The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 09, 1990
Filed:
Sep. 08, 1986
Robert D Ainsworth, Walnut Creek, CA (US);
Thirumalai N Devanathan, Tracy, CA (US);
Steven T Lin, Dublin, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
An orthopedic device formed from a composite material which is reinforced with continuous filament carbon fibers to provide the material with high flexural strength, hydrolytic stability and a medical grade quality. A preferred embodiment of the orthopedic device is a hip joint prosthesis in which the stem and spherical head of the prosthesis can be formed from a composite block. In the alternative, the stem alone can be formed from the block and a head of another material attached to one end of the stem. One embodiment of the method includes first forming a sheet of carbon fibers by wrapping carbon fiber tows spirally around a drum after passing the tows through a thermoplastic resin which serves as a bonding agent. Then, rectangular pieces of the carbon fiber-polymer sheet are combined one with another to form a stack. Pressure is exerted on the stack in the presence of heat to form the composite block. Following the formation of the block, the block is machined to form the desired orthopedic device. In another embodiment of the method, sheets of carbon fibers held together by a polymer are rolled into a cylinder, then molded under heat and pressure. The resulting composite is then machined to form the orthopedic device.