprises the staple housing 7, which is provided with a first inner wall 25 and a second inner wall 26 with an intermediate ceiling 27. The body is also provided with guide slots 28, 29. The staple rail 6 is mounted in the body 3, as will easily be understood by one skilled in the art, by the placement of the guides 16,17 in the guide slots 28,29, whereby the rail 6 extends into the housing 7, as will be made clear below in the description of Figs. 7 and 8. The rail can be moved forward and backward in the longitudinal direction, and is maintained in place longitudinally by the interaction of a latch 30, Fig. 4, arranged on the rail with an opening 31 arranged in the staple gun body 3, Fig. 2.

Figs. 5 and 6 show the rail 6 from above and Fig. 6 is a partial enlargement of the area A-A in Fig. 5. The figures clearly show the staple strip 9 and the feeding device 10. The figures further show the first contact means 23 and the second contact means 24 of the feeding device, also showing that the said means are in contact respectively with the staple legs 20 and 21. As the figures show, the feeding device is also provided with a third contact means 32 which is in feeding contact with the crown 22 of the staple. As will easily be seen by one skilled in the art, a small clearance must be provided between the walls 18 and 19 of the rail and the contact means 23 and 24 respectively of the feeding device to permit the feeding device to move along the rail. A similar clearance must also be provided between the staple legs 20 and 21 and the rail sides 18 and 19 respectively. This means that both the feeding device and the staple strip can move slightly in the lateral direction on the rail 6, which direction is indicated by the double arrow T in Fig. 6. If the feeding device is moved to the left in Fig. 6 and the staple strip to the right, it may happen that the contact means lose feeding contact with the staple legs; however, since the feeding device 10 is prevented from 4

moving in the forward direction relative to the staple strip by virtue of the contact between the third contact means 32 and the staple crown 22, there is no risk that the feeding device will be blocked by jamming of a staple leg between a contact means and a rail side.

Figs. 7-8, in which the location of the staple rail 6 and the third contact means 32 relative to the staple housing 7 is clearly shown, shows that the staple housing 7 essentially encloses the rail 6. It is also shown that the contact means 32 extends in an upward direction from the rail to a height H, which exceeds the height h1 of the staple crown 22 above the rail 6. It is further shown that the staple housing 7 is provided with a stop 33 which, in the figure, consists of the staple housing ceiling 27, which prevents a staple 8 from moving in an upward direction from the staple rail 6, and it is further shown that the contact means 32 extends to a height H, exceeding the height h2 which is limited by the stop 33. This prevents the staple strip from moving above the third contact means 32, which means that the third contact means cannot lose contact with the staple crown 22.

Although the invention is described above with reference to a stapling gun, it will be clear to one skilled in the art that it is also applicable to staplers of other types.