Patent ID: 7008426

Claim:
A bone treatment plate assembly, comprising: (a) a bone treatment plate ( 12 ), said bone treatment plate having a length, and comprising a top and a bottom, and a plurality of bone-fastener-receiving apertures, said bone treatment plate further comprising a thickness between the top and the bottom, a channel extending alongside respective ones of the apertures, said channel having a collective length, and a side wall ( 30 ), said side wall of the channel having an opening therein extending into a respective said one of the fastener-receiving apertures; and (b) spring structure ( 14 ) in said channel, said spring structure having first and second ends, a length, a structure top and a structure bottom, and a structure height (H) therebetween, said spring structure further comprising (i) first and second bands ( 36 A, 36 B) each having first and second ends, a band top, and a band bottom associated with the structure top and the structure bottom, said bands having respective lengths thereof, said first and second bands each having an outer surface ( 46 ) facing outwardly of said spring structure ( 14 ), and an inner surface, the inner surfaces facing each other and facing inwardly into said spring structure, said first and second bands defining a width (W 1 ) of said spring structure between the outer surfaces ( 46 ), and extending along the length of said channel in said bone treatment plate, and (ii) springs ( 38 ) spaced along the length of said spring structure, said springs extending between and being connected to said bands, and having spring lengths extending between the first and second bands, said springs having spring tops and spring bottoms, opposing spring sides, spring heights between the spring tops and the spring bottoms, spring widths (W) between the opposing spring sides, angles α being defined between the springs ( 38 ) and the inner surfaces of said bands ( 36 ), and angles β being defined between the band tops and the spring tops, said springs urging said spring structure into engagement with the side wall of the channel, ratio of the widths (W) of the springs to the heights of the springs being less than 1/1, whereby, when a squeezing force is imposed on said spring structure ( 14 ), squeezing said first and second bands ( 36 ) toward each other, sufficient to assemble said spring structure ( 14 ) to said bone treatment plate ( 12 ), said springs ( 38 ) resiliently deflect so as to accommodate reduced width (W 1 ) of said spring structure ( 14 ) in preference to deflecting in a direction corresponding to height (H), such that the response of said spring structure ( 14 ) to such squeezing force is a preferential resilient change in magnitude of angle α relative to change in magnitude of angle β.