ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,285,199, issued on April 29, was assigned to Acumed LLC (Hillsboro, Ore.).
"Surgical bone rivet" was invented by Mark B. Sommers (Beaverton, Ore.) and Andrew W. Seykora (Portland, Ore.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A bone rivet is provided that may be used as an alternative to a bone screw for bone fixation. The bone rivet includes a head and a threaded shaft that can be expanded upon installing the bone rivet into bone. A channel extends through the bone rivet and is shaped corresponding to a bulb of a mandrel used for installing the bone rivet. A first section of the channel has a smaller width than the mandrel's bulb to enable the bul...