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:
Nov. 01, 2011
Filed:
Jun. 21, 2005
James D. Ralph, Seaside Park, NJ (US);
Stephen Tatar, Montville, NJ (US);
James D. Ralph, Seaside Park, NJ (US);
Stephen Tatar, Montville, NJ (US);
SpineCore, Inc., Allendale, NJ (US);
Abstract
An intervertebral spacer device includes first and second plates disposed in a spaced apart relationship, each plate having an inner surface and an outer surface, the inner surfaces of the opposing plates facing one another. The device also includes a restoring force providing element disposed between the inner surfaces of the plates. The restoring force providing element includes a slotted belleville washer having a convex shape when unloaded and a flatter shape when loaded, whereby one or more slots of the belleville washer widen when compressively loaded. The second plate has an annular groove formed in the inner surface of the second plate, the device including a retaining wall and a retaining ring, whereby a wide end of the belleville washer is captured by the retaining wall and the retaining ring for maintaining the wide end adjacent the inner surface of the second plate.