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:
May. 14, 1991
Filed:
Dec. 06, 1985
Paul C McLeod, Little Rock, AR (US);
Other;
Abstract
A knee loading and testing apparatus has tibia and femur bone mounting units, respectively, and a quadricep loading means and unit for automatically manipulating the mounting means to the quadricep loading means to derive data regarding the knee joint. The quadricep is variably controlled to allow variation in the torque and pull and at the same time, both the femur and tibia mountings are independently articulatable, and further, these various loadings may be controlled and recorded by a computer and the response to the joint to various loadings may be recorded for future study and analysis by any computer. Preset limits on the application of the quadricep force and body weight are provided and the operator is provided with a visual and audible signal indicating the overload. The machine also disables the control from further increasing these load functions and while the controls for decreasing this loading remain operable. Either drive may be released for the transverse or coronal plane motions while still measuring the angulation of the tibia in both planes. The knee specimen can be rotated about an axis through the hip and ankle, so that viewing, surgical procedures and x-raying may be performed with the specimen in place thus eliminating removal and/or installation errors from the data. The machine uses the quadricep force applied through patella thereby providing for simulation of abnormal patello-femural interaction by providing a wide range of 'Q' angle variations, injuries, diseases, abnormalities associated with this particular surface can be studied.