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:
Jun. 12, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 09, 1999
Augustin Betz, Constance, DE;
Michael Butsch, Daisendorf, DE;
Wittenstein Motion Control GmbH, Igersheim, DE;
Abstract
The invention concerns a distraction device for moving apart two bone sections, in particular for extending bones or bridging a gap in a bone, the device comprising an intramedullary nail (,) which can be introduced into the medullary space of a bone and comprises two parts (,) which can be moved axially and can each be secured to one of the two bone sections. The distraction device further comprises a drive unit (,) that drives a drive shaft (,), and a device for converting the rotational movement of the drive shaft (,) into a relative axial movement of the two parts (,) of the intramedullary nail (,). In order to increase operational reliability and reduce the overall size of the device while retaining the high degree of efficiency, the drive shaft (,) drives planetary rollers (,) which are held on orbits on which they engage by means of drive grooves (,) provided on their outer periphery in corresponding drive grooves (,) in a hollow body (,) surrounding the planetary rollers (,), at least the drive grooves (,) of the hollow body (,) or of the planetary rollers (,) being designed as threaded grooves in order to displace the hollow body (,) axially relative to the drive shaft (,) when the latter is rotated.