Surgical instrument
AssigneeCovidien LP
InventorKenneth Cappola
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A surgical instrument comprising a handle assembly, a body, a tool assembly and an articulation assembly is disclosed. The articulation mechanism includes a receptacle, and a main shaft. A lower clutch is fixedly positioned within the receptacle and has a serrated portion including a plurality of serrations. An upper clutch includes at least one projection positioned to engage the serrations of the lower clutch to releasably retain the main shaft at a rotatably fixed position. An angle between a first pair of adjacent serrations is defined as a first angle, an angle between a second pair of adjacent serrations is defined as a second angle, and an angle between a third pair of adjacent serrations is defined as a third angle. The first angle, the second angle, and the third angle are each different from one another.
Claims10
A surgical instrument comprising:
- a handle assembly;
- a body extending distally from the handle assembly;
- a tool assembly pivotably supported at a distal end of the body;
- and
- an articulation mechanism including:
- a rotatable main shaft;
- a fixed lower clutch;
- an upper clutch slidably positioned with respect to the main shaft and rotatably fixed to the main shaft;
- the lower clutch having a plurality of serrations, the upper clutch having a plurality of projections for engaging the serrations;
- and
- a biasing member for biasing the upper clutch toward the lower clutch.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.