Conmed Corporation

Mason Williams

Michael Lee Koltz, Jr

Michael Olichney

Julia Concelman

Michael Koltz, Jr

Michael Lontine

Roberto Del Cid

Alyssa Spomer

Melanie Venderley

Jr Koltz

Derek Eilers

A jaw assembly for vessel sealing device having a pair of jaw member that are pivotally coupled together via two flanges associated with one of the jaw members and a single, centrally positioned flange associated with the other of the jaw members. The flanges include cam slots so that axial movement of a drive shaft can open and close the jaw members. The jaw members may include a knife pathway for axial movement of a knife blade that is positioned to one side of the central flange and thus offset from the central axis of the jaws.

Jaw assembly for a vessel sealer

A surgical instrument having a housing, an outer shaft extending from the housing along a longitudinal axis, an inner shaft extending within the outer shaft along the longitudinal axis, a rotator knob position about the outer shaft, and a tube stop coupling the rotator knob to the outer shaft for collective rotation about the longitudinal axis and fixed within the housing against movement along the longitudinal axis. The tube stop has a pair of bearing surfaces that extend into a pair of longitudinal tracks of the outer shaft, and the rotator knob includes a pair of rails that extend into the pair of tracks of the outer shaft and block the tube stop exiting the tracks. The tube stop is captured between a pair of ribs in the housing to hold the tube stop in place while allowing the rotator knob to rotate the outer shaft.

Method of securing the shaft of a surgical instrument to the instrument housing

A force limiting apparatus for a surgical instrument to prevent too much force being applied to the jaws of the instrument. The instrument has a body with a drive shaft coupled to a pair of jaws, a bearing tube secured to the drive shaft, and a pair of tracks carrying a pivot pin that is biased into one end of the track. A lever is coupled to the pivot pin and abuts the bearing tube to move the bearing tube and close the jaws when squeezed by a user. If the lever is over actuated, the pivot pin will slide along the track against the bias of the spring assembly with the lever pivoting about the bearing tube rather than the pivot pin. As a result, the additional movement of lever does not result in any addition force being transmitted to the drive shaft via the bearing tube.

Force limiting mechanism for surgical instruments

A force limiting assembly for a surgical instrument that has a handle and a lever pivotally mounted to the handle at a pivot point for movement of an internal drive shaft. The lever is coupled to the drive shaft by a cantilever spring that is positioned within the lever. The free end of the cantilever is spaced apart from the pivot point of the lever and coupled to the drive shaft via stops positioned on the drive shaft on either side of the free end of the cantilever spring. As the lever is pivoting by a user, the forces move the drive shaft and bias the cantilever spring, thereby reducing and ultimately limiting the amount of force that a user may apply to the drive shaft via operation of the lever.

Force limiting assembly for surgical instrument

A vessel sealing device having a pair of electrodes that are maintained in spaced apart configuration when closed by non-uniform coating formed from a non-conductive material that has been applied to roughened electrodes so that the coating allows for the passage of a predetermined amount of radiofrequency (RF) energy between the electrodes. The coating has a predetermined thickness that spaces the electrodes apart while also having the predetermined non-uniformity that allows RF energy to pass between the electrodes when a vessel is trapped therein, thus desiccating the vessel positioned in the jaws. The electrodes may include a series of grooves in a herringbone pattern, with each electrode having the pattern oriented in the same direction or in opposite directions.

Growing community of inventors

Centennial, CO, United States of America

Mason Williams