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:
Nov. 22, 2016
Filed:
Dec. 31, 2013
Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Grant Duque, San Jose, CA (US);
Tom McNamara, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Jeffrey A. Smith, Petaluma, CA (US);
Bennie Thompson, San Carlos, CA (US);
Ashley Wellman, Cupertino, CA (US);
Don Wilson, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A surgical instrument having an elongated shaft having a shaft distal end and a shaft proximal end. An end effector is coupled to the shaft distal end and includes opposed jaws. A housing is included in one of the jaws, the housing having a housing proximal end, a housing distal end, an upper surface, a distal garage having lateral surfaces that extend above the upper surface, and a plurality of staple openings extending through the upper surface. A knife member is supported within the housing for movement distally. The knife member is moveable into a predetermined parked position such that a first portion of the cutting blade displaces below the upper surface and a second portion remains displaced above the upper surface. There is enough lateral clearance in the predetermined parked position between the lateral faces and the second portion to accommodate a dislodged staple.