Patent ID: 7641677

Claim:
A bone fragment wire for connecting a bone fragment to an anchor bone for a healing duration and for extending out of the bone during the healing duration, the bone fragment wire comprising: an elongated wire having a bone penetration section extending distally from a bone exterior section about a wire axis, the bone penetration section having a distal end and a proximal end with a bone penetration section length therebetween, the bone exterior section having a distal end and a proximal end with a bone exterior section length therebetween, the bone penetration section length being shorter than the bone exterior section length, the bone penetration section including a non-engaging fragment section and a bone anchor section located distally to the non-engaging fragment section, the non-engaging fragment section having a shaft with a shaft diameter of no greater than 0.1 inch, the bone anchor section having threads for engagement with the anchor bone, with a major diameter of the threads being greater than the shaft diameter of the non-engaging fragment section; and a compression engagement on the bone exterior section, the compression engagement providing a shoulder which is longitudinally located at the distal end of the bone exterior section, the shoulder extending at a substantial angle to the wire axis for substantial contact with an exterior surface of the bone fragment; and wherein the bone exterior section has external threads that mate with internal threads on the compression engagement, and wherein the inside diameter of the internal threads on the compression engagement is smaller than the shaft diameter of the non-engaging fragment section such that the internal threads on the compression engagement cannot advance onto the non-engaging fragment section.