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. 25, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 03, 1997
Carl William Bolton, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Innovasive Devices, Inc., Marlborough, MA (US);
Abstract
A device for urging a flexible member against an inner surface of a bone tunnel includes a deformable ring that has a bore extending from a first side to a second side and a proximal cutout at a proximal end that extends from an outer surface into the bore. The ring is dimensioned to slide within a bone tunnel and is adapted to permit a positioning of a pair of end segments of a flexible member between two opposed generally flat sections of the ring and an inner wall of the bone tunnel. In position the flat sections are generally parallel to a tunnel longitudinal axis. The ring is expandable from a collapsed state wherein the first and the second sections are a first distance apart to an expanded state wherein the first and the second sections are a second distance apart greater than the first distance. The device further includes a screw that is insertable through the proximal cutout into the ring bore for expanding the flat sections outward. Such an expansion is for urging the ring's outer surface against the flexible member end segments to retain the flexible member end segments against the bone tunnel's inner wall.