ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,251,143, issued on March 18, was assigned to Stryker European Operations Ltd. (Carrigtwohill, Ireland).
"Funnel hole for intramedullary nail" was invented by Nils Zander (Eckernforde, Germany), Ilan Howling (Kiel, Germany) and Manfred Wieland (Kiel, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An intramedullary nail may include a shank with a centerline defined along a length thereof. The intramedullary nail may also include a channel with a channel axis transverse to the centerline. The channel may have an obround shape in a first cross-sectional plane perpendicular to the channel axis at the centerline and a tapered profile in a second cros...