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. 12, 2013
Filed:
Jul. 30, 2009
Bryan A. Click, Fremont, CA (US);
Brian W. Donovan, San Jose, CA (US);
Bryan A. Click, Fremont, CA (US);
Brian W. Donovan, San Jose, CA (US);
Kyphon SARL, Neuchatel, CH;
Abstract
A force-limiting clutch for a surgical instrument includes a drive element and a transmission element. An actuator is coupled to the drive element, and a drive shaft is coupled to the transmission element for providing an output force. If the force input from the actuator to the clutch reaches a predetermined threshold, the force-limiting clutch 'slips' and does not transfer the actuator force to the drive shaft to prevent excessive force/pressure output. Normally, drive features on the drive element engage with transmission features on the transmission element to transfer forces from the actuator to the drive shaft. When a threshold force is reached, the drive features slip past the transmission features. This clutch 'breakpoint' determines the maximum loading that the surgical instrument can provide at its output. In various embodiments, multiple transmission features can be arranged in a serial manner, such that the force-limiting clutch provides multiple breakpoints.