Locking mechanism for a surgical fastening apparatus
AssigneeUnited States Surgical Corporation
InventorsThomas M. Tompkins, Dominic F. Presty
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An improved surgical stapling apparatus containing a locking mechanism to prevent reactuation of the apparatus, the locking mechanism comprising a resilient clip having a hook which is engagable with a locking notch on the cam bar retainer. The resilient clip is initially held in a non-engagable position by means of a movable chock. When the stapler is actuated for the first time, the cam bar retainer pushes the chock into a subsequent position where the chock no longer blocks the resilient clip. The resilient clip then moves to a position where the hook is engagable with the locking notch. Once the cam bar retainer is retracted it can no longer be reactuated.
Claims10
A surgical fastening apparatus comprising:
- a cartridge frame;
- a cartridge removably mounted in said cartridge frame and having a plurality of fastening elements arranged longitudinally from a proximalmost element to a distalmost element, said fastening elements abutting fastening element drive members arranged longitudinally therein;
- a pusher assembly slidably mounted on said cartridge frame for actuating the surgical stapling apparatus to apply fastening elements and cut body tissue, said pusher assembly having a distal end and a proximal end, said distal end including a tissue cutting surface and a fastening element drive member engaging surface for sequentially urging said drive members in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of movement of said pusher assembly;
- locking means movable in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of movement of said fastening elements, said locking means movable between an engagable position and a disengagable position;
- and
- means for biasing said locking means into said disengagable position, said biasing means movable from a first position prior to firing of the fastening elements to a second position upon distal movement of said pusher assembly to an intermediate position to thereby allow subsequent movement of said locking means into said engagable position upon retraction of said pusher assembly, said intermediate position being before firing of the distalmost fastening element.
A surgical fastening apparatus comprising:
- a cartridge frame;
- a cartridge removably mounted in said cartridge frame and having a plurality of fastening elements abutting fastening element drive members arranged longitudinally therein;
- a pusher assembly slidably mounted on said cartridge frame for movement between a proximal position and distal positions for driving fastening elements and cutting body tissue, said pusher assembly having a knife bar and a pair of cam bars longitudinally movable through said cartridge, said cam bars each having distal ends for sequentially engaging said fastening element drive members to urge said drive members in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of movement of said cam bars, said knife bar having a distal end for contacting and cutting body tissue;
- a block member positioned in said cartridge frame and cooperating with said pair of cam bars;
- and
- locking means movable in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of movement of said drive members, said locking means movable between a disengagable position and an engagable position wherein said locking means is engagable with said block member to prevent subsequent movement of said pusher assembly into said distal positions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.