Sawtooth-profile nail

Claim 1

A nail comprising: an elongated metal body; a nail head formed on one end of said body; a nail point formed on an opposite end of said body and converging from a crest to a tip; a plurality of mutually adjoining annular ridges of generally frustoconical configuration formed on said body and imparting thereto a sawtooth profile over a major portion of the length of said body from said point and each tapering toward said point so as to have a crest and a root, said ridges being of generally triangular cross section and each having a relatively steep flank turned toward said head and a relatively shallow flank turned toward said point, a one of said ridges most distal from said point having a crest diameter greater than the crest diameter of said nail point, said crests of the ridges between said most-distal ridge and said point lying along an imaginary conical crest surface converging toward said point, a one of said ridges most proximal to said nail point having a root diameter less than the root diameter of said most-distal ridge and the roots of said ridges lying along an imaginary conical root surface converging toward said point, a plurality of steep-pitch helical flutes being formed to cross said ridges in said sawtooth profile over the length thereof, said flutes having a maximum depth along the the lengths thereof equal to the difference between the root and crest radii of the ridges crossed thereby.