Patent ID: 8545541

Claim:
An aparatus for guiding a rod or flexible connector into a screw head, comprising: at least two screws, each screw having a head with a seat and a downwardly directed shaft; at least one rod or flexible connector; at least two locking assemblies to lock the rod or flexible connector into each screw head; at least one upwardly directed intermediate element removably coupleable to each screw; and at least one upwardly directed guide wire and/or guide shaft coupled to each intermediate element, wherein the rod or flexible connector is configured to be guided by both the upwardly directed intermediate elements and the upwardly directed guide wire(s) and/or guide shaft(s) until the rod or flexible connector is inserted into the seats of the screw heads wherein the upwardly directed intermediate element comprises an extended tab positioned between and attached to both (i) the upwardly directed guide wire and/or guide shaft and (ii) the screw head or downwardly directed screw shaft; such that (i) the upwardly directed guide wire and/or guide shaft and (ii) the screw head or downwardly directed screw shaft, are connected to each other through the extended tab; wherein the extended tab is adapted to be detached from the screw head or downwardly directed screw shaft, thereby also disconnecting the upwardly directed guide wire and/or guide shaft from the screw head or downwardly directed screw shaft as it is detached.