Patent ID: 8403945

Claim:
An apparatus for application of surgical clips to body tissue, the apparatus comprising: a handle assembly including: a drive assembly; a trigger operatively connected to the drive assembly; and a housing and a drive block axially slidably supported in the housing, wherein the drive block is connected to the trigger and defines a helical lumen therethrough; a shaft assembly extending from the handle assembly, the shaft assembly including: an articulating neck assembly; an end effector assembly supported on a distal end of the articulating neck assembly and being configured to form a surgical clip in place on the body tissue, the end effector assembly includes: a drive sled slidably axially translatable therewithin and defines a helical lumen therethrough; an advancer plate slidably disposed therewithin, wherein the advancer plate is detachably connected to the pusher bar; at least one clip disposed therein; jaws configured to receive and form the at least one clip; a pusher bar configured to load the at least one clip into the jaws; and a drive bar configured to selectively engage the pusher bar to effectuate a closure of the jaws; and a rotatable drive member operatively connected to the trigger and to the end effector, wherein actuation of the trigger results in a rotation of the drive member, and the rotation of the drive member results in a loading of the at least one clip into the jaws and in a closing of the jaws; wherein the rotatable drive member includes: a handle drive screw threadably engaged with the helical lumen of the drive block, and an end effector drive screw threadably engaged with the helical lumen of the drive sled, wherein axial translation of the drive block relative to the handle drive screw of the handle assembly results in a rotation of the handle drive screw; and wherein the rotation of the handle drive screw results in a rotation of the end effector drive screw and an axial translation of the drive sled, and wherein during a distal advancement of the pusher bar, the pusher bar engages the advancer plate to distally move the advancer plate.