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US 7,118,575 B2Granted
Chip breakers for orthopaedic reamers
AssigneeSymmetry Medical, Inc.
InventorTodd Wolford
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An orthopaedic reamer, including a generally hemispherical shell having a plurality of tongues. Each tongue partially defines a corresponding C-shaped opening with a substantially constant width. Each tongue includes a cutting segment. The cutting segment includes at least one notch and a plurality of cutting teeth. Adjacent cutting teeth are separated by a corresponding notch.
Claims11
An orthopaedic reamer, comprising:
- a generally hemispherical shell, including a plurality of first tongues, each said first tongue partially defining a corresponding C-shaped opening with a substantially constant width, each said first tongue including a cutting segment, said cutting segment including at least one notch and a plurality of cutting teeth, adjacent said cutting teeth separated by a corresponding said notch;
- and at least one second tongue, each said second tongue partially defining a corresponding said L-shaped opening with a substantially constant width, each said second tongue including a cutting segment, said cutting segment including at least one notch and a plurality of cutting teeth, adjacent said cutting teeth separated by a corresponding said notch.
A method for providing a cutting feature in an orthopaedic reamer, comprising the steps of:
- providing a generally hemispherical shell;
- fabricating a plurality of generally C-shaped openings in said hemispherical shell thereby producing a plurality of tongues in said hemispherical shell, each said C-shaped opening having a substantially constant width and defining a corresponding said tongue, wherein said fabricating step includes fabricating at least one generally L-shaped opening in said hemispherical shell thereby producing at least one second tongue in said hemispherical shell, each said L-shaped opening having a corresponding said second tongue;
- notching a cutting segment in each said tongue thereby improving the cutting and chip breaking performance of said orthopaedic reamer, each said cutting segment including at least one notch, each said notch having a notch width, each said cutting tooth having a cutting tooth width, said cutting tooth width wider than said notch width;
- and
- forming said cutting segment in a direction away from said hemispherical shell center.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.