Rebar Tying Tool

This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-62518 filed on Apr. 9, 2024 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-177384 filed on Oct. 9, 2024. The entire contents of the priority applications are incorporated herein by reference.

The art disclosed herein relates to a rebar tying tool.

A rebar tying tool is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2017-25700. The rebar tying tool includes: a feed unit configured to feed a wire; a guide unit configured to guide the wire such that the wire is wound around two or more rebars; a reel support member supporting a reel including the wire such that the reel is rotatable about a reel rotation axis; a wire guide member located between the feed unit and the reel support member and configured to guide the wire toward the feed unit; and a contact object configured to contact the wire in a front-rear direction.

In the above-mentioned rebar tying tool, the contact object suppresses the wire from bending or buckling in the front-rear direction by contacting the wire in the front-rear direction when the wire sags or loosens. In this configuration, however, when the wire is guided by the wire guide member, the contact object cannot sufficiently regulate a path through which the wire is guided by the wire guide member. Due to this, curls which the wire is given will vary from wire to wire. Due to this, a trajectory of the wire fed from the feed unit will also vary from wire to wire, and the wire may be detached from the guide unit. The present teachings aim to provide an art configured to suppress the wire from being detached from the guide unit.

A rebar tying tool disclosed herein may comprise a feed unit configured to feed a wire, a guide unit configured to guide the wire such that the wire is wound around two or more rebars, a reel support member supporting a reel including the wire such that the reel is rotatable about a reel rotation axis, a wire guide member located between the feed unit and the reel support member and configured to guide the wire toward the feed unit, and a contact object configured to contact the wire in a direction in which the reel rotation axis extends, with the contact object located between the wire guide member and the reel support member.

According to the above configuration, the contact object contacts the wire in the direction along which the reel rotation axis extends, with the contact object located between the wire guide member and the reel support member. Due to this, the path along which the wire is guided by the wire guide member is regulated by the contact object to the direction along which the reel rotation axis extends. As a result of this, variation in curls which the wire is given can be suppressed. Due to this, variation in the trajectories of the wire fed by the feed unit can be suppressed, by which the wire can be suppressed from being detached from the guide unit.

A rebar tying tool disclosed herein may comprise a feed unit configured to feed a wire, a guide unit configured to guide the wire such that the wire is wound around two or more rebars, a reel support member supporting a reel including the wire such that the reel is rotatable about a reel rotation axis, a wire guide member located between the feed unit and the reel support member and configured to guide the wire toward the feed unit, a contact object configured to contact the wire with the contact object located between the wire guide member and the reel support member, and a reel stopper configured to be switched between a prohibiting state in which the reel stopper prohibits the reel from being detached from the reel support member and a permitting state in which the reel stopper permits the reel to be detached from the reel support member. When the reel stopper is switched from the permitting state to the prohibiting state, the reel stopper may move in a first direction. The contact object is disposed on the reel stopper. When the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state, the contact object may be configured contact the wire in the first direction with the contact object located between the wire guide member and the reel support member.

According to the above configuration, the contact object contacts the wire in the first direction, with the contact object located between the wire guide member and the reel support member. Due to this, the path along which the wire is guided by the wire guide member is regulated by the contact object to the first direction. As a result of this, variation in curls given to the wire can be suppressed. Due to this, variation in the trajectories of the wire fed by the feed unit can be suppressed, by which the wire can be suppressed from being detached from the guide unit.

A rebar tying tool disclosed herein may comprise a feed unit configured to feed a wire, a guide unit configured to guide the wire such that the wire is wound around two or more rebars, a reel support member supporting a reel including the wire such that the reel is rotatable about a reel rotation axis, a wire guide member located between the feed unit and the reel support member and configured to guide the wire toward the feed unit, a contact object configured to contact the wire with the contact object located between the wire guide member and the reel support member, and a reel stopper configured to be switched between a prohibiting state in which the reel stopper prohibits the reel from being detached from the reel support member and a permitting state in which the reel stopper permits the reel to be detached from the reel support member. The wire guide member may comprise a wire guide hole through which the wire is configured to pass. In a view of the rebar tying tool along a line connecting a center of an inlet of the wire guide hole and a center of an outlet of the wire guide hole, when the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state, the contact object may block a part of the inlet of the wire guide hole, and when the reel stopper is in the permitting state, the contact object may not block the inlet of the wire guide hole, or may block a part of the inlet such that an area of a blocked portion of the inlet that is blocked by the contact object in the permitting state is smaller than an area of a blocked portion of the inlet that is blocked by the contact object when the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state.

According to the above configuration, the contact body blocks a part of the inlet of the wire guide hole when the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state. As a result, the path along which the wire passes through the wire guide hole is regulated by the contact object. As a result, variation in curls given to the wire can be suppressed. This can in turn suppress the variation in the trajectories of the wire fed from the feed unit, and can suppress the wire from being detached from the guide unit. Also, when the reel stopper is in the permitting state, the contact object does not block the inlet of the wire guide hole, or the area of the blocked portion of the inlet that is blocked by the contact object is smaller than the area of the blocked portion of the inlet that is blocked by the contact object when the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state. This facilitates insertion of the wire into the inlet of the wire guide hole.

A rebar tying tool disclosed herein may comprise a feed unit configured to feed a wire, a guide unit configured to guide the wire such that the wire is wound around two or more rebars, a reel support member supporting a reel including the wire such that the reel is rotatable about a reel rotation axis, and a wire guide wall located between the feed unit and the reel support member and configured to guide the wire toward the feed unit. The reel may comprise a bobbin including a bobbin body around which the wire is wound, a first flange located at one end of the bobbin body in a direction in which the reel rotation axis extends, and a second flange located at the other end of the bobbin body in the direction in which the reel rotation axis extends. The wire guide wall may comprise a first wire contact portion configured to contact the wire when the wire is drawn out from a position adjacent to the first flange and a second wire contact portion configured to contact the wire when the wire is drawn out from a position adjacent to the second flange. When a direction in which the wire moving toward the feed unit passes through the wire guide wall is defined as a second direction and a direction opposite to the second direction is defined as a third direction, each of the first wire contact portion and the second wire contact portion may be offset to the third direction as they are seen along a virtual plane bisecting the wire guide wall in the second direction and the third direction.

According to the above configuration, the path along which the wire is guided by the wire guide wall is regulated by the first wire contact portion and the second wire contact portion. As a result, variation in the curls given to the wire can be suppressed. This can in turn suppress variation in the trajectories of the wire fed from the feed unit, and suppress the wire from being detached from the guide unit. In addition, the first wire contact portion and the second wire contact portion are both located in the third direction (i.e., the direction approaching the bobbin) when viewed along the virtual plane bisecting the wire guide wall in the second and third directions. Due to this, each of the first wire contact portion and the second wire contact portion contacts the wire in a position close to the bobbin. This allows the trajectory of the wire drawn out from the bobbin to be stabilized from immediately after the wire is drawn out from the bobbin.

Representative, non-limiting examples of the present disclosure will now be described in further detail with reference to the attached drawings. This detailed description is merely intended to teach a person of skill in the art further details for practicing aspects of the present teachings and is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Furthermore, each of the additional features and teachings disclosed below may be utilized separately or in conjunction with other features and teachings to provide improved rebar tying tools as well as methods for using and manufacturing the same.

Moreover, combinations of features and steps disclosed in the following detailed description may not be necessary to practice the present disclosure in the broadest sense, and are instead taught merely to particularly describe representative examples of the present disclosure. Furthermore, various features of the above-described and below-described representative examples, as well as the various independent and dependent claims, may be combined in ways that are not specifically and explicitly enumerated in order to provide additional useful embodiments of the present teachings.

All features disclosed in the description and/or the claims are intended to be disclosed separately and independently from each other for the purpose of original written disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject matter, independent of the compositions of the features in the embodiments and/or the claims. In addition, all value ranges or indications of groups of entities are intended to disclose every possible intermediate value or intermediate entity for the purpose of original written disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject matter.

A rebar tying tool disclosed herein may comprise a feed unit configured to feed a wire, a guide unit configured to guide the wire such that the wire is wound around two or more rebars, a reel support member supporting a reel including the wire such that the reel is rotatable about a reel rotation axis, a wire guide member located between the feed unit and the reel support member and configured to guide the wire toward the feed unit, and a contact object configured to contact the wire in a direction in which the reel rotation axis extends, with the contact object located between the wire guide member and the reel support member.

In one or more embodiments, the rebar tying tool may further comprise a reel stopper configured to be switched between a prohibiting state in which the reel stopper prohibits the reel from being detached from the reel support member and a permitting state in which the reel stopper permits the reel to be detached from the reel support member. The contact object may be disposed on the reel stopper and configured to contact the wire when the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state.

According to the above configuration, by switching the reel stopper from the permitting state to the prohibiting state, the contact object can be set in a state capable of contacting the wire.

In one or more embodiments, when the reel stopper is switched from the permitting state to the prohibiting state, the reel stopper may move in a first direction. When the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state, the contact object may be configured to contact the wire in the first direction with the contact object located between the wire guide member and the reel support member.

According to the above configuration, the path along which the wire is guided by the wire guide member is regulated to the first direction by the contact object. Due to this, variation in curls given to the wire can be suppressed. This can in turn make it possible to suppress the variation in the trajectories of the wire fed from the feed unit and suppress the wire from being detached from the guide unit.

In one or more embodiments, the wire guide member may comprise a wire guide hole through which the wire is configured to pass. In a view of the rebar tying tool along a line connecting a center of an inlet of the wire guide hole and a center of an outlet of the wire guide hole, when the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state, the contact object may block a part of the inlet of the wire guide hole, and when the reel stopper is in the permitting state, the contact object may not block the inlet of the wire guide hole, or may block a part of the inlet such that an area of a blocked portion of the inlet that is blocked by the contact object in the permitting state is smaller than an area of a blocked portion of the inlet that is blocked by the contact object when the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state.

According to the above configuration, the contact object blocks a part of the inlet of the wire guide hole when the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state. Due to this, the path along which the wire passes through the wire guide hole is regulated by the contact object. As a result, variation in the curls given to the wire can be suppressed. This can in turn suppress variation in the trajectories of the wire fed from the feed unit, and suppress the wire from being detached from the guide unit. It also enables the user to easily insert the wire into the inlet of the wire guide hole when the reel stopper is in the permitting state.

In one or more embodiments, the rebar tying tool may further comprise a guide surface disposed along a rim of the inlet of the wire guide hole and configured to guide the wire into the inlet of the wire guide hole. The guide surface may face the contact object when the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state.

According to the above configuration, the guide surface can be utilized to easily guide the wire to the inlet of the wire guide hole.

In one or more embodiments, the rebar tying tool may further comprise a first guide wall separate from the wire guide member, wherein the first guide wall comprises the guide surface.

According to the above configuration, degree of freedom in design of the guide surface can be improved.

In one or more embodiments, the wire guide member may comprise the guide surface.

According to the above configuration, the number of components in the rebar tying tool can be reduced.

In one or more embodiments, when the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state, in the view of the rebar tying tool along the line connecting the center of the inlet of the wire guide hole and the center of the outlet of the wire guide hole, the contact object may block 50% or more an entire area of the inlet of the wire guide hole.

According to the above configuration, the contact object can easily contact the wire. Also, the path along which the wire is guided by the wire guide member can be further regulated by using the contact object. Due to this, variation in the curls given to the wire can be suppressed. Due to this, variation in the trajectories of the wire fed from the feed unit can be suppressed, and the wire can be further suppressed from being detached from the guide unit.

In one or more embodiments, the wire guide hole may comprise a frustum shape in which an entire area of the inlet is larger than an entire area of the outlet. When the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state, in the view of the rebar tying tool along the line connecting the center of the inlet of the wire guide hole and the center of the outlet of the wire guide hole, the contact object may block the inlet such that an area of a portion of the inlet that is not blocked by the contact object is less than the entire area of the outlet.

According to the above configuration, the contact object can easily contact the wire. Also, the path along which the wire is guided by the wire guide member can be further regulated by using the contact object. Due to this, variation in the curls given to the wire can be suppressed. Due to this, variation in the trajectories of the wire fed from the feed unit can be suppressed, and the wire can be further suppressed from being detached from the guide unit.

In one or more embodiments, the contact object may be configured to rotate with respect to the reel stopper.

According to the above configuration, an outer surface of the contact object can be suppressed from wearing out due to being abraded by the wire.

In one or more embodiments, the rebar tying tool may further comprise a housing supporting the reel stopper such that the reel stopper is configured to be switched between the prohibiting state and the permitting state. The contact object may comprise a body portion configured to rotate and a shaft portion extending through the body portion and supported by the reel stopper. When the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state, under a state where the shaft portion extends through the body portion, the shaft portion may be configured to contact the housing in a direction in which the shaft portion comes out of the body portion.

According to the above configuration, when the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state, the shaft portion can be suppressed from coming out of the body portion. Due to this, the contact object can be suppressed from being detached from the reel stopper when the reel stopper is in the prohibiting state.

In one or more embodiments, the contact object may be a roller. Each diameter at both ends of the contact object may be larger than a diameter at a center of the contact object.

According to the above configuration, the wire passes through a space defined around the center of the contact object. Due to this, the path along which the wire is guided by the wire guide member can be further regulated by using the contact object. Due to this, variation in the curls given to the wire can be further suppressed. Due to this, variation in the trajectories of the wire fed from the feed unit can be suppressed, and the wire can be further suppressed from being detached from the guide unit.

In one or more embodiments, the contact object may be integrally formed with the reel stopper.

According to the above configuration, the number of components in the rebar tying tool can be reduced.

In one or more embodiments, the rebar tying tool may further comprise a reel stopper configured to be switched between a prohibiting state in which the reel stopper prohibits the reel from being detached from the reel support member and a permitting state in which the reel stopper permits the reel to be detached from the reel support member, a housing supporting the reel stopper such that the reel stopper is configured to be switched between the prohibiting state and the permitting state and supporting the contact object such that the contact object can move, and an operation member supported by the reel stopper and configured to operate the contact object. When the reel stopper is switched from the permitting state to the prohibiting state, the operation member may operate the contact object to switch the contact object from a non-contact state in which the contact object is not in contact with the wire to a contact state in which the contact object is configured to contact the wire.

According to the above configuration, by operating the reel stopper, the user can switch the contact object from the non-contact state to the contact state without directly operating the operation member.

In one or more embodiments, the contact object may be made of a metal.

According to the above configuration, the contact object can be suppressed from wearing out due to the contact object contacting the wire.

A rebar tying tool disclosed herein may comprise a feed unit configured to feed a wire, a guide unit configured to guide the wire such that the wire is wound around two or more rebars, a reel support member supporting a reel including the wire such that the reel is rotatable about a reel rotation axis, and a wire guide wall located between the feed unit and the reel support member and configured to guide the wire toward the feed unit. The reel may comprise a bobbin including a bobbin body around which the wire is wound, a first flange located at one end of the bobbin body in a direction in which the reel rotation axis extends, and a second flange located at the other end of the bobbin body in the direction in which the reel rotation axis extends. The wire guide wall may comprise a first wire contact portion configured to contact the wire when the wire is drawn out from a position adjacent to the first flange and a second wire contact portion configured to contact the wire when the wire is drawn out from a position adjacent to the second flange. When a direction in which the wire moving toward the feed unit passes through the wire guide wall is defined as a second direction and a direction opposite to the second direction is defined as a third direction, each of the first wire contact portion and the second wire contact portion may be offset to the third direction as they are seen along a virtual plane bisecting the wire guide wall in the second direction and the third direction.

In one or more embodiments, when a direction from the second flange to the first flange along the direction in which the reel rotation axis extends is defined as a fourth direction and a direction from the first flange to the second flange along the direction in which the reel rotation axis extends is defined as a fifth direction, an end of the wire guide wall in the third direction, which is located in the fourth direction as viewed from the wire passing through the wire guide wall, may function as the first wire contact portion. An end of the wire guide wall in the third direction, which is located in the fifth direction as viewed from the wire passing through the wire guide wall, may function as the second wire contact portion.

According to the above configuration, each of the first wire contact portion and the second wire contact portion is positioned at a spot as close as possible to the bobbin in the wire guide wall. Thus, each of the first and second wire contact portions contacts the wire at the spot close to the bobbin. Due to this, the trajectory of the wire drawn out from the bobbin can be stabilized immediately after the wire is drawn out from the bobbin.

As illustrated in, a rebar tying toolis a hand-held apparatus. The rebar tying toolties plural rebars R with a wire W. Wires W with different diameters (e.g., diameter being 0.5 mm to 2.5 mm) are used in the rebar tying tooldepending on a diameter of the rebars R to be tied. For example, when the rebars R with a small diameter of 16 mm or less (e.g., diameter 16 mm) are to be tied, the wire W with a diameter of 1.6 mm or less (e.g., 0.8 mm) is used, and when the rebars R with a large diameter that is more than 16 mm (e.g., diameter 25 mm or 32 mm) are to be tied, the wire W with a diameter that is more than 1.6 mm (e.g., 2.0 mm) is used. Hereafter, a longitudinal direction of a twisting unit(see) will be termed “front-rear direction”, a direction perpendicular to the front-rear direction will be termed “up-down direction”, and a direction perpendicular to both the front-rear and up-down directions will be termed “left-right direction”.

The rebar tying toolcomprises a body housing, a reel cover, and a battery pack BP. The body housingand the reel coverare constituted of, for example, a resin material. The body housingcomprises a right housingdefining an outer shape of a right half surface of the body housingand a left housingdefining an outer shape of a left half surface of the body housing.

The body housingcomprises a twisting unit accommodating portion, a grip portion, a battery receptacle portion, a feed unit accommodating portion, and a reel support portion. The twisting unit accommodating portion, the grip portion, and the battery receptacle portionare formed by the right housingand the left housing. The feed unit accommodating portionand the reel support portionare formed by the right housing, the left housing, and the reel cover.