Assembly Improving, Low Mass, Fastener Head

Abstract

A low mass fastener head that reduces the amount of material required in manufacturing. The fastener comprises a threaded shank having a longitudinal axis; a head attached to one end of the threaded shank, the head comprising: full-height lugs and short-height lugs positioned at approximately 0, 60, 120, 180, 240, or 300 degrees around the longitudinal axis of the threaded shank, wherein the short-height lugs are shorter than the full-height lugs. Those portions of a hex head that are not necessary for application and transmission of torque, nor necessary to resist axial loading, nor necessary to axially stabilize the fastener head within conventional driving tooling may be removed. Compatibility with existing hex head tools is maintained while improving handling of the fastener by an assembler and reducing material used in the fastener head.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.