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:
Sep. 29, 1998
Filed:
Sep. 12, 1996
Bryan D Knodel, Cincinnati, OH (US);
J David Hughett, Hamilton, OH (US);
Anil K Nalagatla, West Carrollton, OH (US);
Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., Cincinnati, OH (US);
Abstract
A surgical stapling instrument which has an elongated staple cartridge and anvil is disclosed. The anvil is movable relative to the cartridge from rearward to forward positions for insertion of tissue between these two components and clamping the tissue, respectively. A pair of spaced-apart ribs protrude from the anvil, and when the anvil is moved from its rearward to forward positions, these ribs are received into and slide within a groove embedded on the surface of the cartridge. In this manner, misalignment of the anvil and cartridge when tissue is being clamped is prevented or appreciably reduced, therefore reducing the chances of misforming the staples when the instrument is fired. The alignment features also act as tissue abutment surfaces to prevent the migration of tissue into a region where tissue is transected but not stapled.