Patent ID: 8758346
Filing Date: 2014-06-24
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. A bone plate, comprising: a first surface which, in an operative position, faces away from a bone to which the plate is to be mounted; a second surface which, in the operative position, faces the bone to which the plate is to be mounted; and a hole extending through the bone plate from the first surface to the second surface, the hole including a compression portion, a variable angle portion, a central axis extending through the variable angle portion from the first surface to the second surface, and a connecting space that joins the variable angle portion to the compression portion such that the variable angle portion is open to the compression portion, the compression portion at least partially defining a first inner side wall, the first inner side wall defining first and second points each positioned adjacent the connecting space, the first and second points separated from each other by the connecting space, the first inner side wall being tapered about a circumference of the first inner side wall from the first point to the second point, the variable angle portion including a plurality of columns positioned about a circumference of a second inner side wall of the variable angle portion, each of the plurality of columns being separated from an adjacent one of the plurality of columns by a corresponding gap, each of the plurality of columns and each of the corresponding gaps defining a respective width measured: 1) in a circumferential direction about the central axis and 2) in a plane normal to the central axis, the respective width of each of the corresponding gaps being measured from one of the plurality of columns adjacent to the corresponding gap to another of the plurality of columns adjacent to the corresponding gap such that the respective width of each of the adjacent ones of the plurality of columns does not overlap with the respective width of the corresponding gap measured in the plane, each of the plurality of columns including a plurality of protrusions extending radially inward from the second inner side wall toward the central axis, wherein at least a portion of the connecting space is positioned between first and second ones of the plurality of columns such that the connecting space defines a maximum width between the first and second ones of the plurality of columns, such that the maximum width is no greater than the respective width of each of the corresponding gaps, the maximum width being measured 1) in the circumferential direction about the central axis and 2) in the plane.