(19)Fresh off Patent
(45) Week of Oct 5, 2026 No. 5 3,852 lapsed 197 picks
Medical & health devices · lapsed Aug 28, 2026

Bone plate with removable angled screw insert

A fixation plate system where a cylindrical insert fits into a recessed plate hole and accepts a screw at a controlled off-axis angle. Surgeons use it to lock a bone screw to a plate while permitting a predetermined angle and orientation for the screw relative to the plate. The insert has a flange that seats into the plate shoulder and a threaded bore whose axis is offset from the insert body axis, with a marking showing the screw orientation.

Sheet 1 of the patent drawings

(57) What the patent covered

The main independent claim covers a fixation plate with a recessed shoulder and cylindrical aperture, a removable insert with a base and lateral flange that fits into that aperture and shoulder, and a screw that threads into an insert hole whose internal thread axis is intentionally offset by a defined angle from the insert’s central axis; the flange carries a marking indicating the insert thread axis orientation and the parts are dimensioned to complementary, removable fit.

The distinctive part: The insert’s threaded bore is deliberately canted (offset angle) relative to the insert body, and the flange includes a marking so the intended screw orientation is known when the insert is seated in the plate.

Novelty 3/5. At filing, variable-angle locking plates and threaded inserts existed, but this combines a removable, keyed insert with a machined threaded bore set at a fixed offset angle and an orientation mark, a practical improvement on familiar variable-angle locking concepts.

Making it

Precision machining (CNC) of titanium/stainless parts for the insert and screw; the plate likely forged or machined and finished, with secondary machining to form the recessed shoulder and apertures; parts cleaned and passivated for orthopedics.

Materials: Implant-grade titanium or titanium alloy (likely Ti-6Al-4V), Stainless steel (possible for screws, e.g., 316L), Medical-grade PEEK or polymer for non-metallic insert variants (likely less common)

Manufacturability 4/5. Requires precise machining to form the offset threaded bore and matching screw threads, plus tolerances for removable seating in the plate; moderate part count but conventional orthopedic manufacturing and assembly processes suffice.

Is anyone buying?

We haven't run a demand check on this one yet. Shoppers would likely search for variable angle bone plate insert, offset threaded orthopedic insert, locking bone plate screw insert; the links on the right open those searches.

Who buys it: Orthopedic device buyers at hospitals and surgical distributors (hand/upper-extremity surgeons given owner company focus).

Before you make it

We didn't find any related continuation or divisional patents still in force, although that doesn't rule out design patents, trademarks or unrelated patents covering the same product.

Clinical validation and regulatory clearance are needed for implantable hardware; market already has many variable-angle locking systems, so differentiation depends on mechanical performance and surgeon preference.

Owners occasionally revive lapsed patents (about 1.5% are), and this page is a research lead rather than legal advice, so get a freedom-to-operate opinion before you manufacture anything.

Claim 1, as granted

1. An orthopedic bone fixation assembly for connecting to a bone or bone fragments of a patient, the orthopedic bone fixation assembly comprising: a fixation plate having a hole therein, the fixation plate including an upper surface and an opposing lower surface for positioning proximate at least one of the bone and bone fragments, a shoulder recessed from the upper surface and a cylindrical-shaped aperture extending therethrough in a direction from the upper surface to the lower surface; an insert removably securable to the hole, the insert including a base portion, an insert hole and a flange extending laterally outwardly from an upper end of the base portion, the insert defining an insert central axis extending in a direction generally perpendicular to the flange; and a screw removably securable to the insert, the screw having a screw head, the insert hole having internal threads for threadingly engaging the screw, the insert hole defining an insert thread axis extending in a direction offset by an offset angle relative to the insert central axis such that threaded engagement between the screw and the insert hole offsets a longitudinal axis of the screw from the insert central axis by the offset angle, the flange of the insert including a marking to indicate an orientation of the insert thread axis, the aperture of the fixation plate being dimensioned to complementarily, removably receive the base portion of the insert and the recessed shoulder being dimensioned to complementarily, removably receive the flange of the insert, the insert being configured for engagement with the fixation plate in a plurality of rotational orientations about the insert central axis to selectively orient the direction of the insert thread axis, and subsequent threading of the screw with the insert, through the fixation plate and into at least one of the bone and bone fragments secures the assembly to the at least one of the bone and bone fragments and orients the longitudinal axis of the screw into the underlying at least one of the bone and bone fragments along the insert thread axis.