US Patent Issued to Cilag GmbH International on Oct. 21 for "Surgical instrument having articulation lock actuated by closure tube displacement" (Ohio Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,446,877, issued on Oct. 21, was assigned to Cilag GmbH International (Zug, Switzerland).

"Surgical instrument having articulation lock actuated by closure tube displacement" was invented by Frederick E. Shelton IV (Hillsboro, Ohio), Gregory J. Bakos (Mason, Ohio), Jason L. Harris (Lebanon, Ohio) and Taylor W. Aronhalt (Loveland, Ohio).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A surgical instrument comprising an end effector, a closure tube, an articulation joint, an articulation driver, and an articulation lock is disclosed. The articulation driver is to rotate the end effector about the articulation joint and comprises first teeth. The articulation...