Patent ID: 7842037

Claim:
A bone fixation device comprising: a) a beam comprising plurality of flexible members, wherein the plurality of flexible members are configured to bend when a threshold force is applied to the beam and the plurality of flexible members are in an unlocked relationship; and b) a plurality of locking members configured to compress the plurality of flexible members together and into a locked relationship, wherein the threshold force applied to the beam is insufficient to bend the plurality of flexible members in the locked relationship; wherein each locking member in the plurality includes a top portion and a bottom portion, the top portion and the bottom portion of each locking member cooperating to define a first channel and a second channel; wherein the plurality of locking members are arranged end to end such that the first channels of each locking member are aligned to form a first passage and the second channels of each locking member are aligned to form a second passage; wherein the plurality of flexible members of the beam comprise filaments arranged in a first stacked grouping and a second stacked grouping, the first stacked grouping being positioned in the first passage and the second stacked grouping being positioned in the second passage; wherein the top portion and the bottom portion of each locking member are configured to move between a first relative position and a second relative position with respect to each; wherein, in the first relative position, the top portion and the bottom portion are spaced apart from each other a distance so that the filaments of the first stacked grouping and the second stacked grouping are in an unlocked relationship in which the filaments of the first stacked grouping are able to move with respect to each other in the first channel and the filaments of the second stacked grouping to move with respect to each other in the second channel, respectively; wherein, in the second relative position, the top portion and the bottom portion of the locking members are positioned with respect to each other to compress the filaments of the first stacked grouping together in the first channel and into the locked relationship and to compress the filaments of the second stacked grouping together in the second channel and into the locked relationship such that the filaments of the first stacked grouping and the second stacked grouping are prevented from moving with respect to each other.