The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 01, 2022
Filed:
Sep. 21, 2017
Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Donald Alden, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS, INC., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A surgical instrument includes a shaft with a proximal end and a distal end, a movable component coupled at the distal end of the shaft, a force transmission mechanism coupled at the proximal end of the shaft, and an actuation element with a first end coupled to the force transmission mechanism and a second end coupled to the movable component. The actuation element being configured to transmit an actuation force from the force transmission mechanism to the movable component. A coil spring is coupled to the actuation element between the first and second ends. First and second ends of the coil spring are coupled to longitudinally separated locations on the actuation element. The coil spring is configured to passively expand and contract in response to tension changes in the actuation element. A distance between the longitudinally separated locations changes as the coil spring passively expands and contracts.