Patent ID: 8012158

Claim:
A device for fragmenting substances, comprising: a probe having an elongate probe shaft having a distal end and a proximal end, a probe head arranged at said distal end, said probe head comprising an electro-hydraulic converter with which electrical energy, delivered via said probe shaft, is converted in shock-like manner into mechanical kinetic energy, said electro-hydraulic converter having a housing having a longitudinal direction, which accommodates a liquid chamber and a shock-transmitting element designed as a piston and moveable in said longitudinal direction of said housing from a proximal end position into a distal end position, said probe shaft having at least one delivery line for a liquid extending through the probe shaft and into said liquid chamber of said electro-hydraulic converter, said distal end position being defined by an abutment on said housing, toward which abutment a counter-abutment runs, which is arranged on said shock-transmitting element, said abutment and said counter-abutment being designed in such a way that, during a movement of said shock-transmitting element from said proximal end position to said distal end position, said counter-abutment comes directly into contact with said abutment, and said shock-transmitting element is moved back again to said proximal end position essentially by the impact of said counter-abutment on said abutment.