Surgical instrument including accessory powering feature
AssigneeCovidien LP
InventorFrank J. Viola
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A surgical instrument system includes a surgical instrument, an accessory, and an energy device. The surgical instrument has a housing, a shaft extending from the housing, and a tool assembly operably coupled to the shaft. The accessory is selectively couplable to the surgical instrument. An energy device is operably coupled to the accessory when the accessory is coupled to the surgical instrument such that the energy device powers the accessory.
Claims21
1-19. (canceled)
A surgical instrument system, comprising:
- an energy storage device;
- a surgical instrument including:
- a housing;
- a shaft extending from the housing and having at least one first electrical contact adapted to electrically communicate with the energy storage device;
- and
- a tool assembly secured to the shaft;
- and
- an accessory defining a U-shaped channel, the U-shaped channel supporting at least one second electrical contact therein, the U-shaped channel being securable to the shaft of the surgical instrument to electrically connect the at least one first electrical contact and the at least one second electrical contact together upon the shaft being inserted through an open side of the U-shaped channel, the at least one first electrical contact and the at least one second electrical contact being adapted to communicate electrical energy between the energy storage device and the accessory.
The surgical instrument system according to claim 2, wherein the accessory includes an illumination device and a camera, the illumination device and the camera being disposed in electrical communication with the at least one second electrical contact.
A surgical instrument system, comprising:
- an energy storage device;
- a surgical instrument including:
- a housing;
- a shaft extending from the housing and having a pair of first electrical contacts adapted to electrically communicate with the energy storage device, the shaft defining a longitudinal axis therethrough;
- and
- a tool assembly secured to the shaft;
- and
- an accessory defining a U-shaped channel, the U-shaped channel supporting a pair of second electrical contacts therein, the U-shaped channel being securable to the shaft of the surgical instrument to electrically connect the pair of first electrical contacts and the pair of second electrical contact together, the U-shaped channel defining an open side adapted to receive the shaft of the surgical instrument in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the shaft, the pair of first electrical contacts and the pair of second electrical contacts being adapted to communicate electrical energy from the energy storage device to the accessory to operate the accessory.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.