Patent ID: 7832173

Claim:
In a multi-ply wood structure shear connection including a plurality of wood screw fasteners and a plurality of wood structural members placed in edge-to-edge configuration comprising; said screw fastener including, a. a shank having a head end; b. a pointed end portion formed on an entering extremity of said shank, opposite said head end, having a plurality of thread convolutions and a recess providing a cutting edge for forming a first bore in said wood structural members and having a selected outer diameter; c. said shank having a threaded shank portion having thread convolutions similar to said thread convolutions on said pointed end portion with an outer diameter greater than said diameter of said first bore and beginning at a first point adjacent said pointed end portion and extending axially along the periphery of said shank to a second end point and adapted to form and engage threads in said wood structural members; d. said shank having a knurled portion formed with a plurality of knurls having dull edges and having a first point adjacent said second point of said threaded shank portion and extending axially along said shank to a second point and having an outside diameter generally equal to the outer diameter of said thread convolutions in said threaded shank portion and having an inside diameter substantially less than said outside diameter of said knurled portion and equal to or only slightly greater than the diameter of said first bore; e. said knurls are formed with a tapered entering portion forming a smooth transition between the inner diameter of said shank and said outside diameter of said knurled portion; f. said shank having an unthreaded shank portion having a diameter generally equal to said outside diameter of said knurled portion and having a first point adjacent said second point of said knurled portion and extending axially along said shank a distance substantially greater than the length of said knurled portion and the thickness of said metal connector at said planar portion and terminating at a second point adjacent said head end; g. said knurls having said dull edges bend over, buckle and crush without severing, a substantial proportion of the wood fibers of the inner portions of said threads formed in said wood structural members forming a nominal annular zone of bent over, buckled and crushed, wood fibers having an outer diameter nominally greater than said diameter of said unthreaded shank portion and forming a tight fit between said unthreaded shank portion and said nominal annular zone of bent over, buckled and crushed wood fibers of said wood structural member; h. a head integrally connected to said shank at said head end; and i. each of said wood screw fasteners being driven through an edge face of each of said wood structural members and through at least a substantial portion of each of said wood structural members and said unthreaded shank portion extending a substantial distance within at least one of said wood structural members.