Patent ID: 8337535

Claim:
A bone plate system, which comprises: a) an elongated plate having a longitudinal axis, a bone contacting bottom side, a topside, a thickness between the topside and the bottom side and at least one threaded screw aperture comprising plate threads, wherein the plate threads are provided with a first pitch and comprise a first plurality of threaded columns separated by first intermediate relief notches; b) a screw comprising a shaft provided with shaft threads that are adapted to thread into a bone, the shaft supporting a head provided with screw head threads, wherein the screw head threads are provided with a pitch substantially matching the first pitch of the plate threads and comprise a second plurality of threaded columns separated by second intermediate relief notches; and c) wherein a width of each screw head thread comprising the second plurality of threaded columns of the screw head is wider than the width of the first intermediate relief notches of the plate, and d) wherein during use, the screw is threadable into a threaded engagement with the threaded aperture of the bone plate with the screw head threads being in a contact relationship with the plate threads at a first pitch and further wherein the screw is manipulatable by imparting a lateral force thereto to cause the screw to change its angle of inclination with respect to the plate from a first inclination to a second inclination when the screw head threads substantially reside in the first intermediate relief notches between adjacent first threaded columns so that the screw head threads are moved from being in a first threaded engagement with a first thread of the plate threads to subsequently being in a second threaded engagement with a second plate thread, the second plate thread being either one thread up or one thread down along the longitudinal axis of the at least one threaded screw aperture of the bone plate.