Device for driving flexible strips of fasteners

1. A hammer tacker, comprising:

a contact face for contacting a material;

a firing mechanism adjacent said contact face, said firing mechanism for driving a formed staple into the material when said contact face is brought into contact with the material;

a handle extending from said contact face; and

a curved staple guide for guiding a flexible pack of formed staples toward said contact face;

wherein said contact face defines a first plane for contacting the material, and a surface of said curved staple guide on a contact face side of said curved staple guide defines a second plane generally aligned with said first plane, said second plane spaced from said first plane; and

wherein a space between said first plane and said second plane provides clearance for an operator grasping said handle when said contact face contacts said material.

2. The hammer tacker of claim 1 , wherein said curved staple guide extends from adjacent said contact face and away from said handle.

3. The hammer tacker of claim 1 , wherein said curved staple guide extends from a contact face side of said handle past said handle to another side of said handle opposite said contact face side of said handle.

4. The hammer tacker of claim 3 , wherein a portion of said curved staple guide extending past said handle to another side of said handle curves toward said firing mechanism.

5. The hammer tacker of claim 1 , wherein said curved staple guide curves with said handle.

6. The hammer tacker of claim 1 , wherein said handle together with said contact face has a first length, and said curved staple guide has a second length longer than said first length.

7. A hand tool, comprising:

a contact face for contacting a material;

a firing mechanism adjacent said contact face, said firing mechanism for driving a fastener into the material when said contact face is brought into contact with the material;

a handle extending from adjacent said contact face; and

a curved fastener guide extending from adjacent said contact face, said curved fastener guide for guiding a flexible fastener pack having a multiple of distinct fasteners adhesively secured relative to each other within the flexible fastener pack;

wherein said contact face defines a first plane for contacting the material and a surface of said curved fastener guide on a contact face side of said curved fastener guide defines a second plane generally aligned with said first plane, said first plane spaced from said second plane; and

wherein a space between said first plane and said second plane provides clearance for an operator grasping said handle when said contact face contacts the material.

8. The hand tool of claim 7 , wherein said curved fastener guide extends away from said contact face and said handle.

9. The hand tool of claim 7 , wherein said curved fastener guide extends from a contact face side of said handle past said handle to another side of said handle opposite said contact face side of said handle.

10. The hand tool of claim 7 , wherein a portion of said curved fastener guide extending past said handle to another side of said handle curves toward said firing mechanism.

11. The hand tool of claim 7 , wherein said curved fastener guide curves with said handle.

12. The hand tool of claim 7 , wherein said handle together with said contact face has a first length, and said curved fastener guide has a second length longer than said first length.

13. The hammer tacker of claim 1 , wherein the formed staple is a U-shaped staple.

14. The hammer tacker of claim 1 , wherein the flexible pack of formed staples straddles the guide.

15. The hand tool of claim 7 , wherein the flexible fastener pack comprises a multiple of U-shaped staples.

16. The hand tool of claim 7 , wherein the flexible fastener pack straddles the guide.