Patent ID: 8048127

Claim:
A bone fixation device capable of immobilizing a connecting rod designed to connect at least one bone fragment to another, said device comprising: at least one anchoring means intended to be fixed on or in said bone fragment; at least one receiving part, joined to said anchoring means, intended to receive at least one part of said connecting rod; locking means arranged to lock said part of said connecting rod within said receiving part; characterized in that said locking means comprise at least one solid element having a longitudinal axis, said solid element comprising at least one inclined surface capable, under a push action directed along the longitudinal axis of said solid element, of creating by friction gradual wedging of said part of the connecting rod in said receiving part, through to complete locking of said part of the connecting rod in said receiving part; said receiving part being U-shaped, said part of the connecting rod being received at the bottom of the U, the wall of each branch of the U being provided with an orifice; said solid element being in the form of a wedge, the cross section of which increases from a first end, called the thin end, to a second end, called the wide end, the diameter of the circle in which the cross section of said wide end is inscribed being strictly wider than the diameter of the circle inscribed in said orifice; said wedge being able to be inserted by its thin end successively into the orifices of the walls of the branches of the U of said receiving part, perpendicular to said connecting rod, and to be pushed along its longitudinal axis until coming into contact with said connecting rod and creating friction between said connecting rod and the bottom of the receiving part; such that in the locking position, said wedge passes through each orifice of each branch of the U of said receiving part and keeps said part of the connecting rod locked against the bottom of said receiving part, said locking means being joined to said device, said wedge having, below its thin end, a longitudinal channel extending through to its wide end which is able to cooperate with a lug provided in the orifice of the wall of a first branch of the U in order to allow movement of said wedge toward the orifice in the wall of the second branch of the U, and to prevent complete return of said wedge toward the orifice in the wall of the first branch of the U and hence separation of the latter from said device.