Patent ID: 6849044

Claim:
Organ stabilizing apparatus comprising: a contact member disposed for contacting an organ; a support structure attached to the contact member and including a plurality of ball elements and interposed ring elements including contiguous engaged surfaces assembled in an extended array, each of said ball and ring elements including an internal bore therethrough, and including a flexible tensioning element within the internal bore disposed to exert compressive force on the assembled array of ball and ring elements to form a rigid support for the contact member in response to tensioning the flexible member within the internal bore, each of the ball elements including a segment of substantially spherical configuration at each end thereof; and each of the ring elements including at each of the ends thereof a plurality of stepped edges oriented in concentric array at different radii from a central axis of the internal bore therethrough in an array of such edges along the central axis that form discontinuous contact surfaces arrayed about a substantially spherical configuration to form the contiguous engaged surface thereof in mating engagement with the spherical segment of a mating ball element.