Helical Toothed Driver and Compatible Fastener

Abstract

A driver for applying torque to threaded fasteners has a plurality of teeth extending along and projecting outwardly from a longitudinal axis of a body on which the teeth are located. The teeth have a helical twist about the longitudinal axis. Each tooth has an angularly oriented engagement surface which is engageable with similarly angularly oriented surfaces within recesses in the head of a compatible fastener. When the driver engages the recesses torque applied to the driver draws the driver deeper into the recesses as the engagement surfaces react against and slide over the angularly oriented surfaces within the recesses. The torque also causes the fastener to turn and advance or retract depending upon the sense of the torque and the angles of the engagement surfaces and the angles of the surfaces within the recesses. The fastener and its method of manufacture are also disclosed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.