ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,702,398, issued on Aug. 11, was assigned to VB Spine US Opco LLC (Leesburg, Va.).
"Independent rod suspension" was invented by Steven F. Krause (Oakland, N.J.) and Abram Reitblat (Monroe, N.Y.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "In one embodiment, an assembly includes a retractor and at least one cylindrical rod attached to the retractor. The rod has a fixed length portion and a spring portion. The spring portion of the rod has a longitudinal dimension that changes as a function of loading on the rod. When the rod is in contact with a solid surface such as a bone, it maintains contact with such surface even while changing shape due to loading...