ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,419,707, issued on Sept. 23, was assigned to Intuitive Surgical Operations Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.).
"Geared roll drive for medical instrument" was invented by Bram Gilbert Antoon Lambrecht (Redwood City, Calif.) and Thomas G. Cooper (Menlo Park, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A medical instrument includes a roll mechanism that rotates an instrument shaft. The roll mechanism may include a first gear coupled to the instrument shaft and meshed with a second gear. One of gears may be a spur gear while the other gear may be a beveloid gear. Further, the spur gear and the beveloid gear may be in a gear train containing a compressible ...