ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 10 -- United States Patent no. 12,408,936, issued on Sept. 9, was assigned to Aesculap AG (Tuttlingen, Germany).
"Surgical instrument having a locking mechanism" was invented by Nikolaus Hafner (Tuttlingen, Germany) and Justin Danny Cik (Brigachtal, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A surgical instrument for clamping and separating tissue has two branches, each forming a clamping jaw and a gripping element. The second branch features a separating element for separating tissue held between the jaws and a drive mechanism for driving the separating element. A locking element is movable between a locking position, in which the locking element engages with the drive mec...