US Patent Issued to INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS on April 1 for "Staple cartridge and drive member for surgical instrument" (Connecticut Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 2 -- United States Patent no. 12,262,891, issued on April 1, was assigned to INTUITIVE SURGICAL OPERATIONS INC. (Sunnyvale, Calif.).

"Staple cartridge and drive member for surgical instrument" was invented by William Burbank (Sandy Hook, Conn.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present disclosure provides a surgical instrument, such as a tissue sealing instrument, having a staple cartridge with a staple pusher and a staple; and a drive member configured to translate distally through the instrument. The drive member includes a lateral projection configured to engage the staple pusher and drive the staple into tissue. The lateral projection of the drive member has a heigh...