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:
Apr. 10, 2001
Filed:
Jun. 21, 1999
Gary Whipple, South Attleboro, MA (US);
David L. Hunt, Cincinnati, OH (US);
Richard F. Schwemberger, Cincinnati, OH (US);
Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., Cincinnati, OH (US);
Abstract
The present invention describes ultrasonic surgical instruments that include a mechanism for clamping tissue against an ultrasonic blade, including an arrangement for detachably mounting a clamp arm to the instrument. The ultrasonic surgical instrument comprises a waveguide adapted to be acoustically coupled to an ultrasonic transducer, and to transmit ultrasonic energy to an end-effector located at the distal end of the waveguide. A support tube extends from a handle assembly and surrounds at least a portion of the waveguide, terminating proximal to the end-effector. A clamp arm is detachably mounted to the distal end of the support tube. An actuation element is operatively coupled to the clamp arm. The ultrasonic surgical instrument may also include a clamp arm release. The actuation element comprises a first range of motion and a second range of motion, whereby moving the clamp arm release from a second position to a first position increases allowable motion of the actuation element from the second range of motion to the first range of motion, thereby facilitating release of the clamp arm from the support tube. The ultrasonic surgical instrument may include the capability for the clamp arm, actuation element, support tube and waveguide to rotate within the handle assembly.