Patent ID: 8083765
Filing Date: 2011-12-27
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. A surgical instrument comprising: an instrument shaft having proximal and distal ends and a longitudinal axis; a tool disposed from the distal end of the instrument shaft; a control handle coupled from the proximal end of the instrument shaft and including proximal and distal sides and an axis extending therebetween; a distal motion member for coupling the distal end of said instrument shaft to said tool; a proximal motion member; actuation means extending between said distal and proximal motion members for coupling motion of said proximal motion member to said distal motion member for controlling the positioning of said tool; an angle locking mechanism for fixing the position of the tool at a selected position and having locked and unlocked states; said angle locking mechanism including a ball and socket arrangement disposed between the control handle and the instrument shaft and manually operable to selectively control a fixing of a bend angle between the respective axes of the instrument shaft and control handle; said ball and socket arrangement including a socket member having an inner partially spherical shaped surface, and a ball member having an outer partially spherical shaped surface that mates with the partially spherical shaped socket surface so as to enable motion between the ball member and the socket member; said ball member supported within said socket member and constructed and arranged to enable manual control of the bend angle between the respective axes of the instrument shaft and control handle; said angle locking mechanism further including a manually operable locking lever mounted at the control handle and that, when moved to the locked state, provides a radial compression between the socket member and the ball member so as to fix the relative position between the socket member and the ball member to, in turn, fix the position of the distal motion member and tool; a rotation knob mounted at the control handle and rotatable relative to the control handle for causing a corresponding rotation of the tool; and a tool actuation mechanism mounted at the proximal side of the control handle, said rotation knob adapted to rotate the tool about a distal tool roll axis and said rotation knob is disposed between said tool actuation mechanism and said locking lever.