Patents by Inventor Eric M. Dacus

Eric M. Dacus has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20230139676
    Abstract: The unibody orthopedic instrument includes an elongated handle, a latching interface outwardly extending relative to the elongated handle and selectively couplable to an orthopedic component, and a hand accessible spring-biased lever arm operable with a hinge coupled to the elongated handle about a pivot. The hinge normally positions the latching interface in a first latched position for locking engagement with the orthopedic component and is otherwise operable by the spring-biased lever arm about the pivot to reposition the latching interface from the normally latched position to an unlatched position for disengagement from the orthopedic component.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2022
    Publication date: May 4, 2023
    Inventors: Luca Terziotti, Eric M. Dacus, Nabil M. Rizk, Dermott J. McHugh
  • Publication number: 20230139058
    Abstract: The dual-purpose orthopedic instrument includes an elongated body, an impactor block formed from a first end of the elongated body selectively couplable with a modular impactor head and a strike block formed from a second end of the elongated body including a strike surface for selectively receiving a strike force thereof. An externally accessible channel formed within the elongated body has a size and shape for pass-through reception and select retention of an extractor rod therein. As such, the elongated body is usable as a modular impactor when the impactor block is selectively coupled with the impactor head and as a weight of a slap hammer when selectively coupled with the extractor rod in slidable relation relative thereto.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2022
    Publication date: May 4, 2023
    Inventors: Luca Terziotti, Dermott J. McHugh, Eric M. Dacus
  • Publication number: 20230128714
    Abstract: The self-biasing ankle clamp tibial alignment guide includes a clamp body, at least one lever arm outwardly extending from the clamp body, and an alignment rod generally upwardly extending toward a proximal end of a patient tibia and movable relative to the clamp body. A strap couples to the lever arm to exert a force thereon offset from a contact point where the clamp body pulls into engagement with a patient, thereby generating a moment about the contact point that causes the alignment rod carrying a cutting guide to bias forward into engagement with the patient.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 25, 2022
    Publication date: April 27, 2023
    Inventors: Eric M. Dacus, Luca Terziotti
  • Publication number: 20220228259
    Abstract: The process for producing an orthopedic implant having an integrated ceramic surface layer includes steps for positioning the orthopedic implant inside a vacuum chamber, emitting a relatively high energy beam into the at least two different vaporized metalloid or transition metal atoms in the vacuum chamber to cause a collision therein to form ceramic molecules, and driving the ceramic molecules with the ion beam into an outer surface of the orthopedic implant at a relatively high energy such that the ceramic molecules implant therein and form at least a part of the molecular structure of the outer surface of the orthopedic implant, thereby forming the integrated ceramic surface layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 5, 2022
    Publication date: July 21, 2022
    Inventors: Eric M. Dacus, Erin E. Hofmann
  • Publication number: 20220228258
    Abstract: An orthopedic implant having a subsurface level ceramic layer generally includes a base material, an intermix layer molecularly integrated with the base material that includes a mixture of the base material and a plurality of subsurface level ceramic-based molecules implanted into the base material, and an integrated ceramic surface layer molecularly integrated with and extending from the intermix layer forming at least part of a molecular structure of an outer surface of the orthopedic implant. The integrated ceramic surface layer and the base material thereafter cooperate to sandwich the intermix layer in between.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 5, 2022
    Publication date: July 21, 2022
    Inventors: Eric M. Dacus, Erin E. Hofmann
  • Publication number: 20220185540
    Abstract: The instrument tray indicator system includes a three-dimensional indicia associated with a least a portion of an instrument tray carrying at least one medical component. The three-dimensional indicia has a structure symbolic of the at least one medical component within the instrument tray, and the three-dimensional indicia is of a size and shape to provide external tactile feedback of the structure of the three-dimensional indicia through a sterile wrapping sealing an interior of the instrument tray with the at least one medical component therein. This allows one to identify the at least one medical component within the instrument tray without removing the sterile wrapping.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2021
    Publication date: June 16, 2022
    Inventors: Sylvia Sorensen, Eric M. Dacus, Zachary Kay, Nick Taylor
  • Publication number: 20220015912
    Abstract: The dual mobility acetabular component includes an acetabular cup and a liner that engage one another in a relatively static relationship by way of a Morse taper. The acetabular cup and the liner may be manufactured from a metal material (e.g., titanium) that decreases the energy differential therebetween, to limit or eliminate the galvanic cell phenomenon that forms between adjacent surfaces thereof as a result of body fluid therein that remains captured in small gaps or spaces due to capillarity. As such, the dual mobility acetabular component may experience reduced fretting compared to conventional hip joints known in the art.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2021
    Publication date: January 20, 2022
    Inventors: Eric M. Dacus, Thomas Collier
  • Patent number: 10624753
    Abstract: The orthopedic implant locking system may include an eccentric tibial stem having an engagement rod selectively threadingly engageable with a tibial baseplate, a lock housing securable in rotatable and substantial vertical constrained relation relative to the tibial stem, and an extension lock selectively threadingly engageable with the lock housing and including an inner passage keyed to selectively slidably engage the engagement rod in flush engagement therewith. The extension lock may extend or contract in response to rotational movement of the lock housing simultaneously while the extension lock remains in substantial non-rotatable relation relative to the tibial stem.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: Joint Development, LLC
    Inventors: Dermott J. McHugh, Chris A. Weaber, Eric M. Dacus, James T. Grutta
  • Patent number: 10619238
    Abstract: The process for producing an orthopedic implant having an integrated silicon nitride surface layer includes steps for positioning the orthopedic implant inside a vacuum chamber, mixing nitrogen gas and vaporized silicon atoms in the vacuum chamber, emitting a relatively high energy beam into the mixture of nitrogen gas and vaporized silicon atoms in the vacuum chamber to cause a gas-phase reaction between the nitrogen gas and the vaporized silicon atoms to form reacted precipitate silicon nitride molecules, and driving the precipitate silicon nitride molecules with the same beam into an outer surface of the orthopedic implant at a relatively high energy such that the precipitate silicon nitride molecules implant therein and form at least a part of the molecular structure of the outer surface of the orthopedic implant, thereby forming the integrated silicon nitride surface layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: Joint Development, LLC
    Inventors: Eric M. Dacus, Erin E. Hofmann
  • Publication number: 20200080196
    Abstract: The process for producing an orthopedic implant having an integrated silicon nitride surface layer includes steps for positioning the orthopedic implant inside a vacuum chamber, mixing nitrogen gas and vaporized silicon atoms in the vacuum chamber, emitting a relatively high energy beam into the mixture of nitrogen gas and vaporized silicon atoms in the vacuum chamber to cause a gas-phase reaction between the nitrogen gas and the vaporized silicon atoms to form reacted precipitate silicon nitride molecules, and driving the precipitate silicon nitride molecules with the same beam into an outer surface of the orthopedic implant at a relatively high energy such that the precipitate silicon nitride molecules implant therein and form at least a part of the molecular structure of the outer surface of the orthopedic implant, thereby forming the integrated silicon nitride surface layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 11, 2019
    Publication date: March 12, 2020
    Inventors: Eric M. Dacus, Erin E. Hofmann
  • Patent number: 10563302
    Abstract: The process for producing an orthopedic implant having an integrated silicon nitride surface layer includes steps for positioning the orthopedic implant inside a vacuum chamber, mixing nitrogen gas and vaporized silicon atoms in the vacuum chamber, emitting a relatively high energy beam into the mixture of nitrogen gas and vaporized silicon atoms in the vacuum chamber to cause a gas-phase reaction between the nitrogen gas and the vaporized silicon atoms to form reacted precipitate silicon nitride molecules, and driving the precipitate silicon nitride molecules with the same beam into an outer surface of the orthopedic implant at a relatively high energy such that the precipitate silicon nitride molecules implant therein and form at least a part of the molecular structure of the outer surface of the orthopedic implant, thereby forming the integrated silicon nitride surface layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Joint Development, LLC
    Inventors: Eric M. Dacus, Erin E. Hofmann
  • Publication number: 20190161856
    Abstract: The process for producing an orthopedic implant having an integrated silicon nitride surface layer includes steps for positioning the orthopedic implant inside a vacuum chamber, mixing nitrogen gas and vaporized silicon atoms in the vacuum chamber, emitting a relatively high energy beam into the mixture of nitrogen gas and vaporized silicon atoms in the vacuum chamber to cause a gas-phase reaction between the nitrogen gas and the vaporized silicon atoms to form reacted precipitate silicon nitride molecules, and driving the precipitate silicon nitride molecules with the same beam into an outer surface of the orthopedic implant at a relatively high energy such that the precipitate silicon nitride molecules implant therein and form at least a part of the molecular structure of the outer surface of the orthopedic implant, thereby forming the integrated silicon nitride surface layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 9, 2019
    Publication date: May 30, 2019
    Inventors: Eric M. Dacus, Erin E. Hofmann
  • Publication number: 20180042729
    Abstract: The orthopedic implant locking system may include an eccentric tibial stem having an engagement rod selectively threadingly engageable with a tibial baseplate, a lock housing securable in rotatable and substantial vertical constrained relation relative to the tibial stem, and an extension lock selectively threadingly engageable with the lock housing and including an inner passage keyed to selectively slidably engage the engagement rod in flush engagement therewith. The extension lock may extend or contract in response to rotational movement of the lock housing simultaneously while the extension lock remains in substantial non-rotatable relation relative to the tibial stem.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2017
    Publication date: February 15, 2018
    Inventors: Dermott J. McHugh, Chris A. Weaber, Eric M. Dacus, James T. Grutta
  • Patent number: 9844438
    Abstract: The femoral stem prosthesis includes a prosthesis body having a neck, stem, and porous coating receiving area. A portion of a transition between the porous coating receiving area and the stem is defined by a recess where the porous coating receiving area inwardly extends by a depth relative to the stem while the porous coating receiving area is approximately flush with the stem about a remainder of the transition between the porous coating receiving area and the stem. A porous coating overlying the porous coating receiving area has a thickness approximately equal to the depth of the recess to define a smooth transition between the porous coating and the stem along the portion of the transition by the at least one recess and a collar outwardly extending relative to the stem by approximately the thickness along the remainder of the transition between the porous coating receiving area and the stem.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: Joint Development, LLC
    Inventors: Dermott J. McHugh, Eric M. Dacus
  • Patent number: D856518
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: Joint Development, LLC
    Inventor: Eric M. Dacus
  • Patent number: D910179
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: Joint Development, LLC
    Inventors: Dermott J. McHugh, Eric M. Dacus
  • Patent number: D910180
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: Joint Development, LLC
    Inventors: Dermott J. McHugh, Eric M. Dacus
  • Patent number: D1016291
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: Joint Development, LLC
    Inventors: Andrea Cragen, Chris Weaber, Dermott J. McHugh, Eric M. Dacus
  • Patent number: D1016292
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: Joint Development, LLC
    Inventors: Andrea Cragen, Chris A. Weaber, Dermott J. McHugh, Eric M. Dacus
  • Patent number: D1016293
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: Joint Development, LLC
    Inventors: Andrea Cragen, Chris A. Weaber, Dermott J. McHugh, Eric M. Dacus