This is work I completed in 2017 while contracting on-site at Ethicon and working on a Depuy Synthes project. It is an intermedullary nailing system, where a titanium rod is placed in the tibia to repair a fracture.
Concept applied to three types of intermedullary nailing systems.
Below is a concept I created for a quick release hammer anvil. This concept was an improvement over the previous design by making the assembly and disassembly much faster. The previous version was threaded, while this one connects and disconnects with 90 degrees of rotation. In the links to a video and patent at the end of this page, it can be seen how this idea was further developed by the engineers and included in the final product.
One extra tricky detail was that the anvil had to be able to be back hammered (an extra attachment is used if the nail is inserted too far and needs to be backed out a bit), so it had to be able to take force in both directions.
Prototypes I made that were used for a study.
A video of the final system can be viewed at the link below. My concept designs were not directly implemented into the final design, but elements of my concepts can be seen, such as the quick release hammer anvil. And the above concepts were included in the attached patents.
