ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 20 -- United States Patent no. 12,390,253, issued on Aug. 19, was assigned to Smith & Nephew Inc. (Memphis, Tenn.).
"Variable angle locking implant" was invented by Charles R. Baker (Lakeland, Tenn.), Ryan Stevenson (Southaven, Miss.) and Darin S. Gerlach (Germantown, Tenn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A variable angle locking implant includes a bone plate having a lower surface, an upper surface, and at least one opening extending from the lower surface to the upper surface along an axis. The opening has a plurality of fins oriented along a plane. The axis is non-perpendicular to a tangent of a projection of the lower surface across the opening, the tangent defined at...