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US 6,478,753 B2Granted
Tension measuring device
AssigneeAtlantech House
InventorClive Reay-Young
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AssigneeAtlantech House
InventorClive Reay-Young
Estimating the term…
The invention describes a device used to measure the tension of a soft tissue 24 attached to bones 20,22. The device 2 comprises a body region 4 having force applying hook shaft 6a and abutment spike shaft 8a extending outwardly therefrom. A spike region 8b of the abutment spike shaft 8a is extended in direction X to thereby abut the surface of bone 22. The force of the abutment is measurable by a displacement on a translation scale 14. An operator pulls on the device 2 in direction Y thereby applying an anterior force (measured by a displacement on a force scale 14) to the tissue 24 via a hook region 6b of the force applying hook shaft 6a. The application of said anterior force on to the tissue 24 results in an anterior translation of the tissue 24. The tension of the tissue 24 may be calculated from the displacements on the force scale 12 and translation scale 14.
A tension measuring device suitable for measuring the tension of soft tissue attached to bone, the device comprising a body region, force applying means extending from said body and operable to apply a translational force to soft tissue attached to bone, and abutment means extending from said body and operable to abut, in use, a bone to which the soft tissue is attached, the abutment means being responsive to the application of translational movement to the force applying means to thereby measure the applied translational movement and the force applying means being responsive to the tension in the soft tissue to transfer said applied translational movement to the soft tissue below a predetermined soft-tissue tension and to extend above the said pre-determined tension to prevent further translation of the soft tissue.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.