Patent ID: 8206459

Claim:
A prosthetic assembly for attachment to a residual limb comprising: a sleeve for attachment to a distal portion of the residual limb, the sleeve having a distal end with an attachment member affixed thereto, where the attachment member is a magnet with a diametrically oriented magnetic field consisting of north and south poles on diametrically opposite sides of a surface of a face of the magnet; and a prosthesis having a socket sized to receive the distal portion of the residual limb and the sleeve, the prosthesis socket having a distal end with an attachment member affixed thereto, where the attachment member is a magnet with a diametrically oriented magnetic field consisting of north and south poles on diametrically opposite sides of a surface of a face of the magnet, the sleeve being fixed within the socket of the prosthesis with the attachment members in sufficiently close proximity to retain the prosthesis on the sleeve by magnetic attraction and to detach the prosthesis by rotating it vis-à-vis the attachment member of the sleeve to cause the attachment members to repel each other, in which the diametrically oriented magnetic fields of the attachment members are oriented respectively on the prosthesis and the residual limb sleeve to achieve a predetermined rotational orientation between the prosthesis and the residual limb sleeve.