Gear driven coupling between ultrasonic transducer and waveguide in surgical instrument
First Claim
1. A surgical instrument comprising:
- (a) a body portion comprising;
(i) a body casing, and(ii) a waveguide extending distally from the body casing; and
(b) a transducer unit comprising;
(i) a transducer, and(ii) a geared assembly configured to selectively couple the transducer to the waveguide by rotating and translating the transducer relative to the waveguide.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A surgical instrument is separable into a transducer unit and a lower body portion. The lower body portion includes a waveguide and a casing. The transducer unit includes a transducer and a geared mechanism operable to couple the transducer to the waveguide. In some versions the geared mechanism includes bevel gears coupled to a rack and pinion such that linear motion may be used to rotatably couple a transducer to a waveguide. The rack gear may further include a handle extending out of the transducer unit casing to be actuatable by a user. The rack gear may also be flexible or rigid. In other versions, the bevel gears may be coupled to a threaded shaft that is operable to translate the transducer into the waveguide to form an interference fit. The transducer unit may also include a slide lock mechanism to couple to the casing of the lower body portion.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A surgical instrument comprising:
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(a) a body portion comprising; (i) a body casing, and (ii) a waveguide extending distally from the body casing; and (b) a transducer unit comprising; (i) a transducer, and (ii) a geared assembly configured to selectively couple the transducer to the waveguide by rotating and translating the transducer relative to the waveguide. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A surgical instrument comprising:
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(a) a body portion comprising; (i) a body casing, and (ii) a waveguide extending distally from the body casing; and (b) a transducer unit comprising; (i) a transducer, and (ii) at least one gear configured to selectively couple the transducer to the waveguide by rotating and translating the transducer relative to the waveguide and relative to the body casing.
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17. A surgical instrument comprising:
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(a) a body portion comprising; (i) a body casing, and (ii) a waveguide extending distally from the body casing; and (b) a transducer unit comprising; (i) a transducer, and (ii) one or more gears configured to selectively drive the transducer into engagement with the waveguide by rotating and translating the transducer relative to the body casing.
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Specification