Patent ID: 8257408

Claim:
A bone plate usable with at least two bone screws to be attached to bone, the plate comprising: a plate having a top surface and a bottom surface; two bone screw holes formed through the plate between the top and bottom surface, each bone screw hole having a center, the two bone screw holes defining a line between the two bone screw hole centers; a plate hole configured and arranged to receive a bone screw lock system, the plate hole extending through the plate and positioned a distance Y from said line; a semi-circular groove formed in the top surface of the plate and having two groove ends; and a bone screw lock system including a lock element having an upper surface, a lower surface, a geometric center, and a lock hole extending through the lock element between the upper and lower surfaces, the lock hole having a geometric center which is offset from the lock element geometric center by a non-zero distance X; a tang extending from the lock element lower surface; and a retainer holding the lock element to the plate at the lock hole, with the tang positioned in the semi-circular groove.