Patent ID: 7699847

Claim:
A guide clamp for clamping of a femur having a head and a neck, and guiding placement of a guide wire relative to the femur, said guide clamp comprising: a pair of clamping arms, wherein each of said clamping arms includes a plurality of pinion teeth and a clamping surface so as to be configured to move between an open position and a closed position, wherein said clamping surfaces are sufficiently spaced apart in the open position to allow insertion of the femur therebetween and wherein said clamping surfaces generally oppose each other and are sufficiently close together in the closed position to firmly hold the femur therebetween, a body rotatably supporting both of said clamping arms and configured to allow movement of the clamping surfaces relative to each other, said body defining a first guide opening configured to receive and allow passage of a guide shaft having a distal end, the guide shaft defining a second guide opening sized to receive and directly contact the guide wire slidingly therethrough to the femur when said distal end engages the femur; and a biasing assembly partially disposed within the body, the biasing assembly including a spring and a translation member, the spring disposed distally with the body with respect to the translation member and configured to linearly bias the translation member in a proximal direction with respect to said body thereby biasing the clamping arms in a distal direction with respect to the body, said translation member defining said first guide opening and including a plurality of rack teeth configured to engage said pinion teeth of both of said clamping arms so that movement of said translation member causes rotation of said clamping arms and relative movement of said clamping surfaces into the closed position about the femur wherein the clamping surfaces secure the body relative to the femur so that the guide wire is secured relative to the femur when extending through said guide shaft.