1. A side-opening bone fastener system for connecting a bone to a stabilizing member comprising:
a bone fastener having an elongated shank including a bone engaging portion at a first end, a head at an opposite, second end, and a longitudinal screw axis extending therebetween;
a connecting member interconnected with said bone fastener, said connecting member having a longitudinal connecting member axis extending in the direction of the longitudinal screw axis, and a rod receiving channel extending at least partially through the connecting member transverse to the longitudinal axis for receiving a spinal rod, the receiving channel having an opening formed in a lateral face of the connection member along the axis of the stabilizing member but laterally offset therefrom such that the stabilizing member may be placed into the receiving channel of the connecting member laterally from the side of said connecting member.
2. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 1, wherein the head is elongated in a direction transverse to the longitudinal screw axis such that the bone fastener is generally \u201cT\u201d-shaped.
3. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 1, wherein the connecting member is rotatably mounted to the bone fastener such that the connecting member rotates about at least one of the longitudinal axis of the connecting member and an axis transverse to the longitudinal connecting member axis.
4. The side-opening fastener system of claim 1, wherein the connecting member is rotatably mounted to the bone fastener such that the connecting member rotates about the longitudinal axis of the fastener in a plane horizontal to the longitudinal axis of the fastener.
5. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 1, wherein the stabilizing member receiving channel extends fully through the connecting member.
6. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 1, wherein the stabilizing member is an elongated rod.
7. The offset bone fastener system of claim 1, wherein the assembly is made of stainless steel.
8. The offset bone fastener system of claim 1, wherein the head of the bone fastener further comprises a recess disposed in the head thereof and designed to receive a screw driver from the group consisting of: flat-headed, phillips head, allen wrench, and square headed.
9. The offset bone fastener system of claim 1, wherein the screw further comprises a slotted groove disposed longitudinally along the tip and designed to allow the screw to be self-tapped.
10. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 1, wherein the connecting member further comprising a threaded channel and a cooperatively threaded mating nut having a plurality of engaging teeth disposed on the lower surface thereof, said threaded channel and mating nut being disposed such that said nut frictionally locks the stabilizing member within the channel of the connecting member.
11. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 10, wherein the connecting member further comprises a stabilizing member contact member disposed between the stabilizing member and the mating nut, such that the threaded mating nut urges a contact surface of the stabilizing member contact member against the stabilizing member to lock the stabilizing member within the channel of the connecting member.
12. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 11, wherein the contact surface of the stabilizing member contact member is shaped to conform to the outer contour of the stabilizing member.
13. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 11, wherein the contact surface of the stabilizing member contact member has at least one raised feature thereon to increase the frictional force exerted on the stabilizing member when the stabilizing member contact member is engaged thereagainst.
14. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 11, wherein the stabilizing member contact member is disposed within the channel opposite the lateral opening in the connecting member.
15. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 14, wherein the stabilizing member contact member is an elongated U-shaped member, wherein the opening in the U-shaped member runs along an axis parallel to the lateral channel opening in the connecting member.
16. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 15, wherein stabilizing member contact member further comprises a retaining member that securely interconnects the stabilizing member contact member to the connecting member.
17. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 16, wherein the retaining member interconnects with the connecting member via a key-hole mechanism.
18. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 14, wherein the stabilizing member contact member has a contact surface for engaging the stabilizing member, and wherein said contact surface has at least one raised feature thereon to increase the frictional force exerted on the stabilizing member when the stabilizing member contact member is engaged thereagainst.
19. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 1, further comprising an offset linkage interconnecting said connecting member and the head of the bone fastener, wherein the connecting member is disposed on the offset linkage such that the longitudinal connecting member axis is laterally offset from the longitudinal screw axis by a predefined distance.
20. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 19, wherein the offset linkage is pivotally interconnected with said head such that the connecting member azimuthally pivots about the head of said bone fastener; and wherein the connecting member is rotatably mounted to the offset linkage such that the connecting member rotates about the longitudinal connecting member axis.
21. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 19, wherein the connecting member and the offset linkage are a single integrated piece.
22. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 19, wherein the lateral offset distance between the longitudinal screw axis and longitudinal connecting member axis is fixed.
23. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 19, wherein the lateral offset distance between the longitudinal screw axis and longitudinal connecting member axis is variable.
24. The side-opening bone fastener system of claim 19, wherein the system comprises a plurality of interchangeably removable offset linkages each having a different predefined fixed offset distance.
25. A vertebral alignmentfixation method comprising utilizing a plurality of the side-opening bone fastener systems as described in claim 1 to align at least one vertebral body.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An electric damper for damping a relative movement between first and second masses, comprising:
a generator driven by a movement of the first and second masses and having a fixed stator and a rotor rotatable relative to the stator, said generator having a hollow-cylindrical housing with first and second housing portions, with the first housing portion receiving the rotor and the stator;
a gear mechanism coupled to the generator, with the second housing portion of the generator being connected to the gear mechanism, said gear mechanism having a lifting member movable in response to the movement of the first and second masses, at least one first gear element directly connected to the lifting member and caused to rotate in response to a movement of the lifting member, and at least one second gear element dynamically coupled by direct or indirect transmission with the first gear element, with the second gear element being dynamically coupled to the rotor of the generator such that the rotor (6) is caused to rotate in relation to the stator, said gear mechanism being configured in one of three ways,
a first way in which the gear mechanism is constructed as a planetary gear train with a ring gear, at least two planet wheels meshing with the ring gear, and a sun wheel meshing with the planet wheels, with the ring gear forming the first gear element, and with the sun wheel dynamically coupled with the rotor forming the second gear element,
a second way in which the gear mechanism is configured as a strain wave gearing having a ring-shaped or cylinder-shaped flexible unit with an external toothing, a rigid unit forming the first gear element with an internal toothing in mesh with the external toothing of the flexible unit, and an oval rotary element which is arranged inside the flexible unit and interacts with the flexible unit such as to deform it and which is dynamically coupled with the rotor and forms the second gear element,
a third way in which the gear mechanism is constructed as a cycloid gearing having a ring-shaped or cylinder-shaped unit which is connected with a cam disk which has an edge profiled with teeth and which in turn meshes with a fixed housing part which is profiled with teeth, with the ring-shaped or cylinder-shaped unit forming the first gear element, and with the second gear element, which engages the first gear element and is dynamically coupled with the rotor, being arranged on the cam disk; and
a ring-shaped section associated to the gear mechanism for attachment of the gear mechanism to the housing, said ring-shaped section having at least one area in axial surrounding relationship to the housing and at least one area resting upon an outer side of the housing.
2. The electric damper of claim 1, wherein the second gear element is arranged in a bore of the cam disk.
3. The electric damper of claim 1, wherein the stator is arranged inside an inner wall of the housing.
4. The electric damper of claim 1, wherein the rotor has a cylindrical base shape.
5. The electric damper of claim 1, further comprising at least one bearing element connecting an outer side of the housing to the gear mechanism.
6. The electric damper of claim 5, wherein the bearing element is a roller bearing.
7. The electric damper of claim 1, wherein the second gear element has at least one axial pin which is connected in fixed rotative engagement with the rotor.
8. The electric damper of claim 7, wherein the at least one axial pin is connected in fixed rotative engagement with the rotor through engagement in a rotor-side axial mount.
9. The electric damper of claim 1, further comprising a flexible rolling-contact bearing arranged between the first and second gear elements, when the gear mechanism is configured as strain wave gearing.
10. The electric damper of claim 9, wherein the rolling-contact bearing is a roller bearing or a needle bearing.