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US 2007/0175951 A1Published application
Gearing selector for a powered surgical cutting and fastening instrument
OwnerFrederick Shelton, Jeffrey Swayze +1inventors
InventorsFrederick Shelton, Jeffrey Swayze, Eugene Timperman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A powered surgical cutting and fastening instrument includes a drive shaft; a motor; and a gear shifting assembly connected to the drive shaft and the motor. The gear shifting assembly may include at least a first stage gear assembly coupled to the motor and to the drive shaft for operating the gear shifting assembly in a first gear setting; and a gear coupling assembly for selectively coupling at least one additional gear to the drive shaft for operating the gear shifting assembly in a second gear setting.
Claims20
A surgical cutting and fastening instrument comprising:
- (a) a drive shaft;
- (b) a motor;
- and
- (c) a gear shifting assembly connected to the drive shaft and the motor, the gear shifting assembly comprising:
- at least a first stage gear assembly coupled to the motor and to the drive shaft for operating the gear shifting assembly in a first gear setting;
- and
- a gear coupling assembly for selectively coupling at least one additional gear to the drive shaft for operating the gear shifting assembly in a second gear setting.
4 more elements
A surgical cutting and fastening instrument comprising:
- (a) a drive shaft;
- (b) a motor;
- and
- (c) a gear shifting assembly connected to the drive shaft and the motor, the gear shifting assembly comprising:
- a first stage gear assembly coupled to the motor and to the drive shaft for operating the gear shifting assembly in a first gear setting, the first stage gear assembly comprising a sun gear intermeshed at least partially with one or more planet gears to provide a planetary gear arrangement for the first stage gear assembly;
- a second gear stage assembly connected to the first gear stage assembly and to the drive shaft, the second stage gear assembly comprising a sun gear intermeshed at least partially with one or more planet gears to provide a planetary gear arrangement for the second stage gear assembly;
- a gear coupling assembly for selectively coupling at least one additional gear to the second stage gear assembly for operating the gear shifting assembly in a second gear setting, the gear coupling assembly further comprising a sun gear at least partially intermeshed with one or more planet gears to provide a planetary gear arrangement which can be selectively coupled to the first stage gear assembly.
4 more elements
A surgical cutting and fastening instrument comprising:
- (a) a drive shaft;
- (b) a motor;
- and
- (c) a gear shifting assembly connected to the drive shaft and the motor, the gear shifting assembly comprising:
- a first stage gear assembly coupled to the motor and to the drive shaft for operating the gear shifting assembly in a first gear setting, the first stage gear assembly comprising a sun gear intermeshed at least partially with one or more planet gears to provide a planetary gear arrangement for the first stage gear assembly;
- a second gear stage assembly connected to the first gear stage assembly and to the drive shaft, the second stage gear assembly comprising a sun gear intermeshed at least partially with one or more planet gears to provide a planetary gear arrangement for the second stage gear assembly;
- a gear coupling assembly for selectively coupling at least one additional gear to the second stage gear assembly for operating the gear shifting assembly in a second gear setting, the gear coupling assembly further comprising a sun gear at least partially intermeshed with one or more planet gears to provide a planetary gear arrangement which can be selectively coupled to the second stage gear assembly;
- and,
- wherein the sun gear of the gear coupling assembly further includes a spline section structured to correspondingly intermesh in the second gear setting with a spline section formed on an input shaft received into the gear coupling assembly from the second stage gear assembly, and the spline section of the sun gear of the gear coupling assembly further being structured to not correspondingly intermesh in the first gear setting with a spline section formed on an input shaft received into the gear coupling assembly from the second stage gear assembly.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.