Patent ID: 8100953

Claim:
A bone plate adapted for use in situ to fix a spatial relationship of at least two bone parts, the bone plate comprising: a) an elongated plate having a longitudinal axis, a bone contacting bottom side, a top side, a thickness between the bottom and top sides with at least one complex screw aperture extending through the plate thickness and comprised of a first screw aperture and a second screw aperture adjoined by a relief zone disposed between the first and second apertures; b) wherein the first screw aperture of the complex aperture has a first radius (r 1 ) measured from a first center of a first seat thereof and the second screw aperture has a second radius (r 2 ) measured from a second center of a second seat thereof, and c) wherein each of the first and second apertures of the complex aperture comprises a beveled upper surface extending from the top side of the plate downwardly and inwardly part way through the plate thickness to a lower, threaded seat portion extending from where the beveled surface ends to the bottom side of the bone plate, and d) wherein the relief zone adjoining the first and second apertures is defined by two opposed unthreaded surfaces, each of them forming an upper unthreaded compression ramp extending from the top side downwardly and inwardly at least part way through the plate thickness to an unthreaded lower portion, and e) wherein the complex aperture has a center-to-center distance (d) measured along the parallel radii r 1 and r 2 and the relief zone disposed between the adjoined first and second screw apertures that is at least equal to a sum of the radii r 1 and r 2 , and f) wherein the two opposed unthreaded surfaces of the relief zone are spaced apart by a distance (s) that is less than twice the distance of r 1 and less than twice the distance of r 2 .