ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,310,591, issued on May 27, was assigned to Covidien LP (Mansfield, Mass.).
"Surgical stapling device with flexible shaft" was invented by David A. Nicholas (Trumbull, Conn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A surgical stapling device that includes an adapter assembly that has a flexible outer tube, and a tool assembly that is supported on the flexible outer tube having an anvil assembly and a shell assembly that supports an annular staple cartridge. The shell assembly includes a mechanism for approximating the anvil assembly with the shell assembly over two clamping stages to minimize forces transferred to the flexible outer tube of the ada...