US 4708133

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Summary of US Patent 4,708,133 (US4708133A)

I searched USPTO databases and CAFC dockets. The searches confirm the patent record; no CAFC 2026 (or any CAFC) docket entries involving this patent were found — the patent expired decades ago and shows no litigation history in any search results.

Bibliographic data

Plain-language overview of the independent claims

Claim 1 (apparatus — core embodiment). A bone cutter with a curved saw blade (shank plus curved elongate body having teeth along one edge). The shank attaches to a reciprocating saw and slides up/down inside a housing shaft. The housing has a hole for a bone pin, and that hole can be moved (adjusted) relative to the shaft to change the cutting radius; a set screw locks the position. Flutes on the housing form a guide slot that can be positioned over the blade's arc — used for guiding straight wedge cuts off the arcuate cut.

Claim 3 (angled guide flutes). Same cutter as claim 1, but the flutes form the slot at a point over the blade arc that is at an angle to the adjustable bone-pin hole means — enabling straight cuts angled to the arc.

Claim 4 (telescoping hollow-arm adjustment). Same cutter, with an extension from the shaft that slides within a hollow arm section; a set screw locks the extension at any insertion depth, providing a different adjustable-radius mechanism.

Claim 5 (clamp/slot adjustment). Same cutter, with a slot in an extension of the shaft through which a set screw passes into a screw hole of a clamp. The clamp is on the opposite side of the slot and is larger than the slot; it has a bone-pin hole in direct line with the screw hole. The set screw can lock the clamp anywhere along the slot.

Claim 7 (hollow-extension solid-body adjustment). Same cutter, where the shaft extension housing is hollow with slots in its upper and lower walls. A set screw passes through the upper slot into a solid body that conforms to and slides within the hollow extension; the solid body has a pin hole on its opposite surface for engaging a bone pin (which enters through the bottom slot). The set screw locks the body anywhere along the slots.

Claim 9 (measurement scale). Same cutter, adding a scalar (scale) means centered directly over the bone pin, rotating on the adjustable set screw, with an indicator that moves with the housing extension — used to measure angular excursion of the cutter/flutes along the arc.

Claim 11 (method — wedge osteotomy process). A process: drill a hole in bone and place a bone pin; the pin enters a hole in the cutter's movable segment and serves as the pivot axis. An elongate saw blade, moving up/down parallel to the pin axis, pivots around the pin to cut an arcuate (sector-of-a-cylinder) cut from one side of the bone to a desired depth. A straight-cutting blade guided by the flute slot makes a first straight cut from the inner end of the arc (angled to a radius) partway through the bone; a second straight cut is made at a desired position along the arc, all the way through the bone. The first cut is then completed through the bone, yielding a wedge that is removed; the two bone sections are rotated along the cylindrical sector until the void closes in healing apposition.

Confidence notes / uncertainties

• High confidence on the bibliographic data, abstract, claim text, and legal status — confirmed across the USPTO-hosted PDF scan (Google Patents), Justia, FreePatentsOnline, and PubChem.
• Assignee: The patent face lists no assignee (individual inventor); Google Patents' "Individual" entry is consistent with that. If an assignment was later recorded, I did not verify it in the USPTO Assignment Database, so treat "no assignee / individual" as the best available information.
• CAFC 2026 docket: Searches returned no CAFC docket entries for this patent. Given the patent expired in 1995–1996 (maintenance fee lapse) and its 20-year term ended in 2005, it is essentially certain there is no pending 2026 CAFC matter.
• Caution: A search result for "JP 4708133 B2" is an unrelated Japanese patent (fluorinated cation-exchange membrane for electrolysis) and should not be confused with this U.S. patent.