Patent ID: 8105350
Filing Date: 2012-01-31
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. A surgical instrument comprising: an instrument shall having proximal and distal ends; a tool disposed from the distal end of the instrument shaft; a control handle coupled from the proximal end of the instrument shaft and having a proximal end where the control handle is grasped and a distal end; a distal motion member for coupling the distal end of said instrument shaft to said tool; a proximal motion member for coupling the proximal end of said instrument shall to said control handle; actuation cabling 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; said proximal motion member including at least one partially spherical element; said control handle having formed at the distal end thereof a partially spherical formed socket for receiving the at least one partially spherical element; a locking mechanism for fixing the position of the said proximal motion member at a selected position and having locked and unlocked states; said locking mechanism including a locking lever that is mounted at the control handle and movable relative to the control handle, and a slideable locking piece responsive to the manual operation of the locking lever and terminated at the proximal motion member for selectively locking a bent position of the proximal motion member to, in turn, maintain via said actuation cabling a corresponding bent position of the distal motion member; a tool actuation lever mounted at the control handle for actuating the tool and a tool actuation cable that connects the tool actuation lever to the tool; a rotation knob mounted at the control handle and rotated relative to the control handle for controlling the tool to rotate about a distal tool axis so as to control the orientation of the tool; said rotation knob mounted at the control handle and disposed at a location that is proximally of at least a part of the proximal motion member; a torque transmission member coupled with and extending distally from the rotation knob for controlling the orientation of the tool; said locking lever mounted at the control handle at a position that is between the proximal motion member and at least part of the tool actuation lever; said rotation knob further mounted at the control handle at a location that is adjacent to the locking lever; whereby, when the locking lever is moved to the locked state, the locking piece is slid linearly causing the partially spherical element of the proximal motion member to lockingly engage the partially spherical formed socket to thus hold the proximal motion member in the selected fixed position.