Fail-safe mechanism

Claim 1

An improvement to a threaded member capable of preventing damage to the threaded member by excessive rotational forces being applied thereto when the member is being advanced in a complementary threaded female member, said member being of the type having a shank with a free end at one end and means for applying rotational force at another end, the improvement characterized in that the threads extend over a limited portion of the shank, terminating above the free end and below the other end, and with the shank being hollow and axially slotted throughout the length of and for a distance on each side of the threaded portion to define a plurality of resilient, axially extending threaded segments which include non-threaded portions extending above and below the threaded portion, said threaded segments and axial slots terminating above the free end, so that when the shank, under continual rotational force, becomes immobile, said segments are capable of recoverably collapsing inwardly whereupon the threads thereon become momentarily disengaged from the threads in the complementary member and the position of the shank relative to the complementary member shifts to permit the shank to be turned again whereupon the segments again recoverably collapse.