US PATENT CLASS 227
Class Notes


Current as of: June, 1999
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227 /   HD   ELONGATED-MEMBER-DRIVING APPARATUS



DEFINITION

Classification: 227/

Introductory Notes

(1) Note. This is a restricted class for the art of elongated-member-driving apparatus as defined above. For original placement of a patent in this class, its claimed disclosure should meet the minimum requirements of the class definition, and should fall within the boundaries expressed in the sections "Scope of the Class", "Other Classes With Elongated Member Driving Means", "Relationship to Combination Classes," "Relationship to Subcombination Classes", and "Other Class Relationships" below.

(2) Note. The term "member", appearing throughout this class definition, is a defined term in this class (see Glossary), denoting an elongated object to be driven; usually, but not necessarily disclosed as a nail, stud, staple, or the like.

(3) Note. Terms followed by an asterisk (*) will be found defined in the Glossary. Throughout this class definition, certain very frequently appearing terms, such as work, product, member, and driver, are accompanied by the asterisk only where the exact meaning of the term is deemed particularly important.

Main Class Definition

This class provides for a device comprising a pushing or driving element, disclosed as being guided for movement in a predetermined path and as being effective (1) to engage a member, or end portion of indeterminate length material, and (2) to impart translatory motion to the same with respect to a workpiece, or to engage a workpiece and to translate the same or a portion thereof with respect to a member; said member or said end portion comprising a pointed and/or generally elongated rod-like or tubular projection substantially aligned with the direction of such translatory motion, said pushing or driving element serving, in either case, to initiate and/or increase a penetrating relationship between said workpiece and member (or workpiece and end portion); and further comprising at least one of the following: means to (a) modify, (b) position or (c) support, a workpiece or member.

Scope of the Class

The subject matter of this class relates to apparatus for applying a member (having an elongated rod-like or tubular projection) to one or more workpieces by relative movement between the member and the workpiece generally in the

direction of a projection of the member. A patent claiming apparatus for driving a member may be excluded from the class because of additional claimed subject matter, not expressly covered in the subclass titles and definitions. See Lines With Other Classes, below

LINES WITH OTHER CLASSES

A patent claiming apparatus for driving a member may be excluded from the class because of additional claimed subject matter, not expressly covered in the subclass titles and definitions. Claimed subject matter which bars a patent from original placement in Class 227 may be summarized as follows (see below for a more detailed discussion):

A method of applying a member, for which see Class 29, Metal Working, subclasses 592+.

Apparatus for positively rotating a member during driving.

Apparatus for applying a clip, edge binding or hog ring (for which see Classes 29, Metal Working, and 72, Metal Deforming), except where there is bodily movement of the clip, etc., along a line in extension of a pointed portion of the clip, etc., during work penetration. A patent to the latter type of device is proper for Class 227.

A means for performing a particular operation or for making a special product, which is recognized as subject matter of some other existing class, e.g., pile-driver, boot, or shoe making machine, etc., for which see the Index to Classification under the heading of the operation performed or product made.

Means for treating a product made by a device of this class.

RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER CLASSES CONTAINING ELONGATED MEMBER DRIVING MEANS, PER SE

Prefatory Note

Class 227, "Main Class Definition" limits the movement of the member or work, imparted to it directly by a driver, to a rectilinear path but permits the member or work to turn; however, a positive means to rotate the member or work is excluded from Class 227 (see "Other Class Relationships," below, for loci of patents claiming positive means to rotate a member or work).

Ordnance Classes A patent claiming a firearm is placed in the appropriate ordnance class, unless it teaches that a barrel is intended to be in contact with work when the device is fired to propel a member, in which case the patent is proper for Class 227. See Class 42, Firearms, and Class 89, Ordnance.

The Class Of Tools

Generally, a hand-wielded hammer is proper subject matter for Class 81, Tools. However, where there is claimed means to permit a device (e.g., hammer-head) to move relative to handle, other than by a whipping or bending of the handle (which is subject matter for Class 81), placement of the patent is proper in Class 227, subclass 133. See the prefatory note, above, regarding the exclusion of member-rotating means (e.g., a screw driver) from this class.

Earthworking Or Particular-work Treating Classes

A patent claim directed to means for driving a member into the earth or into certain specified kinds of work will be placed in the class providing for such earthworking or for operations on such work. See References to Other Classes below for examples of typical subject matter.

Tool Actuation

A patent claim directed only to apparatus for causing a driver to move a member, will be placed in Class 173, Tool Driving or Impacting.

RELATIONSHIP TO COMBINATION CLASSES

Prefatory Note

Class 227 is the locus for a patent claiming a combination of means to drive a member (e.g., nail) with any of the following: (1) means to perform a different operation on work prior to the member-driving operation, except for some special combinations in other classes, as noted below; or (2) means to treat a member or mating-member* before, during or after a class- type operation (e.g., clinching a driven nail) and including making or forming of such member; or (3) means to handle or cut the product of a class type operation; or (4) a device or feature, per se, classifiable in another class.

Classes Of Particular Work Or Product As stated generally in the Prefatory Note of this section, a patent claim directed to a combination of means to assemble or treat work, with means to drive a member, is generally in Class 227, except where the combination is specifically provided for in another class based on the nature of the work.

For examples of such classes (or portions of classes) which are loci of patents to such combination, see References to Other Classes, below.

Classes Of Assembly Apparatus

Class 227 in the locus of patents directed to the combination of member-driving apparatus with apparatus for assembling workpieces, with the following exceptions: (a) a patent claim directed to apparatus for treating (other than by cutting; a product consisting of work-pieces that have been assembled by an operation of the class type, is found, for example, in Class 29, Metal Working, or Class 118, Coating Apparatus; (b) a patent claim directed to apparatus for either filling a receptacle, or for assembling workpieces or articles and bonding or strapping the assembled workpieces or articles, combined with apparatus for driving a member; which is proper for the appropriate packaging or wrapping class, principally Class 53, Package Making, and Class 100, Presses.

The following list of classes, in addition to those listed in "Classes Of Particular Work Or Product" above, illustrates the location of patented art involving means for driving a member, in combination with assembly apparatus: Class 29, Metal Working, subclasses 33+; Class 53, Package Making; Class 100, Presses, subclasses 1+.

The Class Of Adhesive Bonding

Class 227 is the locus of patents directed to the combination of apparatus for applying a cement, for securing purposes, to a workpiece and means to drive a member into said workpiece, (or apparatus for applying cement to a member and driving the cemented member into a workpiece).

A patent directed to the method followed by the above apparatus is excluded from Class 227 and is placed in Class 156, Adhesive Bonding and Miscellaneous Chemical Manufacture.

Miscellaneous Combinations

A patent to the combination of member-driving apparatus with manufacturing or nonmanufacturing apparatus, not provided for in other classes (as, for instance, those classes set forth in "Classes Of Assembly Apparatus" and "Class Of Adhesive Bonding", above, or in preceding subclasses of this class, will be found in this class (227), subclass 156.

RELATIONSHIP TO SUBCOMBINATION CLASSES Classes Of Apparatus For Making A Member (E.g., Nail, Rivet, Etc.)

A patent claiming the combination of apparatus for making a member with means to drive the member will be found in Class 227, subclasses 33 or 82+. A patent claiming apparatus for making a member, per se, may be found in one of the following classes:

59, Chain, Staple, and Horseshoe Making, subclasses 71-77 for making a staple

72, Metal Deforming, subclasses 324 to 341 and 343 to 378 for eyelet making

470, Threaded, Headed Fastener, or Washer Making: Process and Apparatus, subclasses 27+ for methods of making a rivet or nail and subclasses 110+ for machines of making a rivet or nail.

Work Or Product Handling Classes

A patent claiming specific means to drive a member (e.g., nail) in combination with means to handle work or product is placed in Class 227. However, a patent claiming a device for handling work or product, per se, or in combination with a merely named driving means (e.g., "stapler", "nailer"), will be found in the proper material or article handling class. But if there is claimed means to synchronize a work or product handling device with a driving device (e.g., stapler), whether claimed specifically or by name only, the patent will be placed, as an original copy, in this class (227).

See References to Other Classes, below for a sample of classes directed to material or article handling means.

Classes Of Heading Apparatus

A patent claiming means to drive a member (e.g., rivet) with means to head the member will be found in this class (227), subclasses 51+. However, a patent claiming means to head a member, in the absence of a limitation to driving means, will be found in Class 72 if no assembly apparatus is recited, otherwise in Class 29 (see Lines With Other Classes and Within This Class for Class 72 for the line between Classes 29 and 72 in this respect).

Classes Relating To Tool Actuation A patent claiming means to drive a member (e.g., nail) in combination with means to guide, modify, position or support the member or a workpiece is proper for Class 227. However, a patent claiming mere actuating means, or means to move a nominally recited driver (e.g., "nailer") will be placed in a class appropriate to the power source or transmission means.

See References to Other Classes, below for a sample of classes directed to such tool actuation subcombinations.

Classes Relating To Cutting Means

A patent claiming means to cut work, product, or a member (e.g., nail, before or after driving), in combination with means to drive a member, is proper for Class 227. However, a patent claiming only means to cut may be found in one of the following classes:

Class 83, Cutting

Class 408, Cutting by Use of Rotating Axially Moving Tool.

The Class Of Pressing (Class 100)

A patent claiming means to apply a lid by pressing in combination with means to apply a member thereto is proper for Class 227. However, a patent claiming only means for applying a lid by pressure will be found in Class 100, Presses, subclasses 54 to 64.

The Class Of Implements Or Apparatus For Applying A Pushing Or Pulling Force (Class 254).

A patent claiming means to apply and means to withdraw a member is proper for Class 227. However, a patent claiming only structure to extract a nail will be found in Class 254, subclasses 18 to 27; and to extract a staple, in Class 254, subclass 28.

A patent claiming means to stretch material and means to apply a member thereto is proper for Class 227 (subclasses 12+), while portable tensioning implements or apparatus for flexible material, per se, is generally classifiable in Class 254, subclasses 199+. OTHER CLASS RELATIONSHIPS

Classes Of Articles

Class 227 excludes a patent to an article, per se, (e.g., nail, staple, etc.), whose placement may be proper in one of the following classes:

Class 24, Buckles, Buttons, Clasps, etc., subclasses 713.6+, for an eyelet used with a drawstring or laced-fastener.

Class 206, Special Receptacle or Package, subclass 338+ for a package of fasteners.

Class 411, Expanded, Threaded, Driven, Headed, Tool-Deformed, or Locked-Threaded Fastener, subclasses 439+ for impact driven fasteners (e.g., nails, spikes, staples, etc.); and subclasses 500+ for rivets.

THE CLASSES OF TOOLS

Class 227 excludes patents to tools having a positive means to rotate a member or having no claimed structure to guide a driver. Placement thereof may be in one of the following classes:

Class 7, Compound Tools

Class 81, Tools, subclass 52 for wrenches or screwdrivers which rotate a piece of work (e.g., nut, bolt, screw).

REFERENCES TO OTHER CLASSES SEE OR SEARCH CLASS

12, Boot and Shoe Making,

13.1, 18.3, 33.1, 43, 43.5, 50+, 85.4+ and 108, for patents where the combination is specifically provided for based on the nature of the work.

60, Power Plants (tool-actuation subcombination class)

74, Machine Element or Mechanism (tool-actuation subcombination class)

91, Motors: Expansible Chamber Type (tool actuation subcombination class)

104, Railways,

17.1, for a railway-car-mounted means to drive a spike into a railway tie. (See above, "Earthworking or Particular-Work Treating Classes")

128, Surgery, for patents where the combination is specifically provided for based on the nature of the work.

131, Tobacco,

106, and 113+, for a means for tagging tobacco products. (See above, "Earthworking or Particular-Work Treating Classes")

147, Coopering, for patents where the combination is specifically provided for based on the nature of the work. 173, Tool Driving or Impacting (tool actuation subcombination class)

175, Boring or Penetrating the Earth, for means for driving a casing, or means to drive a pile with means to remove the pile. (See above, "Earthworking or Particular-Work Treating Classes")

198, Conveyors: Power-Driven (class directed to material or article handling means. See "Work Or Product Handling Classes" above).

209, Classifying, Separating, and Assorting Solids (class directed to material or article handling means. See "Work Or Product Handling Classes" above).

221, Article Dispensing (class directed to material or article handling means. See "Work Or Product Handling Classes" above).

226, Advancing Material of Indeterminate Length (class directed to material or article handling means. See "Work Or Product Handling Classes" above).

242, Winding, Tensioning, or Guiding (class directed to material or article handling means. See "Work Or Product Handling Classes" above).

270, Sheet-Material Associating,

37+, and 53, for patents where the combination is specifically provided for based on the nature of the work.

271, Sheet Feeding or Delivering (class directed to material or article handling means. See "Work Or Product Handling Classes" above).

294, Handling: Hand and Hoist-Line Implements (class directed to material or article handling means. See "Work Or Product Handling Classes" above). 300, Brush, Broom, and Mop Making,

2+, 13 and 20, for patents where the combination is specifically provided for based on the nature of the work.

405, Hydraulic and Earth Engineering,

232+, for means for driving a pile into the earth. (See above, "Earthworking or Particular-Work Treating Classes")

412, Bookbinding: Process and Apparatus, for patents where the combination is specifically provided for based on the nature of the work..

414, Material or Article Handling (class directed to material or article handling means. See "Work Or Product Handling Classes" above).

418, Rotary Expansible Chamber Devices (tool actuation subcombination class)

445, Electric Lamp or Space Discharge Component or Device Manufacturing, for patents where the combination is specifically provided for based on the nature of the work..

493, Manufacturing Container or Tube From Paper; or Other Manufacturing From a Sheet or Web, for patents where the combination is specifically provided for based on the nature of the work..

606, Surgery,

187, for hair or artificial hair injectors or anchors. (See above, "Earthworking or Particular-Work Treating Classes")

GLOSSARY:

ANVIL

A nonactuated (fixed or adjustably positionable) tool having a face portion designed and intended to react against a driven member to restrict the movement of the material of said member in at least one direction during the driving of said member.

DEFORM

In this class is used in the sense imparted by the Class Definition and Lines With Other Classes and Within This Class in Class 72.

DRIVER

A tangible instrumentality having a surface portion which is specifically designed and intended, upon actuation of said instrumentality, to act upon a member (or work) with sufficient force, to impart translatory motion there to effect an operation of the class type.

DRIVER-CARRIAGE

Structure to support the driver in a device of the class type.

DRIVING-STATION

That region of a machine wherein work must be located for an intended driving operation of the class type to be performed thereon.

MATING-MEMBER A "mating-member". A. discrete element which has as its sole disclosed function that of aiding in maintaining a driven member in its penetrated relationship with the work, or has such a peculiar shape as to be obviously intended to perform this sole function; this sole function being accomplished by permanent interassociation or interlocking of the member and the "mating-member". (Note-A "mating-member" for the purposes of this class is considered a workpiece.)

MEMBER

An object, or the end portion of indeterminate length material, comprising at least one pointed and/or generally elongated rod-like or tubular projection disclosed as being intended to penetrate* work* when the member, or the work, is engaged and bodily moved by a driver* substantially in the directing of said projection(s).

PENETRATE

Act of inserting or imbedding (e.g., by piercing, etc.) all

or a portion of an elongated member in work material, by bodily movement of the member or the proximate portion of the work material (as distinguished from relative deflection or deformation of plural portions of an exteriorly applied fastener, as in pinching, binding, clipping, hog-ringing, etc.). The term may also refer to increasing or advancing an already established penetrating relationship, by bodily movement of the member relative to the work.

PRODUCT

Article or material into which a member* has been driven.

(1) Note. The member is not considered part of the product but retains its identity as a member for any further operation to be performed on it.

WORK, WORKPIECE

Article or material other than the surface of the earth into which a member* is to be driven; or an assemblage of juxtaposed workpieces (objects and/or layers of material) into at least one of which a member is to be driven.