OPP T-Hook Trautman-Style Hook Project

Invented by J.H. Kosek and Raymond B. Trautman in 1925, the Trautman Hook was popular mainly among amputees from the agricultural communities of the Midwest US up to and following the end of its production roughly 20 years ago. The Open Prosthetics Project is seeking to help anyone get an updated hook with Trautman-style appeal back into production. Some details from old project updates are available on the OPP site, here and here.

Produce a hook that duplicates the functionality of the old "Trautman-style" hook to correct remaining problems with the legacy design within a budget appropriate to the extremely small demand. These problems include failure associated with wallowing out of threaded holes secondary to small window of tightening between sloppy and seizing the action of the hook, and potential issues with wear on the pivot surface, potentially due to similar material bearing.

Determine a sustainable manufacturing process to get the T-Hook to patients in such a way that it is cost-effective for a profit-making business to take the time and effort to do it.

We would like the device to be

• Manufacturable for about $150
  

• More durable in areas mentioned
  

• Doesn't seize when hinge screws tight
  

• Consider alternate materials (nylon, glass fill, other metals). While some longtime users may object to plastic, for instance, this may be a viable option if other issues are solved.

• The most up-to-date design, completed by Andy Richards and Richard Shoge at NC State, is available zipped in Solid Works, and as STL files. If you don't have SolidWorks, you can download a free viewer that will allow you to see the models here. Andy and Richard added an additional part, along with screw posts that solve the problem of binding and screw loosening. We're still working on verifying these designs, and setting up a manufacturing process that makes sense, maybe investment casting.
  

• These designs, as with everything we do, are in the public domain, and available without restriction. Should you want to make and sell our device, you are welcome to. We would advise you to use the name Open Prosthetics T-Hook, in order to avoid possible trademark issues with the Trautman name.

Unfortunately, no one has as of yet stepped up to do something with our design to get it in production. We'd love for that to happen, but we're still working on the design, and the business case is still not strong enough. If you'd like to be included in any possible clinical trials of the new T-Hook, please send an email to info@openprosthetics.org, and put "Want T-Hook" in the subject line. We'll let you know if we hear that someone's going to give it a try.