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US 4,599,998 AGranted
Adjustable polycentric orthopedic appliance hinge
OwnerJames D. Castilloinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An orthopedic hinge is polycentric and employs a rack cooperating with pinions formed at the ends of the hinge arms. A special arrangement for limiting rack displacement is effective to selectively clamp the hinge arms at a given arm angle or to permit movement within a limited range of allowable angles.
Claims17
In an adjustable hinge:
- a base;
- first and second hinge arms pivotally mounted at respectively associated first and second spaced points on said base;
- a driven member moveable relative to said base and to both of said hinge arms and having driving connection to each of said hinge arms, said driven member being translated and each arm being rotated about its respective pivot in one direction through said driven member as an incident to application of force to one of said arms to cause translation of said driven member to drive the other of said hinge arms in the direction of rotation opposite to said one direction of rotation;
- and
- stop means for imposing a limit on the translation of said driven member relative to said base in at least one direction whereby change in at least one direction of the rotational position of said hinge arms is limited relative to the base.
2 more elements
A polycentric orthopedic appliance hinge comprising a pair of hinge arms each capable of angular displacement over a range of angular displacements about a respectively associated pivot axis;
- displacement means in the form of a driven member interposed between and connected to said hinge arms such that it is translated as a consequence of angular displacement of either one of said arms for forcing angular displacement of the other of said arms and such that the angle between the directions of said arms increases or decreases as the sum of their angular displacements;
- and
- stop means in the form of means for limiting displacement of said displaceable driven member for limiting displacement of said arms to a selected segment of said range of angular displacements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.