In a blind riveting machine, in which a mandrel having a head is pulled downwardly by reciprocable and openable pulling jaws to draw the mandrel head through the bore of a tubular rivet supported at a setting station by normally closed, openable nose jaws, the nose jaws have yieldable detent means for resisting upward movement of the mandrel, and a reciprocable tube concentric with the mandrel for lifting further rivets along the mandrel, past the opened pulling jaws and nose jaws, to the setting station, has a spring detent which becomes frictionally engaged with the mandrel whereby the mandrel after being lifted with the rivets can be pulled downwardly again so that its head abuts the rivet at the setting station, thereby accurately adjusting the position of the mandrel relative to the pulling jaws, before the pulling jaws again grip the mandrel, in dependence upon the actual size of the rivet next to be set.

An apparatus for the pull-through blind installation of a headless tubular ferrule in a hole in a workpiece at a position therealong spaced from the nearer face of the workpiece includes an annular anvil for supporting the ferrule inside the workpiece hole; anvil supporting means for initially supporting the anvil at a position inside the workpiece hole; a mandrel having a stem extending through the anvil aperture; and an enlarged head. The apparatus further includes a pneumatically-operated retraction device for retracting the mandrel stem through the anvil aperture thereby to draw the mandrel head into the adjacent part of the bore of the ferrule while the ferrule is supported inside the workpiece hole by the annular anvil, thereby to enlarge the part of the ferrule more remote from the anvil into engagement with the workpiece; and a pneumatically-operated withdrawal device for withdrawing the anvil away from the ferrule to allow the mandrel head to be withdrawn completely through the remainder of the bore of the ferrule, to complete installation of the ferrule.

The system includes means for moving a rivet or a collar from a storage bin to an initial position for the respective gripping assemblies. The presence of the rivet and/or collar is recognized as it moves through a feeding mechanism. After the rivet or collar is gripped, they are moved either into an opening in the workpiece, in the case of a rivet, or onto the tail of a lockbolt, in the case of a collar. The gripping assembly is then released from the rivet or the collar, with the gripping means moving back to an initial position. Further operations can then be carried out on the rivet or collar.