Method of manufacturing femoral knee implant
First Claim
1. A method of manufacturing a distal femoral knee prosthesis comprising the steps of:
- a) forming a rough prosthesis workpiece member that has the approximate size and shape of a final, polished distal femoral prosthesis the workpiece member including a generally "J" shaped articular surface portion to be finished;
b) attaching the prosthesis member to a fixator;
c) movably supporting the fixator adjacent a rotary grinder wheel;
d) controlling relative motion between the rotary grinder and the prosthesis member workpiece with a computer;
e) shaping a curved articular surface of the prosthesis member by engaging the prosthesis member with the rotary grinder wheel that forms a plurality of grooved portions;
f) preliminary polishing the articular surface to remove the grooved portions; and
g) secondarily polishing the articular surface until it has a highly polished mirror finish.
1 Assignment
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Reexamination
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of manufacturing a distal femoral knee prosthesis includes the initial step of forming a rough prosthesis workpiece member that has the approximate size and shape of a final polished distal femoral prosthesis. The rough prosthesis workpiece member can be a casting, forging or a rough machined part. The prosthesis member is then attached to a fixator and movably supported adjacent a rotary grinder. Relative motion between the rotary grinder and the prosthesis is controlled with a computer. An articular surface of the prosthesis is shaped by engaging the prosthesis with the rotary grinder. The workpiece is primarily polished to remove "scallops" that form on the outer surface during a shaping with the rotary grinder. The prosthesis workpiece member is then secondarily polished until the articular surface provides a highly polished mirror finish.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of manufacturing a distal femoral knee prosthesis comprising the steps of:
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a) forming a rough prosthesis workpiece member that has the approximate size and shape of a final, polished distal femoral prosthesis the workpiece member including a generally "J" shaped articular surface portion to be finished; b) attaching the prosthesis member to a fixator; c) movably supporting the fixator adjacent a rotary grinder wheel; d) controlling relative motion between the rotary grinder and the prosthesis member workpiece with a computer; e) shaping a curved articular surface of the prosthesis member by engaging the prosthesis member with the rotary grinder wheel that forms a plurality of grooved portions; f) preliminary polishing the articular surface to remove the grooved portions; and g) secondarily polishing the articular surface until it has a highly polished mirror finish. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 9)
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6. A method of manufacturing a distal femoral knee prosthesis comprising the steps of:
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a) forming a rough prosthesis workpiece member that has the approximate size and shape of a final, polished distal femoral prosthesis; b) attaching the prosthesis member to a fixator; c) movably supporting the fixator adjacent a rotary grinder wheel; d) controlling relative motion between the rotary grinder and the prosthesis member workpiece with a computer; e) shaping a curved articular surface of the prosthesis member by engaging the prosthesis member with the rotary grinder wheel; f) preliminary polishing the articular surface; g) secondarily polishing the articular surface until it has a highly polished mirror finish; and h) wherein in step "e" the grinding wheel sculpts the articular surface by forming a plurality of grooves placed adjacent one another.
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7. A method of manufacturing a distal femoral knee prosthesis comprising the steps of:
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a) forming a rough prosthesis workpiece member that has the approximate size and shape of a final, polished distal femoral prosthesis; b) attaching the prosthesis member to a fixator; c) movably supporting the fixator adjacent a rotary grinder wheel; d) controlling relative motion between the rotary grinder and the prosthesis member workpiece with a computer; e) shaping a curved articular surface of the prosthesis member by engaging the prosthesis member with the rotary grinder wheel that forms a plurality of grooved portions; f) preliminary polishing the articular surface to remove the grooved potions; g) secondarily polishing the articular surface until it has a highly polished mirror finish; and h) wherein in step "a" the forming step includes forming a generally "J" shaped outer surface on the prosthesis member.
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8. A method of manufacturing a distal femoral knee prosthesis comprising the steps of:
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a) forming a rough prosthesis workpiece member that has the approximate size and shape of a final, polished distal femoral prosthesis; b) attaching the prosthesis member to a fixator; c) movably supporting the fixator adjacent a rotary grinder wheel; d) controlling relative motion between the rotary grinder and the prosthesis member workpiece with a computer; e) shaping a curved articular surface of the prosthesis member by engaging the prosthesis member with the rotary grinder wheel that forms a plurality of grooved portions; f) preliminary polishing the articular surface to remove the grooved portions; g) secondarily polishing the articular surface until it has a highly polished mirror finish h) wherein in step "a" the forming step includes forming a generally "J" shaped outer surface on the prosthesis member; and i) forming of a plurality of flat inner surfaces opposite the outer surface.
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10. A method of manufacturing a joint prosthesis comprising the steps of:
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a) forming a rough joint prosthesis workpiece member that has the approximate size and shape of a desired final, polished joint prosthesis; b) attaching the joint prosthesis member to a fixator; c) supporting the fixator adjacent a rotary grinder; d) controlling relative motion between the rotary grinder and the prosthesis member with a computer; e) shaping an articular surface of the prosthesis member by engaging the prosthesis member with the rotary grinder; f) preliminarily polishing the articular surface to remove the grooves; and g) secondarily polishing the articular surface until it has a highly polished mirror finish.
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11. A method of manufacturing a distal femoral knee prosthesis comprising the steps of:
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a) forming a casting that approximates the size and shape of a desired femoral knee prosthesis, the casting including a curved articular surface portion to be finished; b) grinding the articular surface with a rotary grinding member that cuts multiple elongated grooves in the articular surface of the casting along a predetermined path; c) moving the casting to present different areas of the articular surface to the grinding surface during the grinding of the articular surface of step "b"; and d) moving the blank and grinding member relative to one another during a cutting of the articular surface; e) preliminarily polishing the articular surface to remove the grooves; and f) secondarily polishing the articular surface until it has a highly polished mirror finish. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification