Patently Speaking highlights the technological achievements of Fort Wayne-area residents.

Tibial tray inserter

•U.S. Patent No. 7,776,044

•Invented by: John E. Pendleton, Fort Wayne, and Jeff C. Blaylock, Fort Wayne

•Assigned to: Zimmer Technology Inc., Warsaw

Northeast Indiana is well known for developing prosthetic joint implants for the knee, hip and shoulder. But what about the tools used to install these implants? Who better to make the tools than the implant manufacturers themselves.

This patent describes a surgical tool that at first looks like large pliers. But this tool is specifically designed to insert part of an implant, in this case a portion of the tibial implant, into the knee.

The tibia is the lower leg bone that extends from the knee to the ankle. During knee replacement surgery, portions of this bone needs to be removed at the knee and replaced with a tibial tray part. The problem is that manipulating and positioning this tibial part is difficult because there is little room to grip the part and place it inside the knee.

This tray inserter has a custom gripping end that holds this tibial tray part. The inserter includes a plunger on the end that assists the surgeon in pushing the part right into place while minimizing damage to the surrounding tissue.

Table frame

•U.S. Patent No. D621,629

•Invented by: Kent Weimer, Columbia City; Douglas Garofalo, Chicago; and Grant Gibson, Chicago

•Assigned to: Wabash Valley Mfg. Inc., Silver Lake

Design patents are a bit different from regular patents in that they only seek to protect the ornamental non-functional aspect of a functional structure. A case in point is this new patent for a table frame.

Table frames that include legs and top support are as old as tables themselves. This patent does not cover this function, but instead covers the looks of the frame holding the table.

This patented frame design appears to be made of bent steel that is curved to provide the table legs, the floor support and the seat support all in one. But it is the look of the curved steel that is being claimed, not the function of holding a table top and seats.

The preceding are lay descriptions of patents obtained from the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s public records and are provided for general information purposes only. Nothing contained herein is a legal description of any claimed invention, identification of novelty, or offer of legal advice. Because issued patents are based on applications often filed years earlier, the subject matter of some patents may have been available on the market for some time prior to the issuance of the patent. Additional information on these patents is available at www.uspto.gov.