Patent ID: 11864756
Assignee: CILAG GMBH INTERNATIONAL
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A  F

Claim 16:
17. A surgical instrument, comprising:
an elongate shaft;
a surgical end effector coupled to said elongate shaft by an articulation joint, wherein said articulation joint is configured to facilitate selective articulation of said surgical end effector relative to said elongate shaft, and wherein said surgical end effector comprises a first jaw, a second jaw, and a firing member supported for axial travel within each of said first and second jaws between a starting position and an ending position, wherein said first and second jaws collectively define a gap;
an upper loosely-linked chain-drive assembly supported by said elongate shaft and traversing said articulation joint to operably interface with a top portion of said firing member;
a lower loosely-linked chain-drive assembly supported by said elongate shaft and traversing said articulation joint to operably interface with a bottom portion of said firing member; and
means for converting an upper portion of said upper loosely-linked chain-drive assembly that is distal to said articulation joint into an upper rigid drive member configured to travel within said first jaw and to apply axial drive motions to said firing member to drive said firing member between said starting position and said ending position,
wherein a portion of said lower loosely-linked chain-drive assembly is configured to convert into a lower rigid drive member that is configured to translate within said second jaw to thus be distanced from said upper rigid drive member by at least the gap.