Surgery: splint – brace – or bandage – Orthopedic bandage – Splint or brace
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-09
2001-02-20
Brown, Michael A. (Department: 3764)
Surgery: splint, brace, or bandage
Orthopedic bandage
Splint or brace
C602S016000, C602S023000, C602S026000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06190341
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a protective knee device to prevent hyperextension to a user's knee and more particularly pertains to a new protective knee brace for preventing hyperextension to a user's knee upon frontal impact thereto.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of protective knee device to prevent hyperextension to a user's knee is known in the prior art. More specifically, protective knee device to prevent hyperextension to a user's knee heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 3,194,233; U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,482; U.S. Pat. No. 3,528,412; U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,158; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 255,385; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,639.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new protective knee brace. The inventive device includes an upper brace member having a laterally curved shell having an outwardly protruding front portion near a bottom thereof and further having side portions with end portions extending downwardly below the bottom of the upper brace member, and further having a padded member lining a back side of the curved shell; and also includes a lower brace member having a laterally curved shell having an outwardly protruding front portion near a top thereof and being overlapped by the upper brace member, and further having a padded member lining the back side of the curved shell; and further includes tracks disposed in the end portions of the upper brace member; and also includes roller members securely mounted to the lower brace member and being movably disposed in the tracks; and further includes stop members securely attached to the lower brace member for limiting movement of the upper brace member; and also includes fastening members for fastening the brace members about the user's leg.
In these respects, the protective knee brace according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of preventing hyperextension to a user's knee upon frontal impact thereto.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of protective knee device to prevent hyperextension to a user's knee now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a new protective knee brace construction wherein the same can be utilized for preventing hyperextension to a user's knee upon frontal impact thereto.
The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new protective knee brace which has many of the advantages of the protective knee device to prevent hyperextension to a user's knee mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new protective knee brace which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art protective knee device to prevent hyperextension to a user's knee, either alone or in any combination thereof.
To attain this, the present invention generally comprises an upper brace member having a laterally curved shell having an outwardly protruding front portion near a bottom thereof and further having side portions with end portions extending downwardly below the bottom of the upper brace member, and further having a padded member lining a back side of the curved shell; and also includes a lower brace member having a laterally curved shell having an outwardly protruding front portion near a top thereof and being overlapped by the upper brace member, and further having a padded member lining the back side of the curved shell; and further includes tracks disposed in the end portions of the upper brace member; and also includes roller members securely mounted to the lower brace member and being movably disposed in the tracks; and further includes stop members securely attached to the lower brace member for limiting movement of the upper brace member; and also includes fastening members for fastening the brace members about the user's leg.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new protective knee brace which has many of the advantages of the protective knee device to prevent hyperextension to a user's knee mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new protective knee brace which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art protective knee device to prevent hyperextension to a user's knee, either alone or in any combination thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new protective knee brace which may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new protective knee brace which is of a durable and reliable construction.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new protective knee brace which is susceptible of a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such protective knee brace economically available to the buying public.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new protective knee brace which provides in the apparatuses and methods of the prior art some of the advantages thereof, while simultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages normally associated therewith.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new protective knee brace for preventing hyperextension to a user's knee upon frontal impact thereto.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new pro
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