Patent ID: 8206408

Claim:
A surgical instrument, said surgical instrument comprising a shaft on whose proximal end is arranged a fixed handle part, said shaft further comprising: (a) a sliding part, said sliding part further comprising: (i) a pivotable handle part mounted pivotably with respect to said fixed handle part, said pivotable handle part for axially moving said sliding part; and (ii) guidance means for guiding said sliding part on said shaft while in contact with said shaft in a sliding plane within an axial working stroke, said guidance means further comprising: (1) a distal guidance means portion of said guidance means; and (2) a proximal guidance means portion of said guidance means, said proximal guidance means further comprising two walls, wherein said two walls are arranged so that: (A) said two walls are axially parallel on the exteriors of said shaft and said sliding part and which guide said sliding part with respect to a transverse displacement in said sliding plane on said shaft; and (B) a link slot is formed in each wall; (b) locking means, said locking means limiting the axial displacement of said sliding part on a proximal end of said axial working stroke, and after unlocking said locking means, said sliding part being movable beyond said proximal end of said axial working stroke into a cleaning position in which said distal guidance means are disengaged, so that said sliding part can be lifted away from said shaft; (c) a pin, said pin engaging in said each link slot to guide said sliding part; each link slot having a guidance section running parallel to said sliding plane, such that said sliding part is held in contact with said shaft within said working stroke due to the axial length of said guidance section and due to the distance of said guidance section and said pin from said sliding plane; and (d) an end section, wherein said end section is connected to said guidance section of said each link slot into which said corresponding pin enters in said cleaning position of said sliding part and which makes it possible to lift said proximal end of said sliding part away from said shaft.